The virus may have infected more then what it appears. The virus might just be "hidding" (I can't think of the medical term) and waiting for whatever reason to pop out and kill those infected. and then spread like wild fire... or is that not at all how it works?

uuuh i don't think that's how it has been in the cases they've found so far, or at least they didn't mention it (which they probably would, right?). i suppose it's possible that it would mutate to be like this, but i think the bigger concern is that it spreads to THINGS that people come into contact with and then they get it.

yeah, i watched the alex jones thing the other day. it seems a little far fetched, but still it shouldn't be written off. like there's really no harm in taking vitimins and washing your hands extra...

From what I've heard the first death of swine flu in the US was a 23 month old baby. No grown human outside of Mexico has died yet. We'll see how this goes I guess. It has the possibility to become a brutal pandemic but at the same time we can possibly help people with certain medication we have. It doesn't cure the disease but it helps.

Is it possible that it's mostly killing Mexicans because that they're Mexicans? Just as other ethnicities can be immune to certain diseases and weak against other.

Is it possible that it's mostly killing Mexicans because that they're Mexicans?

yes in that they're from mexico which doesn't have the best system for dealing with any disease, no in that holy shit no swine flu is not genetically engineered to kill a racial group are you completely stupid.

Dark Crystals was just asking a question Artis. No need to jump down his throat

The virus may have infected more then what it appears. The virus might just be "hidding" (I can't think of the medical term) and waiting for whatever reason to pop out and kill those infected. and then spread like wild fire... or is that not at all how it works?

This occurs with Lysogenic phage - viruses that infect bacteria and wait for a key signal like DNA damage to burst out of infected cells and produce numerous copies of itself. I'm pretty sure influenza does not fall under this category.

Is it possible that it's mostly killing Mexicans because that they're Mexicans? Just as other ethnicities can be immune to certain diseases and weak against other.

Well, this is actually a fair question, although the answer is never as simple as you'd like. You can't bundle the people of an entire nation as having a genetic similarity, as the human genome is just as varied within a subpopulation as it is between subpopulations. True, there are a few major "exceptions," most notably the high proportion of Sub-Saharan Africans with a copy of the sickle-cell gene since it provides protection against malaria, but the idea that a group as large as a nation, ethnicity, or race would be genetically different enough to be affected by a disease in a totally different way is a little far-fetched.

Ideas like this are still thrown around, though, especially in the field of Pharmacogenomics. Bidil is a pretty famous drug that was actually marketed as a race-specific (for African Americans) drug. Later research showed it was pretty much bullshit and all other races could respond to it equally well.

So basically: You can have a different PROPORTION of a population expressing a certain gene, but def. not something that would cause 10% flu mortality rate in Mexicans vs 1% in rest of the world. My guess is the discrepancy is mostly due to quality of heath care + living conditions

the news coming down the pipeline is that this was caused by smithfield and their infamous pig shit lagoons.

gotta love that smithfield. i think i am going to boycott smithfield products.

Here in Nova Scotia all pharmacies are being asked to track prescriptions for Tamiflu and Relenza (antivirals) daily and send them to Public Health for tracking. Getting these two drugs in order is kind of tough at the moment as they are in short supply. As well, many face masks are on backorder, but the goverment isn't recommending their use at this time - simple precautionary measures of watching your hands frequently, and sneezing into a tissue or sleeve are good enough for now.

Here's the public health website of Canada that is updated regularly: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/alert-alerte/swine_200904-eng.php

I really should read up on the Canadian Pandemic Guidelines since I'm going to be in the frontline should this escalate... but hopefully that won't happen.

This occurs with Lysogenic phage - viruses that infect bacteria and wait for a key signal like DNA damage to burst out of infected cells and produce numerous copies of itself. I'm pretty sure influenza does not fall under this category.
Well, this is actually a fair question, although the answer is never as simple as you'd like. You can't bundle the people of an entire nation as having a genetic similarity, as the human genome is just as varied within a subpopulation as it is between subpopulations. True, there are a few major "exceptions," most notably the high proportion of Sub-Saharan Africans with a copy of the sickle-cell gene since it provides protection against malaria, but the idea that a group as large as a nation, ethnicity, or race would be genetically different enough to be affected by a disease in a totally different way is a little far-fetched.

