|
|
|
|
|
One Swine Flu Shot For Kids Under 10 But Two Shots For Those Younger:
Experts |
|
| NPR |
|
| September 21, 2009 |
|
| "Children over ten will be glad
to hear they will only need one vaccination shot to gain protection from the
swine flu, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases. Children under ten, however, aren't so fortunate. Because of their
immature immune systems, they'll need two shots, according to experts.
According to the NIH unit, for older children, the swine flu shot regimen
will follow that of regular seasonal flu. One shot will provide a protective
immune response eight to ten days after vaccination..." |
|
Editorial: Accepting immunity |
|
| Ottawa Citizen |
|
| September 21, 2009 |
|
| "With a second wave of H1N1 flu
on the doorstep, Canadian public health officials face a serious stumbling
block in their battle to contain the coming pandemic: the anti-vaccine
movement. People who refuse to be vaccinated -- because they have misguided
medical fears or because they're making a quasi-political statement against
the scientific 'establishment'-- could derail progress aimed at reducing the
effects of this disease, the result being that a lot of people could get
seriously ill and die. Individual voices of concern about the H1N1 flu
vaccine have grown into a chorus in recent weeks, and the time has come for
health officials to mount a counter-offensive if they don't want to see
their vaccination programs sabotaged. This needs to be done quickly..." |
|
Distribution of Swine Flu Vaccine Will Begin in October |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| September 19, 2009 |
|
| "Vaccine for the H1N1 influenza
pandemic will be distributed on a three-day turnaround time from four
regional warehouses around the country next month. The vaccine deliveries,
expected to equal 20 million doses a week by the end of October, will be
distributed among 90,000 immunization 'providers,' including health
departments, hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices and pharmacies. Those were
among the details unveiled Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention as part of the federal government's increasingly complex response
to the pandemic of H1N1 influenza, also known as swine flu. 'This is a huge
logistical process. There's not [going to be] a sudden appearance of vaccine
in 90,000 refrigerators around the country,' said Jay Butler, an
epidemiologist who leads the CDC's task force on the vaccine..." |
|
Flu on Campus: What Works, What Doesn't |
|
| Reuters |
|
| September 18, 2009 |
|
| "Cramped living quarters on
college campuses increase students' chances of being infected with all kinds
of flu, but scrupulous hand hygiene and simple face masks may help some stay
healthy, at least until swine flu vaccines become available next month,
health experts say. Last week, U.S. colleges and universities reported a 21
percent increase in new cases of influenza-like illness, or 6,432 cases, at
253 schools tracked by the American College Health Association. So far this
academic year, there have been 13,434 reported cases of flu-like illness,
most of which are presumed to be swine flu because seasonal flu has not
gotten under way..." |
|
First Doses of Swine Flu Vaccine Will Go up the Nose |
|
| NPR |
|
| September 18, 2009 |
|
| "The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention says the first doses of swine flu vaccine should get
into Americans in a couple of weeks -- but through their noses, not their
arms..." |
|
Swine Flu Virus Causing Confusion; It's still a mystery why H1N1 often
strikes the young yet tends to be fatal in middle-aged, but not elderly,
adults |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| September 18, 2009 |
|
| "As health officials brace for
a new onslaught of illness from the novel H1N1 virus, they remain perplexed
by one of the most unusual and unsettling patterns to emerge from this
pandemic -- the tendency of the so-called swine flu to strike younger,
healthier people. The initial explanation was that the elderly, who are
usually most vulnerable to the flu, have built-in immunity as a result of
their exposure more than 50 years ago to ancestors of today's pandemic
strain. But the limits of the theory are becoming more clear. For starters,
only a third actually have antibodies to the new H1N1..." |
|
Australia's Swine Flu Vaccination Plan to Test Global Interest |
|
| Bloomberg |
|
| September 18, 2009 |
|
| "Australia will begin
immunizing people against swine flu in 12 days, heralding a global health
campaign that will test public interest in the inoculation. The nationwide
program will start Sept. 30 after regulators approved CSL Ltd.'s pandemic
vaccine, Health Minister Nicola Roxon said today. More than 4 million doses
are in major cities ready for delivery to hospitals and medical clinics next
week..." |
|
Surviving H1N1 -- with Baby in Belly |
|
| CNN |
|
| September 17, 2009 |
|
| "For the past several months,
Amy Wolf has been glued to the television, intently watching for information
on how best to prepare for H1N1 flu. Eight months pregnant, Amy Wolf signed
up for an H1N1 vaccine trial. She usually does not worry about the flu, but
this year is different: Wolf is eight months into her second pregnancy. 'I
watch the news like crazy, and it seems like every time I would watch or
read something, there was a picture of a pregnant woman,' Wolf says. She's
right to be concerned..." |
|
US to Donate 10 Percent of Swine Flu Vaccine to WHO |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| September 17, 2009 |
|
| "The United States plans to
donate 10 percent of its supply of pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine to the
World Health Organization for use in low-income countries. The nation has on
order 195 million doses of the swine flu vaccine, which is due to start
arriving early next month. The White House said it "is taking this action in
concert" with eight other countries..." |
|
Low Levels of Key Antibodies May Lead To Severe Disease, Study Suggests |
|
| Metronews (Toronto) |
|
| September 16, 2009 |
|
| "Australian researchers may
have uncovered a clue as to why some people who catch swine flu suffer
life-threatening illness. And if they are right, there is an existing weapon
in the treatment arsenal that could help reduce the pandemic death toll. The
group found that pregnant women who became severely ill with the pandemic
(H1N1) 2009 virus had low levels of a particular antibody that is known to
fight off viruses and help the body respond to vaccine. Moderately ill women
were much less likely to have significantly suppressed levels of the
antibody, the researchers reported..." |
|
FDA Approves H1N1 Flu Vaccines |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| September 15, 2009 |
|
| "The Food and Drug
Administration on Tuesday approved vaccines designed to protect against the
H1N1 influenza virus, a key step before starting a vaccination campaign. The
approval was announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius at a hearing that was held by the House Energy and Commerce
Committee. An FDA spokeswoman said the agency approved vaccines made by a
unit of Sanofi-Aventis SA, Novartis AG, CSL Ltd. and AstraZeneca PLC's
MedImmune unit. MedImmune makes a vaccine in the form of mist delivered
through the nose rather than a shot. Ms. Sebelius said a large-scale
