Swine Flu Alert

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer – 2 hrs 30 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Virulent swine flu spread to 10 U.S. states from coast to coast Wednesday and swept deeper into Europe, extending its global reach as President Barack Obama mourned the first U.S. death, a Mexican toddler who had traveled with his family to Texas. Total American cases surged to nearly 100, and Obama said wider school closings might be necessary.

The World Health Organization said the outbreak is moving closer to becoming a full-scale pandemic.

Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the organization's top flu expert, told reporters in Geneva that the latest developments are moving the agency closer to raising its pandemic alert to phase 5, indicating widespread human-to-human transmission. That's just one step below level 6, a full-fledged pandemic.

In Washington, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was questioned closely by senators about whether the U.S. should close its border with Mexico, where the outbreak apparently began and the casualties have been the greatest. She repeated the administration's position that questioning of people at borders and ports of entry was sufficient for now and said closing borders "has not been merited by the facts."

Dr. Richard Besser, the acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control, said in Atlanta that there are confirmed cases now in ten states, with 51 in New York, 14 in California and 16 in Texas. Two cases have been confirmed in Kansas, Massachusetts and Michigan, while a single cases have been reported in Arizona, Indiana, Nevada and Ohio.

In a possible outbreak north of the Mexican border, the commandant of the Marine Corps said a Marine in southern California might have the illness and 39 Marines were being confined on their California base until tests come back.

Marine General James Conway told a Pentagon briefing an initial test indicated the sick Marine — who was not identified — might have swine flu but his illness did not appear life-threatening.

Obama said he wanted to extend "my thoughts and prayers" to the family of a nearly two-year-old Mexican boy who died in Houston, the first confirmed U.S. fatality among more than five dozen infections. Health officials in Texas said the child had traveled with his family from Mexico, to Brownsville on April 4 and was brought to Houston after becoming ill. He died Monday night.

"This is obviously a serious situation," and "we are closely and continuously monitoring" it, Obama said of the spreading illness.

Those sentiments were echoed by the Senate's top Republican. "This is a very worrisome situation and we're all following it very closely," said Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "We stand ready to closely work with the administration to protect the American people as this situation unfolds."

Meanwhile, Egypt's government ordered the slaughter of all pigs in the country as a precaution, though no swine flu cases have been reported there. Egypt's overwhelmingly Muslim population does not eat pork, but farmers raise some 300,000-350,000 pigs for the Christian minority.

The disease is not spread by eating pork, and farmers were to be allowed to sell the meat from the slaughtered animals.

In fact, officials appeared to go out of their way on Wednesday to not call the strain "swine flu." Obama called the bug the "H1N1 virus."

"The disease is not a food-borne illness," Rear Adm. Anne Schuchat, CDC's interim science and public health deputy direct, told the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

She said the strain is particularly worrisome because "it's a virus that hasn't been around before. The general population doesn't have immunity from it."

People have various levels of protection against other more common types of flu because they are exposed to it over time, and that protection accumulates. She suggested that some older people might have more resistance to this particular strain than younger people because its traits might resemble outbreaks of decades ago.

Germany became the latest country to report swine flu infections. It reported four cases on Wednesday.

New Zealand's total rose to 14. Britain had earlier reported five cases, Spain four. There were 13 cases in Canada, two in Israel and one in Austria.

Obama said it is the recommendation of public health officials that authorities at schools with confirmed or suspected cases of swine flu "should strongly consider temporarily closing so that we can be as safe as possible."

He was underscoring advice that the CDC provided earlier to cities and states, and that some schools — most prominently in New York City — already have followed.

"If the situation becomes more serious and we have to take more extensive steps, then parents should also think about contingencies if schools in their areas do temporarily shut down, figuring out and planning what their child care situation would be," Obama advised.

He advised people to take their own precautions — washing hands, staying home if they are sick, and keeping sick kids home.

Obama said the federal government is "prepared to do whatever is necessary to control the impact of this virus." He noted his request for $1.5 billion in emergency funding to ensure adequate supplies of vaccines.

CDC for days has said people with flulike symptoms should stay home — but now also is stressing that other family members should consider staying home or at least limiting how much they go out until they're sure they didn't catch it.

Besser, the acting CDC director, called it "an abundance of caution," but stressed that it's voluntary and that the government hasn't urged actual quarantine, which isn't really effective with flu.

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Associated Press writers Lara Jakes in Washington, Mike Stobbe in Atlanta, Patrick McGroarty in Berlin and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.

