The Shock Doctrine

By: Jessica Perez
Translation: Lorena Vargas

In the following post you will see a video that deals with something called “The Shock Doctrine”. It is very interesting as it presents us with a different point of view of this swine flu crisis the world is going trough.

United States isn’t closing the border, but is advising people not to come to Mexico

By: Jessica Perez
Translation: Lorena Vargas

Several universities in Illinois, currently the state with the most infected population inside the United States, have canceled trips to Mexico and have advised its students not to come to our country.
Skelton, a student, said that he was worried about the swine flu but that he would have still come to Mexico, if Western Illinois, his university, had allowed him to.
“I was worried at first, but then I thought that Mexico would be a great country to travel to”, Skelton said.
In 2008 approximately 9,500 Americans students came to Mexico to study via exchange programs with several universities. According to the International Institute of Education, Mexico is the seventh most popular destination for American students.
However, most universities decided to cancel those exchange programs and in the worst-case scenario, some universities have asked those students already in Mexico to return to the United States.
Among the universities who adopted such measures were the University of Wisconsin, the University of Memphis, the University of Georgia, and the University of Georgia, Michigan and Minnesota.
All these universities supposedly asked the press for discretion on this matter because they didn’t want to be misunderstood. Fortunately for us none of their students got sick, otherwise we would be hearing complaints about Mexico’s lack of sanitary security.

Blame it all on Mexico

By: Jessica Perez
Translation: Lorena Vargas

The World Health Organization (WHO) raised the alert level to phase 5 on its scale after a two year old died in Texas as a consequence of the swine flu. Citizens of other countries like United States and Spain were already infected with the swine flu when this event occurred, but for some reason, the international media pointed its finger at Mexico and labeled our country as “highly dangerous.”
Not one newspaper or TV station mentioned that according to members of the WHO, countries like Great Britain will be struck by the swine flu and that it will spread over the course of sixth months and infect 40% of its population, a lesser number than those already infected in Mexico.
The majority of opinions toward the subject of the swine flu lack scientific facts and it seems that everybody is bent on spreading a worldwide panic. Words like “contagious”, “death”, “no cure”, and “expansion” seem to be repeated over and over again, causing fear and panic among the population.
All the news about the swine flu has successfully captured people’s attention and has made them forget, if only for weeks, the economic crisis we now face. I have no doubt in my mind that the swine flu exists; however, it has been blown out of proportion.
In Mexico all the demonstrations that were supposed to take place on the 1st of May were canceled.
We have to forget the troubles we are going through in this country, seeing that we now face a pandemic of swine flu, although there are only 148 infected and 8 dead around the world.
But Mexico is not the only one to blame for “infecting” the world. United States has many infected citizens and one confirmed dead, Canada has 13 infected, Germany has 3, Israel 2, New Zealand 3, Spain 4 and Great Britain has 5.
But as always, Mexico is the one to blame and the guilty one for letting the swine flu spread. It is always easier to blame Mexico seeing as we are a Third World country and all. If we look closely, most of the deaths that have occurred in the last few weeks have not been closely linked to the AN1H1, as many of the infected died from complications of pneumonia or tuberculosis.
It is important to mention that the world already has a savior. Big Pharma has been authorized by the WHO to start working on a vaccine against this disease. This is a great economic opportunity for this company and everybody involved in the creation of the vaccine.