Ideas like this are still thrown around, though, especially in the field of Pharmacogenomics. Bidil is a pretty famous drug that was actually marketed as a race-specific (for African Americans) drug. Later research showed it was pretty much bullshit and all other races could respond to it equally well.

So basically: You can have a different PROPORTION of a population expressing a certain gene, but def. not something that would cause 10% flu mortality rate in Mexicans vs 1% in rest of the world. My guess is the discrepancy is mostly due to quality of heath care + living conditions

Thanks for the info that was actually really interesting. Although it could still be theoretically possible that a certain genome in humans from a population group more towards the south is weaker to the disease. Their health system is probably the biggest reason but at the same time I find it really bizarre that they're the only ones dying from this (except for on American child). We'll see what the scientists tell us soon I guess.

Wow Artis... I never suggested it was genetically engineered to kill Mexicans. I was asking about their ethnicity and their genomes. I'm not even suggesting it would kill a racial group, I was just asking if it's possible that they're more predisposed to the disease. Just like how Native Americans don't really contract syphilis but the europeans would. Or how certain groups of people have less chances of contracting AIDs (nigerian whores supposedly) or malaria. And you call me retarded, good job!

i'm still right, you're dumb as fuck because you think the flu can target mexicans.

i'm still right, you're dumb as fuck because you think the flu can target mexicans.

Dude, all I'm saying is they might have more chances to die from it because of the different genomes they have from their ethnicity. Simply referring to name calling really doesn't help your point at all by the way. Also, all you're saying is "I'm right", you're not presenting any information or argument.

Dude, all I'm saying is they might have more chances to die from it because of the different genomes they have from their ethnicity

excellent science 105% A++

the things i have to read..

hmm icecream sales and wife beatings go up at the same time HAAGEN DAAS!!!

WHAT HAVE YOU WROUGHT???

cannot even get the brain process that thinks mexicans are prone to swine flu because swine flu showed up in mexico first.

just

man the state of science education in this country when you don't understand how a virus works.

all of this ignoring the fact that as far as i know there's not even an socialized definition of mexican as a race it's latino but lets go ahead and draw overarching genetic conclusions about it anyways.

all of this ignoring the fact that as far as i know there's not even an socialized definition of mexican as a race it's latino but lets go ahead and draw overarching genetic conclusions about it anyways.

I didn't mean Mexicans as a race although yes that could of been very misleading because I did use the word Mexican. But in the sense of the latino ethnicity although as ASE noted, there are subpopulations etc. And btw, yes I do know how a basic virus works and secondly the state of education has nothing to do with it. We're probably not even in the same country. Whether you accept it or no, certain ethnicities can be more vulnerable to a certain disease. Yes it's a very broad assumption but I was asking if it's possible. Thanks for completely ignoring it as a QUESTION. It's not like I'm saying SWINE FLU KILLS ONLY MEXICANS HAR HAR HAR LETS HAVE A MEXICAN PURGE.

According to a few websites, the swine flu virus can get much more serious and even deadly in around 5 days after contraction. I'm guessing that many people in other countries have had it for more than 5 days but none of them have died yet (except for the child). Yes these other countries might have better health care but that doesn't mean that everyone with the symptoms has gone to the hospital thus it's still rather weird that no one else died. Anyways, this is such a waste of time...

This is serious! Countries have changed their alert level to level 5.

You know, going to a hospital if you contract this form of influenza is a pretty bad idea - I mean, think about how many sick people you will be bringing yourself into contact to and endangering. Hospitals are pretty terrible with all the nosocomial infections that are localized to them (resistant pathogens to certain antibiotics), and by introducing this flu to such an environment it'll outbreak fairly quickly.

The best course of action if you think you've acquired the virus is to stay home and contact a physician over the phone for instructions. It's far better that you stay isolated yourself to prevent the spread. I've read that they think the virus is still communicable 7 days after infection.