True Feminity is Love, Honor and Respect

HATEFUL THINGS WOMEN DO TO EACH OTHER

by Norka Blackman-Richards

It has become the silent emotional killer among women. Women who are downright
mean, malicious and disrespectful with each other. This trend is creating havoc
in our relationships with each other, for it strikes the core of sisterhood.
Real sisterhood can only exist when respect and trust stand unshakeable. In this
particular, most men are quite opposite to us. For a man, a brother is a brother
is a brother. However, what is most disturbing about our malicious ways is that
we are passing on a legacy of a broken sisterhood to our daughters. Girls that
are mean and catty are usually this way because their understanding is that this
is a normal part of femaleness. They grow up to become mean and catty women who
perpetuate a diseased sisterhood.To break this cycle we each need to make a
conscious effort to validate all women. Be they our friends or not. Otherwise,
we will continue to find ourselves moving within circles of female hostility,
suspicion, and pain. Here is my list of the most detestable practices that we
need to discontinue in order to heal our sisterhood:

1. Talking about each other - You are really not her friend if what you have
to say about her is so bad you can't say it in front of her. If you are a real
friend you should be able to tell her your concerns for her life to her face. If
you have the need to tell others, but you haven't found the time to tell her -
red lights should be flashing. Believe it or not, gossiping is not an intrinsic
part of being female. Women who gossip do it not because it's a woman-thing, but
because they want to elevate themselves and put other women in a place of
inferiority. Gossiping is just another symptom of deeper insecurities.

2. Fighting for men - One of the most undignified things that any woman can
do is to fight, argue, or curse another woman over a man. It's a disgusting
trend that used to be a school girl thing, but today adult women are doing it
too. If both of you are in conflict - because his choice is not clear - then
that means that he's really not into any of you. He's probably playing both of
you. That man really does not deserve love or attention from either one of you.
Let him go.

3. Joining female gangs - Women who make you feel unwelcome and unwanted
within their circle of friends are not to be trusted. Women cliques have become
common in the workplace, at masjid or church, in the neighborhood. Cliques are the
dwelling place of insecure women. Women who join cliques are seeking refuge from
their own lack of confidence by cocooning themselves within this circle of
supposed exclusivity. Again, the need to belong to, or be part of a clique is
also a sign of deeper insecurities. Beware, cliques are usually encouraged and
thrive on a type of gang mentality.

4. Undermining each other - Beware of any woman who can never celebrate your
accomplishments with you. It could be a new boyfriend, a promotion, an award, a
new job, a new acquisition, weight loss. If she has nothing positive to say to
you about it, does not show emotional support, or chooses to remain silent she
is not a true friend. Real friends know how to recognize and genuinely rejoice
for our successes with pride.
5. Competing against each other - You need to get this straight. There will
always be another woman with nicer hair, a more caring husband or boyfriend,
better behaved children, a better paying job, a bigger house, a more fashionable
wardrobe - there will always be some woman with more of what you don't have.
Consequently, the only person that you need to compete against is yourself.
Strive to be the best that you can be - for you. Competing against other women
to prove yourself superior is a financial and emotional drainer. Because of this
mindless competition we become mean, envious and hypocritical. It is pointless.

6. Disrespecting boundaries - To survive peacefully every relationship and
every friendship must have clear boundaries. Good relationships operate within
margins of respect. Within this level of respect, privacy and intimacy are
keywords. Yes, you are my friend, but that doesn't give me the right to walk
into your bedroom or your kitchen, unbeknownst to you, and help myself to your
stuff. I don't do this not because you won't allow me to, but because I respect
your privacy and your things. Consequently, we both need to know and respect
each other's levels of privacy and intimacy.

7. Crossing boundaries - This is similar to the above; the only difference
is that my respect of your boundaries should never depend on my friendship with
you. We need to respect women for the simple fact that they are women. If she is
a woman she is a sister. Period. Therefore, from that understanding I will have
the utmost respect for her children, her man, her opinions, her choices, and for
her as a person. It amazes me how women are quick to disrespect another sister's
boundaries, but feel offended if another woman does to them the same exact
thing. Honestly, that type of inconsistent behavior can only be credited to some
form of mental illness.

8. Exploiting our friendships - This is a major one. Why are you friends? Do
you only remember her being around whenever she could get something from you? It
doesn't even have to be material. It could just be your time or your positive
energy. Does she happen to be always on the receiving side, with you dishing out
ton loads of yourself or your stuff? Or is she your friend because of what you
represent? It could be that your husband's position or yours, your possessions,
your talent, whatever, represents some form of achievement. Is she a friend
because that link to you places her on a higher platform? In a real friendship
appreciation, support, and loyalty must be reciprocal.