Arriving Farmworkers Get Flu Info

As migrant workers from Mexico begin their journey north to take summer jobs in fields and construction sites across the U.S., public health officials and others are fanning out to intercept them at food lines and churches in hopes of stemming the spread of deadly swine flu, the Associated Press reports. Officials worry that some of those laborers may be ill and could infect co-workers and others in the U.S.

Mexican consular officials, social service organizations, and health authorities are handing out Spanish-language fliers with information on swine-flu symptoms and prevention tips. They are sending out mobile health care crews in buses or vans. And they are urging workers who feel sick to go to the hospital or a free clinic.
The traveling population of poor farmworkers, day laborers, and construction workers poses a challenge for authorities, who say it can be difficult for people to wash their hands or go to the hospital if they lack running water or fear deportation.

“People are constantly coming here from Mexico and migrating back and forth,” Edward Moreno, director of public health in Fresno County, CA, told the AP. “That means that people may not have a land line, hot water, or Internet access, and no regular doctor.”

Alfredo Mendoza, 24, of the Mexican state of Oaxaca, crossed the border two weeks ago to work with his family pruning California’s vineyards. “I feel healthy, so I’m just washing my hands a lot and keeping my mouth covered, and not leaving the house other than to work,” he said. “People aren’t too freaked out about the flu here yet. I just feel lucky that I left Mexico before it got really bad down there.”

The Mexican consulate and local health organizations in California are mounting a prevention campaign that will send buses to isolated communities where there is no doctor. Health care workers aboard the buses will talk to people about swine flu and where they can find medical care.