Flu Outbreak

Two days ago I learned that one of our staff members, Wilda Calderon, and her husband, Jorge, had become very sick and based on their symptoms were diagnosed with the AH1N1 flu. If this weren't bad enough, they had been working with a short-term team from Chandler Arizona this past week. One of the team members was also feeling sick and later given the same diagnosis. As of today, two team members, Ryan and Cody, have been diagnosed as well as Wilda, her husband, Jorge and their daughter, Ruth. We also had a staff member from Lima, Elizabeth, volunteer to help with the team's activities over the weekend and was also diagnosed. She was in our office in Lima on Monday and out in the densely populated Lima communities on Tuesday. All but Elizabeth are on antiviral medications, most appear to already be feeling better after resting in hotels and their homes, and we are evacuating the team from the rural area of Chincha to Lima. Please pray for all of the complicated decisions regarding their transportation, communication with the team's church and families, their travel to the states and for the health of our staff and the team members.

The Ministry of Health in Peru is at a point of possible collapse. There are over 2,000 cases of the flu here and it is very difficult to get tests or antivirals. Please pray that we can use our scarce resources to contribute to halting the further spread of the flu and also for wisdom for what to do when we encounter very poor families in our communities with cases identified in their homes.