Swine/avian flu

Anybody here from Mexico?

I'm trying to find out exactly what the situation down there is and how concerned we should all be about this new bug, info about it is rather sketchy here in the United States and the CDC is very tight lipped. They seem very disturbed but claim to have few actual facts about how dangerous it may or may not be.
I've seen postings on a BBC site from supposedly a Mexico city doctor whom is saying the death toll is in the hundreds now, and two fellow doctors he works with whom had been vaccinated have died from the disease.

Williebee said:

From CNN.

81 deaths confirmed. Cases confirmed in Kansas. Mexico's Health Minister has been given "emergency powers". (whatever the hell THAT's supposed to mean.)

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I wish we could nail down a fatality percentage, the 1918 Spanish flu was over 30% and that was a total nightmare. If I was to go on the figures given out earlier I'd say we're looking at under 10%, not pretty to say the least but not a total disaster either.

My understanding from a CDC briefing this afternoon is that within the United States we're looking at 10 total lab confirmed cases, all mild, including now the two in Kansas and not including 8 preliminary positives at a NYC school.

Apparently the cases in Mexico are much more severe than the cases that have been occurring in the US, so far they're baffled by this and wondering if there is more than one strain.

Wayne K said:

Eleven people is a pandemic huh?

That's what the news is calling it.

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It sure as hell must feel like one if you live in Mexico, pretty much everything non-essential has been ordered closed including all the schools. Whether it's a bad case of the sniffles or the black plague there's no containing it now, let's hope this all proves to be nothing but the latest media hype.

Here, this article is a little more reassuring:

http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/04/25/dr-marc-siegel-the-most-powerful-virus-is-fear-not-flu/