I don't know if it warrants its own thread, I believe so. Either way, seems that the proverbial shit's about to hit the fan. It seems that there not much to do now but wait.cnn wrote:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A 22-month-old child from Mexico who was taken to Houston, Texas, for medical treatment is the first confirmed U.S. fatality from swine flu, health authorities said Wednesday.
The toddler was not a U.S. citizen, said Kathy Barton, a spokeswoman for the Houston Department of Health and Human Services, adding she could provide no other details.
At a news conference unrelated to the health issue, President Obama said, "My thoughts and prayers and deepest condolences go out to the family as well as [to] those who are ill and recovering from this flu."
Obama said, "This is obviously a serious situation -- serious enough to take the utmost precautions."
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius are closely monitoring the swine flu outbreak, Obama said. Learn more about swine flu and how to treat it »
The president urged local health officials to be vigilant about identifying and reporting suspected cases.
Places such as schools should consider closing temporarily if any illness surfaces there, he said, and parents should consider in advance how children at home will be cared for. Sending a child to a day-care facility may not be the best solution, he said.
Obama said he requested $1.5 billion in emergency funding from Congress on Tuesday if the outbreak becomes more widespread.
As of Wednesday morning, the World Health Organization said at least 112 cases had been confirmed worldwide. iReport.com: "Regular life" in Mexico with masks
Earlier Wednesday, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the child's death.
"A child has died from the H1N1 virus," the CDC's Dr. Richard Besser said. "As a parent and a pediatrician, my heart goes out to the family."
He added, "We have expected that over time we would see deaths from this infection, and that's what we're finding."
Six of the 64 confirmed swine flu cases in the United States have been reported in Texas, according to the CDC. The agency is "taking aggressive action to try and limit the impact of this on our communities" but isn't changing its recommendations as a result of the confirmed swine flu death, Besser said.
"I expect we'll see more cases," he said. "And as we do, we'll learn more about this, and if there needs to be more stringent or less stringent recommendations, we'll be making those." VideoWatch Besser assess the situation »
Of the confirmed cases worldwide, there have been seven other confirmed swine flu deaths, all in Mexico.
"Given what we've seen in Mexico, we have expected that we would see more severe infections and would see deaths," Besser said.
However, he stressed that people should maintain their perspective on the swine flu outbreak.
"Seasonal flu each year causes tens of thousands of deaths in this country -- on average, about 36,000 deaths," Besser said. "And so this flu virus in the United States, as we're looking at it, is not acting very differently from what we saw during the flu season."
I like pie.
