Swine Flu and the First US Casualty
Not Really
The recent death of a two year old in Houston, Texas, confirmed the first ever death directly linked to Swine flu, Mexican flu, H1N1, or whatever name you wish to put on it. Sadly, the death zooms into the larger problem the US is facing.
The involved parties in this death were mexican citizens from Mexico, as their two year old was. The swine flu was caught and incubated in Mexico and the parents were gravely concerned, as any would be, fled to the US across the border, along with some other 45000 daily crossovers between the US and Mexico in San Diego. The crossing points at various sites in Texas are no different. It is not known if the parents and child crossed over at some secret site or simply were allowed to pass via immigration officers.
In any case, seeking medical treatment, they went into a local hospital, where treatment cannot be refused. Exposing how many others along the way??
US Immigration officers are really overwhelmed and not trained for this type of duty. So, they rely on infrared devices to detect "hot bodies" with temps higher that 102F, meaning the person has a fever and perhaps the swine flu. The problem with this is that infrared will detect the temps from 95 to 105F, meaning a perfectly healthy person may appear "hot" also. They also rely on observations and questions. Well, with so many crossing in both directions, officers do not have time to thoroughly observe a person, at best, it is less than a minute. Desperate people will lie about their condition to get help or preserve themselves.
Some countries have closed their borders to halt the chanced of swine flu entering. not the US, as incredibly as it seems, not much more is being done and we are the MAJOR country that borders Mexico and have so many residents connected to family in Mexico.
The border should be restricted if not closed. This is not business as usual. The death of a Mexican child in America proves the point. This child was not one who resided in the US. Swine flu will spread in the US because of this policy along the border. Already, two suspected cases have been detected in the San Francisco area.
It is only a matter of time until Swince flu spreads much greater than it has so far.