Terrorism is caused by Ignorance

By Andrea Moreno Herrero
Translation by Patricia Roxana Solórzano

Uncertainty originates in apathy and a lack of interest. This is a common state of mind in Mexico. Is the swine flu a government plot like the chupacabras- the blood-sucking beast that haunted farmlands in the mid nineties- or is the country victim of State terrorism?
According to the Political Culture and Citizen Trends Poll of 2008 (ENCUP)(http://www.encup.gob.mx/encup/index.php?page=encup) near half of the population has a negative opinion of the Mexican democracy and the percentage that trusts government institutions is quite low. It’s interesting that 60% said they had none or very little interest in politics and 42% was unable to determine their political orientation (rightwing or leftwing). Politics is not a priority when it comes to the Mexican’s interest; therefore the public is not notably informed. This reflects on the ideological polarization, and mistrust on the governments reports and institutions.
The fact that Mexico could have become a victim of State terrorism has been widely discussed and it has resulted in a concentration of the public in media coverage related to the outbreak, leaving all other affairs to the side. Attention wasn’t focused on the approval of several important laws related to the war on drugs, unemployment, migration to the United States and insecurity among others. The OMS and CDC were accused of forming a conspiracy along with the American, Mexican and Canadian governments. Information chaos has surpassed the disease itself and there are sectors that show a greater concern about the possible deceit than about the outbreak or even their own health.
Information published in Alexa (www.alexa.com) regarding the website traffic in certain websites revealed that American government websites increased their traffic. The most visited were: Secretaría de Salud (Health Secretariat), the U.S. government and the CDF while the Mexican government webpages did not register an increase of users, rather than that there was actually a decrease.
Lets not forget about Mexico’s information amnesia, events tend to be buried and forgotten. After the forced “lock in” the country returns to its routine, streets have a blue shade from the face masks that become trash, clot the pipelines and highlight the contradictions of the concerned citizens of this great country.

How deadly is the AH1N1 flu?

By Stephanie Stoopen Menéndez

Scientists estimate that AH1N1 strain is eight times more deadly than the typical seasonal flu. Science, a journal published by the Imperial College London states that during the Mexican outbreak 4 out of one thousand people who got the disease, died. This pandemic is being compared with the Asian flu of 1957 that killed near two million people. On the other hand, seasonal flu only kills 10 or 20% of this number.

The consequences of a similar epidemic to the Asian Flu of 1957 would be much greater now, they would include the health sector and also the economic and social areas. Scientists are certain that this epidemic will be around for approximately two years. According to Keiji Fukuda, the head for the Flu division of the WHO, “the historical record of flu pandemics indicates one third of the world’s population gets infected in such outbreaks” Other independent experts agree on this estimate.

In spite of this, Fukuda said that the estimates based on past experiences should not constitute a prediction for the current situation since it is impossible to know what will happen at this stage. This new string of flu is dangerous because since it has never been around, humans have no possible immunity. Chris Smith, a scientist from Cambridge University states that “everyone is immunologically vulnerable, it is highly likely that once it starts to spread, people will catch it. And since the majority of the world’s population are in contact with one another, you’re going to get quite a lot of spread."

The fact that 30% of the population could get the virus does not mean that two billion will die, there is a cure and each person responds in a different way to the disease.

Could the AH1N1 flu virus have been generated in a lab?

By Patricia Roxana Solórzano

An Australian researcher is convinced that the new variation of the AH1N1 virus could have taken place during a mistake in the research process inside a laboratory. Adrian Gibbs, a 75 year old scientist from Australia National University has been one of the first to analyze the virus that is affecting Mexico and the rest of the world. His theory is just one of many that have signaled the pandemic as a result of government interests, international pressure or hidden economic benefits that could have generated it.
Gibbs mentions that it “could have been a mistake during the production of the vaccine or the virus could have passed from a pig to another mammal, or a bird before it reached humans.”(Bloomberg)
The World Health Organization (WHO) is researching Gibbs’ theory but in the meantime, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ruled out this hypothesis since they have not been able to follow the path of the virus to South America and Africa where the mutation could have taken place due to natural causes.
Finally the WHO will wait for further and more conclusive evidence that the virus could have actually been generated in a lab before they accept this argument. Even though, there is one thing clear, the worldwide reaction to the pandemics is uncertain because of mixed information and possible private struggles between power groups that could have provoked the crisis.

The media: friend or foe?

