World flu alert goes higher; Mexico plans shutdown

— MEXICO CITY — Mexico readied a "temporarily closed" sign — taking the drastic step of ordering a suspension of nonessential federal government and private business activity as it tried to squelch a swine flu epidemic. The World Health Organization ratcheted up an alert and warned that "all of humanity" is threatened.

The dire warning showed that world health officials are very worried about the potential for massive numbers of deaths worldwide from the mutated virus, even though the epidemic so far has claimed only a confirmed eight lives in Mexico and one in the United States. Roughly 170 deaths are suspected of having been caused by the virus in Mexico.

Switzerland on Thursday became the latest country to report a swine flu infection — a 19-year-old student who health officials said was mistakenly released from a hospital and then hastily readmitted. European Union health ministers planned emergency talks in Luxembourg to coordinate national efforts in preventing the spread of swine flu in Europe.

The Phase 5 alert, indicating a pandemic could be imminent as the virus spread further in Europe, prompted Mexico to announce the partial May 1-5 shutdown, Mexican Health Secretary Jose Cordova said late Wednesday.

In Washington, President Barack Obama promised "great vigilance" in confronting the outbreak which has sickened nearly 100 people in 11 states and forced schools to close. A Mexican toddler who visited Texas with his family died Monday night in Houston, becoming the first fatality in the U.S., and 39 Marines were confined to their base in California after one came down with the disease.

The virus, a mix of pig, bird and human genes to which people have limited natural immunity, has also spread to Canada, New Zealand, Britain, Germany, Spain, Israel and Austria.

"It really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic," WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in Geneva. "We do not have all the answers right now, but we will get them."

In a televised address, Mexican President Felipe Calderon praised "the heroic work" of doctors and nurses and asked his countrymen to literally stay in their homes between May 1 and May 5, saying "there is no safer place to protect yourself against catching swine flu, than in your house."

"In recent days, Mexico has faced one of the most serious problems in recent years," Calderon said Wednesday night. He brushed aside criticisms that his government's response was slow, stressing several times that authorities had reacted "immediately."

School in Mexico has already been canceled until May 6. During the shutdown, essential services like transport, supermarkets, trash collection and hospitals will remain open.

Calderon said authorities would use the partial shutdown to weigh whether to extend the emergency measures, or "if it is possible to phase out some" restrictions.

The outbreak appeared to already be stabilizing in Mexico, the epicenter. Confirmed swine flu cases doubled Wednesday to 99, but new deaths finally seemed to be leveling off after an aggressive public health campaign was launched when the epidemic was declared April 23. Although 17 new suspected deaths were reported, only one additional confirmed death was announced Wednesday night, for a total of eight countrywide. The virus is believed to have sickened as many as 2,955 people across the country, though hospital records suggest the outbreak may have peaked here last week.

The WHO said the global threat is nevertheless serious enough to ramp up efforts to produce a vaccine against the virus. It declared a Phase 5 outbreak — the second-highest on its threat scale — for the first time ever, indicating a pandemic could be imminent.

In the U.S., eight states closed schools Wednesday, affecting 130,000 students in Texas alone.

Obama said his administration has made sure that needed medical supplies are on hand and he praised the Bush administration for stockpiling 50 million doses of antiviral medications.

"The key now is to just make sure we are maintaining great vigilance, that everybody responds appropriately when cases do come up. And individual families start taking very sensible precautions that can make a huge difference," he said.

Ecuador joined Cuba and Argentina in banning travel to or from Mexico and Peru banned flights from Mexico. The Panama Canal Authority ordered pilots and other employees who board ships passing through the waterway to use surgical masks and gloves. An average of 36 ships per day use the canal, most from the United States, China, Chile and Japan.

In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Cabinet ministers to discuss swine flu, and the health minister said France would ask the European Union to suspend flights to Mexico.








Days later, a door-to-door tax inspector was hospitalized with acute respiratory problems in the neighboring state of Oaxaca, infecting 16 hospital workers before she became Mexico's first confirmed death.

Neighbors of the inspector, Maria Adela Gutierrez, said Wednesday that she fell ill after pairing up with a temporary worker from Veracruz who seemed to have a very bad cold. Other people from La Gloria kept going to jobs in Mexico City despite their illnesses, and could have infected people in the capital.

Cordova, the Mexican health secretary, said getting proper treatment within 48 hours of falling ill "is fundamental for getting the best results" and suggested the virus can be beaten if caught quickly and treated properly. But it was neither caught quickly nor treated properly in the early days in Mexico, which lacked the capacity to identify the virus, and whose health care system has become the target of widespread anger and distrust.