vaccination program will begin in mid-October..." |
|
HHS Chief: Swine Flu Vaccines Ready Soon |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| September 15, 2009 |
|
| "As the administration wrestles
with health-care reform, there was some good health news for a member of the
team in the past few days: Help is on the way for the swine flu. Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said upwards of 50 million doses
of a new vaccine for the H1N1 virus will be available in mid-October,
earlier than expected, with millions more doses quickly following. The
initial vaccines will go to what Sebelius calls 'priority populations' --
caregivers, young people ages 6 to 24, hospital workers, pregnant women and
some seniors..." |
|
Business Not Ready for Flu, Study Says |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| September 10, 2009 |
|
| "Many American businesses are
unprepared to deal with widespread employee absenteeism in the event of a
swine flu outbreak, a Harvard School of Public Health study says. The
survey, released yesterday, found that two-thirds of more than 1,000
businesses questioned said they could not maintain normal operations if half
their workers were out for two weeks. Four-fifths expect severe problems if
half are out for a month..." |
|
Small Doctor Practices Worry about Flu Impact |
|
| Reuters |
|
| September 9, 2009 |
|
| "Doctors asked the government
on Wednesday to pay them more for giving vaccines and prescribing drugs on
the telephone as the flu pandemic hits their communities. Meanwhile, small
bankers said they should get relief from some regulatory requirements during
the worst of the pandemic, as they may not have staff to fill out forms and
mail out statements. The H1N1 pandemic is moderate now, and communities and
governments have been planning for such a pandemic for years. But doctors,
bankers and others told the House Committee on Small Business that they need
some regulatory changes to handle it..." |
|
CDC Says Most Won't Need Drugs for Flu |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| September 9, 2009 |
|
| "With pandemic influenza cases
on the rise across the country, federal public health authorities on Tuesday
urged physicians to prescribe antiviral medicines to high-risk patients
promptly but reminded the public that most people won't need, and shouldn't
expect to get, the drugs if they come down with the flu. The guidance is
aimed at getting optimal benefit from Tamiflu and Relenza while preventing
overuse, hoarding and shortages of the drugs, as was seen briefly during the
spring outbreak of swine flu. Specifically, authorities said, practitioners
shouldn't wait for lab tests to confirm the presence of the novel strain of
the H1N1 virus before starting antivirals in high-risk patients who show
symptoms of flu..." |
|
Blog: Preparing for a Stressful Flu Season |
|
| New York Times |
|
| September 8, 2009 |
|
| "A few weekends ago, a mother I
know called to ask about swine flu after her daughter complained of
breathing trouble and other worrisome symptoms. Fortunately, my friend
quickly reached her pediatrician, who reassured her about the child's
condition. But the conversation made me realize just how stressful this flu
season is going to be for parents..." |
|
Flu Guidelines Issued for Child-Care Centers |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| September 5, 2009 |
|
| "Day-care centers and other
facilities responsible for young children should ensure that their employees
get vaccinated against both the seasonal flu and the swine flu, federal
health officials said Friday. Parents and other caregivers should also watch
their children or charges closely for any signs of the flu and keep
youngsters at home if they are sick during the upcoming flu season, ensuring
that they do not return until at least 24 hours after their fever has gone,
officials said..." |
|
Pregnant Women Calling for Vaccine |
|
| Columbus Dispatch |
|
| September 5, 2009 |
|
| "Michele Marzola said she
usually skips flu shots because they make her sick. That changed this week.
On Thursday, Kelsey Young, 20, died of swine flu, a week after delivering a
healthy baby girl. She had become ill while pregnant. The news of Young's
death, the first tied to swine flu in Franklin County and the second in Ohio
involving a pregnant woman, prompted a wave of calls to area doctors'
offices yesterday. Many were made by pregnant women..." |
|
Swine Flu More Deadly to Adolescents than to Younger Children, Officials Say |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| September 4, 2009 |
|
| "Adolescents are at higher risk
of dying from the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus than younger children, a
situation that is the opposite of that encountered with seasonal flu, health
authorities said Thursday. And those with underlying health problems, such
as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and neurodevelopmental disorders, are
at the highest risk and should be among the first to be vaccinated against
the new virus, according to the report in the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report..." |
|
One-dose Swine Vaccine Looks Promising |
|
| HealthDay News |
|
| September 3, 2009 |
|
| "Hopeful news in the battle
against the H1N1 swine flu emerged Thursday as European and Chinese
researchers said they have developed swine flu vaccines that work with one
dose, rather than two, potentially increasing the supply available for
distribution. Novartis, the Swiss drug maker, found that in a British trial
of 100 people between 18 and 50 years old, participants had adequate
protection two weeks after just one injection, the Associated Press
reported. In China, a swine flu vaccine was approved on Thursday, which also
works with one dose, according to its maker, Sinovac Biotech Ltd..." |
|
WHO Expert Says No Doubt H1N1 Vaccines Will Work |
|
| Reuters |
|
| September 2, 2009 |
|
| "H1N1 vaccines should offer
broad protection even if the pandemic flu virus mutates as it spreads, a top
World Health Organization expert said on Wednesday. Marie-Paule Kieny,
director of the WHO's vaccine research program, said that health workers
should get immunized first when the shots begin to be distributed, as early
as this month. 'The consensus is that the first doses will be available to
governments for use in September,' she said. The U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention said last week that it was unlikely the vaccines
would be available before October..." |
|
Front-Line Nurses Question How Massive Swine Flu Vaccination Plan Will Be
Executed |
|
| New York Daily News |
|
| September 2, 2009 |
|
| "The city is depending on
public school nurses to spearhead its massive swine flu vaccination plan at
elementary schools this fall. But the nurses are balking at some aspects of
Mayor Bloomberg's proposal, including whether they should be the ones giving
the nasal spray and shots to students. 'We have a lot of questions,' said
one nurse who attended an orientation session on swine flu at Lehman College
this week. But at least the city has a plan this time.'..." |
|
Obama Urges Americans to Get H1N1 Vaccine |
|
| Reuters |
|
| September 1, 2009 |
|
| "President Barack Obama urged
Americans on Tuesday to get the H1N1 shot when it becomes available as the
nation prepares for a second wave of swine flu as autumn approaches in the
