La influenza, influenza humana, gripe porcina o influenza porcina ahi viene de nuevo.

Paises como EUA y Alemania ya han pedido grandes cantidades de agentes antivirales.


Este es un reporte del estado actual de esta epidemia en todo el mundo:


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8161365.stm

World response to swine flu crisis


Good hygiene can help prevent infection with swine flu
The rapid spread of the swine flu pandemic has forced the World Health Organization (WHO) to change tack.

The focus now should be on quick response to severe outbreaks to minimise impact, rather than on attempting to halt growth of the virus, it says.

The WHO has stopped producing lists of laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu as it says this is a waste of resources.

It does not advocate a uniform global plan, saying each country will prefer to tailor its response to its own circumstances.

The BBC News website looks at a selection of key regions around the world to see what they are doing to combat swine flu.


North America
South America
Asia-Pacific Europe
Middle East
South Asia



NORTH AMERICA
Canada

Canada has recorded more than 10,000 cases and dozens of deaths.

But it says it is confident that everyone who needs a dose of the flu vaccine will get at least one shot before Christmas, thanks to its domestic production facilities and a pre-existing contract obligating pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to prioritise Canada's needs in the event of a pandemic.

New infections seem to be declining, but there remain areas of great need - for example, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports that in Manitoba province, swine flu prevalence is 20 times the provincial average.

Remote communities will be among the priority groups to receive the first immunisations, say health officials.

Mexico

The virus originated in Mexico - which has had more than 13,500 cases and 125 deaths - but now appears to be subsiding there.

At the height of the crisis, which is thought to have cost the economy billions of dollars, restaurants, cafes, schools, businesses and public institutions were shut down in a dramatic move to curb the crisis.

President Felipe Calderon assumed new powers to isolate infected people.

US

The US has experienced the greatest number of reported cases, at 40,000, and the greatest number of deaths, at 263, and the government has declared a public health emergency.

Officials believe there may actually have been more than a million cases, but because they have been mild most have gone unreported. There are now signs, they say, that overall influenza activity is abating.

There is currently a debate over which populations should be targeted with the first flu vaccines, which the government hopes will be available in about October, amid fears there will not be enough for a mass vaccination programme.

Nearly $2bn of emergency funds will go towards purchasing vaccine components as well as helping plan for immunisation campaigns.



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SOUTH AMERICA
Argentina

Argentina is the country with the second-highest number of swine flu fatalities, after the US, with 165 deaths and more than 3,000 cases. It was criticised for failing to respond quickly enough when the flu outbreak began - leading some to accuse it of being reluctant to impose tough measures in the run-up to mid-term elections.

Schools, universities, cinemas, theatres and gymnasiums have been closed, and pregnant women and children urged to stay indoors. Pregnant women have been told they can take two weeks off work to avoid contracting the virus.

The Catholic Church has urged worshippers to sit far apart, to avoid handshakes and to take the communion wafer in their hands rather than directly on the tongue.

Doctors urged people not to greet each other with a kiss and not to share mate, a herbal drink traditionally consumed from a straw and passed between friends.

New animal health measures have been announced after farm workers passed the virus on to pigs.

Chile

Chile has seen more than 10,000 cases, but with 40 deaths some are comparing its response to that of Argentina, whose outbreak began at roughly the same time, but which has suffered more than three times the number of deaths.

Before it had any confirmed cases Chilean authorities had set up sanitary barriers at airports and pre-emptively administered tens of thousands of antiviral treatments.

In Chile's heavily privatised health system, private hospitals were offered government resources in exchange for prioritising swine flu cases. The rate of infection is now thought to be declining.

Chile is among the countries calling for assurances that a future vaccine will not be reserved for rich nations in North America and Europe.



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ASIA-PACIFIC
Australia

The outbreak is said to be putting the health system under strain in Australia, which has seen more than 14,000 cases of swine flu, and close to 40 deaths. Pregnant women and indigenous people are said to be particularly vulnerable.

In some hospitals elective surgery has been cancelled to reserve beds for swine flu sufferers and new cardiac bypass machines have been brought in to cope with the surge of patients in intensive care. A mass vaccination scheme is planned as soon as a vaccine is available.

