Member of Obama's Trip Team in France diagnosed with swine flu

image of Obama Team Member French Kissing Swine

from Breitbart
May 29, 2009
By ANGELA CHARLTON
Associated Press Writer

PARIS (AP) - A U.S. official in Normandy to prepare President Barack Obama's upcoming visit has been diagnosed with swine flu and is being treated in a hospital, French authorities said Friday.

Eleven other members of the U.S. delegation were placed in isolation for 24 hours in their hotel rooms and given medical treatment, said an official at the Calvados region administrative headquarters. The official was not authorized to be identified publicly.

The 54-year-old American woman was hospitalized in the city of Caen, and will remain for about a week, the official said.

The hotel where the delegation was staying, in the seaside town of Port-en-Bessin, is not far from the beaches where Allied forces landed June 6, 1944, in the D-Day invasion. Obama is coming to the area for the 65th anniversary of the invasion next week.

The swine flu incident comes as veterans, visitors and French, British, U.S. and other officials are streaming into the area for the anniversary.

The U.S. Embassy said in a statement "the French authorities are taking the appropriate action" in the Normandy swine flu case.

The World Health Organization reported Friday that its global tally rose to 15,510 swine flu cases in 53 countries, including 99 deaths, most of them in Mexico.

In the United States, officials reported 8,975 confirmed cases Friday and 15 deaths. France has 20 confirmed cases.

In April, a U.S. security aide helping with arrangements during Obama's trip to Mexico became sick with flu-like symptoms and three members of his family later contracted probable swine flu.
The employee, who was not identified, was an aide to Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
Click to read the article and the comments

White House issues advisory after Obama Mexico trip - Obama's staff is spreading the flu

from Politico.com
By CAROL E. LEE & JOSH GERSTEIN
04/30/09

The White House has issued a health advisory outlining "protective measures" for anyone who traveled on President Barack Obama’s trip to Mexico after a member of the U.S. delegation came down with flu-like symptoms – and tests on his family showed they’re probably infected with the swine flu.

The individual – an advance security staffer for Energy Secretary Steven Chu –appears to have spread the flu to his wife, son and nephew. All three have tested probable for swine flu, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday.

Gibbs, who did not name the security aide, said he did not work closely with Obama, didn’t fly on Air Force One and is back at work at the Energy Department.

But the staffer was at a working dinner Obama attended with Mexican officials April 16. The aide “was asked specifically if he ever came within six feet of the president, and the answer to that was 'No,' " Gibbs said.

“The president has not experienced any symptoms,” Gibbs said. He said Obama and other aides are “highly, highly, highly unlikely” to develop such symptoms now because of the time that has passed since Obama’s visit on April 16 and 17 and the relatively short incubation period for the flu virus, known as H1N1.

The disclosure of the likely flu case in the president’s entourage was startling because Gibbs said earlier this week that White House physicians believed the flu had posed no risk at all to Obama when he visited Mexico. “The doctors have informed me… that the President's health was never in any danger,” Gibbs said Monday.

Also on Monday, Gibbs had said no one traveling with the president “in either governmental or press capacity has shown any symptoms that would denote cause for any concern."

Gibbs said Thursday that Chu’s aide developed a fever while in Mexico and that several of the aide’s relatives subsequently fell ill with flu-like symptoms. The aide has not tested positive for swine flu, probably because so much time has elapsed, but tests on his three relatives came back as “probable” cases on Tuesday, Gibbs said.

The man flew back to Washington on a commercial United Airlines flight that landed at Dulles International Airport on April 18, Gibbs said.

Gibbs said Secretary Chu has shown no flu-like symptoms and has no plans to be tested for the virus. [Why, just as a precaution wouldn't he want to be tested? Why wouldn't the White House insist that he be tested? That makes no sense whatsoever. The White House is trying to play the angle that there is nothing to worry about - my comment]

Gibbs said a White House physician reported that about 10 staffers who traveled to Mexico visited him. But Gibbs said, “None of those people, however, came back with any positive tests.”

The press secretary said officials don’t expect any more cases related to the trip because of the time that has passed.

The White House advisory echoes the advice of the Centers for Disease Control – and even the president himself at Wednesday’s news conference – including urging workers to stay home if they suspect they have the virus. But the advisory also paints that advice as a way to make sure the White House can keep functioning, no matter how serious a global flu outbreak gets.

“Limiting influenza exposure within the buildings at the White House Complex will allow normal operations to continue, even if the world-wide influenza outbreak becomes more widespread,” the advisory reads.
Click to read the rest of the article and the comments

White House aide's family likely has swine flu

DON'T BE KISSING ANY PIGS!

Apr 30 01:13 PM US/Eastern
from Breitbart.com

WASHINGTON (AP) - A member of the U.S. delegation that helped prepare Energy Secretary Steven Chu's trip to Mexico City has demonstrated flu-like symptoms and his family members have tested probable for swine flu.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday that three members of an aide's family are being tested to see if they have the same strain of swine flu that is threatening to become a pandemic. The aide worked in presidential advance, which is responsible for planning and preparing trips.

Gibbs said that Secretary Chu has not experienced any symptoms. The spokesman also said that President Barack Obama also has had no symptoms of the virus and doctors see no need to conduct any tests on his health.
Click to read the article

Swine Flu - Do's and Don'ts - Mostly Don'ts

Biden would avoid subways, planes after swine flu outbreak

from Politico.com
by Politico Staff
4/30/09

Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that he would not recommend taking any commercial flight or riding in a subway car “at this point” because swine flu virus can spread “in confined places.”

““I would not be, at this point – if they had another way of transportation – suggesting they ride the subway,” Biden said on NBC’s “Today” show.

That contradicted more restrained advice from President Barack Obama and the federal government, and could hurt tourism during a recession.

The administration said a clarifying statement is forthcoming.

Host Matt Lauer had asked the vice president: “This is by no means a ‘gotcha’ type of question. … But if a member of your family came to you … and said, ‘Look, I want to go on a commercial airliner to Mexico, and back within the next week,’ would you think it’s a good idea?”

“I would tell members of my family – and I have – I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now,” Biden replied. “It’s not that it’s going to Mexico. It’s [that] you’re in a confined aircraft. When one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft. That’s me. …

“So, from my perspective, what it relates to is mitigation. If you’re out in the middle of a field when someone sneezes, that’s one thing. If you’re in a closed aircraft or closed container or closed car or closed classroom, it’s a different thing.”

To keep from getting sick, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends: “Try to avoid close contact with sick people. If you get sick with influenza, CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.”

Obama said at his news conference on Wednesday night that “individual families [need to] start taking very sensible precautions —that can make a huge difference.

“So wash your hands when you shake hands,” he advised. “Cover your mouth when you cough. I know it sounds trivial, but it makes a huge difference. If you are sick, stay home. If your child is sick, keep them out of school.

“If you are feeling certain flu symptoms, don't get on an airplane, don't get on any system of public transportation where you're confined and you could potentially spread the virus. So those are the steps that I think we need to take right now. But understand that because this is a new strain. We have to be cautious.”
Click to read the rest of the article and comments