Northern Hemisphere. After a meeting with health and homeland security
advisers, President Barack Obama said the United States is 'making steady
process on developing a safe and effective H1N1 flu vaccine and we expect a
flu shot program will begin soon. This program will be completely voluntary
but it will be strongly recommended,' he said..." |
|
Swine Flu Poses Some Challenges for Airlines; Precautions Include Removing
Pillows, Blankets from Flights |
|
| USA TODAY |
|
| September 1, 2009 |
|
| "Airlines say they're preparing
for the return of swine flu this fall but stop short of declaring they'll
bar passengers with symptoms from planes or give refunds for trips canceled
because of the illness. Rather than impose special measures to deal with the
H1N1 virus, several U.S. carriers emphasize they'll follow long-standing
policies that permit them to keep an ill person from flying, whatever the
sickness..." |
|
New York City to Offer Students Free H1N1 Vaccines |
|
| Reuters |
|
| September 1, 2009 |
|
| "All primary school-age
children in New York City will be offered free vaccines for seasonal and
H1N1 flu this year under a plan announced on Tuesday by Mayor Michael
Bloomberg. The vaccines are part of the city's strategy to combat the new
H1N1 swine flu strain that hit the city hard during the spring, infecting an
estimated 750,000 to 1 million people or about 10 percent of the
population..." |
|
|
|
|
|
Back to Flu |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| August 31, 2009 |
|
| "He's one of the nation's top
flu fighters. But for Dr. Marty Cetron, the battle begins at home. That's
where, like parents all across the country, he is preparing his three
children - they're 9 to 15 years old - for the arrival of a fall flu season
unlike any in their lifetimes. This will be the season of our dual
discontent: Disease trackers expect both seasonal influenza and the novel
swine strain to circulate. And swine flu, which made its US debut in the
spring, has shown an unusual propensity for making the young sick while
sparing the old..." |
|
Your Doctor may Give You Swine Flu This Fall |
|
| Newsweek |
|
| August 31, 2009 |
|
| "The CDC says health-care workers should
be among the first in line to receive the swine-flu (H1N1) vaccine, which
the government hopes will be available by mid-October. But will your
doctors, nurses, and other medical providers roll up their sleeves? Only 45
percent of health-care workers get a seasonal flu shot every year..." |
|
Poll: 2/3 in U.S. Plan to Get Swine Flu Vaccine |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 27, 2009 |
|
| "More than 90 percent of
Americans plan to do something to protect themselves from the H1N1 pandemic
flu virus and more than 60 percent will get vaccinated, according to an
American Red Cross survey released on Thursday. Only 11 percent say they are
very worried about the new swine flu and another 29 percent are somewhat
worried. The rest -- 60 percent -- say they are not worried." |
|
Experts Field Questions about Novel Flu Vaccines for Pregnant Women |
|
| CIDRAP |
|
| August 27, 2009 |
|
| "Federal health officials today
hosted a Web telecast to help pregnant women and new mothers prepare for an
uptick in novel H1N1 flu infections, a day after a federal judge rejected an
advocacy group's request to limit use of the H1N1 vaccine in pregnant women.
Pregnant women in the United States and other countries have had high rates
of severe infections and deaths from the novel flu virus, which prompted a
federal vaccine advisory group in July to recommend that pregnant women be
placed high on the priority list to receive the vaccine..." |
|
CDC Turns to Social Sites to Get Flu Message Out |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 27, 2009 |
|
| "U.S. health authorities are
turning to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter in a bid to
prepare people to be vaccinated against the pandemic H1N1 virus. But efforts
to distribute accurate information about the dangers of swine flu and the
importance of vaccination are hampered by the sheer complexity of the
message that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aims to
convey. For a start, the vaccine will not be ready for widespread
distribution until mid-October, after the traditional flu season has begun.
The U.S. government hopes to target around 50 percent of the population for
vaccination, focusing on key groups including pregnant women and healthcare
workers." |
|
E.U. Officials Lay
Out Priorities for Swine Flu Vaccine |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 26, 2009 |
|
| "European Union health officials issued a list Tuesday of people who should
be the first in line for vaccinations against the
H1N1, or swine flu, virus. People at risk of severe disease, pregnant women
and health care workers should be given priority
for inoculations before the winter flu season, said the officials, who
represent 27 E.U. countries and the European
Commission. Prioritizing those groups is necessary because 'there will
probably not be vaccine available for everyone
initially, and even if there is, distribution will take time,' the officials
said in a statement...In the United States,
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reached a similar
verdict Tuesday, saying that large-scale school
closings would be ineffective in halting the spread of the virus. Instead,
Ms. Sebelius said on NBC television, vaccinations
would be the defense..." |
|
Agency Urges Caution
On Estimates Of Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 26, 2009 |
|
| "Up to 90,000 deaths from swine flu in the United States, mostly among
children and young people? Up to 1.8 million people
hospitalized, with 50 percent to 100 percent of the intensive-care beds in
some cities filled with swine flu patients? Up to
half the population infected by this winter? On Monday, a White House
advisory panel issued a report with these estimates,
calling them "a plausible scenario" for a second wave of infections by the
new H1N1 flu. The grim numbers by the panel, the
President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, got considerable
play in the news media. On Tuesday, however,
officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency with
the most expertise on influenza pandemics,
suggested that the projections should be regarded with caution.." |
|
Swine Flu Could
Infect Half of U.S. |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| August 25, 2009 |
|
| "Swine flu could infect half the U.S. population this fall and winter,
hospitalizing up to 1.8 million people and causing as
many as 90,000 deaths -- more than double the number that occur in an
average flu season, according to an estimate from a
presidential panel released Monday. The virus could cause symptoms in 60
million to 120 million people, more than half of
whom might seek medical attention, the President's Council of Advisors on
Science and Technology estimated in an 86-page
report to the White House assessing the government's response to the first
influenza pandemic in 41 years..." |
|
CDC's Advice to
Parents: Swine Flu Shots for All |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| August 25, 2009 |
|
| "The first swine flu precaution that the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention suggests for parents: As soon as a
