Showing posts with label white house aide gets swine flu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label white house aide gets swine flu. Show all posts

Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Swine Flu May Have Stricken A White House Aide & His Family!


After going on a trip to Mexico with President Obama,a White House aide may have contracted the(H1N1) virus!Now,some folks on the internet have speculated on whether or not Obama got swine flu during his visit to Mexico.This was after President Obama shook hands with a man who died from symptoms that resembled the (H1N1)virus or swine flu.Read more about that here.

Well,it looks like they were partially right.President Obama didn't get the virus,but someone from his administration may have.Here's more from the NY Daily News:

"A security aide helping with arrangements during President Barack Obama's recent trip to Mexico became sick with flu-like symptoms and three members of his family later contracted probable swine flu, the White House said Thursday.

The disclosure from press secretary Robert Gibbs comes days after the White House played down risks to the U.S. delegation on the two-day trip that started April 16. Gibbs remained steadfast that the president was never at risk of contracting the flu, which has quickly spread across the globe.

The employee, who was not named by the White House, is an aide to Energy Secretary Steven Chu and helped plan security for part of the administration's Mexico trip.

"This individual never flew on Air Force One," Gibbs said. "He was asked specifically if he ever came within 6 feet of the president, and the answer to that was no."

The aide arrived in Mexico on April 13, Gibbs said, and became ill on April 16. He developed a fever on April 17, the day Obama left Mexico for the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. The person in question flew back commercially to Dulles on a United flight on April 18; Gibbs had no details yet on whether people on that flight have been notified.

"Obviously we'll do everything in our power to ensure that what can be done to alert them will be done," he said.

The man visited his brother on April 19 and his nephew became ill. In the next two days, the aide's wife and son also became ill, Gibbs said.

Gibbs said the three members of the aide's family are being tested to see if they had the same strain of swine flu that is threatening to become a pandemic. More than 100 cases have been confirmed within the United States.

Gibbs said the aide is listed as a suspected case of the virus. He returned to work on Thursday." (END OF EXCERPT)Read more here.