By: Mario Beltrán y Puga

Translation: Lorena Vargas

When the swine flu crisis began in Mexico, it soon became very clear that the country’s economy would be greatly affected by this outbreak. A week into the crisis restaurants, theatres, bars, nightclubs, and shopping malls were closed in order to prevent the spread of the flu. As a consequence of all these places going out of business for a few days, as well as a lack of tourism, Mexico’s economy lost approximately one billion dollars. The city of Cancún begs tourists to come, while people in Acapulco throw stones at busses coming from Mexico City.
Mexico City has been unrecognizable for the last few weeks; there has been no traffic and very little activity. The international media are the ones who have spread national fear of a worldwide epidemic. If a terrified population wasn’t enough, the secretary of tourism stated that if was not safe to come to Mexico. ¿Where is all this chaos heading?
While it may be true that there was an epidemic, it was blown out of proportion. Maybe Mexico was not ready to fight off the swine flu, but what nobody noticed or even paid attention to during this crisis was that there have been other diseases, like the dengue fever, that have killed many more Mexicans than the swine flu.
International newspapers, especially those from North America were the ones responsible for spreading the idea of an infected Mexico. Countries like China and Argentina have closed their borders and banned the entrance of pork products coming from Mexico. Mexican employees have to work from their homes, or in the worst of cases not work at and therefore don’t get paid.
Japanese airlines have stated that they will resume their flights to Mexico in June. Similar measures are being taken by the European Union who advised their citizens to cancel any flights to Mexico.
Taking into consideration that tourism is the third most important source of income for Mexico, something has to be done and quickly. If we continue to spread international panic and fear, stockholders and investors are going to leave the country and our economy is going to be in shambles.
As long as Mexico is seen as the epicenter of this swine flu pandemic, the task to regain the country’s reputation will be a long and hard one. The only question left to ask is ¿Why has the international community so vehemently tarnished Mexico’s reputation?

Unmasking the swine flu

By Andrea Moreno
Translation by Patricia Roxana Solórzano

Swine, hog or pig flu is a phenomenon that has caused global panic and uncertainty. Now any simple cold is taken out of proportion, and people sneezing around are subject of discrimination and rejection. We cannot afford to trust if someone is infected or is following the health tips, the least we can do is pay more attention to ourselves and our bodies, trying to feel relaxed in order to avoid false symptoms caused by stress and suggestion.

The virus is not in the air; it travels through small drops of saliva that people expel while speaking, coughing or sneezing. The virus, survives for 48 to 72 hours in surfaces such as hands, banisters or handles, and porous surfaces like tissues and clothes. It spreads when talking closely to someone infected, shaking their hand if they have saliva particles on them, and by kissing.

Above all, it’s very important to be clear about the differences between a common flu and the H1N1 flu that is currently affecting many people around the world:

Fever
Flu: is not that common in adults and teens, however it can rise up to 39°C (102.2 F) in little children
Swine flu: it rises up to 39°C (102.2 F) and may reach 40°C (104 F) for the next three or four days

Headache
Flu: it does not always appear
Swine flu: it is very intense and unbearable

Muscle pain
Flu: mild to moderate and bearable
Swine flu: very intense

Fatigue and weakness
Flu: mild to moderate
Swine flu: it is often very intense and it may last two or three weeks

Nasal congestion
Flu: frequent
Swine flu: it is not a common symptom but it happens sometimes

Sneezing
Flu: frequent
Swine flu: sometimes

Sore throat
Flu: often
Swine flu: sometimes

Cough
Flu: mild to moderate
Swine flu: it is very often and may be very intense

Responses and Consequences of the Human Flu

By Dulce Gamiño, Alejandra Olalde and Milburga Rodríguez
Translation by Patricia Roxana Solorzano

The United States’ response was slower, mass media began to discuss the disease during the last week of April when they shut down schools and launched some possible solutions to fight the virus. Cases in the U.S. started with a Mexican baby who died of the AH1N1 flu. Mass media notified the entire world about the cases in the American continent and also in Europe, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, this action caused a worldwide panic.
Their particular governments reinforced the public’s strong reaction as they changed their attitude towards Mexico and its tourists. The Mexicans who traveled around in different countries when the outbreak took place resented this hostile treatment. For instance, Mexican tourists who were in China were asked to leave in two jumbo jets, and they had previously been isolated in hotels across the country.
The massive broadcasting of Human Flu related news caused that both Mexico and the United States got distracted from other issues such as the economic crisis and negotiations regarding their partnership and migration laws. The citizens stopped thinking about the decrease in the gross internal product, the recession and mainly unemployment. This was true in a lesser extent in Mexico due to the severe crisis caused by the pause on all the economic sectors, mainly in tourism. All of this along with the Chrysler crisis severely affected Mexico since they have almost 450 thousand employees whose salaries depend on the company’s plant in the state of Coahuila.

Media exposure derived Media exposure derived from the “Lock In”

By Dulce Gamiño, Alejandra Olalde and Milburga Rodríguez
Translation by Patricia Roxana Solorzano

The thousands of Mexicans that stayed home were constantly exposed to media messages from internet, radio, written press and mainly television. The latter offered an uninterrupted coverage of the Human Flu and generated panic within the population.