vaccine is available, try to get it for everyone in your family. 'We're
going to continue to stress that the vaccine is the
most important thing that parents can do to protect their children,' said
Tom Skinner, a CDC spokesman. This H1N1 vaccine
should be taken in addition to the seasonal flu vaccine, and not as a
replacement for it..." |
|
No Side Effects So
Far in Trial of Swine Flu Shot |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 22, 2009 |
|
| "There have been no serious side effects from the first set of injections of
the new swine flu vaccine, federal health
officials said Friday in predicting that nearly 200 million doses could be
produced by year's end. Clinical trials in adults
began on Aug. 7, and those in children on Wednesday..." |
|
No Side Effects So Far in Trial of Swine Flu Shot |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 22, 2009 |
|
| "There have been no serious
side effects from the first set of injections of the new swine flu vaccine,
federal health officials said Friday in predicting that nearly 200 million
doses could be produced by year's end. Clinical trials in adults began on
Aug. 7, and those in children on Wednesday. 'There are no red flags
regarding safety,' said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is overseeing the
trials..." |
|
Who Should Get Swine Flu Shots First? |
|
| TIME Magazine |
|
| August 21, 2009 |
|
| "Influenza vaccinations are
usually an afterthought for most people. Despite the easy availability of
the shots, fewer than 40% of Americans get them in any one year — never mind
that flu kills some 36,000 of us annually. But this flu season is likely to
be different. Thanks to the new H1N1/09 virus, to which almost none of us
are immune, flu anxiety is high — and demand for the new vaccine should be
too. Washington is now gearing up to respond, hoping to inoculate millions
of Americans and blunt the severity of the first pandemic in four
decades..." |
|
College Students with Flu Advised to Avoid Others |
|
| Associated Press |
|
| August 21, 2009 |
|
| "Health officials are offering
some basic advice for college students with flu symptoms: Avoid other people
until 24 hours after a fever is gone. At colleges across the country,
planning for flu season, particularly the swine flu, is well under way.
Recommended safeguards could mean students with a private dorm room should
stay in their rooms and find a 'flu buddy' to deliver meals and notes from
class. Or it could mean students with roommates might need to move to some
kind of temporary housing for sick students. And if sick students can't
avoid close contact with other people, they need to wear surgical masks. The
point is for sick students to isolate themselves, Education Secretary Arne
Duncan said." |
|
WHO: Save Tamiflu for the Young, Old and Pregnant |
|
| Boston Herald |
|
| August 21, 2009 |
|
| "Healthy people who catch swine
flu do not need antivirals like Tamiflu, but the young, the old and the
pregnant surely do, the World Health Organization declared Friday in new
advice to doctors. The U.N. health agency said people who are otherwise
healthy with mild to moderate cases of swine flu or regular flu don't need
the popular drug, calling the medical evidence for giving it to those people
'low quality.' But people thought to be at risk for complications from swine
flu children less than five years old, pregnant women, people over age 65
and those with other health problems like heart disease, HIV or diabetes
should definitely get the drug, WHO said..." |
|
Study Questions U.S. Flu Vaccine Guidelines |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 20, 2009 |
|
| "Contrary to current U.S. strategy,
vaccinating school children and their parents against the flu is the best
way to protect the nation from influenza, including the new pandemic swine
flu, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. They said vaccine priority should be
given to people most likely to spread the virus, not those most at risk of
serious complications from it. Seasonal and H1N1 vaccination guidelines from
the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently target people
who are likely to become the most ill if infected..." |
|
Kids Roll Up Sleeves for H1N1 Clinical Trial |
|
| CNN |
|
| August 20, 2009 |
|
| "Andrew Stein, 10, and his brother,
Nathan, 7, are having a typical end-of-summer vacation: hanging out at the
pool, visiting their grandparents and waiting for the beginning of school.
But this week they're doing something most of their classmates will never
do. The Stein brothers will be testing the new vaccine to prevent swine
flu..." |
|
H1N1 Vaccine Production Lagging Behind Expectations Limited Initial Supply
Means Priority Groups Go to Front of Line for Immunizations |
|
| AAFP News |
|
| August 19, 2009 |
|
| "The CDC told its Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices, or ACIP, in late July that it hoped to have 120
million doses of vaccine for the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus available by
October. Manufacturing issues, however, have slowed production of the new
vaccine, and federal officials now expect only about 45 million doses to be
available by mid-October. According to HHS spokesman Bill Hall, 20 million
more doses should be available each week thereafter..." |
|
Austin Boy 2nd in Travis to Die of Swine Flu |
|
| Austin (Texas) American-Statesman |
|
| August 19, 2009 |
|
| "A 14-year-old Austin boy has died of
swine flu - the second Travis County death attributed to the novel H1N1
virus, according to Dr. Philip Huang, medical director of the Austin/Travis
County Health and Human Services Department. Huang said the boy died in a
San Antonio hospital, but he did not know the circumstances that led to his
out-of-town hospitalization. Huang said he thought the boy had underlying
health conditions that could have contributed to the death, but that was
under investigation..." |
|
Swine Flu: The Next Wave |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| August 18, 2009 |
|
| "With about 55 million U.S. children
heading back to school in the next few weeks, concerns are growing that the
H1N1 swine flu will spread even further than it already has. Identified by
scientists four months ago, the virus has already turned up in nearly every
corner of the world, from Argentina to Iran. It defied public-health
officials' predictions of a lull in the warm summer months, proliferating in
military units and children's summer camps. A volunteer receives a shot
during trials of an H1N1 swine-flu vaccine last week at the University of
Iowa Health Center, one of eight trial sites across the U.S. More than two
million people are believed to have contracted the new flu in the U.S.;
7,511 had been hospitalized and 477 had died as of Aug. 13, according to the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. World-wide, 177,457 people have
been confirmed with the disease, and 1,462 deaths had been reported as of
Aug. 12, according to the World Health Organization..." |
|
Europe Offers Vaccinations to Contain Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 18, 2009 |
|
| "Anxiety over the new swine flu strain
may have eased over the summer, but millions of Europeans will soon receive
a sharp reminder of its virulence as governments prepare for a large-scale
vaccination effort aimed at keeping a second, and possibly deadlier, wave of