In case after case, patients have complained of being misdiagnosed, turned away by doctors and denied access to drugs. Monica Gonzalez said her husband, Alejandro, already had a bad cough when he returned to Mexico City from Veracruz two weeks ago and soon developed a fever and swollen tonsils.

As the 32-year-old truck driver's symptoms worsened, she took him to a series of doctors and finally a large hospital. By then, he had a temperature of 102 and could barely stand.

"They sent him away because they said it was just tonsillitis," she said. "That hospital is garbage."

Gonzalez finally took her husband to Mexico City's main respiratory hospital, "dying in the taxi." Doctors diagnosed pneumonia, but it may be too late: He has suffered a collapsed lung and is unconscious. Doctors doubt he will survive.

Swine flu has symptoms nearly identical to regular flu — fever, cough and sore throat — and spreads like regular flu, through tiny particles in the air, when people cough or sneeze. People with flu symptoms are advised to stay at home, wash their hands and cover their sneezes.


AP writers Frank Jordans in Geneva, Tom Raum and Lauran Neergaard in Washington, Olga Rodriguez in Oaxaca, Mexico, Paul Haven and E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City, and Mike Stobbe in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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Comments » 56

ZhuZhu writes:

For those unaware of what a Phase 5 Alert implies, it is the biological equivalent of the military's DEFCON 5. The government publishes this cryptic terminology so the population will not panic prior to the mayhem. Afterward, they can say..."we told you."

Opinionated writes:

The networks have been having a field day with this. Advertizing sales are up.

Oh, almost forgot, don't touch me...

okay writes:

Don't breathe and you won't catch it.

echobay writes:

It would have been nice to have this done yesterday or the day before. However it is good that they have moved it to a phase 5 since it will expedite the vaccine's production and greater measures will be made to minimize the spread...again, a little earlier would have helped. From my understanding a phase 5 is chosen when there are confirmed cases in more than one country. I think that criteria was met before today.

Opinionated writes:

echobay, agreed, time will tell.

Ruger writes:

So now 8 people have died?.....all Mexican?

If ONLY there was a way to keep the flu out.


Only 7 swine flu deaths, not 152, says WHO

HOUSTON (AP) - The first confirmed death from swine flu in the United States is a toddler from Mexico City who died in Houston, Texas health officials said Wednesday

okay writes:

La Raza is blaming Neal Bortz for making this a "racial" issue.....

PuffyStormClouds writes:

I read earlier that the President of Mubarek of Egypt had ordered the slaughter of all hogs due to the swine flu At first I got my hopes up but later discovered the wife made it back to the cruise ship before word got out.

wordofmouth writes:

LOL...This is such a farce...Over 36,000 people a year die in the USA EVERY year from the regular Flu and you don't here the WHO or the CDC freaking us all out about it now do they? But heaven forbid some lesser known strain springs up and it's all fire and brimstone-PUHLEEZE!

NaplesFly writes:

This whole thing is a sham!

swampbuggy writes:

If this is true, why did a Mexican child die in one of our hospitals? If you were concerned with our well being the statement would have read “Every American should know that the federal government is prepared to do whatever is necessary to control the SPREAD of this virus,”

echobay writes:

The CDC and the WHO lead up the response to a potential/actual outbreak of a disease whether it be through one country or across several. Pulling in political BS, lemon, is getting old when you carry it to every single topic imaginable and deadens your point when you actually do have a valid argument on political issues. As a political centralist, I'm open to opinions all around and love to weed through them. Lemon, I have seen you in the past offer valid points on arguments I was definitely on the other side of.

NaplesEMT writes:

The link below describes the different levels (1-6)

RangeRat writes:

My question is what is REALLY going on out there that they need a ready and sudden "pandemic" to cover up? This baloney happens ever couple of years, the 1976 "Swine Flu" (that was going to kill us all then) then the SARS, or "Bird Flu" was going to end civilization by killing us all (remember the "Stay out of Canada!" scare?)
I don't trust the media anymore, as if I ever did anyway. Surgical masks and flimsy face coverings are selling like wildfire and everyone is racing around like scared animals. I even heard a newscast of a "doctor" saying "Stay inside...don't come outside!!" What the...? For the Flu??? It's not the "Black Death," and I'm tired of this, everybody, run and hide!!!!! Oh the humanity!!!!! Run, hide, get under your bed...don't answer the can come thru the phone!!! Let's have a mass phone burning!!!! Ahaaaughhh! You couldn't write this stuff, for crying out loud.

Vapur9 writes:

Everybody PANIC! Give the government all rights to come into your home and force everyone to be vaccinated! People die from the flu every year, but the swine flu is worse ... because we say so! What greater way to impose martial law and take power! Long live Caesar!