The percentage of the crisis’ impact may be measured by observing the amount of people actually wearing the facemask. During the first days this was not as evident as it became later on, when the media announced the number of deaths the disease had caused and the most effective ways to protect oneself against it, including the use of a facemask. Pharmacies and supermarkets ran out of their supply of facemasks because the Mexican population was wearing them as an essential part of their daily attires. Perhaps this attitude variation would not have occurred if people had not been as exposed to mass media while they stayed at home.

US and Mexico Against the Human Flu

By Dulce Gamiño, Alejandra Olalde and Milburga Rodríguez
Translation by Patricia Roxana Solórzano

During the last month, both countries faced an epidemic caused by a bud of H1N1 virus, commonly named Human Flu. On the nighttime news of April 23, Dr. José Ángel Córdova, the Mexican Secretary of Health announced to the nation the presence of the virus and the actions that would be taken in order to avoid its transmission. They included the suspension of academic activities from preschool to university level and also of cultural and other ambiances where conglomerations could take place.

From that moment on, the Mexican government asked for the people’s support in order to avoid the spread of the virus. The use of a facemask was suggested when people gathered with more than five individuals in an enclosed area. Later on, stores, restaurants, cinemas, theaters, shopping malls, and companies were given a recommendation to shut down until the crisis had passed. In some states there was an explicit prohibition of any commercial activity. The only exception was made for stores that sold basic need products such as supermarkets and banks.

This event has caused a dramatic descent of the Mexican economic activity; there has been a reduction of the Gross Internal Product (GIP) of 5.2% in 2009. This crisis stole the Mexican people’s attention and deviated it from other concerns such as the world economic crisis and government’s decisions such as the legalization of drug possession and the migration issues with the United States.

Top 5 pandemics- AH1N1 Flu

By Milburga Rodríguez Rivera
Translation by Patricia Roxana Solórzano

The most recent pandemics is the H1N1 Flu virus that has caused approximately 45 deaths of infected Mexicans. Regardless of this information, the real number remains unknown. “Most of the flu cases in Mexico do not belong to the AH1N1 variety. According to press reports, most Mexican cases of swine flu are only “suspicious” but have not been proved with a laboratory analysis”

The virus is believed to come from pigs, therefore it is called swine flu but “the H1N1 virus has mutated in several other variations that gather the Spanish flu, swine flu and bird flu” stated Fernando Velázquez in Red Voltaire.

This article mentions other publications in different magazines, one of them is Science, where scientists from the Molecular Pathology Department of the Pathology Institute of the U.S. Military state that they have “examined and obtained the complete genome from the Spanish flu virus. Among these scientists were Jeffery K. Taubenberger, Ann. H. Reid, Raina M. Lourens, Ruixue Wang, Guozhong Jin and Thomas G. Fanning.”

All of this has generated an atmosphere of speculation and uncertainty regarding the real origin of the virus and its use as a biological weapon. This theory still abounds and it is sustained by the belief that the virus was spread by pharmaceutical empires looking for profit along with the geopolitical interests that emerged from the crisis and rupture of the preceding neoliberal order.

Top 5 pandemics- Nipah Flu

By Milburga Rodríguez Rivera
Translation by Patricia Roxana Solórzano

Farmers from the Malay region of Ampag were affected by a strange type of cold that was the Nipah flu virus, a microorganism originated in fruit-eating bats that was transmitted to pigs in the regional farms.

The microorganism spread across Malaysia killing almost 50% of the infected patients and arising fear among the population to such an extent that they either slaughtered their pigs or sold them to other farms at ridiculous prices.

Nipah has appeared in the region on five different times killing about 80 people each time, it gives no warning and there still is no vaccine available.

The virus has appeared in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and some other Pacific Islands among other countries. “From January 4th to February 5th of 2004, the WHO has been notified that there are 42 cases and 14 deaths that can be traced back to Nipah virus and other related viruses. The infections have been produced in the provinces of Manikganji (7 cases, four deaths), and Rajbari (35 cases, 10 deaths). There is ongoing research in 45 other cases.”

Top 5 pandemics- E. Coli 0157:H7 bacteria

By Milburga Rodríguez Rivera
Translation by Patricia Roxana Solórzano

In November 1996 Scotland suffered an outbreak from a bacteria named Escherichia Coli 0157 that originated from meat products and contaminated steaks in a butcher’s shop in Wishaw Lanarkshire. The bacteria reproduced in such quantity that it became one of the most relevant epidemics in history with 256 infected and 16 dead.