infections at bay..." |
|
Report: Donovan Tests Positive for Swine Flu |
|
| ESPN |
|
| August 13, 2009 |
|
| "U.S. and Los Angeles Galaxy forward
Landon Donovan has tested positive for the H1N1 flu virus, SI.com reported
on Thursday. Donovan, according to the report, learned of his diagnosis just
a day after playing the entire 90 minutes of the U.S.'s 2-1 World Cup
Qualifying loss to Mexico in Mexico City..." |
|
Puyallup Woman Dies of Swine Flu, but First She Gives Birth |
|
| News Tribune |
|
| August 13, 2009 |
|
| "A Puyallup woman who contracted swine
flu while six months pregnant died Monday at Harborview Medical Center in
Seattle. Katie Flyte, 27, was initially diagnosed with pneumonia, but
doctors at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup later discovered she had
swine flu. Doctors successfully delivered the woman's child at Good
Samaritan before Flyte was taken to Harborview on July 22. She died Monday,
with the cause listed as acute respiratory distress, according to the King
County Medical Examiner..." |
|
Misunderstanding of 1918 Flu May Lead to Faulty Assumptions for Swine Flu:
Experts |
|
| Canadian Press |
|
| August 13, 2009 |
|
| "Unproven assumptions about the course of
the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic may be leading to misperceptions of what the
swine flu virus has in store for the world, the scientist who decoded the
genetic blueprint of the 1918 virus suggests in a newly published
commentary. Virologist Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger, along with co-author and
medical historian Dr. David Morens, argues there is no firm evidence that
the 1918 virus ratchetted up in virulence in a fall wave - because there is
no solid proof outbreaks of illness in the U.S. in the spring of 1918 were
caused by the same virus..." |
|
First Flu Victim's Family Intends to Sue
City |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 11, 2009 |
|
| "The wife and three sons of the first person to die during the latest swine
flu outbreak in New York, an assistant principal
at an intermediate school in Queens, have notified the city that they intend
to file a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit
against the city. Bonnie Wiener, the widow of the flu victim, Mitchell
Wiener, and their three sons, Adam, Jordan and
Farrell, served a 'notice of claim' to the city on Aug. 5, charging that the
city had failed to react quickly enough to the
swine flu outbreak at Intermediate School 238 in Hollis, Queens, where Mr.
Wiener worked..." |
|
Costa Rica's President Has Swine Flu:
Oscar Arias is being treated and quarantined at home |
|
| MSNBC |
|
| August 11, 2009 |
|
| "Nobel Peace laureate and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias said Tuesday
that he has swine flu, showing that not even a head
of state is safe from the virus that has caused worldwide concern but
relatively few deaths. The 69-year-old president and
Nobel Peace Prize winner said in a statement that he was quarantined at home
and is being treated with the anti-flu medicine
oseltamivir..." |
|
WHO: Pandemic Flu Spreading with Asian
Monsoon Season |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 11, 2009 |
|
| "H1N1 pandemic flu is spreading in India,
Thailand and Vietnam with the onset of Asia's monsoon season, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday. But
transmission of the new virus appears to have peaked in parts of the
southern hemisphere including Argentina, Chile,
Australia and New Zealand, the United Nations agency said..." |
|
Obama Strikes Note of Unity at Mexico
Summit |
|
| Christian Science Monitor |
|
| August 10, 2009 |
|
| "At the North American Leaders Summit in Mexico today, the three heads of
state reiterated their commitment to the pressing
issues of the day, including security, economic recovery, climate change,
and the mitigation of swine flu..." |
|
Canada Dismisses Warning about Flu Drug |
|
| Globe and Mail |
|
| August 10, 2009 |
|
| "Canadian health authorities will not change their practice of prescribing
the anti-viral drug Tamiflu to treat cases of
pandemic H1N1 flu in children, despite a new study that raises questions
about the drug's effectiveness. Researchers at the
University of Oxford cautioned about the broad use of anti-viral drugs to
treat children 12 years of age and younger
suffering from seasonal flu. They found anti-viral drugs have little or no
effect on asthma flare-ups, ear infections or
bacterial infections in children. Tamiflu was also linked to increased
vomiting..." |
|
School Nurses in Short Supply |
|
| USA Today |
|
| August 10, 2009 |
|
| "If swine flu reappears in schools this fall, it'll probably be a school
nurse who first discovers it. But nationwide, the
ratio of nurses to students falls short of the federally recommended
standard, raising concerns that the shortage could
undermine efforts to catch and control what could be a deadly flu season. A
USA TODAY analysis of Census data from 2005 to
2007 suggests that each school nurse cares, on average, for 971 students..." |
|
Swine Flu Vaccine Trials Begin Testing Volunteers |
|
| NPR |
|
| August 10, 2009 |
|
| "As a part of preparing for a major
outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu this fall and winter, the government began
testing H1N1 influenza vaccine Monday. The first clinical trials are
enrolling up to 2,400 people and will test H1N1 vaccine made by two drug
companies using the so-called seed stock of the H1N1 virus provided by the
federal government. The trials are designed to determine if the vaccine is
safe in healthy people of various ages and gauge how many doses are needed
to protect against the swine flu. The testing is taking place at multiple
Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units across the country — the longstanding
vaccine clinical trials infrastructure run by National Institute of Allergy
and Infectious Disease. The first trials are testing healthy adult
volunteers between the ages of 18 and 65. If the first eight days of adult
testing don't raise any safety concerns, researchers will begin testing the
vaccine in healthy children ages 6 months to 18 years..." |
|
The Doctor's World: Seeking lessons in swine flu fight |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 10, 2009 |
|
| "As the three-month-old outbreak of swine
flu raises havoc during the winter season in the Southern Hemisphere,
officials in the United States are carefully seeking clues from there to
deal with its likely return in this country in the fall, before a vaccine
can protect large numbers of people..." |
|
51 US Soldiers in Iraq Diagnosed with Swine Flu; Iraqi Health Officials
Confirm Country's First H1N1 Death |
|
| MSNBC News |
|
| August 9, 2009 |
|
| "Fifty-one American troops in Iraq have
been diagnosed with and treated for swine flu, while another 71 soldiers
remain in isolation suspected of contracting the potentially deadly virus,
the U.S. military said Sunday. The figures were released as Iraqi health
officials confirmed Sunday the country's first swine flu death. A woman in
the southern holy Shiite city of Najaf died of the disease, raising fears
about a possible outbreak among worshippers making pilgrimages to the
revered sites. All the 51 U.S. troops diagnosed with the flu have fully
recovered, while the 71 suspect cases are in isolation, said Col. Michael D.