Inevitability ... vaccine manufacturers intentionally release flu? (see link below) Who is the owner of the greatest stockpile of biological and chemical weapons in the world? If you say Saddam Hussein, you must be Bush (either in denial or trying to be misleading).

"The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

BlueTonguedVole (Inactive) writes:

Wow, some reinforcements to what I have been posting after previous stories. Glad to you NaplesEMT and echobay.

Yeah, RangeRat, it is a "cover-up". Gee what a dolt.

BlueTonguedVole (Inactive) writes:

Vapur9...the government is not coming into homes to vaccinate you. Perhaps you and RangeRat can keep each other company if you catch some bug that keeps you too sick to do much but to find scenarios to fit your conspiracy theories.

Ah...lemon/swh/attila/YeOldeNaples/ that you? Back with links from the twilight zone again are you?

RangeRat writes:


Man, don't you ever sleep? Can't I even post a "flu" comment without you sitting there glowering at your laptop screen...even at midnight? Go out to a 24-hr pharmacy and get yourself a box of surgical face-masks; it may not help, but maybe you'll be a little less all-knowing and irritating. Then again, maybe not. By the way, I did like that link you provided to the CS Monitor about the flu...was nicely written and was very fair and straightforward on the subject.

tonystbird writes:

#1, I'm sure you mean DEFCON 1, not DEFCON 5.

Defense Condition 5, that is peacetime readiness, can't get more peaceful or relaxed than that.

DEFCON 1 is maximum readiness, wartime, under attack, etc.

BlueTonguedVole (Inactive) writes:


Issues writes:

can we deport the swine flu back to where it came from?

gladimgone writes:

i totally agree bilbo. the end draweth nigh

sowestfla1975 writes:

Man this Obambi dude just loves when he can have "his people" create another national crisis. As word said above, 36K people die each and every year from the flu. But we get less than 200 foreigners that die from a different type of flu and we get all this BS thrown at us by the White House and the media.

And comes another 1.5 Billion from this idiot. Didn't Obambi just visit Mexico.......and our bad luck continues as he got out of there without catching it.

StellaBlue (Inactive) writes:

OMG! I have read some incredibly s----- crap on these pages over time.

I mean stuff that I cannot believe people are so absolutely ignorant to post.

Then along comes swfl1975#27, RangeRat#18, Vapur#19, etc.


With attitudes like that, how do we know what you people believe?

Sheesh. Foil hats and strait-jackets for all of you.

schlogz writes:

Possible race-specific biological weapons testing in progress? Who knows. Science is more advanced than we can really imagine - and science fiction often becomes science fact. But it does make you think when most of the confirmed cases are Hispanic. And I guarantee that some of the cases found around the world are actually not related and are just manifested in this swine flu hysteria.

StellaBlue (Inactive) writes:

lemon would blame Obama if his toilet clogged.

Which it is, due to soooo much toilet clogging material coming from him regularly.

grouper25 writes:

Obama renamed the flu H1N1 but after hearing it called the fajita flu i'm inclined to vote for the fajita strain unless Bilbo can swing one better

Here's hoping only La Raza gets it

RangeRat writes:


I'm sure you would have been the one to tell everyone Paul Revere was just "absolutely ignorant" and needed a "foil hat" because there was NO WAY the British could be coming. Or the Japanese heading to Pearl Harbor. And welcome to the "legions of ignorant posters." :-)

RainMan writes:

Wheres my foil hat.

As to conspiracy stories, the best one I have heard yet was that UFO's had been seen in Mexico.

And a new creature had been captured. Its dna does not match any known earth dna.

And this bug is just an excuse to keep reporters out of Mexico.

Do I get a foil hat now StellaBlue :)

StellaBlue (Inactive) writes:

RangeRat, you make no sense.

I am a believer that this health issue needs to be taken seriously, until proven otherwise.

As I would believe Revere or A Jap warning.

YOU are the one who states it's not true.

You are bass-ackwards. Take your seat....

Rainman, if you were on a ship and they said had sprung a leak, would you ignore it?
No you wouldn't. At least not until you have checked. That's my point.
Are you a conspiracy theorist on the flu?

okay writes:

I'm calling it Mexican flu, in honor of where it originated.

NeezDutz writes:

ummmmmm wouldnt this be more of a need to be alarmed?????????????? Typical flu kills thousands a month

StellaBlue (Inactive) writes:

lemon, I have no messiah.

Unlike you, who happens to worship the paperboy....

nativeone (Inactive) writes:

lemon, I am a bit confused, are you asking for socialistic measures to ensure your safety? Stop looking to the government for everything.