There has been debate around whether the government should roll out a flu vaccine before waiting for the completion of clinical trials - possibly before October - in a bid to contain the virus. But this would be a controversial move, and one not advocated by the WHO.

China

China has recorded just a few thousand cases of the virus, and no deaths - low numbers in a population of more than 1.3 billion.

It is employing strict controls to contain swine flu - trying to prevent infected people from getting into China, and quarantining those already there.

It says these tough policies are needed because of its high population and low hygiene standards in the countryside.

It has quarantined hundreds of foreign students and held New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin when he visited in June.

At its ports and airports, incoming passengers fill out forms asking if they have any flu-like symptoms. They also have their temperatures checked. Any with flu-like symptoms are taken to hospital for tests. People who have had contact with infected people are also put into quarantine or under observation.

One foreign student put in isolation after being found to have swine flu told the BBC his food was placed in a compartment between double doors.

Medical staff wearing protective clothing left the food in the compartment and then closed the outside door before he was allowed to open it on his side and collect the meal.

Thailand

Thermal scanners are being used to detect people with high temperatures at airports in one of the region's worst-hit countries, with around 4,000 cases and at least 24 deaths.

A vaccine plant has hurriedly been opened south of Bangkok to increase the country's domestic production capability once a vaccine is found.



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EUROPE
France

France, which has a few hundred cases of infection and no deaths, says it has ordered 94m swine flu vaccine doses.

According to the French health minister, France is putting in place simple containment measures such as those recommended for seasonal flu.

It has also bought a billion "anti-projection" masks (for those already infected) and 723m protective masks (for preventative use).

Germany

Germany, which has under 1,000 recorded cases of swine flu, has ordered 50m doses of the flu vaccine.

It is braced for case numbers to surge as its well-travelled citizens return from their summer holidays around Europe and beyond.

It is planning to implement a mass vaccination programme as part of an anti-swine flu drive in September - which will prioritise health and public workers, as well as pregnant women and the chronically ill.

Russia

Russia has recorded just nine confirmed cases. The government has warned of a "sharp" increase in the number of suspected cases, though it says all are among people who have travelled abroad, with no evidence so far of its transmission inside the country.

Public Health Chief Gennady Onishchenko announced that the virus was now spreading to all parts of Europe's largest country - "now not just Moscow's property but also that of the regions".

He warned that infections could spike in the autumn as people return from holidays and said "I advise maximum vaccination" once a vaccine is available.

Spain

The first European country to confirm a case of the virus, Spain now has more than 1,300 cases and has recorded four deaths.

It is planning to vaccinate 40% of the population - the 30% considered to be at special risk plus another 10%.

UK

Britain is Europe's worst-hit territory with more than 10,000 recorded cases - 65% of the total number of cases reported in Continental Europe.

But the actual number is probably much higher: Britain's health agency estimated there were 55,000 new cases in the second week of July.

England is about to set up a National Pandemic Flu Service, which will provide phone and internet diagnoses.

Hygiene guidance to every household, and antiviral drugs are being offered to those who have contracted swine flu.

Britain wants to start a mass vaccination campaign in August, but has few domestic production facilities of its own so is depending on sourcing large enough quantities of the vaccine from overseas.

The UK was criticised by the WHO for suggesting it could begin vaccinating high-risk patients before clinical trials were complete.



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MIDDLE EAST
Egypt

Egypt, which has about 120 cases, with one related death, controversially culled several hundred thousand pigs in May, in spite of advice from global health authorities that this was unnecessary.

Its first death was recently reported when a 25-year-old woman who had returned from a tour of Muslim holy places in Saudi Arabia died in hospital.

Egypt's top cleric or mufti, Sheikh Ali Gomaa, said he would not issue a decree barring Egyptians from making the pilgrimage, but health officials said all returning pilgrims would be quarantined.

Israel

Israel has only recorded about 1,000 cases, but has warned that the virus could hit a quarter of its population within months.

In some cases it has sent sufferers home instead of isolating them in hospital.

And outbreaks of the flu among its defence forces have in some cases prompted authorities to order mandatory leave.



