Chile Forum

Last night the news reported 25 confirmed cases. There was also about dozen school closures.

They followed that news by covering the Jonas Brothers concert at the main stadium with a million screaming teenage girls. Where there are teenage girls, there are teenage boys, and ... Well, you get the epidemic picture. I would say by this time next week we should have a fairly complete dispersion through the school system.

I am starting to see some very misleading reports around the wires about how Chile now has the highest confirmed cases in South America of H1N1.

Which, strictly speaking is true. We do have the highest "confirmed" cases for one simple reason, Chile has it's own labs. I believe they are reporting testing takes hours not days for confirming cases of the flu in Chile.

Everyone else is either too big to test (e.g. Brazil and Argentina) everyone or are sending their samples somewhere else (CDC in the States), or both. Their reporting times are lagging badly. Now they are moving from simply days to weeks for testing because those labs are overwhelmed with request from around the World. Even Mexico is still sending samples to the CDC.

I however have a very hard time believing that for example Guatemala with the free flow of traffic over the boarder only has like one or two confirmed cases. I seen a report that the first confirmed case was an old lady in a remote mountain town, and I happen to know the town from when I lived there. If someone in that town has the flu, the entire highlands of Guatemala has been exposed because of the way people are packed in to buses like sardines to travel the Panamerican highway in Guatemala. It would likly take as little as a day for a flu to be spread across Guatemala via the bus system. Doctors are lucky if they have basic antibiotics in those towns, let alone anything as sophisticated as Tamiflu.

Brazil and Argentina have way way bigger international flows of travelers than Chile.

Anyone that knows anything about the rest of Latin America knows the corruption, poverty, lack of resources, big populations, make it almost impossible to trust the numbers coming out of those countries for anything let alone something as potentially economically and politically damaging as H1N1 flu.

So, Chile just happens to have a health system that so far seems to be able to keep up with the monitoring. I can guarantee you that Chile in no way shape or form has the largest number of cases, just the largest number of confirmed cases.

Just talked via Skype to a Chile cell. Surprisingly good connection.

From what I heard, at least I won't be the first to bring the infection to the San Antonio area as they've already closed a school in cuico Santo Domingo due to the new human-swine-avian, probably lab manufactured flu virus.

No symptoms yet. Time to take another preventive dosing of Vitamin C & D.

Don't forget the preventative alcohol
Re the Skype to cell, how does the cellphone surcharge work out?

Skype to Chile cell, a little over USD 21¢/minute.

I found a Skype in USA to Chile cell much clearer than a Skype in Chile to Chile cell.

Alcohol? I heard if you drink 5 litros in an hour you will probably die. Therefore, all alcohol, for any application is hazardous. Where is the FDA in this matter?

This is the cytokine storm where a very efficient and working immune system launches an attack on the virus infecting the lungs and suffocates the victim.

So if infected and you are entering the cytokine storm stage, the key is to temporarily weaken the immune system in some way. The ultimate, with no specialized meds desperate measure would be to down 100g of sugar or take shots of alcohol.

Prevention strategies still hold. Better never to get into a cytokine storm position in the first place.

Alcohol? I heard if you drink 5 litros in an hour you will probably die. Therefore, all alcohol, for any application is hazardous.

"Where is the FDA in this matter?"

We should be told!

Hmmmm. Watching this thread carefully. As some may recall my hubby and I live in Chile, but headed to US for a visit on May 4. Interestingly enough on the way to the airport I began to feel ill. Sore throat at 1st. By the time we boarded the plane that evening I had chills and was achey. Did not tell hubby initially though. When we finally arrived in Maine (with two layovers, one in Atlanta the other in Boston) I felt like death warmed over. Went straight to bed and did not get up for 3 days, (cont. to feel weak and fever at night for many days more). Fever, chills, cough (bad cough) and felt like I had been run over by a truck. Now I am 19 days out and it was only a few days ago I finally stopped coughing. Hmmmm. Wonder what it was? I guess without testing I/we will never know. Hubby says it was NOT the H1N1 and he is a doc...but I am not so sure. If it was...where in the heck did I get it? Only possible...36 hrs. b/4 we flew out our sons girlfriend arrived to visit from L.A. She flew COPA airlines via Panama City. That's the only thing I can think of as a possible for exposure. She was not ill and had not been ill recently BTW.
We will be returning early July to Chile. Do all of you think things will have settled down by then. I do know that I felt absolutely fine when I got up the AM we left. It was very sudden onset and I became very ill in less than 24 hrs. That seems to fit the profile of this junk. Curious I am.

