McHenry County Blog

At two forums I attended on then-State Rep. Penny Pullen’s behalf I made predictions about the danger black women had of becoming HIV-infected.

One was a debate with a left-wing law professor at John Marshall Law School in Chicago and the other was on a pilot of a talk show hosted by Faye Wattleton, who had just resigned as president of Planned Parenthood.

At both events a black woman stood up and shouted angrily.

That was probably in 1991 when I was working for Pullen.

My logic was based on male prisoners being released from prison with being told they were infected with the AIDs virus.

Based on a study by the CDC, one-third of one percent of male inmates each year became HIV-infected while in Illinois prisons. (That transmission rate sounds low, but, if it existed in the general Illinois population, all of the infections through the mid-1990′s would have occurred in one year.)

I couldn’t think of any reason the rate of transmission would be less from sharing tattoo needles, hypodermic needles or getting raped by HIV-positive men elsewhere in the country than it was in Illinois.

There was no serious attempt to stop the spread of HIV in Illinois prisons then and there still isn’t.

Since a disproportionate number of black men were imprisoned and they weren’t tested on the way out—even if they were married—it stood to reason that black women were in danger. Even if an ex-convict would be willing to avoid having intercourse if he knew he was HIV-infected, IDOC saw no reason to let the prisoners know before they were released into the general populaiton.

And, I’m told, that when men get out of prison, it’s sex and drugs they want first.

So, in those two Chicago forums I stated my prediction.

Now comes USA Today, reporting http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/medical/2011-02-05-blacks-aids_N.htm on the Feb 4th Centers for Disease Control Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that shows I was unfortunately correct those 20 year ago.

The evidence:

“The rate of HIV diagnosis among black men is eight times that of whites, and the rate for black women is 19 times that of whites…”

The author talks about prison, but still doesn’t get the point I made above. Here’s what Dr. Kevin Fenton, Director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, days:

“High rates of male imprisonment are another factor, he added. ‘This leads to imbalances in male-to-female ratios in the community, which in turn result in sexual networks which facilitate transmission of HIV.’”

I guess he’s part right, but he’s missing something public health types have ignored for decades—HIV is spread in prisons and they and corrections officials have done virtually nothing to deter that.

You will remember that on Sunday Janet Napolitano, President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Homeland Security, said her department was dealing with swine flu “passively.”

That was when the CDC has confirmed 20 cases.

Monday, the number of cases was up to 40.

With 64 cases on April 28th, Napolitano was still being “passive.” http://www.mchenrycountyblog.com/2009/04/napolitano-and-mexican-border.html

Today, with 91 cases, Napolitano caved.

Associated Press reported,

“’passive surveillance’ is ‘not an accurate picture of what is going on’ at U.S. entry points.”

And, thus the Obama administration’s rhetoric bows a bit to reality.

But, no closing of the Mexican border, even with requests from border state congressmen.

“It would have very little marginal benefit in terms of containing the outbreak of virus within our own country,” Voice of America News.com reported.

U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) suggested using thermal scanners as countries, such as Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, South Korea, etc.

Napolitano said such scanners are “not always accurate.”

Sounds like the arguments liberals made in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s about the lack of 100% certainly of HIV-infection when people tested positive on the HIV-antibody test.

Sunday Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said “passive” measures were being taken at our borders.

At her briefing Tuesday, she is sticking to that prevention strategy.

But some of the reporters seem to be catching on.

Consider this part of this final part of the question and answer session before she concludes her briefing:

Question: I think if at the next level, at level four, that there are possible—in the plan, in the pandemic plan it’s possible that the border could be—parts of the border could be closed down or increased border surveillance of people coming across. Is that something that’s been discussed at this time?

Secretary Napolitano: Well, as I said yesterday, we’re already doing passive surveillance at the border. And with respect to closing the border, again, you would close the border if you thought you could contain disease, the spread of disease. But the disease already is in a number of states within the United States, so the containment issue doesn’t really play out. This particular flu, you can actually have it for a couple of days before you show any symptoms, and so even if—people could be coming through now, even under passive surveillance, who actually have the flu. So that’s a very difficult judgment to make.

Question: Other than notices being posted at gates at the airport, specifically, what else is TSA doing? Are passengers being questioned—incoming flights into this country?

Secretary Napolitano: Well, again, if they’re coming from international travel, they have to go through CBP, and CBP is doing the passive surveillance if passengers appear sick, and they are also asking—able to ask questions, particularly on flights that originate in Mexico.

And as I said before, they’re giving out what’s called a “tear sheet,” which is—we can give you a copy of that. It actually tells you what to look for and what to do if you think you’re getting ill. And that information is being posted in the airports and at the gates.

Question: Are there any quarantine centers at airports if it does become a pandemic?

Secretary Napolitano: My understanding is that we have 19 airports that have quarantine available. That would cover about 85 percent of air travelers. But we haven’t activated that need yet, and we may not need to. We don’t know. We have identified where they are, what we would need to do in case the facts warrant it later on.

Question: You say that it takes about three to four days for the symptoms to show up, so people could come in by air and not know that they have it, because the symptoms haven’t shown up, and they’ll be able to walk right in, right? I mean, is there any contingency plans for dealing with that? How would you deal with something like that?

