Swine Flu Outbreak

From Mexico to Florida and all the way across America to New York, swine flu has become a hot topic. As many as 75 students at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens got sick on Thursday. More got sick on Friday. What health officials want to know is was it swine flu or something more benign. The hype is on for any large numbers of people getting sick as a pandemic could cause great disruption and thousands of deaths.

There are mounting fears about a deadly swine flu virus that is reported to have killed as many as 60 people in Mexico, one that health officials fear has already seeped into the United States. A pandemic is an epidemic of infectious disease that spreads through populations across a large region; for instance a continent, or even worldwide.

Mexican and U.S. health officials searched on Saturday for signs an outbreak of a new flu strain is spreading further, after it killed up to 68 people in Mexico and infected eight in the United States. As Mexico shut schools and museums and axed public events, global health officials stopped short of declaring a pandemic. But they warned more cases could come to light, making up a major outbreak, as the flu spreads between people and infected some individuals who had no contact with one another.

How's that work? :-(

Mexico's deadly swine flu could disrupt trade and travel between the United States and Mexico if it prompts restrictions on the movement of goods across the border or sparks fear in consumers. The potential impact is far from clear as experts race to learn more about the disease, which has claimed the lives of as many as 61 people. But shipping and travel industries are especially vigilant. "If you end up with a significant demand shift, you could end up with a very substantial effect on our products, whether it be government-imposed restrictions or alternatively if the consumers just decide to say 'no'," said Bob Young, chief economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Any decision to restrict food shipments due to flu would come from the U.S. Agriculture Department, which has the power to "shut down movement," said Russell Laird, an executive director representing agricultural and food carriers at the American Trucking Associations. "So far, we haven't heard anything, but if that call is made we'll make sure to do our part," he said.

It could be major or just a blip on the radar screen so due diligence on every front is needful.

About author
Ernie Fitzpatrick
As a spiritual-futurist, I have a BA degree majoring in history. One cannot know the future without knowing the past which holds clues to what is on the horizon. The world is in such a rapid expansion of knowledge that we are close to entering a tipping point that will forever change earth as we know it.

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