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SOUTH ASIA
India

Only 265 confirmed cases in the entire country of more than a billion people, but there is still screening and medical checks at all international airports and rail stations. Schools with infected pupils have been shut - and confirmed cases are being treated in hospital with Tamiflu, regardless of how mild their symptoms may be.

Algunos misterios difíciles de desentrañar sobre la influenza ("parte 25")

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090502/NEWS10/305029993/1005/NEWS10

Many flu mysteries difficult to unravel
Eric CarvinAssociated Press



Government officials, public health experts and business leaders have faced a lot of questions about swine flu this week, and three words keep popping up in their answers: “We don’t know.”


The flu outbreak has spawned many mysteries – about origin, scope and impact, just for starters – and some of the most fundamental questions remain unanswered, or unanswerable.


Here’s some of what we don’t know.


Q. How many people have had the virus?



A. A lot of numbers have bubbled up – more than 100 lab-confirmed cases in the United States, more than 300 in Mexico, and dozens more in a few other countries. And then there are the suspected cases – thousands in Mexico alone.


But the real number of infections around the world is impossible to know, because many people may get better without ever seeing a doctor. Even among the lab-confirmed cases, many people have had only mild symptoms.


Q. How big will this get?



A. We probably won’t know the answer until scientists figure out how easily the virus spreads and how often it kills. Then, they might be able to project more accurately what damage the outbreak might cause.


An influenza outbreak can spread rapidly and unpredictably. The swine flu has taken hold in densely populated areas – such as Mexico City, home to 20 million people – where it can spread at an alarming rate. And the disease has popped up in many parts of the world, thanks to easy travel.


Even the public health experts most plugged into swine flu don’t want to speculate about the ultimate scope of the outbreak.


Q. When and where did it start?



A. The virus may have mutated into its current form months or even a year ago, and it happened, well, somewhere in the world.


The first symptoms started to show up in early March in the Mexican state of Veracruz.


The earliest confirmed case was a 5-year-old boy, one of hundreds of people in the town of La Gloria whose flu symptoms left them struggling to breathe.


People from La Gloria kept going to jobs in Mexico City despite their illnesses, and could have infected people there.


Still, there’s no guarantee the virus came into existence in Veracruz. It spreads so easily, it could have made its way to Mexico from just about anywhere.


Some Mexican officials have offered some other suggestions of places where the virus may have begun, such as China, Pakistan or Bangladesh. But the fact is that the flu’s origin remains a mystery.


Q. Why have so many people died in Mexico, but virtually nobody anywhere else?



A. A swarm of public health experts – including several from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – have descended upon Mexico in search of an answer. This is especially a head-scratcher because experts have found no difference in samples of the virus collected in Mexico and the United States.


One theory is that many more people have had the virus in Mexico than health officials realize, and the number of cases there could well eclipse the number anywhere else in the world. If so, that country’s death toll – more than a dozen confirmed deaths and many more suspected ones – would make sense.


Q. Will changes in the WHO alert level help stem the outbreak?



A. That’s the idea, but it’s unclear what concrete actions are actually taken by WHO and countries with a change in the alert level – which was bumped up on Wednesday to Phase 5, one step away from the highest level, which indicates a global outbreak.


The alert levels mainly signify WHO’s assessment of the pandemic situation, but they do come with actions and responsibilities. At the higher alert levels, WHO is essentially warning countries to prepare for a pandemic.


The alert system, however, is largely untested. Monday was the first time it had ever been raised above Phase 3, which signifies only occasional cases or small clusters of a new flu virus.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Muchos de gripe difícil de desentrañar los misterios
Eric CarvinAssociated Prensa



Funcionarios gubernamentales, expertos en salud pública y los líderes empresariales se han enfrentado a un montón de preguntas sobre la gripe porcina de esta semana, tres palabras y seguir apareciendo en sus respuestas: "No sabemos".


El brote de gripe ha generado muchos misterios - sobre el origen, alcance y efectos, sólo para comenzar - y algunas de las preguntas más fundamentales siguen sin respuesta, o discusión.


He aquí algunas de las cosas que no sabemos.