Not sure everyone caught this one, but a bus from Chile was attacked after crossing the boarder because of fear that someone on board had H1N1.

http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns_sa ... 11157.html

The Argentinians are deluded as always about the lies their government tells them. Can they really somehow believe their government when they say they have less cases than Chile? They have a population more than twice that of Chile, and are a serious international transit point for multiple countries including a capital with a major airline hub.

Perhaps they are right. Their government is not lying to them, they are simply not testing. Argentina's government has never been known for transparency. I am certain this is not on the politicians high priority list, considering the economic disaster they are facing.

Wow Charles, that's crazy!!!! It puts me in mind though of the young backpacker who presented at a hospital in the Esquel/Bariloche area with Hanta Virus, and died. Chile and Argentina sent angry accusations back and forth about whether he got it in Chile, or Argentina. Chile is very vigilent (I think) in reporting Hanta Virus, while claiming Argentina does not.

As it is was recently stated by Reuters,

"An international team of researchers who analyzed all eight genes of the new virus, said it was so different from its ancestral strains ..."

Also, "They confirmed it is a hybrid of two other mixtures -- one a so-called triple reassortant of pig, bird and human viruses, and another group of swine viruses from Europe and Asia ..."

{ source: http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSN22387871 }

Is it just "differentness" and "strangeness", and nothing but that? Or is there something else, that causes such an aggressive behavior, that people are panicked into attacking buses?

If I remember it correctly, the SAG declaration contained a question asking "if you had any contact with experimental animals". I am not sure how many years ago the question was added, but what kind of experiments with experimental animals was the reason for asking such questions? I would not be surprised to hear, sooner or later, more facts with regards to the new virus, that would be not just their "differentness" or "strangeness", but rather horrifying things. You never know..

- Oink, oink, no?..
- Oink, oink, po!..

This article from the Canadian Free Press presents some interesting thoughts on what H1N1 is and where is came from. From the article (link below):

H1N1 Government Manufactured?

By Douglas V. Gibbs Tuesday, May 5, 2009

There has been a lot of speculation, of late, that has come to my attention regarding the possibility that the H1N1 Virus, also known as the Swine Flu, is not a product of nature. After all, the virus is made up of components from the human flu virus, avian flu virus, and swine flu virus - a combination not possible, according to some scientists, in the natural world. There are no cases of swine being infected with this particular virus, either. The origin, in essence, is a complete mystery.

According to Time Magazine, this is not the first outbreak of the swine flu. In 1976 there was an outbreak of a swine flu similar to the current swine flu strain at Fort Dix in New Jersey. A nineteen year old service member died, and hundreds of other soldiers were stricken ill by this virus, as well. Fearing a nationwide epidemic, President Ford ordered vaccinations, but the vaccine had a side effect. People vaccinated began developing Guillain-Barré syndrome, a paralyzing nerve disease. Once the reports surfaced regarding this devastating side effect, federal officials abruptly canceled the vaccination program in December of that year. The nationwide epidemic they feared never materialized, however, and the swine flu was forgotten shortly after.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/10858

Sir and Maam, would you like some psyops with your big pharma/gov vaccine

Don't underestimate the current level of Worldwide Idiocy. You have a portable BS-meter, eeuu, don't you? Then turn it on and tell us what it shows. Should the Masters of the Universe order global vaccinations, where would you hide?..

Vicki and Greg Lansen wrote:According to Time Magazine, this is not the first outbreak of the swine flu. In 1976 there was an outbreak of a swine flu similar to the current swine flu strain at Fort Dix in New Jersey. A nineteen year old service member died, and hundreds of other soldiers were stricken ill by this virus, as well. Fearing a nationwide epidemic, President Ford ordered vaccinations, but the vaccine had a side effect. People vaccinated began developing Guillain-Barré syndrome, a paralyzing nerve disease. Once the reports surfaced regarding this devastating side effect, federal officials abruptly canceled the vaccination program in December of that year. The nationwide epidemic they feared never materialized, however, and the swine flu was forgotten shortly after.

Wow, I remember getting the flu vaccination and the scare under Ford. I didn't remember why it was stopped.

A comment on Argentina under reporting outbreaks of diseases....a recent article (sorry, didn't bookmark it for reference-google it) about a Dengue Fever outbreak in Argentina slams officials for under reporting the number of cases so as not to "alarm" visitors. It's starting to look like a standard MO for Argentina. I was surprised that Dengue Fever was a problem at all there.

I also read a couple of opinions about "alarmist" reporting on the H1N1 outbreak, and I thought that had counties not been aggressive and it spread into a pandemic, what would we say about news organizations and health officials then?