☭ marselip0910 叶俊华™

Swine flu on the airwaves
April 28, 2009 8:08 AM

Squawk, twit, chirpIt's 8 am in Beijing, April 28, and the international TV news channels are freaking out about swine flu.

In China, CCTV's news channel is reporting on the outbreak and pointing out that China is well-prepared to cope with outbreaks of contagious diseases, thanks to it experience and the facilities built during SARS. The news packages are also noting symptoms and preventative measures that citizens can take. The state itself is stepping up inspections are airports and harbors on people and goods, and has suspended pork imports from Mexico and the U.S.

On the other side of the Pacific pond and the Eurasian landmass, CNN and BBC are rather enjoying the footage of people wondering around Mexican cities wearing face masks, interspersed with white coated experts pointing out how this may be the greatest disease story of the 21st Century. But please don't panic.

As if things needed an extra little apocalyptic special effect, a small earthquake has struck Mexico City.

In Beijing, The China Daily reports that the Mexican Ambassador says that the virus may not have originated in Mexico:

Citing the results of a study in his country, he said: "Somebody from Eurasia first got infected and took it to Mexico," causing the outbreak.

But there's someone happy amongst all of the swine flu gloom: financial journalists!
The talking heads on Bloomberg TV and CNBC are chirping about how this swine flu stuff could be good for pharma stocks, although they note sadly that the travel and airline industries are in for a rough ride. On the other hand, JP Morgan thinks that stocks battered by swine flu may be good bets (see Bloomberg link below), just as SARS produced some bargains for savvy investors who did not panic.





H1N1新型流感病毒在墨西哥肆虐，亞洲也陸續傳出多起病例，世界衛生官員坦承，已無力遏止疫情快速蔓延。流行病學家指出，一旦爆發大流行，最終死亡人數可能高達700萬人。部分頂尖病毒學家並認為大流行似乎已難以避免。

豬流感發源地墨西哥28日表示，至少已有152人病發死亡，感染人數亦增至大約1600人。紐西蘭成為第一個出現確診病例的亞太國家；而所有確診病例都是在墨西哥遭到感染。中東的以色列確診病例增至兩人。美國確診病例也增加了不止一倍，西班牙、加拿大與英國等則紛紛出現確診病例。

但WHO認為「邊界篩檢」無用，歐盟衛生最高主管也表示沒有必要管制旅遊。他說，「如果有人接觸或被感染了…但到機場時不一定出現症狀。我們只有邊作邊學。SARS是一個重要經驗。」

紐西蘭政府表示，25日由墨西哥返國的一所學校旅行團中有11人出現類流感症狀，經檢驗後其中3人為豬流感確診病例。以色列稍早的確診病例，是一名26歲男子，最近也剛由墨西哥返國。

北京機場人來人往，但都得經過體溫測試，H1N1新型流感病毒在墨西哥大爆發後，立刻在亞洲造成恐慌，中國大陸傳出有數起疑似個案，但世界衛生組織表示目前仍未確定。而香港目前也有4名疑似病例在接受檢測，其他包括泰國和南韓也各有一名從墨西哥返國的人，疑似染病正在檢驗。

另外，泰國朱拉隆功醫院主任提拉朋（Thirapong Charoenvit）28日向媒體證實，一名42歲在醫院工作的泰國女性從墨西哥返泰後發燒未退，28日就醫後，正接受檢測是否罹患豬流感。H1N1的案例越來越多，讓世界衛生組織提高警戒等級，看來民眾得更小心才行。