MEXICO CITY – Two weeks after the first known swine flu death, Mexico still hasn't given medicine to the families of the dead. It hasn't determined where the outbreak began or how it spread. And while the government urges anyone who feels sick to go to hospitals, feverish people complain ambulance workers are scared to pick them up.

A portrait is emerging of a slow and confused response by Mexico to the gathering swine flu epidemic. And that could mean the world is flying blind into a global health storm.

Despite an annual budget of more than $5 billion, Mexico's health secretary said Monday that his agency hasn't had the resources to visit the families of the dead. That means doctors haven't begun treatment for the population most exposed to swine flu, and most apt to spread it.

It also means medical sleuths don't know how the victims were infected — key to understanding how the epidemic began and how it can be contained.

Foreign health officials were hesitant Monday to speak critically about Mexico's response, saying they want to wait until more details emerge before passing judgment. But already, Mexicans were questioning the government's image of a country that has the crisis under control.

"Nobody believes the government anymore," said Edgar Rocha, a 28-year-old office messenger. He said the lack of information is sowing distrust: "You haven't seen a single interview with the sick!"

The political consequences could be serious. China was heavily criticized during the outbreak of SARS for failing to release details about the disease, feeding rumors and fear. And Mexico's failed response to a catastrophic 1985 earthquake is largely credited with the demise of the party that had ruled the country since the 1920s.

"That is foremost in the minds of Mexican policymakers now," said George Grayson at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. "They're thinking, 'We don't want another '85.'"

Indeed, Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova was defensive at a news conference Monday as he was peppered with questions about why Mexico took so long to identify the outbreak, attempt to contain its spread and provide information.

"We never had this kind of epidemic in the world," he said. "This is the first time we have this kind of virus."

It remained unclear where and how the epidemic began, how it has spread, who it has killed or how fast it is growing. And the government has yet to take some basic steps critical to containing any outbreak, such as quick treatment of people who had contact with the victims.

In the town of Xonacatlan, just west of Mexico City, Antonia Cortes Borbolla told The Associated Press that nobody has given her medicine in the week since her husband succumbed to raging fever and weakened lungs that a lab has confirmed as swine flu.

No health workers have inspected her home, asked how her husband might have contracted the illness or tested the neighbors' pigs, she said.

Cordova acknowledged that her case isn't unique.

"We haven't given medicine to all of them because we still don't have enough personnel," he said.

Cordova said he couldn't provide information on the victims for reasons of confidentiality, but promised to eventually release a statistical breakdown. He said he couldn't provide that data now "because it's being processed."

Asked whether he could at least say how many of the 20 confirmed victims were men and how many were women, he said: "I don't have that information."

The government has insisted it acted quickly and decisively when presented with the evidence of a new virus.

But even as it did so, it acknowledged the outbreak began earlier than April 12, the date it had previously linked to the first case. Cordova confirmed Monday that a 4-year-old boy who was part of an outbreak in eastern Veracruz state that began in February had swine flu. He later recovered.

Residents of the town of Perote said at the time that they had a new, aggressive bug — even taking to the streets to demonstrate against the pig farm they blamed for their illness — but were told they were suffering from a typical flu. It was only after U.S. labs confirmed a swine flu outbreak that Mexican officials sent the boy's sample in for swine flu testing.

Mexico's Agriculture Department said Monday that inspectors found no sign of swine flu among pigs around the farm in Veracruz, and that no infected pigs have been found yet anywhere in Mexico.

Meanwhile, some people complained that health workers were turning them away, even as officials urged people to seek treatment quickly if they felt symptoms of flu coming on.

Elias Camacho, a 31-year-old truck driver with fever, cough and body aches, was ordered out of a government ambulance Sunday because paramedics complained he might be contagious, his father-in-law told the AP. When family members took him to a hospital in a taxi, Jorge Martinez Cruz said, a doctor told him he wasn't sick.

Camacho was finally admitted to the hospital — and placed in an area marked "restricted" — after a doctor at a private clinic notified state health authorities, Martinez said.

In Mexico City, Jose Isaac Cepeda said two hospitals refused to treat his fever, diarrhea and joint pains. The first turned him away because he wasn't registered in the public health system, he said.

The second, he said, didn't let him in "because they say they're too busy."

___

Associated Press writers Olga Rodriguez in Xonacatlan and Peter Orsi and Lisa J. Adams in Mexico City contributed to this report.

That sucks.

what with all the symtoms that he was sick. what proved the idiot doc the fact the guy was sick...

the doc should loose his license.. so what happen with the guy. did he live

Not only is this a serious matter which could have devastating effects on people's lives but I read that it could also affect our already teetering economy which could only add to the uncertainty of when this recession will end. I work with patients all day long and the fact that I could come into contact with someone that has been infected greatly concerns me. Fortunately Tamiflu will treat this but I wonder for how long?

I've also been hearing that if it gets bad, it will affect the economy negatively.

Mexico is closing schools and daycares. The parents can't go to work. Somebody has to be with the children.

good thing they have those dhs emergency response camps available

I'm not even going there.

Few years back, when the Avian flu hit, governments and medical personnel reacted quickly.

If medical personnel in Mexico are afraid to pick people up because they are sick, then they are NOT very well trained.

Imagine, two nasty flu viruses and the risk of a pandemic situation is based on the country of origin and the quality of training for medical people in said country.

