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Sep 30, 2009

H1N1 datang lagi??

Penat baru blk keje, teringat something aku nk share kat blog ni..ape lagi, trus bukak blog.
Aku dpt email ni member opis, berita psal H1N1 menyerang lagi!! Ish, tak abis2 H1N1 ni..

MEXICO CITY - The next wave of swine flu has arrived, and Mexicans are bracing for an outbreak that may be even larger than the one here last spring that became a pandemic.
Daily diagnoses reached higher levels in September than the H1N1 peak in April, with 483 new cases in just one day this month alone.
It's unlikely there will be large-scale closings of schools and stadiums, however, because health officials know the virus is usually mild if treated early.
"We know the situation is not as serious" as officials feared last spring, said Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova.
Still, 3,000 schools were closed last week as a result of the virus. That number has dropped to 128, Education Secretary Alonso Lujambio told senators Wednesday, as he said officials are still developing the criteria they will use to shut down schools in the future.
When the first cases of swine flu were confirmed in late April, Mexico 's government immediately ordered the closure of all schools, museums, libraries and theaters in the capital. Within days, schools nationwide, restaurant dining rooms and other businesses shut down, streets mostly emptied and soldiers handed out millions of face masks.
Mexico could see up to 5 million cases of swine flu during this winter's flu season and deaths could reach 2,000, Cordova said.
Some hospitals already have the same number of swine flu patients as they had in April, he said Thursday. Officials are negotiating with laboratories to secure doses of a vaccine by October, he added.
Mexico had 29,417 reported cases and 226 deaths as of Friday.
The World Health Organization says more than 300,000 cases of H1N1 have been confirmed throughout the world, and more than 3,900 people have died from the virus.

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Another swine flu wave looms in Mexico
Mexico learned a lot about coping with swine flu last spring. Now, the knowledge gained will be needed as a new flu season begins.
Flu Rx? Russia blocks U.S. pork, Costa Rica bars kissing
The government of Cuba suspended flights to and from Mexico for 48 hours, Russia banned imported pork from at least 11 U.S. states and medical help lines in Europe were inundated, as the world reacted apprehensively Tuesday to the swine flu outbreak.
Venezuela, Russia and Guatemala warned their citizens against traveling to Mexico and the United States . Peru and Britain limited the warning to Mexico .
In Costa Rica , the health minister suggested that its citizens temporarily stop greeting one another with the traditional kiss on the cheek. Costa Rican officials confirmed their first case Tuesday, a 21-year-old woman who came on a flight from Mexico last week.
BY MARTHA MENDOZA
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY -- Mexico is preparing for a second wave of swine flu, looking at what worked and what didn't last spring when it banned everything from dining out to attending school in an effort to control the virus.
As the Northern Hemisphere flu season begins, the rest of the world is also studying Mexico 's experience, looking for measures to replicate and costly mistakes to avoid.
So what worked? Public awareness; rapid diagnosis, treatment and quarantine; and a near-compulsive outbreak of hand-washing.
What didn't? Travel bans, school closures, overuse of antibiotics and those flimsy paper face masks that tangled hair, and slid down necks.
When swine flu first flared up in Mexico in April, the government erred on the side of caution, closing schools and museums, banning public gatherings, playing soccer games to empty stadiums and telling people not to shake hands or kiss one another on the cheek. This bustling city of 18 million became eerily hollow.
Mexican health officials say they made the right call.
``Since we were the first country affected by the flu, we didn't know the possible magnitude and severity, so we took measures that we now know can be [focused],'' said Dr. Pablo Kuri, the health secretary's special influenza advisor.
In hindsight, Mexico 's most effective action -- one now emulated around the world -- was immediately telling its own citizens when the new virus was detected.
Not every country has been so candid: China was heavily criticized for its slow response to SARS in 2003, while Argentina refused to declare a national public health emergency when swine flu flared there in July.
But Mexico 's openness didn't come cheap: Economists say the outbreak cost the country billions of dollars, mostly in tourism.
`` Mexico shared information early and frequently,'' said Dr. Jon Andrus at the Pan American Health Organization's Washington headquarters. `` Mexico did this at great cost to its economy, but it was the right thing to do.''
At the height of the epidemic in March, you could hardly make it a block in Mexico City without a masked public health worker, maitre d', bus driver or store owner squeezing a dollop of antiseptic gel onto your hands.
Health experts say the masks probably did little to stop the virus from spreading. Masks are now advised only for health care workers and people already infected.
``Clearly, millions of Mexicanos wore masks this spring everywhere they went, but H1N1 continued to spread,'' said Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow at the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.


Hopefully benda ni x smpai kat Msia lagi skali..Pape pun, sentiasa la berjaga2 & amalkan langkah2 utk elak H1N1 ni..Will be in my next post =)

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