May 4, 2009 AH1N1 (Swine Flu) Update: When pigs fly

1. As Mexico lowers its flu alert, the World Health Organization (WHO) considers raising its global threat level.

2. The Mexican government takes a swat at China

3. Attention again focuses on Carroll Farms in La Gloria, Veracruz.

Vocabulary word for the day: Reassort. Reassort is when viruses swap genes, adapt or, in other words, mutate into a new form. Often, this can mean that they grow stronger or jump species.

Perhaps the scariest things about the AH1N1 virus are the unknowns. How virulent is it? How quickly is it spreading? Where did it come from? We are nearly two weeks into this situation and contradictory statements seem to be causing more, rather than less confusion. Mexico´s number of AH1N1 cases seems to be stabilizing, but more are reported in other parts of the world each day.

Mexico

Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard has proposed an emergency alert code of five levels and colors to give capitalinos a visual reminder of the current threat levels. As it prepares to reopen for business on Wednesday May 6, Mexico has lowered its AH1N1 alert from level 4 (Red) to Level 3 (Orange).

Related Multimedia

Allen Craig Schlossman

Professional photographer, Allen Craig Schlossman, shares with Inside México some of the photos he has been able to capture over the past week while Mexico City has undergone precautions to avoid spreading the swine flu. View Slideshow >>

Related Articles

• May 1, 2009 Swine Flu Update: The Epi-Porcine-Center?
• April 28, 2009 Swine Flu Update: A dose of cynicism...or two
• April 29, 2009: Update "The swine flu rut"
• April 30, 2009 Swine Flu (H1N1) Update: Mexico City slows way down
• May 2, 2009 Swine Flu Update: Better news

On Wednesday, Mexico City's restaurants will reopen, but are still subject to precautionary rules (no more than four diners can be within a 10 square meter [100 sq. foot] space).  Llibraries, museums, churches and other religious centers will reopen on Thursady, May 8^th. Nightclubs and schools are closed pending decision from the government.

Mexico's Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova says that the AH1N1 contagion peaked in the country between the 23 and 28th of April, but advises the population to remain cautious.


WHO

As Mexico strives to put the flu behind it, the World Health Organization (WHO) is considering raising their threat level from five to the highest alert level of six, which means that the world is experiencing a pandemic. The WHO website defines a pandemic as follows: ¨An influenza pandemic occurs when a new influenza virus appears against which the human population has no immunity, resulting in epidemics worldwide with enormous numbers of deaths and illness.¨

Apparently, the last step before authorizing an increase from five to six would be confirmation of more cases of person-to-person transmission in Europe and Asia.

At the same time, however, the head of the WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan said, "Level 6 does not mean, in any way, that we are facing the end of the world. It is important to make this clear because (otherwise) when we announce level 6 it will cause an unnecessary panic."

What has become clear over the last few days is that the WHO is taking the long view on this virus. Like Dr. José Sarukhán (referenced in the May 2nd update), they are concerned about mutations of the virus and the possibility that it will reassort over the following months.

Chan went on to say "Flu viruses are very unpredictable, very deceptive ... We should not be over-confident. One must not give H1N1 the opportunity to mix with other viruses. That is why we are on alert."

The Washington Post reports that the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as saying that "even if WHO does declare phase six -- a pandemic -- that would be a statement about the geographic spread of the virus, not its severity."

China vs. Mexico

On April 29^th, China sent $1 million USD in cash and $4 million USD in material support to Mexico in its battle with AH1N1.

In China, approximately 70 Mexicans, 25 Canadians as well as other foreigners and some Chinese have been quarantined as the Chinese government takes strong measures to prevent the spread of swine flu in their country.  After the government's delayed reaction to the SARS outbreak six years ago, it's not taking chances in the face of another potentially dangerous infectious disease. 

Last night, interview by Adriana Perez Caneda broadcast nationally on channels 11 and 22, Mexican President Felipe Calderón said that ¨discrimination comes from ignorance¨, implicitly accusing the Chinese of racial profiling by quarantining Mexicans who show no symptoms of the flu.

Mexico´s Secretary of Foreign relations announced that it would be collecting the quarantined Mexicans in China and flying them back to Mexico.


La Gloria

The WHO apparently is claiming that on April 11 they told Mexican authorities about unusual illnesses in Veracruz (see May 1 update) and that Mexican authorities rejected the idea that there might be an epidemic.

El Universal has published a new story on the communities around the Granjas Carroll pig far in Veracruz. It is the most detailed account to date of what life it is like for the people who live near the far: an overwhelming stench, piles of dead pigs, the constant worry about illness, concerns about the environment and fear of retribution for speaking out against the operation there.

How dangerous could these farms be? Are they more or less dangerous in terms of reassorting viruses than rural places where livestock and poultry raised for subsistence wander in and out of people´s homes? Whether or not it turns out that this swine flu strain originated in rural Veracruz, a focus on the conditions for people living and working around industrial livestock farms, and for the animals raised there, is worthwhile.


Let us know what you think. Comment below.