What a strange day: A new flu in Mexico, a new flu in the US, a probable H5N1 death in Indonesia, and another H5N1 death in Egypt.

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Mexico: Flu is officially an epidemic
Via Excelsior, a major Mexico City Daily, a report in Spanish; my rough and ready translation follows between paragraphs. Pide SSA calma ante casos de influenza. [Health department calls for calm in face of influenza.]
Tras reconocer que la influenza ya se constituyó como un brote epidémico, pero no llega a categoría de pandemia, el secretario de Salud, José Ángel Córdova, admitió que aún no tiene los datos de muertes a nivel nacional, pero que esta enfermedad infecto-contagiosa apenas ha afectado a siete estados del país.

[After saying that the influenza is now an epidemic outbreak, but not a pandemic, Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova admitted that he still doesn't have mortality statistics for the nation, but says this contagious disease has affected at least 7 states in the country.]

El funcionario se comprometió a mantener la alerta preventiva en todo México el tiempo que sea necesario hasta que el número de casos de influenza se atenúe diametralmente. Ratificó que en menos de un mes perecieron 20 personas por este mal y desmintió los datos del IMSS sobre el particular, porque las 22 muertes detectadas el fin de semana fueron causadas por males respiratorios, pero no necesariamente por influenza.

[The secretary promised to maintain a nationwide preventive alert until the number of ffrostes drops sharply. He confirmed that in less than a month, 20 persons perished from this illness and contradicted the IMSS data because the 22 detected deaths on the weekend were caused by respiratory diseases, but not necessarily by influenza.]

What a strange day: A new flu in Mexico, a new flu in the US, a probable H5N1 death in Indonesia, and another H5N1 death in Egypt.

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Egypt: Another human flu death (updated)
Via Kuwait News Agency: 34 year-old Egyptian woman dies of Bird flu. Excerpt:
A 34 year-old Egyptian woman died of the H5N1 bird flu virus on Thursday, bringing the number of such deaths to 24 and the total of all cases in the country to 68, Egyptian health ministry spokesman Abdul-Rahman Shaheen said.

The spokesman said in a statement that symptoms on the woman started on April 21st where she was admitted to hospital after high temperature fever, adding that the woman was handling dead birds in her neighborhood. However, she was treated with the drug Tamiflu but remained in critical condition until she died, the spokesman added.

The fatality count seems wrong; I think this is the 26th H5N1 death in Egypt. But the case also seems to be a completely new one. Reuters has the story, with more details, but it was filed before she died.


Update: Zeinobia has the story now, but again she evidently posted before the news of the woman's death. Zeinobia gives her name: Wafaa Abdel Hamid.

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More on swine flu
The Los Angeles Times has a pretty good article: Swine flu detected in 7 people in California, Texas. Excerpt (my bolding):
The new flu has symptoms very much like conventional influenza, it is susceptible to at least two antiviral agents and all seven victims have recovered fully, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday in a telephone news conference.

"We don't think this is a time for major concern around the country," she added. It is not clear whether the virus is new or whether it has been around for a while and has simply been recognized now because of more intensive laboratory testing and disease surveillance, she said.

It contains segments of human virus, avian virus from North America (not the infamous bird flu) and pig viruses from three continents.

The CDC announced this week that the virus had been found in a 10-year-old boy in San Diego County and a 9-year-old girl in Imperial County. Schuchat said researchers had now identified it in a father and his teenage daughter in San Diego County; a 41-year-old woman in Imperial County; and two 16-year-old boys in Guadalupe County, Texas, near San Antonio. The Imperial County woman is the only one who was hospitalized.

Authorities could find no evidence of contact between the victims in Texas and California. None of the seven had any exposure to pigs, which is the normal way of catching swine flu. Officials thus believe that the virus is passed from person to person, which is unusual, but not unheard of, for swine flu.

And presumably passed from an asymptomatic person to a vulnerable one, or from a person recovered from what seemed to be routine flu, but still shedding virus.

I hope some epidemiologist will rescue me from my own ignorance about how transmission works in such cases.

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Indonesia: H5N1 suspect dies of "lung failure"
Via Bird Flu Information Corner, a report from Riau Terkini: Pekanbaru, Riau ::: Bird flu suspect patient dies due to lung failure. Excerpt:
Solihin (31), a bird flu suspect patient died, Wednesday (22/4), at Arifin Achmad hospital, Pekanbaru. He passed away after treated intensively at special isolation room for bird flu suspect patient.

According to Azizman Saad - Head of Bird Flu Control Team Arifin Achmad hospital – Fatality of Solihin was due to sudden lung failure.

Azizman explained, Solihin’s body was treated according to bird flu suspect patient treatment protocol, as covered with plastic and sterilized. Body is not allowed to be opened.

Victim’s family has brought Solihin’s body to their hometown in Teluk Meranti, Kecamatan Teluk Meranti, Kabupaten Pelalawan.

Up to present moment, Arifin Achmad hospital is still waiting for blood and throat swab samples test result.

I posted another BFIC report on Solihin's case yesterday. We may know the test results in a day or two.