US declares public health emergency

[scottaa1]

I hadn't heard anything about this. Kinda scary how it's popping up in various countries. The point of declaring it for now is to make additional resources available. Reminds me of a few novels I've read.

Link

(CNN) -- The United States government declared a public health emergency Sunday as the number of identified cases of swine flu in the nation rose to 20.

Additional cases of swine flu are expected to be reported in the coming days, added Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The World Health Organization advised all countries to be on the lookout for "unusual" outbreaks of flu, after an emergency meeting Saturday as the seriousness of the outbreak became clear.

By Sunday, 81 deaths in Mexico had been deemed "likely linked" to swine flu. Viral testing has confirmed 20 cases, said Dr. Jose A. Cordova Villalobos, Mexico's health secretary.

[eagles21]

Yeah, I heard about the deaths im Mexico due to the swine flu only a couple days ago. Seems to have popped up and spread rather quickly. I just read today that there has been an outbreak in a school in NYC from kids who went to Mexico for Spring Break. Pretty scary indeed.

[Art Vandelay]

This is just great. I'm still getting over my Bird Flu and SARS.

[dream_017]

This better not raise the price of bacon

[knapplc]

I'm concerned as a parent of a young child, but I note that there have been no fatalities here in America, and in fact only one of the 12 known cases required hospitalization. All infected are recovering/have recovered, and this doesn't appear AT THE MOMENT to be that serious. It's not known why it seems like the cases of this flu in Mexico seem more serious, but they do.

[Nfl Fan]

Huh... and me planning a trip to Cabo this June.

[Tyeattolah]

I'm concerned as a parent of a young child, but I note that there have been no fatalities here in America, and in fact only one of the 12 known cases required hospitalization. All infected are recovering/have recovered, and this doesn't appear AT THE MOMENT to be that serious. It's not known why it seems like the cases of this flu in Mexico seem more serious, but they do.

Unfortunately they are reporting one death now of an infant in Texas...this is not good. I also saw a report on MSN.com yesterday that there were 70+ kids from a school for autistic kids in New YOrk that were sick following a spring break trip to Mexico. I haven;t heard anymore about that but it doesn;t take much for this stuff to spread!

[knapplc]

Sure, and that's why I said AT THE MOMENT. There will be fatalities with this flu, so we just have to wait it out.

The good news is that it seems like most people infected are recovering.

[Guru13]

My mom's on vacation in Mexico with her sister (my aunt) right now.

[dream_017]

My mom's on vacation in Mexico with her sister (my aunt) right now.

Stock up on rubber gloves and masks