P. ¿Cuántas personas han tenido el virus?



A. Una gran cantidad de números de burbujas - más de 100 casos confirmados por laboratorio en los Estados Unidos, más de 300 en Mexico, y docenas más en algunos otros países. Y luego están los casos sospechosos - miles de personas en Mexico solo.


Pero el número real de infecciones en todo el mundo es imposible saber, ya que muchas personas pueden obtener cada vez mejores, sin ver a un médico. Incluso entre los casos confirmados por laboratorio, muchas personas han tenido sólo síntomas leves.


P. ¿Cómo va a obtener grandes?



R. Probablemente no sabe la respuesta hasta que los científicos sepan cómo el virus se propaga fácilmente y con qué frecuencia mata. Entonces, podrían ser capaces de proyectar con mayor precisión qué daño puede causar el estallido.


Un brote de gripe pueden propagar rápidamente y de forma impredecible. La gripe porcina se ha afianzado en las zonas densamente pobladas - tales como la Ciudad de México, hogar de 20 millones de personas - en caso de que se puede propagar a un ritmo alarmante. Y la enfermedad ha aparecido en muchas partes del mundo, gracias a un fácil viaje.


Incluso los expertos en salud pública más enchufado a la gripe porcina no quiero especular sobre el alcance final del brote.


P. ¿Cuándo y dónde empieza?



A. El virus puede haber mutado en su forma actual, meses o incluso hace un año, y pasó, así, en algún lugar del mundo.


Los primeros síntomas comenzaron a aparecer a principios de marzo en el estado mexicano de Veracruz.


El primer caso confirmado es un 5-años de edad, uno de cientos de personas en la ciudad de La Gloria cuyos síntomas de la gripe dejado luchando por respirar.


La gente de La Gloria siguió su camino a los puestos de trabajo en la Ciudad de México, a pesar de sus enfermedades, y podrían tener las personas infectadas por allí.


Sin embargo, no hay garantía de que el virus entró en existencia en Veracruz. Se propaga con tanta facilidad, se podría haber hecho su camino a Mexico desde casi cualquier lugar.


Algunos funcionarios mexicanos han ofrecido algunas otras sugerencias de lugares donde el virus puede haber comenzado, como China, Pakistán o Bangladesh. Pero el hecho es que la gripe de origen sigue siendo un misterio.


P. ¿Por qué tantas personas han muerto en Mexico, pero prácticamente nadie en ninguna otra parte?



A. Un enjambre de expertos en salud pública - entre ellos varios de los EE.UU. Centros para el Control y Prevención de Enfermedades - han descendido a Mexico en busca de una respuesta. Esto es especialmente una cabeza scratcher porque los expertos no han encontrado diferencias en las muestras del virus recogidas en Mexico y los Estados Unidos.


Una teoría es que muchas más personas han tenido el virus en Mexico que realizar los funcionarios de salud, y el número de casos podría eclipsar el número en cualquier parte del mundo. Si es así, que el número de muertos del país - más de una docena de muertos confirmados y muchos más sospechosos que - tendría sentido.


P. ¿Los cambios en el nivel de alerta de la OMS ayudará a frenar el brote?



A. Eso s la idea, pero es claro qué medidas concretas se toman realmente por la OMS y los países con un cambio en el nivel de alerta - que fue golpeado hasta el miércoles a la fase 5, a un paso de más alto nivel, que indica que hay un brote mundial.


Los niveles de alerta de la OMS significa principalmente la evaluación de la situación de pandemia, sino que vienen con las acciones y responsabilidades. En los más altos niveles de alerta, la OMS es esencialmente de alerta a los países a prepararse para una pandemia.


El sistema de alerta, sin embargo, es en gran medida a prueba. Lunes fue la primera vez que había sido planteada por encima de la Fase 3, lo que significa sólo ocasionalmente casos o pequeños grupos de un nuevo virus de la gripe.

Maldita manipulación del gobierno con la influenza para apurar leyes policiales

Para mi al momento esto es claro:

El gobierno de México actuó mal y lento
Viendo la coyuntura aprovecho e hizo una treta y vil engaño con lo de la influenza
En ese inter se aprovecha para autorizar nuevas leyes, del ansiado estado policiaco que Calderón anhela.