Eisenhauer, the chief of clinical operations in Iraq..." |
|
Swine Flu Should Not Close Most Schools, Federal Officials Say |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 7, 2009 |
|
| "Most schools should be able to stay open
even if swine flu outbreaks occur again this fall, government officials said
Friday as they issued recommendations for dealing with the illness when the
school year starts. Decisions about whether to close schools should be made
locally, the officials said, and ‘should balance the goal of reducing the
number of people who become seriously ill or die from influenza with the
goal of minimizing social disruption and safety risks to children,' which
sometimes occur when schools close..." |
|
Quick Tests for the Flu Found Often Inaccurate |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 6, 2009 |
|
"As the swine flu spreads,
many doctors and hospitals are turning to rapid tests that can determine
within minutes whether an anxious patient has the flu. Sales of such tests
are soaring. But the tests have a severe limitation: They may fail more than
half the time to detect swine flu infections, according to newly published
studies and to experts in medical testing..." |
|
WHO: Fast -Track Flu Vaccines Don't Reduce Safety |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 6, 2009 |
|
| "Procedures to fast-track approvals of
new vaccines to combat H1N1 influenza do not reduce safety, the World Health
Organization said on Thursday. The WHO said vaccines had to be available
quickly and in large quantities to have the greatest impact..." |
|
Big Drug Makers Start Trials of Swine Flu Vaccines |
|
| Reuters |
|
| August 5, 2009 |
|
| "Novartis has started human testing of
H1N1 swine flu vaccine candidates while Sanofi-Aventis, the world leader in
flu shots, will commence within days, company officials said on Tuesday. The
launch of clinical trials is a key part of a widening program of work being
undertaken by big pharmaceutical companies as they prepare for mass
vaccination from next month. GlaxoSmithKline, the other 'big three' flu
vaccine supplier, said it would initiate clinical studies later this
month..." |
|
Pneumonia Vaccine May Help Limit Swine Flu Deaths |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| August 4, 2009 |
|
| "In years past, the nation's attempts to
prevent flu-related deaths have focused on limiting transmission of the
virus through widespread vaccination programs. This year, with school
starting up well before a vaccine for the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus will
be available, there will be little that can slow the spread of the virus for
the next few months. But there may yet be something that can be done to
reduce hospitalizations and deaths associated with the virus, commonly known
as swine flu, public health..." |
|
Schools Prep for Spread of Swine Flu |
|
| USA Today |
|
| August 3, 2009 |
|
| "As the first day of classes approaches
for some districts, school and health officials in several states are
preparing for the possibility of wider outbreaks of the H1N1 virus. Swine
flu, which disproportionately targets teenagers and young adults, is
expected to begin spreading more rapidly when students return to the close
quarters of classrooms and dormitories, county and state health officials
say. They expect greater-than-usual numbers of students to seek inoculations
because of widespread publicity about H1N1..." |
|
Opinion: Prepare for a Vaccine Controversy
By Arthur Allen |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 2, 2009 |
|
| "A few years ago public health officials
set up a time share in Pennsylvania hens. Under contracts signed with
several farmers, the hens continued to lay for their regular customers until
the moment this past spring when the federal government requisitioned their
eggs to grow flu vaccine. Strategic hen reserves are part of a success
story: the government's readiness for the current H1N1 flu pandemic. Public
health officials had already stockpiled millions of doses of antiviral
drugs, created diagnostic kits that detected the virus as soon as it
appeared in California in April and enrolled five companies to make
vaccine..." |
|
Opinion: Fly the Germ-Free Skies
By Mark Gendreau, MD |
|
| New York Times |
|
| August 2, 2009 |
|
| "The new H1N1 flu has already been
transmitted from one passenger to another on a commercial airline, and it is
likely that more such incidents will occur if the virus resurges as
anticipated this fall. The aviation industry and the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention have tried to reassure passengers that air travel is
still safe, but so far they have done too little to try to limit the number
of such transmissions..." |
|
Mothers-to-be Urged to Consider Swine Flu Vaccinations |
|
| Chicago Tribune |
|
| August 2, 2009 |
|
| "With pregnant women facing a high risk
of death from swine flu, health officials in Illinois are planning an
aggressive campaign to educate doctors and encourage expectant mothers to
get vaccinated against the virus, which threatens to spread rapidly this
fall. 'In general, when people are pregnant, they are reluctant to take
medication they fear might cause harm to the child,' said Dr. Julie Morita,
medical director for the immunization program at the Chicago Department of
Public Health. 'But if their physician says 'I think you need a flu
vaccine,' they are more likely to heed it.'..." |
|
|
|
|
|
CDC to Seek Public's Advice on H1N1 Vaccination Drive |
|
| CIDRAP |
|
| July 31, 2009 |
|
| "The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) plans to gather the public's thoughts in August on how big
this fall's H1N1 influenza vaccination drive should be. The CDC will hold 10
'public engagement' meetings around the country to get the citizenry's
advice on whether the vaccination program should be an all-out effort or
something more modest, according to Roger Bernier, PhD, MPH, senior advisor
in the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. The
agency wants to take the public pulse on the issue because there's so much
uncertainty about the scale and of the severity of the pandemic and the
demand for the vaccine this fall and winter, Bernier said..." |
|
Vaccine Plan in U.S. May Endanger Supply, Lancet Says |
|
| Bloomberg News |
|
| July 31, 2009 |
|
| "U.S. plan to rely on swine flu vaccines
without ingredients to stretch the supply would reduce the number of
available shots just when other countries need them most, the British
journal Lancet said in an editorial. The ingredients, called adjuvants, have
never been approved for flu vaccines in the U.S. and are controversial
because some studies show they cause immune disorders in mice..." |
|
Nasal Vaccine Holds Promise Against Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| July 30, 2009 |
|
| "As the nation girds for a possible swine
