As the world braces to cope with spreading of the deadly Mexican Flu, new details are emerging of how Mexican clinics mishandled initial cases of the disease. This serves as a warning that funding for virus vigilance and reporting is not an option – it’s a deadly necessity.
"The 39-year-old woman who was the first to die in Mexico's swine flu epidemic spent the last eight days of her life going from clinic to clinic to find out what was wrong with her but doctors were baffled.
The woman, from the southern state of Oaxaca, died shortly after being admitted to hospital as an emergency case. Experts only identified the virus that killed her 10 days later."
Says a report from Reuters.
"The woman, who worked as a census taker in the city of Oaxaca, became ill with what was she thought was a severe case of pneumonia on April 4 but was not admitted to hospital until April 12.
‘She went to several private clinics where she was given various diagnoses and various treatments. However, her condition worsened and she was taken to the hospital by emergency services on the 12th and the next day she died,’ Miguel Angel Lezana, Mexico's chief epidemiologist, told reporters."
The best thing to do now is to avoid crowded places and be on alert for any signs of fever and flu symptoms.