Pig Flu

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Venture Capital firm with shares in two public companies: BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, and Novavax

Roche Holding AG

Owner of Tamifly which might be effective against the swine flu virus

Glaxo Smith Kline

Maker of Relenza which might also be effective agains the pig flu virus

Biocryst Pharmaceuticals

Maker of key enzymes that block the action of influenza viruses

Novavax

Viral vaccine maker

It is belived that 10 students "likely" have swine flu after returning from a school trip to Mexico, The New Zealand Health Minister Tony Ryall said none of the patients was seriously ill and they seemed to be recovering. The students traveling students had tested possitive for influenza, but it was still not tested if they  had swine flu.  Governments across Asia began quarantining those that had traveled to Mexico and that had symptoms of the deadly virus; in that same not,  some issued travel warnings for Mexico.

Those who need to walk the streets of Mexico City, do it mostly with face masks (surgical masks) and stopped shaking hands with those they meet.  Surgical mask stocks ran out, and available human flu vaccines are in too high demand in comparison with the available quantity.

Mexico City, the Mexican Capital is today at the epicenter of the epidemic, there are an estimatedd 1,324 pig flu cases nationwide by April 25t. The City's and State's schoolsare closed until May 6, and President Felipe Calderon issued a decree allowing the federal health department to enter homes and forcibly quarantine people.

The Mexican Health Secretary, Jose Cordova said that by Saturday, the death count is 81 of "probably linked" deaths although there are only 20 confirmed deaths linked to the deadly virus.  Córdova also said most of the swine flu case were of people between 20 and 50, unlike other types of flu that target children and the elderly.

Ciudad de Mexico, or Mexico City is the largest City of Mexico, and it is considered overpopulated with 20 million citizens dweling in it.  The streets are usually crammed with people and is very busy specially at this time of the year.  The City officials have adviced people to stay at home in  an intend to minimize the spread of the disease.

As of April 25 at 7:30 PM ET, The Center for Disease Control has confirmed 11 human cases of swine-pig flu in the United States: seven in California, two in Texas, and two in Kansas. CDC continues to investigate other suspected cases.  Investigations are ongoing to determine the source of the infection and whether additional people have been infected with similar swine influenza viruses.

CDC is working very closely with state and local officials in California, Texas, as well as with health officials in Mexico, Canada and the World Health Organization. On April 24th, CDC deployed 7 epidemiologists to San Diego County, California and Imperial County, California and 1 senior medical officer to Texas to provide guidance and technical support for the ongoing epidemiologic field investigations. CDC has also deployed to Mexico 1 medical officer and 1 senior expert who are part of a global team that is responding to the outbreak of respiratory illnesses in Mexico.

Reuters: April 25, 2009.  The World Health Organization warns that the outbreaks of swine flu in Mexico and the United States have the potential to cause a worldwide pandemic, but still,  it is too early to say whether this will be the case.  The statement was issued by WHO director general Margaret Chaun.  

Chan urged health authorities in all countries to be on high alert for unusual patterns of disease and any rise in severe flu or pneumonia cases. "This is clearly an animal strain of the H1N1 virus and it has pandemic potential because it is infecting people... However, we cannot say on the basis of currently available laboratory, epidemiological, and clinical evidence whether or not it will indeed cause a pandemic."

The World Health Organization Building from where the statement was released.

As many as 75 students from a private school at Queens (St. Francis Preparatory School) are feared to be infected with Pig Flu after many of them, who had visited Mexico, complained of symptoms that officials believed were consistent with a strain of swine flu that has swept Mexico City. The New York City health department dispatched a team of investigators to a St. Francis with the purpose of investigating and containing a potential outbreak.

If confirmed, this would bring the infected with flu to a much higher level in the United States, and would make the New York and North Eastern area of the United States a potential focus for this Swine Influenza epidemic.

BBC video report about the swine pig flu and how it is creating a horrible situation in Mexico, where respiration masks have been sold out, and the government is planning to delivery mass vaccinations with human influenza vaccines. It is not clear if the vaccine for the human flu virus will be effective against this new strain of pig virus.

The Center for Disease and Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) is doing whatever possible to identify the ways the virus is being spread and prevent a major epidemic from occuring.

GlaxoSmithKline and Roche have contacted by the World Health Organization regarding their flu treatments amid an outbreak of swine flu that has killed at least 20 people in Mexico, according to The Associated Press. According to the AP, Roche says it has an emergency stockpile of Tamiflu on standby, and Glaxo, which makes Relenza, has been in touch with the WHO to identify what strain is involved.

The Swine influenza (pig flu) virus must be taken seriously and it has been confirmed that the origin is probably from pigs. "These are viruses that usually infect pigs but in this case we're finding the illness in people. " said Glen Nowak from the CDC.

In February 2009 Nathan Wolfe gave a speech at TED regarding viral and bacterial infections jumping from one species to another.  As Dr. Wolfe explains, there are a lot of potential diseases that could originate from other species.

The case of Pig Influenza is particularly dangerous given the closeness of the Porcine and Human species.  In his speech at TED 2009 he predicts the appearence of many new viruses that inevitably would jump between different species.