The Mystery of The Infected US Delegate

Since last Saturday I raised a question on this blog:

Was Barack Obama imprudently exposed to the H1N1 flu virus(*)?

This would seem like a paranoid question, akin to those who think this whole epidemic is nothing but an evil plot to either a)cull the world's population and obtain huge profits for the Big Pharma industry; or b)help install a totalitarian police state thanks to the fear of a global pandemic.

For the record, I don't believe in any of those theories. What I do believe, is that governments are capable of incredible episodes of incompetence, and would go to great lengths to cover their mistakes. I think there's reason to suspect that the Mexican government was beginning to recognize a possible epidemic threat, but were slow to raise the alarms —having said that, I do think that, after they made the official anouncement of the outbreak threat, the Mexican authorities have tried to do all they can to resolve this problem; and given the limited resources at their disposition, that is no small feat. The medical personnel risking their lives tending the sick and infected deserve our biggest & most sincere admiration.

Getting back to the issue, today our good friend Loren Coleman wrote a very interesting post at his Copycat Effect blog, in which he discusses the report of a certain member of the US delegation that came to Mexico with President Obama & Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who was later found showing the symptons of the flu virus:

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 in Anne Arundel County have tested positive for swine flu. Chu and Obama were in Mexico City together during the mid-April trip.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday, April 30, 2009, 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.

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.

Here's another link to this news.

So who is this person? The White House has not disclosed the name; although I suspect we'll know it before the week ends.

Does this raise the suspicion that President Obama might have been exposed to the flu virus? I believe it does.

On other news related to this, Mexican politician Manuel Camacho Solís has cleared out of the hospital fully recovered from the flu infection he suffered lst week—I'm no big fan of him, for reasons too complex to delve at this moment, but I'm glad he recovered.

One of the things I still haven't found out, is whether Camacho was one of the guests at the reception dinner held for Obama at the National Museum of Anthropology—there's a good chance he might have been— and if he got infected there. According to an article he wrote for the newspaper El Universal, he started to feel strong symptons of the flu the morning of Tuesday April 21st. We know that the flu has an incubation period of approximately 48 hours to even 5 days (this according to what the doctors have been reproting on the news). The diner was on April 16th (8 pm I think); so, it could be possible he got infected that day on the dinner —if he did attend— although I admit it's a a big 'could'.

Let's see if Camacho gives an interview on TV; in the meantime, let's look up for some news related to this mystery delegate.

(*): Both the Mexican Health Secretary and the WHO wants to stop calling this the 'swine flu', because so far there has not been any reported case of the disease being transmitted from a animal to a human. I know this is kind of misleading, since we all know that somehow somewhere this god-damned bug DID make the jump from a pig to a man! But I understand that the authorities want to quell the kind of fears that prompted the needless slaughter of pig herds in Egypt, affecting the Christian Coptycs who make a living from raising these animals. The Mexican farmers are also very concerned about the fears of people about eating pork.