Si llegaron a la presidencia con engaños y trucos ¿ Por qué no habrían de hacerlos ya estando en ella según sus beneficios e intereses ?

El respetado portal de negocios www.bloomberg.com publicó una nota diciendo que México sobre reaccionó con el caso de la influenza. Ahora revisen las noticias de lo que pasó en estos días y verán el truco y engaño que nso montaron, pero ! Cuidado ! Podría stener a un policia encubierto, tu linea d eteléfono intervenida o tu email hackeado por la etica y justa autoridad policial.


Deleznable !


Esta noticia marcando la sobre reacción de México da pie para pensar que esto que comento es bastante plausible:


Aparecido en bloomberg.com

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=amdvTL1TiQ2M&refer=home

Mexico ‘Overreacts’ to Flu Risk as Infections Slow, Doctors Say

By Jens Erik Gould

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- As Mexican authorities report that the rate of swine flu infection is slowing, doctors in Mexico City say residents are more scared than they need to be.

Guillermo Velazquez, a pulmonary doctor in the respiratory wing of the General Hospital of Mexico in Mexico City, takes calls every 15 minutes from patients worried they have swine flu. He has had 150 consultations in the past week, a volume that he says is 30 percent higher than usual. Only four of those patients are suspected of having the illness, and none of the cases have been confirmed, he said.

“No, no, it’s not transmitted by an insect. Just stay away from crowds and people who sneeze,” Velazquez, 54, says to one patient on the phone. Minutes later, another woman calls asking if her itchy palate means she has swine flu. “There’s a generalized psychosis here,” Velazquez says after hanging up.

Health Minister Jose Cordova announced yesterday that there was a “progressive decline” in the number of new cases of swine flu, which is responsible for 15 confirmed deaths and 343 nonfatal cases. The number of suspected new cases of the illness per day fell to 46 yesterday from 212 on April 20, Cordova said.

Still, residents are fleeing the capital, storming supermarkets to stock up on food and donning surgical gloves and masks to drive alone in their cars.

‘Fear In Society’

“There’s fear in society,” Francisco Navarro, director general of the General Hospital, the country’s largest, said in an interview. “People think that if they have the flu they’ll die.” According to Navarro, the number of patients Mexico City’s General Hospital hospitalized has actually fallen this week.

The World Health Organization and other authorities expect the number of confirmed worldwide cases, currently at 331, to grow. Mexican scientists say the number of confirmed cases in Mexico may rise as the country’s testing improves. The WHO raised its six-tier pandemic alert to 5, bringing it closer to declaring the first influenza pandemic since 1968.

Mexican officials have suspended all nonessential services until May 5 and urged businesses to close to reduce the risk of spreading swine flu. The federal government canceled classes for all students through May 6, while the capital’s government has ordered that all museums, movie theaters and gyms shut down.

Mexico City’s traffic jams have mostly vanished. Many residents are staying home and many of those who venture outside hide behind blue or white masks. Restaurants, only permitted to offer take-out, are empty.

Emergency Measures

“I think they are responding to a public-health emergency in just about the only way that anybody knows how,” said Arnold Monto, a scientist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and consultant to the WHO. “When you start talking about over- reaction, there’s also underreaction.”

The emergency measures have also inspired more fear than the statistics on flu cases warrant, said Aurora Cardenas, a professor of psychology at the University of the Americas in Mexico City.

Supermarkets have long lines at checkout counters and have at times run out of basic products such as bread. Pharmacies across Mexico City are sold out of medical products the authorities have recommended using, such as face masks and hand sanitizers.

“They’re out of all the medical products they mention on TV,” Cardenas said. “That’s evidence that people are overreacting. People see others doing panicked buying and they want to do it too.”

General Hospital

At the General Hospital, which has a capacity of 1,260 patients, more than 95 percent of the people who have come for consultations to see if they have swine flu haven’t tested positive for any sort of flu, Navarro said. Doctors and other hospital personnel are also asking to be checked for flu symptoms, he said.

