Word: outbreaks
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...were the hundreds of U.S. school closures and the presidential press conferences about hand-washing much ado about not that much? Unfortunately not. As health officials pointed out repeatedly, we're still in the early days of the H1N1 outbreak, and influenza viruses are notoriously unpredictable. Right now the new disease seems to be no more dangerous than the seasonal flu (researchers who have examined the genetic code of the H1N1 virus say it appears to lack key mutations that made past pandemic-causing viruses so deadly), but H1N1 could return next winter in a more lethal form--just...
...fitting that in a booming metropolis of 20 million people, the first sign that Mexico City had been recalled to life wasn't a public religious ceremony or a political rally but a traffic jam. After a weeklong shutdown in response to the H1N1 flu outbreak, on May 5--Cinco de Mayo--Mexico City began to stir again. The spread of the swine flu had slowed, leading Mexican officials to hope that the worst had passed. "Our strategy is working," said Mexican President Felipe Calderón. "We are now in a position to gradually resume our everyday activities...
Trunnell's petition seeks to investigate claims that the H1N1 outbreak began in Smithfield's massive pork operation in La Gloria and that the virus may have been caused in part by the conditions under which the farm operates, which the petition terms "horrifically unsanitary...
...outbreaks have been a minor catastrophe for pork producers. Though international health officials were quick to assure the public that the disease initially known as swine flu could not be contracted by eating pork, consumption of pig products dropped rapidly in the wake of the virus's spread. "That is our biggest concern - the economic impact of people shying away from eating our product over fear," C. Larry Pope, CEO of Smithfield Foods, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch on May 5. The National Pork Producers Council estimated that between April 24 and May 1 - the most frenzied days...
...Trunnell's claim goes forward, Smithfield will face more serious problems. But that's a big if. Scientists are still far from certain where the H1N1 virus originated or how long it may have been circulating in pigs or people (the first human outbreak is thought to have occurred in February). So far, no pigs have been found to be infected with the virus, other than at one farm in Canada on May 2, where the swine were actually infected by a human worker. And on May 14, Smithfield announced that Mexican authorities had completed tests of the company...