# Snowbirds and the flu



## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

From the Pelican Free Press..

Snowbirds, visitors arriving
with touches of flu, colds

Lots of snowbirds didn’t just fly back to Mexico this year. They also flu.

Like Spanish conquistadors before them who landed on Yucatan in 1519 carrying weapons and diseases from the European Continent, toay’s visitors are arriving with money to spend, not weapons to conquer — and oh yes – new strains of the ubiquitous winter flu and colds from the northern Americas.

Dra. Carolina Guzman, the Puerto Aventuras “house-call doctor” providing primary care services in peoples’ homes and condos, said she had been treating more than usual cases of the flu this year involving snowbirds and short-term visitors.

It shouldn’t be a surprise. In the U.S. alone, it is reported that influenza had reached the threshold of epidemic proportions with more than a dozen reported deaths of youngsters and spreading of infections throughout most of the US and Alaska.

Historians arguably theorize that Old World diseases carried with them to the New World had much to do with eradicating 90 percent of the Mexican native population by the end of the 16th Century.

Advances in health care delivery and medications assure that dark history won’t be repeated.

However, if someone has the following symptoms, it’s best to stay away from friends and call the doctor if attention is needed: The symptoms sore throat, headache, exhaustion, aching body, sudden temperature rise, loss of appetite, and difficulty sleeping.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Actually it is just time for the flu.. As I had the flu in Chiapas, members of my family in Europe and Asia also had it.. same time , do not thing we all came in contact with snowbirds at the same time..


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

citlali said:


> Actually it is just time for the flu.. As I had the flu in Chiapas, members of my family in Europe and Asia also had it.. same time , do not thing we all came in contact with snowbirds at the same time..


We never get the flu here as the virus must spread from person to person and we just don't come into contact with a lot of people here and I am careful when I do go shopping, especially during the winter. I keep hand sanitizer in my truck and use it. 

To deny that Americans are bringing the flu with them when the evidence shows otherwise is not being realistic as the article clearly said..

Dra. Carolina Guzman, the Puerto Aventuras “house-call doctor” providing primary care services in peoples’ homes and condos, said *she had been treating more than usual cases of the flu this year involving snowbirds and short-term visitors*.

It shouldn’t be a surprise. In the U.S. alone,* it is reported that influenza had reached the threshold of epidemic proportions* with more than a dozen reported deaths of youngsters and spreading of infections throughout most of the US and Alaska.

The flu is a lot more common in tourist areas such as PDC and Puerto Adventuras as people plan their trips well in advance, then wind up getting the flu and bringing it with them. 

Not every point or report here has to be a debate, especially when the facts show otherwise. I was merely reporting that the flu was up in the Yucatan, another reason I'm glad that we don't live in an expat area.


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## Stevenjb (Dec 10, 2017)

Flu shot.

When out and about, don't touch your mouth, nose or eyes until you have thoroughly washed your hands. And on public touch screen devices (ATMs, kiosks), use your finger knuckle instead of the finger tip. 

The flu virus loves the Winter. It moves from person to person easier during cold, dry environments. Could be especially bad this year due to the northern cold snap in the US. 

Posted from Android using Tapatalk


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

Particularly bad this year and the vaccine is not as effective.

Why the Vaccine May Not Help Against the Flu Virus This Year | Time


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## Stevenjb (Dec 10, 2017)

Zorro2017 said:


> Particularly bad this year and the vaccine is not as effective.
> 
> Why the Vaccine May Not Help Against the Flu Virus This Year | Time


You remind me of my brother. Is your Zodiac sign a Leo? 

Posted from Android using Tapatalk


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I would have gotten a flu shot this year but I didn't know where to get it in Mexico. I asked here and got no responses.


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

Stevenjb said:


> You remind me of my brother. Is your Zodiac sign a Leo?
> 
> Posted from Android using Tapatalk


You believe in horoscopes?


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

HB


eastwind said:


> I would have gotten a flu shot this year but I didn't know where to get it in Mexico. I asked here and got no responses.


Maybe because flu shots are profit driven and Mexico actually tries to make medications affordable, not gouge their citizens for money at every turn. Every drug store in America offers them. Have you asked at the hospital?


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## modeeper (Mar 21, 2015)

eastwind said:


> I would have gotten a flu shot this year but I didn't know where to get it in Mexico. I asked here and got no responses.


The medics didn't comb your neighborhood? I doubt you missed anything but a risk taking the injection. If I take a shaker of salt and put a label on it that says, sugar, is it now sugar?