Secretary Napolitano: Well, if people are sick, and if you have the flu, you believe you have the flu, you have a fever, you have a heavy cough, we’re asking people—

Question: —might not know for three or four days—

Secretary Napolitano: —we’re asking people, don’t go to school, don’t go to work, don’t go to a place where you can infect other people. I mean, the normal tendency is—you know, we have a lot of type-A personalities, and people want to go—keep working, and we’re saying, don’t do that if you believe realistically that you have the flu. If you don’t know, but you show some of the symptoms, contact your doctor.

And going to your question, what you’re saying is, people could still be coming in the country because they’re asymptomatic, may have the flu, and that is true. But again, given the number of cases and what’s actually appearing and the like, we believe at this level the appropriate precautions have been taken.

Thank you all.

= = = = =
The Google Map, complete with links can be found here.

Here’s the explanation of the Google swine flu map from the United Kingdom’s Guardian web site.

Google set up a dedicated flu watch service late last year and claims it picks up on flu outbreaks two weeks ahead of monitoring techniques used by the healthcare profession. It’s a simple enough idea; people search for flu-related advice and treatment online when they are ill or worried that they are about to become ill. Overlay Google’s search data with that of the Centre for Disease Control, which handles data from 16 million patients across the US, and there’s a direct correlation.

Up to 40 diagnosed cases as of 1 PM Monday afternoon.
Here’s the CDC map, which you will note does not match the states the CDC lists above.

Chicago’s ABC Channel 7 talked of little else during the first half of the six o’clock news.

The World Health Organization Deputy Director General Dr. Keiji Fukuda is quoted in the New York Times as saying,

“Because the virus is already quite widespread in different locations, containment is not a feasible option.”

This is Google’s map:

Want to bet that the swine flu scare drives political reform out of the news in Illinois?

Reading the transcript of the Department of Homeland Security press conference Sunday about the swine flu threat left me confused.

Secretary Janet Napolitano stressed the passive nature of people coming in from Mexico:

“…we’re doing, as I said passive surveillance now. Right now we don’t think the facts warrant a more active testing or screening of passengers coming in from Mexico, although obviously we are letting air carriers and our employees at the gates on those flights make sure that they are asking people if they’re sick; and if they’re sick, that they shouldn’t board the plane — you know, that sort of thing, passively.

“But again, this is a changing dynamic that we may increase or decrease that as the facts change over the next 24, 48, 72 hours.”

Question: What haven’t you banned U.S. travel to Mexico and why haven’t you changed the U.S. alert level in the face of this — unless the declaration of public health emergency is doing that?

Dr. (Richard) Besser (Acting Director of the Centers for Disease Control):

“I can comment. We have at CDC posted an outbreak notification regarding Mexico, and we’re continuing to watch the situation there and evaluate. And should it be warranted, we would make a change in that regard.

“In terms of the stages and phases of pre-pandemic situations, the real important take-away is that we have an outbreak of a new infectious disease that we’re approaching aggressively. And it matters much less what you call it. Those things are designed to trigger actions, but we trigger our actions based on what we’re seeing here in-country as well as what we see around the globe. And given that this new strain is something we’re experiencing here on the ground, we’re being very aggressive and addressing that based on what we’re seeing in each community.”

Are we prepared?

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The map from Google can be found here. Thanks to the Metro East’s Respublica for pointing me to the site.

The Chicago Tribune reported just after noon that a “Public Health Emergency” has been declared by the Department of Homeland Security.

From pictures published, Mexico seems to be in full panic.

Still, there is no quarantining of those coming across the Mexican border.

The United States was smart enough to do that at Ellis Island. People like my wife’s grandfather, who immigrated from Italy, was not granted immediate entrance into the United States.

Here’s what the CDC says about swine flu.

Still more CDC information and links can be found here.

“12 million doses of the drug Tamiflu are being released from a federal stockpile so that states can get it if needed,” the AP story the Tribune picked up says.

Population of the United States: 306,296,847

Guess a lot of us are going to be left out.

So, what’s to be done with flu carriers?

“There is no vaccine available at this time, so it is important for people living in these areas to take steps to prevent spreading the virus to others,” the CDC writes. “If people are ill, they should attempt to stay at home and limit contact with others.”

I’ve been told that the Department of Homeland Security has created “containment centers” though out the country.

So, I Goggled “containment center” and came up with this February 2006, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine newsletter.

Pulitzer Prize author Laurie Garrett spoke to 300 health professionals about avian flu.

“The worse-case scenario would be if the virus evolved from a bird-to-human contagion to a human-to-human contagion.

“If the avian flu made the jump to being spread human-to-human, even the best-case pandemic scenario could mean chaos in the United States, she said. Garrett, for instance, said she could envision hospitals and clinics being overrun; vaccines being woefully limited and ineffective. She said death could primarily strike people 35 and younger; all transportation could come to a halt; and sick people could be subject to military confinement,” the article continued.

“Can you imagine road blocks in and out of Kansas City, people being forced out of their cars and having their temperature taken; and if their temperature is up even a little, they’re taken to a containment center,” Garrett told the audience.

Garrett was not talking about swine flu, but the U.S. Government is certainly treating it more seriously than it ever did avian flu.

Thought some might be interested in this internet interview entitled,

Sunshine Activist
Cal Skinner

The web site has a motto from Steve Martin:

“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.”

If you have trouble reading the web site, it is also posted on the back up blog.

Thought some might be interested in this internet interview entitled,

Sunshine Activist
Cal Skinner

The web site has a motto from Steve Martin:

“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.”

If you have trouble reading the web site, it is also posted on the back up blog.