Why is Mexico's Death Toll So High for 2009 H1N1 ("Swine Flu")?

First Flu Death Provides Clues to Mexico Toll

Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times

By MARC LACEY and ELISABETH MALKIN
Published: April 30, 2009

OAXACA, Mexico — Adela María Gutiérrez fell ill in the beginning of April with what she thought was a bad cold. She tried aspirin and antibiotics, bed rest and moist towels, but nothing brought down her soaring fever, reduced her aches and pains, or boosted her energy level.

Mexico begins shutting down as flu fears spread

By Catherine Bremer

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico began shutting down parts of its economy on Thursday to slow the spread of a new flu strain as officials urged increased worldwide precautions against an imminent pandemic.

-- snip --

New confirmed flu cases were reported in the United States, Canada and Europe, although a case in Peru, which would have been the first confirmed case in Latin America outside of Mexico, was later discounted.

Primary Health Care Teams for Canadians

Teams in Action:
Primary Health Care Teams for Canadians

Health Council of Canada – April 2009

Teams Should be “Standard of Care” for Canadians with Chronic Health Conditions

Available online PDF [57p.] at: http://www.healthcouncilcanada.ca/teamsinaction.pdf

As Canada’s health care system deals with an aging population, collaborative health care teams are an effective way to treat the increasing number of Canadians with chronic health conditions.

UK Equity Bill

UK Government Equalities Office (GEO)

On Friday 24th April 2009 the Equality Bill was introduced in the House of Commons and it was published on Monday 27th April.
Please see below for more information, documents and relevant downloads:
· The Equality Bill and Explanatory Notes (Links to external site.)
· A Fairer Future- The Equality Bill and other action to make equality a reality
· Impact Assessment
· Equality Impact Assessment
· Easy Read
· Assessing the Impact of a Multiple Discrimination Provision

Equality Bill 2008-09

Face Mask that kills Swine Influenza?

Filligent, the Hong Kong-based biotech company, claims they are mobilizing stocks of a anti-infective face mask called BioMask which traps and kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses on contact, and is a powerful weapon to contain the spread of the swine flu. The Filligent website claims:

MDG's Failing Poor Children: Case for Equity-adjusted Measures

The Millennium Development Goals Fail Poor Children: The Case for Equity-Adjusted Measures

Daniel D. Reidpath1*, Chantal M. Morel2, Jeffrey W. Mecaskey3, Pascale Allotey1
1 Centre for Public Health Research, Brunel University, Uxbridge, United Kingdom,
2 LSE Health, London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom,
3 Save the Children UK, London, United Kingdom
PLoS Med 6(4): e1000062. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000062 - April 28, 2009

Available online at: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000062

Mexico City restricts thousands of public places over swine flu

Many governments around the world have begun to impose restrictions in hopes of limiting the spread of Swine Flu. A CNN story gives an update of cases and focuses on Mexico's new enforcement of restaurant closures and contemplation of transportation restrictions.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/28/swine.flu/index.html

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- About 35,000 public venues in Mexico City were shut down or told to serve only takeout meals Tuesday as officials tried to contain a deadly swine flu outbreak.

Health Policies and Plans in Latin America and the Caribbean

Relevantamiento de Planes y Políticas Nacionales de Salud:
Resultados e Implicaciones

Flu Models: Swine Flu Here to Stay?

By Patrick Oppmann
CNN

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) -- Predicting the path of a swine flu outbreak is next to impossible, public health officials say. But Dr. Ira Longini has spent more than three decades trying to do just that.

Dr. Ira Longini studies simulations of hypothetical influenzas and how they would spread. And Longini says the apparent new strain of swine flu appears to be here to stay. "We are probably going to have to live with this virus for some time," he told CNN.

Managing evidence-based knowledge

Managing evidence-based knowledge:
the need for reliable, relevant and readable resources

Sharon Straus is with the LiKaShing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto,
R. Bryan Haynes is with the Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont. Canada
Canadian Medical Association CMAJ • April 28, 2009; 180 (9). doi:10.1503/cmaj.081697

Available online at: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/reprint/180/9/942

Contribution of Primary Care to Health Systems and Health

BARBARA STARFIELD, LEIYU SHI, and JAMES MACINKO
Johns Hopkins University; New York University
The Milbank Quarterly, Vol. 83, No. 3, 2005 (pp. 457–502)

Available online PDF [46p.] at: http://www.jhsph.edu/pcpc/Publications_PDFs/2005_MQ_Starfield.pdf

WHO Pandemic Alert Levels

Will the Swine Flu of 2009 become a pandemic, and if so when?

Review the WHO Pandemic Alert Levels below, consider the cases in Mexico, the U.S., and Canada alone, not withstanding the rapid and uncontrolled spread to other countries throughout the world, and come to your own conclusion.

WHO ALERT LEVELS
In Phase 1 no viruses among animals reported to have caused infections in humans.

In Phase 2 animal flu virus is known to have caused infection in humans and is potential pandemic threat.

Cholera Infection Continues to Slow in Southern Africa, UN Says

April 22, 2009

The cholera epidemic in southern Africa continues to abate, but international and local health authorities stress the need to remain vigilant, the United Nations reported.

"Overall, the duration and magnitude of the epidemic underscores the need for strengthening surveillance, preparedness and underscores plans in all countries," according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

WHAT IS A RESILIENT RESPONSE TO SWINE FLU?

[from White House briefing 4 26 09]

It’s important that people understand that there’s a role for everyone to play when there’s an outbreak going on. There are things that individuals do, there are things that families do, communities do and the government and international agencies do to reduce the impact.
At the individual level, it is important that each of us understand how we can prevent respiratory infections. Very frequent hand-washing is something that we talk about time and time again because it is an effective way to reduce transmission of disease.

The Swine Web: CDC, Mash-ups, tweets, & more

Google Flu Trends, has been updating itself with data and news stories about the swine flu pandemic. One might question the veracity of the tracking given the potential interest in pandemic possibilities. In describing how Flu Trends tracks outbreaks: "We've found that there is a close relationship between how many people search for flu-related topics and how many people actually have flu symptoms," reads an explanation on the site.

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