Swine-flu outbreak linked to Smithfield factory farms (factories, hogs, contract)
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Reminds me of the journalism in so many poisonig cases.Seems even disease is not imune to politcs of the evronmentalist.Common logic often kills as many people as lynch mobs did.
I've read several articles and watched it on the news. So far, what I'm hearing from responsible journalism (complete with video) is that the people who live in the village say that they think it comes from there, and Smithfield says that it does not come from there.
You know what I'd consider evidence? Scientific testing by a reliable source that shows that there is swine flu at the facility. Which I have no doubt would be printed by most all media as soon as it happens, given the feeding frenzy that's going on surrounding this. I'm watching for it. (And, no, I didn't click through to all those links because I'd already seen it.) I'd love to see some scientific (not political) evidence of the source, no matter WHERE it comes from.
In the meantime, 250,000-300,000 people are dying annually worldwide from plain old ordinary seasonal flu.
So the AP, Houston Chronicle, Telegraph, Guradian, Science News, Sky News, etc which Spoonman posted don't count? If you read them, you'll also find Mexican health officials stating their belief that it started at the Smithefield subsidiary.
Do you really think Smithfield would ever admit it if it was proven to the degree you are looking for? If they did, they'd be subject to so many lawsuits that they'd be crippled financially - so don't expect a mea cupla even if "smoking gun" evidence is forthcoming.
I'm glad at least that you seem open minded enough to look at this situation in a non-dogmatic way.
Okay, I heard a report on the national news tonight (complete with film of the adorable child who is described as "Patient 0"). Apparently Smithfield did testing and turned up no swine flu on the premises (which I don't take all that seriously, not being a complete nimnull), but the Mexican government ALSO did testing at the facility trying to find the source and turned up nothing.
"Belief" and "testing" are two different things. Sort of like "faith" and "science".
I'll be interested to hear more about the testing, and if further testing is going to be done by yet another disinterested party. (Call me jaded, and perhaps it's based on my past experience as a personal injury legal assistant, but I do think it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that someone would think, "Hmmm, big rich American company, lots of money to pay in damages . . . ")
so is this the same strain (i'm assuming it is, else why are they calling it H1N1) that infected half the world population in 1918, and killed up to 100 million people worldwide?
1918 flu pandemic
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Two American Red Cross nurses demonstrate treatment practices during the influenza pandemic of 1918.The 1918 flu pandemic (commonly referred to as the Spanish flu) was an influenza pandemic that spread to nearly every part of the world. It was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly Influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin of the virus.[1] Most of its victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or otherwise weakened patients. The pandemic lasted from March 1918 to June 1920,[2] spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It is estimated that anywhere from 20 to 100 million people were killed worldwide,[3] or the approximate equivalent of one third of the population of Europe,[4][5][6] more than double the number killed in World War I.[7] This extraordinary toll resulted from the extremely high illness rate of up to 50% and the extreme severity of the symptoms, suspected to be caused by cytokine storms. The pandemic is estimated to have affected up to one billion people: half the world's population at the time.[8]
Some scholars have theorized that the flu probably originated in the Far East.[9] While historian Alfred Crosby observed that the flu seems to have originated in Kansas, the political scientist Andrew Price-Smith has published data from the Austrian archives suggesting that the influenza had earlier origins, beginning in Austria during the Spring of 1917.[10] Popular writer John Barry echoed Crosby in proposing that Haskell County, Kansas was the location of the first outbreak of flu.[11] In the United States the disease was first observed at Fort Riley, Kansas, United States, on March 4, 1918,[12] and Queens, New York, on March 11, 1918. In August 1918, a more virulent strain appeared simultaneously in Brest, France, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and in the U.S. at Boston, Massachusetts. The Allies of World War I came to call it the Spanish flu, primarily because the pandemic received greater press attention after it moved from France to Spain in November 1918. Spain was not involved in the war and had not imposed wartime censorship.[13]
Scientists have used tissue samples from frozen victims to reproduce the virus for study. Given the strain's extreme virulence there has been controversy regarding the wisdom of such research. Among the conclusions of this research is that the virus kills via a cytokine storm (overreaction of the body's immune system) which explains its unusually severe nature and the concentrated age profile of its victims. The strong immune systems of young adults ravaged the body, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults caused fewer deaths.
Karm- No it's not the same, thankfully. This is a mixture of swine, avian, and human influenza, it's a strain we have never seen before. So far, this current strain doesn't seem too deadly, but there is a possibility it could mutate and get worse, or course it could just a likely die out this summer. Personally, I don't think it will be anywhere near as bad as 1918. I think this flu will be very minor compared to other pandemics, that is, if we actually do reach the pandemic stage.
My opinion is that if this is the sole source, or there are only a couple of sources that are clearly linked and have a prior agenda, that we really don't know and should reserve judgment until we get something a bit more factual.
I agree with you. This is the stuff WHO is working on sorting out right now. Even if this proves to be the epicenter of the outbreak that doesn't automatically make it the point of origin of the virus. Some other interesting things are surfacing in the foreign press. This virus has some unusual features, so determining how it came to be is at least as important as placing blame for the outbreak.
Baxter: Product contained live bird flu virus | Canada | News | Toronto Sun (http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/27/8560781.html - broken link)
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