We`ll be on air at the usual time. If you have any question about swine flu and how it´s affecting life here, please post them here. We`re just sorting out the practicalities of bringing people in for the show without creating any sort of health risk. Traffic`s picked up a little outside but it`s still like a quiet Sunday in the summer holidays.
31 Responses to “Your questions to people in Mexico City”
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Salaam,
Hi Ros and the whole WHYS team in Mexico… I do hope and pray that all of you guys down there are safe and sound, Inshallah…
My question to our good friends down there in Mexico is : How do you guys assess the adequacy of your government’s response to the outbreak of Swine flu ?! Did your country receive offers from the outside world inorder to help you out fighting this outbreak ?! If yes then from whom ?! With my love… Yours forever, Lubna in Baghdad…
What is it like in Mexico I’m seeing every one’s month and nose on the internet tied up with blue cloth. Is it another death trap like AIDS and the others. If God wants to end the world now let him do it at once instead of bringing sickness on us every day.
Mohammed Kondawa
Monrovia Liberia
I eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant several nights a week here in Ohio. Many of the waiters and cooks travel frequently to Mexico. Is this something I should worry about? Should I stop eating there for now or is this nonsense?
Hi Eve,
I’m not an epidemiologist, however, I would be very careful before giving into hysteria. This is very early in this process. For anyone who has lived through numerous flu and other scares… just remember, they have all passed. Also, remember the media will likely sensationalize this as much before it’s over.
Take Care,
Alan Wolf
San Francisco
Hi Ros and everyone in WHYS.
I am sad that your first trip to our country was during this conditions. I don´t live in Mexico City, but many of my relatives and friends live there (including my sister, nephew and my dad), so I am obviously concerned for them, specially since my sister is 8 months pregnant.
I live in Monterrey (north of Mexico) and one persona already died for swine flu (a woman that visited Mexico City during the Holy Week). Here, the schools closed and the city is quieter than usual. I am at work, but taking my precautions. The local government is urging every person with flu symptoms to go to the hospital, to avoid further spreading of the virus.
I have to say that I am scared and I can see faces of concern all around me.
Hope you and everyone are well. Please, take care.
So this is swine flu virus. Does the spread can be contained if all pigs are killed?
How is your health Ros?
How did the disease cross the species barrier,I have heard of tourist shows for Americans which involved Mexican women with donkeys and pigs.
Are there urban rumours that the Americans released the swineflu just to contain the violence in the drug trade and human trafficking.
Are the large number of deaths due to the malnourishment and population density .
Ros:
Is to bad that you have to be in Mexico while this situation is going on. And is to bad that the Mexican Authorities did not wanted to participate to give answers to the world. Mexican Government Officials are known for been arrogant and not want to give their time to the people who wants answers.
I am form Puebla, 2 hours form Mexico, but currently living in Cali.
Do not forget to eat memlas and agua de horchata and if you wat a nice place to eat go to Adelitas, you will love it there.
I hope you have a fantastic time in Mexico and enjoy the culture and the people.
I have a question: Is there enough medical services for the Mexico City population…e.g. Facial Masks, hospital beds and etc items during the Swine Flu problems…
~Dennis Junior~
I am praying for the people of Mexico.
g
Problems like this flu is caused mostly by poor health practices by the farmers that rear animals. If good health protocol is not taking seriously by this animal rearers a lot of diseases will pass from cows, chickens, pigs, and many other animals to humans. Also the government have to earn peoples’ trust I know that’s not the case in Mexico. Hopefully this flu will be contained asap.
Take care, Luz Ma.
comon vacination against flu prevents against swine flu ?
mario leao lisbon portugal
Well, it’s possible commercial farming of animals might contribute to these situations, it has nothing to do with antibiotics, as antibiotics have no effect on viruses, and wouldn’t cause a virus to mutate as antibiotics work on bacteria and bacterial infections, not on viruses.
From what I’ve read pig, chicken and human flu mutated in pigs as they are the perfect breeding ground. However I think factory farming also played a part as animals kept inside in close, intensive conditions caused swine flu to spread like wildfire.
Hi Ros, and everyone on WHYS. I was wondering what the estimated incubation period for the swine flu is. I was just in Canada, where cases have been confirmed, and am wondering, if I was exposed, how soon I would developed symptoms. I don’t want to be paranoid, but it’s a slight concern. I had a friend, age 30 who died of the flu this past December.