Rodolfo Garcia, a recovering tuberculosis patient who waited outside the respiratory wing of the hospital, said the hallways were less crowded than normal because patients due for other treatments had stayed away out of fear of the flu.

Garcia said the panic over the virus was out of proportion because it has killed far fewer people than those snuffed out by the country’s drug cartels. Deaths related to organized crime doubled to more than 6,200 last year, or 17 deaths per day.

“How many millions of us are there in the Federal District?,” said Garcia, 40. “And how many confirmed deaths are there? The drug traffickers can kill that many people in an hour.”

Eufemia Gerardo Sanchez, 59, traveled from Puebla state to the General Hospital in the capital to have her hacking cough and aching chest checked out, concerned she might have swine flu. It turned out to be bronchitis.

“I heard the news and I was afraid because I have small grandchildren,” Sanchez said. “I told the doctor to get rid of these doubts, it was best to just do the tests.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jens Erik Gould in Mexico City at jgould9@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 1, 2009 13:46 EDT

Calderon y su gabinete debe ser enjuiciado por negligencia por el manejo del asunto viral.

Calderón midio los tiempos con el virus de influenza porcina A/H1N1, los calculó y uso a su beneficio para hacer más crítica la situación y luego poder declarar poderes especiales, por fin, como si fuese el equivalente al incendio del Reichstag (claro que FCH es una minuscula bacteria al lado de....), así por fin tendría mas esa cualidad que siempre ha acariciado de dictador, de impositivo y manda más, de minusculo y mediocre personaje a todo un mandamás con poderes especiales en el país, con el ejército justificado en su presencia en las calles. Ojalá y no pero de este personaja no sabe uno ni qué esperar, con esode quelo importante es "ganar, haihga sido como ahhiga zido"

Si sumamos los elementos, encontraremos bastante para adjudicarle un manejo mediocre y negligente a Calderón y su gabinete en este caso,suficiete creo yo cmo para madarle a juicio, incluso internacional, por la gravedad.

El primer caso no en México sino en EUA. La rareza del material genético del A/H1N1. El virus es prácticamente un misterio

Los brotes de nuevas cepas como la A/H1N1 son impredecibles, coinciden especialistas (Pero si contenibles si se actia bien y rápido supongo)

No fue en México, sino en EU donde se detectó el primer caso en 2008: experta
Lo preocupante es que este mal se transmite de persona a persona, a diferencia de la gripe aviar

David Brooks
Corresponsal
Nueva York, 27 de abril. Según los expertos, no se podrá entender la influenza porcina alarmando al mundo sin determinar las dimensiones de la población afectada, qué tan transmisible es la enfermedad, y qué tan letal, y casi todos dicen que las respuestas están principalmente en México.

En lo que sí coinciden los altos funcionarios de salud y expertos aquí es que estos brotes son impredecibles, y en especial un brote de una cepa nueva, como la tipo A/H1N1 que está compuesta por ingredientes genéticos porcinos, aviares y humanos, algo nunca visto antes. (sea natural o que haya habido mano de laboratorista jugando con genes)

Los (factores) desconocidos en México son profundos, afirmó Laurie Garrett, experta en políticas internacionales de salud, epidemias y seguridad, ganadora del premio Pulitzer por su trabajo sobre este tipo de fenómenos, del Consejo de Relaciones Exteriores. Señaló que el desconocido más grande es el problema del denominador donde no se sabe cuánta gente ha sido infectada, pero que no se ha enfermado de manera grave o no ha muerto, y así poder medir con mayor precisión este brote. Sin ese denominador, no se sabe qué tan significativo es todo esto, o sea el número de muertos o severamente enfermos que se reportan, dijo hoy en teleconferencia con medios.

