Mexico has had 160 deaths, but so far only eight have been confirmed to be a result of swine flu. No Americans have died from it; the very young child who died in a Texas hospital was from Mexico, visiting here. While Ron Paul is saying it's likely all this is blown out of proportion, other people make it sound like this is just like the Spanish flu. Ron Paul, a good person but a bad scientist, still may be closer to the truth than the people who think this is a killer plague.

In Mexico, the immediate families of the very first people who came down with it had not been given any anti-viral medicine a few days ago when interviewed. Follow-up care to prevent spread does not seem to have been done. People were being sent home from hospitals, told they just had "colds" then later admitted when they came back with a fever and other symptoms.

Things are very wrong there. I think their health system is incapable of giving accurate information determining how many deaths among the 160 are from swine flu, or from other reasons. And it's really, really sad, because the world's first response has been to isolate Mexico. I hope lots and lots of CDC people are there working on the problem.

First the horrible drug wars scare off tourists, now this. I was actually surprised at how many groups of people had just taken trips to Mexico.

It's like a 20-foot pole we use to touch Mexico with. The U.S. acts like it hates the very language they speak. And Mexico... it should be a really close friend. It should be one of the first places we consider going on vacation. Instead, I'm not sure we can safely drink the very water. I'd worry about being robbed by the many poor; and now, I'd be afraid of getting sick there.

Just over the border from some big communities in Texas -- such as Corpus Christi -- are little enclaves of American doctors and dentists to whom other Americans, mostly senior citizens on fixed income, go for care at a much lower price. Whatever you may think of this -- these doctors choosing to avoid many onerous burdens of practicing medicine in the U.S. -- I think it's important for there to be some alternative to the monopoly of health care here. Just like Brazil decided to start making AIDS drugs themselves, breaking the trademark and infuriating big pharm here; Brazil decided to act humanely and get the damn drugs their people needed. (I wish every country would violate such trademarks.)

We need Mexico, we need our bordering countries as friends, safety valves, and all that. Our borders really need to stay open. There are so many reasons why we should be taking interest in solving their health care crisis as if it were our own. And I'm not talking just about swine flu. There must be a good reason why so many people have died. Let me rephrase that. There must be a bad reason why so many have died.