flu pandemic, one of the big weapons may come from an unexpected source - a
vaccine squirted or dropped into the nose. MedImmune, which already makes
the nasal spray vaccine FluMist for seasonal flu viruses, says it is on
track to produce about five times as much swine flu vaccine as it had
expected - so much, in fact, that it will run out of nasal spray devices and
is looking to administer the vaccines with droppers instead..." |
|
Flu Vaccine Panel Creates Priority List |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| July 30, 2009 |
|
| "A complicated list of who should get
pandemic flu vaccine in the fall is now set. When the vaccine starts
arriving in September, first in line will be pregnant women; the caretakers
of infants; children and young adults; older people with chronic illness;
and health-care workers. That's the advice of a 15-member committee of
experts, which met all day Wednesday at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta to advise the federal government on vaccine policy..." |
|
Wal-Mart Weighs Role in U.S. H1N1 Vaccination Plans |
|
| Reuters |
|
| July 30, 2009 |
|
| "Wal-Mart Stores Inc is discussing with
U.S. health officials the possibility of putting vaccination sites at some
of its stores for an H1N1 swine flu inoculation campaign this fall, a
company official said on Thursday. Federal officials met with Wal-Mart
executives on Wednesday in Arkansas to discuss the issue, Dr. John Agwunobi,
president of health and wellness for Wal-Mart U.S., told public health
leaders at a conference in Orlando..." |
|
Volunteers Swarm for Shot at Swine Flu Vaccine |
|
|
MSNBC |
|
| July 29, 2009 |
|
| "It's been just a week since Monica
Hankins first heard scientists were looking for volunteers to test an
experimental vaccine to prevent the H1N1 swine flu, but the Festus, Mo., mom
and her family already are signed up. She wants her two young daughters,
Isabella, 3, and Maya, 19 months, to be among the first to be protected
against the previously unknown virus that has launched a global pandemic and
claimed more than 800 lives worldwide, including more than 300 in the United
States..." |
|
Federal Panel Issues H1N1 Vaccine Guidelines |
|
| CNN |
|
| July 29, 2009 |
|
| “A federal advisory committee issued sweeping guidelines Wednesday for a vaccination campaign against the pandemic swine flu strain, identifying more than half the U.S. population as targets for the first round of vaccinations. The advisory panel's guidelines don't trigger the start of vaccinations but are usually accepted by the government. The priority groups include pregnant women; health care and emergency services personnel; children, adolescents and young adults up to age 24; household and caregiver contacts of children younger than six months; and healthy adults with certain medical conditions..."
|
|
CDC Says Pregnant Women with Flu Symptoms Should Receive Anti-Viral Drugs |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| July 29, 2009 |
|
| “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday pregnant women suspected of having the flu should be promptly treated with antiviral medications. The CDC, in a study set to be published in the medical journal Lancet, said pregnant women are more severely impacted by the H1N1 virus. CDC said pregnant women had higher rates of hospitalization and a greater risk of death compared to the general population...“ |
|
EU Panel to Review H1N1 Vaccines Before Flu Season |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| July 24, 2009 |
|
| “The European Medicines Agency said Friday it has started to receive data on H1N1 pandemic vaccines following the review beginning in July, with the commitment from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, to fast-track the review of data as vaccine manufacturers make them available....
“ |
|
In Trials for H1N1 Vaccine, Dosage Is Key |
|
| USA Today |
|
| July 23, 2009 |
|
| “The race to test a new pandemic flu vaccine is poised to begin, starting with trials in healthy adults and then, if no safety questions emerge, in children, federal officials said Wednesday. The goal is to produce enough vaccine to protect at least 120 million people against an entirely new flu virus, H1N1, also known as swine flu, before flu season takes off in the fall...
“ |
|
Think H1N1 Is Bad Now? Wait Till Flu Season |
|
| TIME |
|
| July 22, 2009 |
|
| “When the World Health Organization announced on July 16 that it would stop issuing global counts of confirmed cases of the H1N1/09 virus (the new WHO-approved name differentiates the virus from older versions of H1N1), it wasn't because the disease had burned out. Far from it...“ |
|
First Vaccine for Foiling Swine Flu to be Tested |
|
| Bloomberg News |
|
| July 22, 2009 |
|
| “The first human trials of a swine- flu vaccine are set to begin in Australia as deaths and infections from the H1N1 virus mount worldwide, intensifying demand for a protective shot. CSL Ltd., the only flu-vaccine maker in the Southern Hemisphere, plans to start the research tomorrow in Adelaide by injecting a group of healthy volunteers with its experimental vaccine, the company said last week...“ |
|
H1N1 Vaccine on the Way for Fall Distribution |
|
| American Medical News |
|
| July 20, 2009 |
|
| “Physicians and other health care professionals likely will be among the first to receive a new influenza A(H1N1) vaccine, which should be ready by mid-October, said Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She made the announcement at a summit of local, state and federal health and school officials held July 9 at the National Institutes of Health...“ |
|
CDC expects to have enough H1N1 vaccine |
|
| UPI |
|
| July 18, 2009 |
|
| “Physicians and other health care professionals likely will be among the first to receive a new influenza A(H1N1) vaccine, which should be ready by mid-October, said Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She made the announcement at a summit of local, state and federal health and school officials held July 9 at the National Institutes of Health...“ |
|
Swine Flu Expected to Return with Opening of School |
|
| New York TImes |
|
| July 17, 2009 |
|
| “Physicians and other health care professionals likely will be among the first to receive a new influenza A(H1N1) vaccine, which should be ready by mid-October, said Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She made the announcement at a summit of local, state and federal health and school officials held July 9 at the National Institutes of Health...“ |
|
Year-End Release Likely for Flu Vaccine |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| July 14, 2009 |
|
| "A fully licensed swine flu vaccine might
not be available until the end of the year, a top official at the World
Health Organization said yesterday, in a report that could affect many
countries' vaccination plans. But countries could use emergency provisions
