Obama Admin. Releases Stockpile of Antiflu Virus Drug
Filed in Barack Obama, General U.S. News on Apr.26, 2009
The Obama administration was “all hands on deck” today in response to the quickly escalating swine flu outbreak, with the declaration of a public health emergency and the release of the national antiflu drug stockpile.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared a national public health emergency, with swine flu now confirmed in at least 20 cases in five states. However, she said, the outbreak has not yet threatened to reach the lethal level it has in Mexico.
April 26th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Isn’t it nice to know that our country is spending billions and billions of dollars to thwart terrorism, and yet a virus like this can be unleashed upon the people of the world and those billions then mean nothing.
It scares me to think this might be some kind of biological warfare.
Am I alone in my thinking? Hope Not. Am I just being paranoid?
Sage Reply:
April 26th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I don’t think it is biological warfare….frankly it’s too iffy for warfare. If you notice the people in the states have all recovered well but there were a number of deaths in Mexico which I think has to do with sanitary conditions and nutrition.
AliSilver Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:36 am
I’m pretty suspicious myself. Two things,,, this species to species jump is radical. I was talking to my vet last night and she was commenting on how UNHEARD of the jump from one species to another is, much less across THREE species. She likened it to PARVO, super common in dogs. Any dog not vaccinated against it has a HUGE chance of getting it. Now what if people started getting parvo? Wouldn’t we all be like OMG and WTF all at the same breath ? So I don’t know if it’s bio “warfare” per se. But I would say at the very least I think they were playing with the virus and had an ‘accidental release” or something like that. They play with stuff in the labs all over the place. Constantly they are toying with viruses to see what they do and how they mutate. So it’s a weird thing for sure.
But I also totally 100% agree with SAGE that the sanitation issues are why it is worse there. If their water is unclean ( which has been so well documented for so many years as to be a joke made by all incoming and outgoing travellers to mexico) then there is no way to KEEP germs in or out of the cities there.
Another thing my vet said is that it was carelessness on the part of the health workers in Mexico City to not contain it before it could spread like this. They must have seen it and known they had something heavy duty and freaky on their hands, but not a word was said until AFTER it pops up several other countries.
AliSilver Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 9:37 am
LOL….I forgot the 2nd thing, so forget the part of that post that says TWO THINGs……… :P
Sage Reply:
April 27th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I don’t know that Mexico could have contained the virus. Tourism is HUGE for the Mexican economy and hundreds of thousands of Americans pour across the border into Mexico yearly. I couldn’t find an exact number but I know from personal experience the number is quite high. Thousands of people die yearly from flu and flu complications so it would be premature for Mexico or the U.S. to close down their border. Part of the fear over the swine flu is because of what might be as opposed to what actually is and that fear is that the virus mutate and become a super virus that is hard to treat.
April 26th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
I see Darlin’s point. A pandemic wouldn’t even have to start here. Somewhere like Mexico which has a lot of tourists would be a good place to start one. From what I am reading though, it isn’t to severe unless some one is other wise compromised health wise. It’s a good way to test our responses for a pandemic though.
Given what I saw in rural Mexico and even on the edges of bigger cities, I can see how it started naturally. Thise little kids selling homemade sweets on an open tray hangin from the necks, covered with flies etc.