Just When I Thought It Was Safe to Go Back in the Water...

I'm assuming that by now most of you have heard about the swine flu that has struck Mexico and is quickly spreading throughout the world. The Health and Human Services Secretary has declared a public health emergency in the US, Latin American and Asian countries are screening passengers as they arrive at the airports, and Mexico City is in complete lockdown.

Cases have been reported in the US, Canada, and New Zealand, and possible cases are suspected in France, Brazil, Australia, and several other countries. Meanwhile, nothing has been said about it in Zihua.

This article from the BBC seems to give the best breakdown of what's going on.

This one is a little scarier.

This has comments from people in Mexico City, including many doctors. It really gives a perspective that you don't see on CNN.

I'm having a hard time getting any local information, but there was something in the paper over the weekend about an increase in cases of diarrhea (30 reported on Saturday). Health officials think the situation here is from people eating from street vendors. During the dry season (which we're at the end of) there is a lot of dust, excrement mixes with the dirt, then goes airborne. (Yes, it's disgusting to even think about.) They're saying the illnesses are related to the dust, but diarrhea is a symptom of the flu, so I don't know if I believe them.

Needless to say we won't be traveling to Mexico City (DF) anytime soon. We were already planning to wait until the second half of May, and now we'll wait and see what develops. We have family there but they said they're doing fine. In fact, since Ibis' aunt is a teacher and they've closed all the school until May 6th, they might come here to visit instead.

[Update: late last night they called and said it's probably best if neither of us traveled to or from DF. So the visit's off for now.]

I am freaked out about Ibis since he works in a hotel and a lot of people from DF vacation here. I imagine a lot of people who live there might try to leave until things calm down, and may unknowingly bring the virus to other locations. Ibis has strict instructions (from me) to wash his hands a lot and to try not to touch anything, but there's only so much you can do when you work in the service industry.

I've bleached the house and we're thinking about getting an anti-viral to help prevent getting infected. I'm keeping a close eye on this and will let you know if it comes to Zihua.