BBC News Have Your Say: Mexico flu: Your experiences

[FedUpWithIt All]

I'm a specialist doctor in respiratory diseases and intensive care at the Mexican National Institute of Health. There is a severe emergency over the swine flu here. More and more patients are being admitted to the intensive care unit. Despite the heroic efforts of all staff (doctors, nurses, specialists, etc) patients continue to inevitably die. The truth is that anti-viral treatments and vaccines are not expected to have any effect, even at high doses. It is a great fear among the staff. The infection risk is very high among the doctors and health staff.

There is a sense of chaos in the other hospitals and we do not know what to do. Staff are starting to leave and many are opting to retire or apply for holidays. The truth is that mortality is even higher than what is being reported by the authorities, at least in the hospital where I work it. It is killing three to four patients daily, and it has been going on for more than three weeks. It is a shame and there is great fear here. Increasingly younger patients aged 20 to 30 years are dying before our helpless eyes and there is great sadness among health professionals here.

Antonio Chavez, Mexico City

I am a doctor and I work in the State of Mexico. I don't work in the shock team; I am in the echocardiography team, but I do get some news from my colleagues in the hospital. There have been some cases of young people dying from respiratory infections, but this happened before the alert and they were not reported because the necessary tests weren't done. We doctors knew this was happening a week before the alert was issued and were told to get vaccinated. I went to buy some anti-virals for my husband, who is also a doctor, because he had contact with a young patient who presented influenza symptoms and died. I don't think pharmacies stock enough anti-virals.

I understand the government doesn't want to generate panic, but my personal opinion is that they issued the alert too late. Still now, the population is not getting the information they need. We have been out in the street and some people are not wearing face masks and are not taking any preventive measures.

Guadalupe, Mexico City

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/8018428.stm

I hope they figure out the discrepancy between the countries soon.

[rainbow4321]

1. Mexico rumors -staff leaving

http://cottontopssandbox.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/mexico-rumors-staff-leaving/

note un-verified rumor:
…..Staff are starting to leave and many are opting to retire or apply for holidays. The truth is that mortality is even higher than what is being reported by the authorities, at least in the hospital where I work it. It is killing three to four patients daily, and it has been going on for more than three weeks…..

[FedUpWithIt All]

3. Yes that is also in the link above. BBC is posting several of the Emails they have recieved.

[uppityperson]

2. Showing once again that rumors and fear are real things.

I do hope that accurate information reaches those in need soon.

Do you mean discrepancies between countries or between reports?

[FedUpWithIt All]

6. i mean discrepencies in the fatality rate of the two countries.

If in fact the flu is interacting with a regional secondary infection (for example), or is progressing more dangerously due to resource limitations or is more deadly due to a genetic quirk... I hope they figure it out soon.

[uppityperson]

8. Thank you. I wonder if it is just not as widespread in usa yet

or elsewhere in the world. It usually takes a while for public health places to figure out there is a problem and to trace it back to sources. I'm glad WHO is on this

[mudesi]

4. This Has To Be True, It Came From The Internets!

:eyes:

[readmoreoften]

9. It had to be true! It's an official statistic from the Mexican Government!

Both the PRI and PAN have perfect track records when it comes to telling the truth. :sarcasm:

Maybe everything should be taken with a grain of salt--and also given a modicum of attention.

[FedUpWithIt All]

10. I remember reports coming out of Katrina on the internets too. Some of them were true.

Sometimes the word of mouth is in fact accurate.

I never claimed, nor has the BBC that any of this is true. I simply figured the adults of DU could decide for themselves what they personally wanted to make of it.

[janx]

5. Here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5538830

I don't mind the repetition though.

[FedUpWithIt All]

11. I apologize. I did not see your post.

:hi:

I posted the link early yesterday but they had updated the page since. I wanted to repost it because the new Dr. confirmed what the previous Dr. yesterday had reported.

[stray cat]

7. BBC news is a good source usually - clearly people are dying in Mexico from it

but influenza and pneumonia generally kill 20,000 to 40,000 people a year - its not something to laugh at certainly.

[FedUpWithIt All]

12. I agree about the BBC. But i want to reiterate that these are non-confirmed sources that wrote in.

:hi:

[FedUpWithIt All]

13. Death toll in Mexico at 103

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26462487.htm