Houston Hispanic Kids Should Not Be Shunned Over Swine Flu

My friend Saleema writes in her blog that Hispanic kids are getting the cold shoulder from other students in Houston schools because of the Swine Flu.

This is, at the surface, because the Swine Flu started in Mexico. The more substantive reason though, as Saleema suggests in her blog, is that many parents are incompetent and don’t teach their kids to treat others well. 

Saleema’s sister attends a Houston High School and has seen Hispanic kids being avoided. Saleema writes the blog Ink Spot. Here is the post I’m referencing. 

It’s important for us to recall that all people are yucky. They cough and sneeze without covering their mouths, they don’t wash after using the restroom and they don’t wash their hands before eating a meal.

A group of people should not be shunned for any reason. Let’s focus on specific individuals who are walking around coughing on people.

Here are hand washing tips.

First Swine Flu Case In Houston Area—Wash Your Hands, Cover Your Mouth, Stop Kissing

The first Swine Flu case has been found in the Houston-area. This case is in Fort Bend County. Fort Bend County borders Harris County. Houston is in Harris County. 

Here is the story from the Houston Chronicle—

The Houston area’s first local resident to be diagnosed with swine flu has been confirmed in Fort Bend County. Officials at Fort Bend County’s health department said early Wednesday evening that they just received confirmation of the case from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The resident, a teenage girl, was not hospitalized and is recovering, said the officials. She is a student in Bellaire at Episcopal High School, which starting Thursday will close through the weekend. The illness started in the middle of last week, and she was treated by a private medical center. She had not recently traveled to Mexico.”

(Here is a later update on Swine Flu in Houston from the Chronicle.) 

(Here are my seven Swine Flu poems.)

So far we have one confirmed case in an area of over five million people and the girl who got sick did not have a severe illness. That’s we are at this point in Houston. It may well be a bad deal before it is all over. But all we can do now is take steps not to get sick.

Here is some more global Swine Flu information from the BBC.

Here are tips from the City of Houston Swine Flu web home about avoiding the Swine Flu—

What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?

There is no vaccine available to protect against swine flu. There are everyday actions that can help prevent the spread of germs that cause respiratory illnesses like influenza:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid close contact with sick people.
• If you get sick with influenza, stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Cough and sneeze into a tissue and throw it away promptly.  If there is no tissue available, cough or sneeze into your sleeve.
• Avoid shaking hands.  Do not kiss in greeting.

Here is the full City of Houston site. It has information relevant from wherever in the world you are reading this blog post.  

Instead of a kiss or shaking hands, try a hat tip instead as you see President Calvin Coolidge doing back in 1924.

Remember, there is no point getting mad at pigs for all this trouble. They are just getting us back for how we eat them. Below is an illustration of the process of pork packing in 19th-Century Cincinnati. Cincinnati was known as “Porkopolis” in those days for all the pork packing. I don’t believe in Karma, but here may a case of what goes around comes around.

Here is how to wash your hands from the folks who bring you National Hand Washing Week—

There’s a right way to wash your hands. A splash of water and a drop or two of soap won’t do the trick. Follow these simple steps to keep your hands clean:

• Use warm water (not cold or hot).
• Use whatever soap you like. Antibacterial soaps are popular but regular soap works fine. If you suspect that your hands have come into contact with someone with an infection, think about using an alcohol hand sanitizer.
• Rub your hands together vigorously and scrub all surfaces: Lather up on both sides of your hands, your wrists, between your fingers, and around your nails. Wash for 15 seconds – about how long it takes to sing “Happy Birthday.”
• Rinse well under warm running water and pat dry with a clean towel.
• In public restrooms, consider using a paper towel to flush the toilet and open the door because toilet
• and door handles harbor germs. Throw the towel away after you leave.

Yellow Card If You Might Spread Swine Flu—Red Card If You Are Really Sick

The federal government will be handing out yellow cards to foriegn visitors arriving in U.S. airports to tell them how to avoid the Swine Flu and what symptoms to look for.

Many sports, including soccer, use yellow cards to warn players of misconduct.

Read information about these swine flu cards at Graphic Arts Online. Maybe Graphic Arts Online would like to design a Swine Flu logo.

Red cards, as you see below, are given in many sports if a player is to be ejected from the game.

Maybe people who arrive in America and who seem sick will be given red cards and ejected from the country.

( Please click here for Swine Flu information and for handwashing tips.)

Swine Flu—An Explanation With Hand Washing Tips

Many people in Mexico have died from Swine Flu.

(4/26/09 —The latest update from the Los Angeles Times. People are being checked as they cross the border to see if they have the Swine Flu.)

( 4/27/09–The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention has a Swine Flu web page up.)

( 4/28/09—Now 1oo cases outside of Mexico though it is still not clear how bad it all be.)

( 4/29/09—More than 2,500 cases worldwide. Almost all deaths still within Mexico.)

(4/30/09—Still not certain how big a threat the outbreak will end up being.)

(5/1/09—The science of fighting flu is much advanced since 1918 epidemic.)

(5/3/09–Not spreading as fast as feared and not as deadly as feared.)

( 5/5/09—1124 cases in the world so far. Virus remains mild.) 

Here are my seven swine flu poems.

Below are three people in Mexico City who are hoping not to catch the Swine Flu.

What is Swine Flu? Here is the answer from the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) —

“Swine influenza (swine flu) is caused by type A influenza virus and gives pigs the flu. Swine flu viruses cause regular outbreaks of flu in pigs but death is infrequent. The viruses may circulate among pigs throughout the year, but most outbreaks occur during the late fall and winter months similar to outbreaks in humans. The classical swine flu virus (an influenza type A H1N1 virus) was first isolated from a pig in 1930.”