Max_Headroom writes:


1 death out of roughly 300,000,00 people.

Your odds are better at winning the Lotto than it is to die from the swine flu.

thedudesview writes:

Max -- this is more serious than you think, now. That said, it soon may become a non-issue depending on how things play out over the next week or so.

dreamer writes:

since when illegals can vote?come back to reality you listen to much right wing extremist radio.

BlueTonguedVole (Inactive) writes:

Hi lemon, how's it going? Cheekos? LOL...nah.

Neez, and other doubting Thomases:
For the record, I am not a lockstep person with Obama. I think he is off track with the spending, deficit and take over of private business (don't want the "health care" plan he has in mind either), but this H1N1 influenza is really no joke or conspiracy. Viruses aren't into politics. The plan you see in action was not devised by politicians, but by people who work outbreaks and epidemics for a living, infectious disease physicians and researchers, microbiologists and virologists for and in coordination with the CDC and WHO, State and local health organizations/departments as well as their counterparts in other countries. It is founded on science and the understanding gleaned from learning about past pandemics and epidemics. AND Neez, yes the influenza which occurs that is "the usual" flu, is indeed either directly attributable to the cause of death or indicated at a major contributing factor. Key here is that those who get sickest are the very young, very old or those who have underlying compromises to their health.

This H1N1 virus is different: the population most affected is younger without the underlying compromises to their health.

It isn't how the current rate of mortality that concerns researchers in public health (btw, many who I worked with were died in the wool conservatives but their research was not beholden to their personally held opinions). What is of great concern is the novelty of this particular strain of this H1N1 virus. The population simply has no immunity to it.

Consider the adverse economic consequence if we pretty much shut down all businesses for weeks because people were home, and not able to work for 7-10 days as waves of the flu hit. That is why the health agencies are taking measures as they have. Kind of like knowing there is a hurricane may hit, it may miss, but do you want to stand out at the Naples pier to watch it hit? (only fools and foolish surfers do this). If officials did nothing and it hit us hard, people would be screaming bloody murder. When it comes to this kind of situation, it is better to take it seriously and hope it misses.

The media fans fears. Common sense and rational thought can calm and allow people to act and not react.

Humor has long been used in the scientific and medical communities to ease tension. So make joke, laugh, and wise crack, it is healthy. But do know that no matter who was/is President, this plan would enacted.

Yawn, are right, I need my nap now....Zzzzzzz ;-P

NeezDutz writes:

Really #48, right wing extremist radio?
Democrats to vote in June about this very issue

BlueTonguedVole (Inactive) writes:

How to survive in a crazy world per my grandfather: "Plan for the worst, hope for the best, and know...most of the time it will be something in-between." His advice works.

okay writes:

Come back to reality yourself, jag.

Illegals who are given amnesty NOW will CERTAINLY be voting for their messiah in 2012.

Isn't that why YOU voted for him?

nativeone (Inactive) writes:

lemon, using your mentality, government should also protect us from ticks, rabies, HIV, and the common cold to name a few. Something like socialized medicine. I am not for socialism by any means, but without some extent of governemnt intrusion during recessions and depressions, we would all be in serious trouble. Financial institutions would fail, retirements lost, and investments ruined. It is macroeconomics, it's what this nation has evolved into, and what the world has evolved into. Every fiscally developed nation had to bail out some industry or some financial institution. Our president does not make decisions for them.

Sorry all for the political blog, sometimes lemon needs a lashing.

Max_Headroom writes:

Jag, don't you know that mr. Obama want's to give all the illegals everything that the United States citizens have including being on welfare?

dreamer writes:

okay,wait and see,but why you have your pants down now??

BlueTonguedVole (Inactive) writes:

Grouper...a politician, DID NOT 'rename' the N1H1 virus. This is the REAL name that is used and it is a variant strain of this virus.

Geeze this idiocy of playing politics makes me wonder about the survival of our species. Dumb, dumber and uber dumb only fools want to play this game. Get cute, get funny but get real.

native_at_heart writes:

uh-oh I just heard a sneeze, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

BlueTonguedVole (Inactive) writes:

OK, I reealllly DO need a nap, make it H1N1 virus variant in my last post, please.

alfnivek writes:

Swine flu is nothing...
Mexico has bad Bullet Flu H1B1. Your chance of death is very high...

Did you heard about H1A1 Alligator Flu in South FL? You could lose a limb if you catch it. It's from a Cracker "having relations" with a gator.

tonymontana writes:

just in time for Cinco de Mayo!! dos tequilas pleaseeeee