Garrett calificó de bastante buena la reacción y respuesta inicial de México y Estados Unidos ante lo que se sabía. Descartó que México se haya demorado demasiado en su respuesta inicial, al señalar que no fue en México, sino en Estados Unidos, donde se detectó, en septiembre del año pasado, el primer caso conocido de esta influenza porcina, en un niño de 10 años de edad en Texas, indicó en respuesta a La Jornada. (Lo dudo, eso es políticamente correcto pero falso, teniendo el gobierno mexicano alarmas tempranas actuo lento y por ello el virus ya no se puede circunscribir a zonas específicas, el mal ya se extendió)

Meses después, los primeros casos preocupantes detectados aquí fueron dos en California y uno en Texas a mediados de marzo. No fue hasta que se registraron los sucesos en México que todo cambió en términos de evaluar lo que se estaba enfrentando. No hicimos gran cosa sobre los casos en California y Texas hasta que vimos México, señaló.

El problema ahora, dijo Garrett, es que tanto en México como en Estados Unidos, no se cuenta con los números para hacer una evaluación de qué tan grave es este fenómeno, y con ello responder a dos cuestiones claves: qué tan transmisible es, y qué tan letal.

Lo que sí se ha determinado, y que nutre la preocupación entre las autoridades y expertos de salud aquí, es que el virus tiene la capacidad de ser transmitido de persona a persona, algo que lo diferencia de la gripe aviar.

Esta falta de respuestas nutre la especulación y, por lo tanto, la alarma entre el público, consideran los expertos. Pero por ahora toda entrevista con especialistas en salud pública, epidemiólogos, doctores y demás, concluye casi siempre en lo mismo: no se sabe mucho, ni sobre si esto alcanzará proporciones de una pandemia o si desaparecerá espontáneamente, como ha ocurrido con otros virus en el pasado, ni por qué hasta ahora es más letal en México que en Estados Unidos.

Para algunos, lo que llama la atención hasta ahora es que sólo unos cuantos casos en México se han confirmado como influenza porcina, lo cual podría indicar que buena parte de los afectados allá padecen de los efectos de otro tipo de virus. (Si, tal vez de una vil gripa por vivir en tianguis, respirar humo y polvo y comer en puestos)

¿Qué tan diferente es esto de la influenza estacional? ¿Este virus tiene un potencial diferente para causar enfermedad severa? Es por esto que es tan crítico enterarnos de lo que está ocurriendo... Si uno no supiera lo de México, lo que está ocurriendo aquí (en EU) sólo serían unos cuantos casos extraños de influenza que se presentan fuera de la temporada, indicó un científico de alto rango del Departamento de Salud de Estados Unidos en entrevista con el Washington Post. De hecho, expertos aquí consideran que buena parte de los fallecimientos en México fueron resultado de influenza estacional, la cual es considerado aún más peligroso que la influenza porcina.

El diario Los Angeles Times recuerda que aproximadamente 36 mil personas mueren en Estados Unidos durante una temporada de influenza normal, con entre 500 mil a un millón a nivel mundial cada año. Pero la diferencia con el nuevo virus es que está afectando principalmente a los jóvenes de buena salud, y no a menores de edad y ancianos que son las víctimas más usuales de la influenza estacional.

Y con toda esa ausencia de datos y explicaciones más precisas, el brote de influenza porcina está generando cada vez mayor preocupación en este país, con los medios elevando el tema entre las principales noticias. Algunos ofrecen titulares como el del New York Daily News hoy: ¡La influenza porcina se dispersa!, y un subtítulo de los federales temen que el virus se puede volver fatal en Estados Unidos.

Hasta los mercados bursátiles se han contagiado. El índice Dow Jones acabó abajo por 51 puntos, con preocupaciones por los efectos económicos del brote generando bajas en las acciones de líneas de aviación y hoteles. Mientras tanto, las acciones de empresas farmacéuticas y hospitalarias registraron alzas.

La gripe porcina "mexicana"

Ja, veo con hilaridad que en Israel ya han denominado a esta enfermedad "gripe porcina mexicana", ya para más fácil.
Hasta en nuestras enfermedades nacionales se ve la vocación a vivir en el chiquero, en medio de la inmundicia. Si íbamos a contribuir con la humanidad legándole una pandemia, pues qué mejor que dándole en el nombre algo de lo que más nos caracteriza, de lo que más nos distingue como país: la vida entre la inmundicia, el chiquero como visión del mundo.... Con perdón de los lindos y sabrosos cerditos.