Most of the airlines seem to be waiving or giving breaks on the fees for changing the date of your ticket to Mexico:

https://faq.orbitz.com/cgi-bin/orbitz_faq.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=11489

Resistance Is Futile. Although vitamin C can help with that, according to Cheech & Chong.
.

I thought I’d lighten the mood with a couple Swine Flu Parodies:
http://www.wickedsweetvideos.com/2009/04/swine-flu-prepare-plan-and-stay.html

An alternate form, that I can’t yet get the state of Alaska or the university or the feds to test is an N-95 possible equivalent== http://totobobo.com

This last one is easily fit tested (what good is a leaky mask or respirator) and can be fitted to almost any face– adult, child, European, Eskimo.

Also–3 things everyone should know to prevent pandemic flu, MRSA, RSV, pink-eye

It is very frustrating that reports continue to insinuate “cytokine storm” by citing deaths in the 20-40 age group, yet there has been little or no follow up to confirm this. It does appear that incidence reporting coming out of Mexico for the last week has been sketchy and unreliable, and it seems crazy to base any kind of strategy to deal with this new flu on the chaotic data coming from Mexican authorities.

CNN reports:”Mexico has reported 152 fatalities in flu-like cases in recent days, seven of which have been confirmed as swine flu.” ??? Hopefully CDC can get the real story down there.

My guess for the disparity btwn US and Mexican deaths? 6-8 tons of fecal matter, chemicals, and other garbage floating around in their air at any given moment (Distrito Federal at least).

Of course, the longer this bug floats around in the wild, the more likely it recombines or drifts into something different, which is scary.

Xeni, Cory, Mark et al – could we consider having Maggie as a permanent blogger?

Or could she at least come round my house for tea and biscuits some time?

So that’s my theory why here in Mexico is much worse than in everywhere else.

It is known that some parasites alter cell mediated immunity:

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118610137/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9467652

It is also known that this is required to fight the flu:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no01/05-1237.htm

Also, nematodes can potentially infect people who eat raw fish (like Ceviche). Plus they have high infection rates for worm parasites in mexico:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2389320

There are a lot more articles on these things I just pulled up the first ones I found so they may not be the best but it gets the idea across.

Also, I bet back in the last flu pandemic in the early 20th century a lot more people had GI parasites.

The media in Australia is running with this like its the apocolypse, but I’ve seen a few clips from the US that make our news look tame.

Really nice to see a clear and concise explanation of central issues such as cytokine storm presented in a few hundred words. Hours of television news coverage consistently fails to manage this.

I’ve been wondering why the Dreaded Swine Avian Flu of Death has arrived on our shores, but the actual things we fear about it haven’t.

So has everyone else with a brain, apparently.

I’ll throw in some wild speculation of my own, this virus could introduce swine and avian strains to the general population, and create immunity benefits and resistance to future hybrid flu strains.

Note: I’ve got absolutely no qualifications to speculate on this, but that doesn’t seem to be a limiting factor anymore…

(sorry)

Sure as hell it tastes better than Gatorade.

The MSM loves stories that generate fear and panic because it generates revenue.

Turn off the TV and go play a game. The world won’t be ending any time soon.

There’s a peculiar notion that infectious diseases that once plagued us just disappeared on their own. They didn’t. Polio and measles and cholera disappeared from the developed world because media and governments publicized them and individuals took appropriate precautions.

Stefani greetings
So you will know….
Locally they have decided to close the schools until May 6. This is a safety measure….but it was also a time of a lot of holidays so it not a big move.
Everyone is very calm. Public health announcements are sane and well coordinated.
People continue to be much more concerned about the lack of jobs and the down turn in the economy. Money from Mexican workers in the US has decreased substantially and tourism is very low.
Otherwise life is the same….. locally there is no 24 hour news, no talk shows, no constant onslaught of threats….and nothing interferes with the constant stream of novellas that grip the population throughout the day.
Thanks for your concern
Cheers
Laurel

I suspect that people in Western societies are just too comfortable and can’t imagine life being anything other than how it is now. Short-sighted yes, but I suspect it’s pretty fundamental to human nature.

I just bought an older book of herbal remedies (they’re really interesting reads), I looked up flu remedies and preventatives.

Something to take as flu sets in contains cider vinegar, water, sea salt(lots of nutrients) and cayenne pepper. You take a wee bit every half hour.
Dill also has a calming effect on the stomach. But I don’t know about juice from a jar.

Maggie, what kind of pickle was it?

BTW – I’ve been mentioning the fact that we don’t know about the mild Mexican cases for a few days…not many people seem to understand.
Also, there was a new conference from Canada, one of the guys on it (forgot title…) said that they might be able to have a vaccine out to front line workers in as little as 2 months…if things go well.