The bacteria was first detected in the United States in 1982 where 47 people where infected from eating contaminated hamburgers.

The 0157:h7 is a rare variety of E.Coli that produces great amount of toxins that cause important damages on the intestinal mucus, diarrhea, vomiting and in the worst cases it produces Uremic Hemolytic Syndrome (UHS) which is the main cause of renal damage on children in the United States.

There are 10 to 20 thousand cases estimated to take place in the U.S. The bacteria has affected other countries such as Spain, Italy, Denmark, Germany and Japan where the latest outbreak was in Sakai, near Osaka and 6,309 cases of infected students and 92 school workers.

The transmission vehicles have changed and become numerous, therefore this bacteria still has the capacity to affect humans.

Top 5 pandemics - Legionella bacteria

By Milburga Rodríguez Rivera
Translation by Patricia Roxana Solórzano

The name derives from the first outbreak in the 1976 Latin American Convention held in Philadelphia. During the outbreak they believed that the virus was transmitted through the air conditioning systems, resulting in 34 deaths (18.7% of the total of 182 cases). New information has concluded that the virus was transmitted through the water supply of the hotel that hosted the convention.

Legionella is a pulmonary infection caused by the bacteria Legionella pneumophilla, an aquatic organism found mostly on water and that has also been found on soil.

Transmission may occur in hospitals, hotels, spas and other places that use contaminated water. Ingesting or aspiring a few drops that contain the bacteria is enough to acquire the disease, which produces diarrhea, vomit, fever, difficulty to breathe, headaches, and ultimately death. The disease can be treated and cured if the appropriate treatment is administered on time.

There’s not an accurate estimate of the number of people who have died because of the bacteria, since the identification and treatment varies in each country. In Europe there are 4,546 possible cases of death caused by this disease.

The different types of Legionella are still affecting people around the world and in spite of the sanitary measures, new cases demonstrate that it has not been eradicated.

Top 5 Twentieth Century Pandemics

By Milburga Rodríguez Rivera
Translation by Patricia Roxana Solórzano

Wars have been the longtime threat of mankind but now they have given their place to another enemy: viruses. These microscopic organisms are attacking humans in a silent but efficient way. In the following posts I will mention the some of the most relevant, along with some that have emerged from mutations and therefore increased the risk for a modern pandemics.

Bird Flu

The outbreak began in Spain in 1918, therefore it is also called the “Spanish Flu”, and it has been the greatest pandemics in history. It left behind a total of 50 to 100 million dead in 18 months and then it simply disappeared, leaving no trace.

Dr. Edwin Jordan, editor of the Journal of Infectious Disease of the U.S. has concluded that the virus originated in the United States and it spread over Europe when American troops were sent to the continent. Other theories pointing to either France or Asia are less conclusive.

Later on, the virus suffered a mutation (H5N1) that can only be transmitted from birds to humans. Human to human transmission is impossible, “Indonesia became by 2008 the first nation with more than 100 deaths accountable to this disease, the mutation has become endemic and is contained within the Malay islands…” Indonesia turned into the hub for this epidemic, but if this virus undergoes further mutations, the world will be exposed to a fast and lethal spread.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has appointed certain countries to become a strategic boundary so that the flu remains contained. These countries are: the U.S., Belgium, France and Brazil and they work on research in order to find and prove a vaccine that may protect humans from this possible pandemics. Specifically in Brazil, the only South-American country to receive this variation of the virus, they are about to test a possible vaccine to protect the country from the disease.

Welcome

The health emergency originated by the swine flu, or AH1N1 flu virus is an event that has changed our everyday life in Mexico and around the world. People are feeling the symptoms of a collective crisis, the economic system went on a coma and our government protected us with a forced “lock in” that was highly controversial.
International attitude towards Mexican citizens is hostile, tourism –one of our main income sources- has declined to an unprecedented level and there is still no explanation or accurate prognosis.
There have been different versions to this matter; therefore, in this blog we will post interesting information regarding official and unofficial points of view. As college students we understand the importance of knowing the other story and we want to share the pieces that we find along the way with others like us, our neighbors because the things that make us different are not that many.
This blog is for you, who want to understand another perspective, told by someone that you can relate to and also share your own. WELCOME, (no face mask needed).