This CBC Q & A article covers many of your questions.

Here are  the symptoms—

“The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.”

Seems a lot like your normal flu—But it is worse.

A terrible flu epidemic was the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu outbreak.

Here is information from the Federation of American Scientists—

The “Spanish” flu pandemic of 1918 and 1919 caused the deaths of 20-50 million people worldwide including up to 675,000 in the U.S. While only about 1% of those infected with the virus died, it became one of the deadliest viruses ever known to man. The 1918 flu has been described as capable of sickening and killing a person on the same day. The virus is an H1N1 type A influenza. Symptoms of infection were similar to, but more severe than typical, seasonal flu. Viral pneumonia leading to acute respiratory distress was the primary cause of death. Recently, the virus was reconstituted from frozen tissue samples from a woman who died from the virus.

Here is the full article.

Here is another article on the 1918-19 epidemic from the BBC.  The article discusses how the virus did so much harm.

With both the Swine Flu and the 1918 epidemic you see that an A H1N1 virus is involved. What does that mean? Here is what it means.

There was a Swine Flu outbreak in 1976. President Gerald Ford asked that all Americans be innoculated. As it turned out, the disease only killed one person but the vaccine harmed hundreds and may have killed some. It is still debated if President Ford did the right thing. This article addresses that question.

(Above is a picture of President Ford with his then Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld (left) and his Deputy Chief of Staff Richard Cheney (right) . That’s enough to make you ill. Please click here for some good information on Gerald Ford from the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the U. of Virginia.) 

Swine Flu comes from pigs. Pigs often make people sick.  Diseases that go from animals to people are called zoonotic diseases. AIDS is a zoonotic disease that jumped from chimps to people. This took place after people ate chimps.

We can’t forget that people do a lot more harm to animals than animals to do people.

There are many diseases people can catch from animals. Like Cat Scratch Disease.

Please wash your hands after you play with your pet or with an animal.

Here are Swine Flu facts from Web MD. There is no vaccine to prevent the Swine Flu. You can not get it from eating pork. Washing your hands and avoiding touching your nose or mouth will help you avoid the Swine Flu and all flu.

Here is how to wash your hands—

There’s a right way to wash your hands. A splash of water and a drop or two of soap won’t do the trick. Follow these simple steps to keep your hands clean:

• Use warm water (not cold or hot).
• Use whatever soap you like. Antibacterial soaps are popular but regular soap works fine. If you suspect that your hands have come into contact with someone with an infection, think about using an alcohol hand sanitizer.
• Rub your hands together vigorously and scrub all surfaces: Lather up on both sides of your hands, your wrists, between your fingers, and around your nails. Wash for 15 seconds – about how long it takes to sing “Happy Birthday.”
• Rinse well under warm running water and pat dry with a clean towel.
• In public restrooms, consider using a paper towel to flush the toilet and open the door because toilet and door handles harbor germs. Throw the towel away after you leave.

Casino Gambling—The Opportunistic Infection

Not surprisingly, with Galveston, Texas a long way from recovery after Hurricane Ike, casino gambling is on the table for the island.

Here is Dolph Tillotson, President and Publisher of the Galveston County Daily News, writing in favor of casino gambling. 

Many business owners in Galveston are hoping that casino gambling is part of the future.

For this gambling to be allowed in Galveston, it would have to be allowed in Texas in the first place.

Above you see staphylococcus aureus. It is the most common cause of staph infections. About 20% of people carry this bacteria. It does not kill in most cases. Though it can kill. For the most part, it causes a variety of troubles for the victim that can range anywhere on the scale from major to minor.

Staphylococcus aureus will do it’s damage when you give it a chance. It takes advantage of wounds and disease. It’s the cause of opportunistic infection.

Casino gambling is the same way. It moves in when there is no more hope of an economy producing anything of real value. Or when local  or state governments cannot or will not raise enough tax money to provide basic services. It sees its opportunities and it takes them. It is always waiting for its chance.

In the case of Galveston, casino gambling finds opportunity in the wake of a hurricane, and as the island’s largest employer, the U. of Texas Medical Branch, slashes thousands of jobs.

In honesty, because I don’t see another option, I’d favor at least considering this gambling in Galveston. I don’t have another solution to help people in Galveston find work. Nobody is going to help them. The liars who comprise the U. of Texas Board of Regents are doing everything possible to hurt the island for who knows what reason. 

I have moral objections to casino gambling—Yep! I sure did get married at a casino—and moral views have every place in politics and policy. (More public policy questions than we realize are moral questions. How much tax money we raise and how we spend that money are moral questions in many respects.)

Yet though I think casino gambling preys on those least able to afford it, and that it is a lousy way to fill the public coffers, it seems at this point the people of  Texas and Galveston should vote on the issue. Galveston will no doubt talk about regulating the casinos, but when they move in the people will lose control of their city government.  Though since this little city of 50,000 has no control over hurricanes, of course, or over UTMB,  what does it really matter?

Maybe I’m being pragmatic here. Or maybe I’m just fatigued trying to think about what will serve as a solution to help what I view as the most interesting and enjoyable place to visit in all Texas. If somebody has a better idea I’d like to hear it.

I’m certain the people of Galveston are very fatigued right now. I’m certain fatigue makes one more vulnerable to the type of opportunistic infection that casino gambling represents in any community that has run out of better and more hopeful choices.   

(Below—Galveston is vulnerable in many respects.)