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

modeeper said:


> The medics didn't comb your neighborhood? I doubt you missed anything but a risk taking the injection. If I take a shaker of salt and put a label on it that says, sugar, is it now sugar?


They do just guess at which strain of over 300 might be the flavor every year.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I get plenty sick because I travel in the communities a lot and the kids are always sick with something. I noticed this year many kids sick back in October and we all got it.. no snowbird around or foreigners or anyone outside of the people living in the backwoods and we still get it.. Americans or snowbirds that get it.. My nephew went to work in South Korea , he got it as well.. It is all over the world .. not just with the snowbirds..


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## lat19n (Aug 19, 2017)

eastwind said:


> I would have gotten a flu shot this year but I didn't know where to get it in Mexico. I asked here and got no responses.


I believe IMSS will give ANYONE a flu shot for free.

This is the first year I have NOT had a flu shot and this is the first year I have NOT had a flu (knock on wood).


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## surabi (Jan 1, 2017)

In the old days, people used to stay home in bed when they were sick. Now people go out and about spreading their germs everywhere, send their kids to school sick, go to work sick. In my book, it's just plain rude. I can't believe how many times I've stopped to chat at an outside restaurant table with acquaintances who say "Don't come too close, I'm super sick". So exactly why are they out at a restaurant?


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## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

In the old days, you could call in sick. Now they say, ok, no problem, that's one of your 10 days of vacation this year. Better get well fast!

If the stupid greedy companies don't want you coming to work and spreading it to other employees, they can pay for sick time. So don't feel guilty, you're not being rude, go to work and cough on your manager, they've earned it.


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

citlali said:


> I get plenty sick because I travel in the communities a lot and the kids are always sick with something. I noticed this year many kids sick back in October and we all got it.. no snowbird around or foreigners or anyone outside of the people living in the backwoods and we still get it.. Americans or snowbirds that get it.. My nephew went to work in South Korea , he got it as well.. It is all over the world .. not just with the snowbirds..


At this point, you would argue with me if I said the sun came up this morning.

Again, *any high tourist area* is going to be *higher in the flu* than say my remote community in the mountains simply because the thousands of people crowded into planes sharing these airborne and direct contact illnesses go there in abundance. That point is not even debatable. 

How do you explain the rate of HIV being* five times the national average* in Playa Del Carmen? Would you also argue that millions of people from all over the world pouring into this city are not bringing it there? 

Or is it just HIV season in PDC?

https://www.riviera-maya-news.com/hiv-in-playa-del-carmen-on-the-rise/2015.html

People from different countries bring different diseases with them, that has been happening here in Mexico since Cortez landed here with mumps, measles and smallpox.

I suggest you write the Pelican Free Press and tell them that their story is false and misleading.


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

eastwind said:


> In the old days, you could call in sick. Now they say, ok, no problem, that's one of your 10 days of vacation this year. Better get well fast!
> 
> If the stupid greedy companies don't want you coming to work and spreading it to other employees, they can pay for sick time. So don't feel guilty, you're not being rude, go to work and cough on your manager, they've earned it.


My company had sick pay and would send you home if you even looked contagious, but yes, a lot of smaller companies can't afford sick pay.

It seems that on Facebook, everyone is either sick with the flu, just got over it or are dreading getting it soon.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

Since I travel 80% of the time when I worked I would totally agree with you that planes are a great place to catch al kinds of germs, I know I got them all while travelling I would also say that HIV is very high in the communities and some are very remote where the men go work in the US...I was friends with doctors that had been assgined to remore communities because of the spread of HIV by the men who had gone and worked i the US and came back and contaminated their wives..
I am not arguing that travel and people coming from other parts bring diseases but I also argue that you can get the flu in the middle of nowhere where people are poor , the hygiene is bad and the kids get sick and pass on their germs to whole families.. When I got sick this year
I was in a remote area where people did not get out and mostly lived outside during the day and all slept in one room at night.. So you can get the flu in areas with little influence from the outside..How the bugs get there I do not know but the results are the same .


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## Zorro2017 (Jan 9, 2017)

Five times the national average is a pretty good indicator that tourists are a major contributor if not the sole cause of the HIV rate in PDC. This rate is not indicative of returning workers. 

Let me just put it like this, the flu is spread by people. The more people you come into contact with, the higher your chances are of catching it. When we are in the States we get sick several times a year. Here we don't.


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## modeeper (Mar 21, 2015)

US Border Agent: "Citizenship?" I'm an American Sir.
"What are you bringing from Mexico?" Nothing, I hope.


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