Word from folks on the border is, there a good chance the crossings will be closed.

While you're seeing how Mexican Officials act towards human life, you will see our future not far behind.

Stop any Amnesty Programs or we could be living the life they live.

Sad, their leaders have no interest in human life.

Why waste a good Pandemic when, a big chunk of a population can be eliminated.

My understanding they were given money not drugs. Believe news said there is no antidote and that the meds only treat the flu like symptoms.

Who was given money, corazon?

The World Bank is sending more than $200 million in loans to Mexico to help the country deal with the swine flu outbreak.

Is there any word of what the plan of action is? Quarantine?
Are they sending the money to Calderon?

In addition, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said that they are providing Mexico with information on how other countries have dealt with similar disease outbreaks.

Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens says $25 million will be used to address immediate needs. He says the remaining $180 million in loans will deal with long-term needs.

http://www.examiner.com/x-5092-Denver-Family-Health-Examiner~y2009m4d26-World-Bank-sends-money-to-Mexico-for-swine-flu?cid=exrss-Denver-Family-Health-Examiner

Don't really know which is why I'm asking.

This is the rest of the article I read.

This report is from 2 days ago.

April 26, 2009
Tracking Swine Flu

United States officials declared a public health emergency on Sunday over increasing cases of swine flu, but continued to urge Americans not to panic on Monday, as most of the cases have been mild.

As of Monday, officials had confirmed 42 cases of a new A(H1N1) swine flu virus in the United States, including 28 New York City high school students. Six cases were identified in Canada — all linked to travel in Mexico. While the World Health Organization says 20 swine flu cases in Mexico have been confirmed, officials say there are at least 1,600 suspected infections and at least 149 suspected deaths. One infection was confirmed in eastern Spain.
Swine flu and humans

Swine flu viruses can be passed between pigs and humans, but human infections are not common. Most infections occur among people with direct pig contact. Sometimes a flu virus can mutate to be more transmissible to humans. An outbreak occurred among soldiers in Fort Dix, N.J., in 1976, resulting in 200 infections, several serious illnesses and one death.
Human symptoms

All flus are passed by coughs and sneezes. Symptoms can include fever, fatigue, coughing, vomiting and diarrhea. Seasonal flus typically kill the old and young. New flus like this one can kill healthy people whose own immune reactions overwhelm them.
Vaccine and treatments

Officials do not know if the seasonal flu vaccine will protect against the A(H1N1) swine flu virus. In the laboratory, the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza are effective against this new flu; amantadine and rimantadine are not.
Swine flu versus avian flu

The avian flu, A(H5N1), is found among birds and humans and is highly lethal but not very transmissible. Scientists believe this new flu is more transmissible but less lethal.
Precautions

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends washing hands frequently, avoiding touching the face, covering the nose and mouth when sneezing and staying home when sick. People cannot be infected by eating pork.

supposedly Mexico and the US have a large stock of meds - stupid question if so, why is Mexico not giving out the medicines which would help those infected? wtf are they waiting for???

excerpt: http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=106&sid=1661593

Q: Is swine flu treatable?

A: Yes, with the flu drugs Tamiflu or Relenza, but not with two older flu medications. (I heard these drugs only help with flu like symptoms not the virus itself)

Q: Is there enough?

A: Yes. The federal government has stockpiled enough of the drugs to treat 50 million people, and many states have additional stocks. As a precaution, the CDC has shipped a quarter of that supply to the states to keep on hand just in case the virus starts spreading more than it has so far.

Harsh but, possible.

Wouldn't an uncontrolled pandemic be a good way to get a control on a population??

Another stupid question, if swine flu has all flu-like symptoms - would it not spread as easily as the flu - through coughing, sneezing, touching objects infected. Hence why we are reminded to constantly wash our hands, etc.

Yet they still want us to believe it's a level 3 (as human to human spread is not proven)

excerpt:
The World Health Organization is convening an expert panel to determine whether to raise its pandemic flu alert level. Because of bird flu, we're at level 3. If the panel finds evidence of "increased human-to-human transmission" it goes to level 4. If there's evidence of "significant human-to-human transmission," it goes to level 5.

A pandemic will be declared only if there is "efficient and sustained human-to-human transmission" of a new flu virus. That clearly has not happened yet.

"Whether or not this [swine flu] strain causes a widespread pandemic will depend on its transmissibility among humans. That has not yet been fully elucidated, but should be shortly," Pascal James Imperato, MD, MPH, professor and dean of public health at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, N.Y., tells WebMD.

Should there be a pandemic -- something that is far from certain -- the CDC has already begun work on a vaccine. Would it be ready by next flu season?

"It would be an Olympic sprint -- a mammoth feat -- to produce a flu vaccine by October," Schaffner says.

people are a renewable resource

those that be have no interest in maintaining something that can be replaced for less than it can be maintained

this is a throw away society and sorry to say that goes for people as well (as long as it is not their people [at least till they become overberdonsome] for the most part}

and we can thank the me me me me mind set that has come to be

the majority has come to think as long as we are the majority it is majority rule (but one forgets that you may be part of the majority when it comes to point [a] but point yer part of the minority)

thus eventually everyone get ran thru the cattle turn corrals eventually as soon when they come for them there is no one left as they have all been defused because they were part of the minority that was handled soon rather than later

sorta