Thanks Tom.
My family and I were in Mexico City during the Easter vacation (we came back 1 week ago), I am concerned, but so far no symptoms.
However, we are taking our precautions. It is sureal, it is scary, I don’t know what else to say.
Drug related mass graves so prevalent around Mexican towns/villages/countryside – could these be a source of viruses, bacteria, fungus etc – scavenging animals, vultures, wild dogs,wild/domestic cats, rats, flies and cockroaches – carriers to humans
Are these mass graves not possible sources of the cause of this uknown virus
Uganda/Rwanda/Congo – mass killings have led to so many incurable human deseases
Food for thought !
Best wishes to investigating scientists
@Liz, Seattle WA
April 27, 2009 at 18:41
I’d suggest calling your county health dept. You might also try the CDC, Centers for Disease Control, website.
And don’t be shy about asking questions and telling them about where you were, because they’ll want to know about anyone who has potentially been exposed so that they can track down the origins of this.
And sometimes a little paranoia is good to have in order to help protect yourself.
Wkipedia has an ongoing page on this swine Flu:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_outbreak
What is it like in terms of the fear levels in terms of the outbreak (?) of swine flu in Mexico? Are people taking the precautionary warnings seriously; and are public health practises like washing hands after every use of the bathroom, etc. integrated into public life, generally? I ask because I am aware that there are some places where people are routinely reminded by public health officials to wash their hands after going to the loo, etc. in an effort to make the message stick.
Erroneously termed “swine flu” in the press this sickness is caused by a mutant of the swine, the bird and the human flue viruses. At this point it has nothing more to see with pigs since is delivered from human to human even when the contact is not close. That is why the WHO’s alert level is 4 now.
where the 1918 epdemic started .was it in the us and brought to europe by ships transporting american soldiers to europe?
mario leao lisbon
I think that the health folks would want anyone who thinks they have symptoms to call first before going into a doctor or emergency room so that they can arrange to treat you without contaminating the emergency room for non-flu patients.
Call first!
Hi from Mexico Highlands.
here in Aguascalientes you can see around 1 out of 3 people wearing the blue facial masks, schools, theatres and every public event has been closed.
even Saint Marcos fair has been halted, this will bring severe economical consequences to the city
Hello I live in Mexico City, i haven’t known somebody that it is ill. I’m not sure what is really happend but my family and I are well. The news are making the people to fear. But really I think everything is alright we are cautious but we are living with good hell. I’m think we are doing good efforts to contain the illnes if this is really true.
I keep hearing the word “contagious” in connection with the spread of this current “plague”.
Folks, ‘flu is NOT contagious. It is not spread by contact, but is an infectious aerosol. In other words, you get it by breathing. You inhale the droplets which contain the virus.
On a different note, every year, about this time, there is a new plague announced as the fashionable disease of the year. We’ve had ebola, necrotising fasciitis, various other haemorrhagic fevers, variants on the haemoglobulin 5 neostatin 1 (H5N1 Bird flu), and whatever new scaremongering the newspapers can dig up to boost their sales during the summer months when traditionally nothing ever happens.
Here’s an idea: – next time someone captures, say a Somalian pirate or a taliban guerilla, they infect him with H1N1 or whatever this current bug is, then accidentally allow him to escape, thus infecting the entire group and saving money on bullets.
Frankly, I don’t buy it. I reckon that it is all scaremongering, ably inflamed by the phenomenon of instant contact with folks in the area.
How about a policy of…….Quit SPITTING! You spit, I walk in it and take it to my desk area or home carpeting. You spit, my dog walks in it and then sits on my couch with me. You spit, and my child walks in it and the plays on the floor where they walked.
ROS:
Have you tried to contact some government officials? and what has been the response and cooperation from the government?
I have been hearing all the reporting and comments on the swine flu and while I don’t think the WHO is over-reacting, it may be that the media are sensationalizing the reporting.
Here in Mozambique, people are very ignorant of how diseases are spread, even something so simple as teh common cold. Please, in your reporting, make it clear how swine flu, or any influenza, is transmitted from person to person. We have people thinking that they must now give up eating pork to be safe from any possible infection from swine flu.