MRSA st398 of another similar pig based disease would explain the higher human death rate in Mexico than in America. There could well be two diseases at work in tandem in Mexico

In North America, we suspect that MRSA St398 is at much higher levels in the Canadian population of pigs and people than in the more fortunate US. We have no information on Mexican levels yet.

If that is right, and if MRSA is involved, The USA, if not Canada, does have some kind of short breathing space. You have to use it wisely.

The situation in the UK is making me nervous with the government still refusing to admit either pigs or people have MRSA st398. Thanks to the hard work of an American, Gary Burkholder in Kansas, we do know that MRSA has been there for five years.

When governments hide up things like this, we have an absolute right and duty to be concerned.

You can't fight what looks like a pandemic with secrecy and lies. Living in a country whose national motto is "Don't Panic!" is hell sometimes.

If ever we get a written constitution, they will have to write in a clause - "The Right to panic when faced with spin and secrecy."

So, yes, Mexico is the place to watch. There is much of relevance to come, yet.

Regards Pat Gardiner

Pat, Thank you for your comment. I was not familiar with Gary Buckholder's work.

I just read an article published in July 2008 and our gov't knew that MRSA was being contracted from pigs!!! And that in 2005 almost 19,000 people in the US died from it. What a cover up!!! I live in Pittsburgh, PA and our hospitals are filled with MRSA. I as a mother of 2 am outraged how the gov't is not responding to all of this all because of money!!! Don't hurt the pork indus. dont't close the border from Mexico. Come on!!!!

You will actually find that the courageous Dutch scientists, dropped everything and flew to California to inform a conference there that they had found MRSA in pigs and pig farmers.

They did this before even being peer reviewed, highly unusual. This was 2004.

Last year non government US scientists, perhaps encouarged by the Canadians owning up, confirmed that ST398 was in US pig herds too.

We have not even managed to get that far in Britain, even though the news that MRSA st398 was found in British pigs about the same time as the Dutch was found buried in scientific documents published in Germany.

Three Scottish children were infected in late 2007 with st398 and the only comment was when that was reported six months late, was that they could find no connection with pigs.

This published today perhaps explains the ludicrous motivation for hiding up pig disease.

More ...

I cannot for the life of me understand why governments persist in these perverse manoveurs.

They must know the roof is going to fall in on them. We live in democracies. The electorate will tear them apart, when they find out the truth.

Regards, a very frustrated
Pat Gardiner
after nine years battling almost every day