to get the vaccines out quicker if they decide their populations need them,
said Marie-Paule Kieny, director of WHO's Initiative for Vaccine Research,
during a news conference. The swine flu viruses being used to develop a
vaccine aren't producing enough of the ingredient needed for the vaccine,
and WHO has asked its laboratory network to produce a new set of viruses as
soon as possible..." |
|
Study: Deadly 1918 Pandemic Took Years to Evolve, Through Pigs, Offering
Lessons for Today |
|
| Chicago Tribune |
|
| July 13, 2009 |
|
| "History's deadliest flu pandemic, in
1918, may not have made a sudden jump from birds to people after all. New
research says the pig played a big role as an influenza mixing bowl - a gene
probe with lessons for tracking today's swine flu outbreak. The genetic
ancestor hunt shows pieces of the 1918 killer virus were quietly circulating
in people and pigs up to 15 years before the pandemic erupted, researchers
reported Monday..." |
|
WHO Says Health Workers Priority for H1N1 Vaccine |
|
| Reuters |
|
| July 13, 2009 |
|
| "Healthcare workers should get priority
access to H1N1 flu vaccinations to ensure health systems keep functioning as
the swine flu pandemic spreads around the globe, the World Health
Organization said on Monday. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO director of the
Initiative for Vaccine Research, said the agency's experts had concluded
every country in the world would need access to vaccines, which drug
companies are now racing to produce. Disappointingly, Kieny said, yields
from growing the new virus in chicken eggs -- the mainstay of flu vaccine
production -- had so far been 'poor,' at only 25 to 50 percent of that
achieved with normal seasonal flu strains. Alternative strains are now being
studied that will hopefully increase output, she added..." |
|
Swine Flu Vaccine Trials in Rochester |
|
| WHAM (NY) |
|
| July 13, 2009 |
|
| "Clinical trials for a swine flu vaccine
will begin in just a few weeks in Rochester. 'We run trials for the
pharmaceuticals industry,' said Dr. Matthew Davis. Rochester Clinical
Research is the place where vaccines earn their stripes -- passing test
after test before being passed on to the public..." |
|
H1N1 Stunned Emory Doctors: Medical team that saved Kentucky woman recalls
swift severity of illness |
|
| Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
|
|
July 10, 2009 |
|
| "The Kentucky woman was having a grand
vacation that included a Mexican getaway, shopping in Atlanta and a wedding
in LaGrange. But on May 7, she found herself on an emergency helicopter
flying to Emory University Hospital --- near death. Having spent about two
weeks in a LaGrange hospital, the 31-year-old woman's already serious case
of swine flu had, within a matter of hours, taken a terrible turn for the
worse. She was in respiratory failure, meaning she could no longer breathe
on her own, and doctors had discovered a blood clot in her lungs. So the
LaGrange doctors rushed her to Emory, with its infectious disease
specialists and advanced equipment. The woman's identity has not been made
public, at her request, but this week eight of the Emory doctors and staff
recounted their monthlong struggle to save her..." |
|
U.S. Ready to Spend Billions on Flu Vaccine |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| July 10, 2009 |
|
| "The Obama administration said yesterday
that it has billions of dollars available to help pay for a national H1N1
flu vaccine program that could be ready starting in mid-October. Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made the announcement at an
all-day summit on the outbreak of what is more commonly known as swine flu.
One purpose of the gathering, officials have said, is to help restore a
sense of urgency to the worldwide response to the epidemic..." |
|
15 Air Force Academy Cadets Have Swine Flu |
|
| Denver Post |
|
| July 10, 2009 |
|
| The Academy announced the confirmed cases
in Colorado's largest outbreak of the H1N1 virus. The Academy announced
Thursday that 89 cadets were isolated with flu-like symptoms. Academy
spokeswoman Capt. Corinna Jones says that most of the sick cadets are
"doolies," members of the incoming freshman class who began training June
25. The cadets began coughing and showing other upper respiratory symptoms
last Monday..." |
|
Obama Warns of Return of Swine Flu in Fall |
|
| New York Times |
|
| July 10, 2009 |
|
| "The Obama administration warned
Americans on Thursday to be ready for an aggressive return of the swine flu
virus in the fall, announcing plans to begin vaccinations in October and
offering states and hospitals money to help them prepare. The potential for
a significant outbreak in the fall is looming," President Obama said by
telephone link from Italy to the White House's H1N1 Influenza Preparedness
Summit, held at the National Institutes of Health..." |
|
Students 1st in Line for Flu Vaccine |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| July 10, 2009 |
|
| "School-age children will be a key target
population for a pandemic flu vaccine in the fall, and they may be
vaccinated at school in a mass campaign not seen since the polio epidemics
of the 1950s. The federal government should get about 100 million doses of
vaccine by mid-October, if the current production by five companies goes as
planned. But enough vaccine for wide use by the 120 million people
especially vulnerable to the newly emerged strain of H1N1 influenza virus
will not be available until later in the fall..." |
|
U.S. Government to Fully Fund Swine Flu Vaccines |
|
| Reuters |
|
| July 9, 2009 |
|
| "The U.S. government will fully pay for
any autumn vaccination program against the new H1N1 swine flu, Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Thursday. Although it is
not certain Americans will be offered the vaccine, Sebelius said plans were
on track for a mid-October vaccination program. 'We have already
appropriated about a billion dollars to buy the bulk ingredients,' Sebelius
told a swine flu 'summit' of state and local leaders at the National
Institutes of Health. She said another $7.5 billion was available from
emergency preparedness funds..." |
|
San Quentin Limits Intake of Prisoners |
|
| San FranciscoChronicle |
|
| July 9. 2009 |
|
| "Seeking to prevent an outbreak of swine
flu from spreading beyond prison walls, officials at San Quentin State
Prison on Wednesday stopped accepting prisoners from 16 Northern California
counties, including all nine in the Bay Area. The move follows by two..." |
|
H1N1 Vaccine Trials Happening In North Texas |
|
| CBS 11 (TX) |
|
| July 8, 2009 |
|
| "It is a mystery the World Health
Organization is trying to solve. How did a handful of H1N1, or swine flu,
cases balloon into a global pandemic in less than two months? The
organization says there are 77,000 confirmed cases and 332 deaths worldwide,
but U.S. health officials say as many as one million Americans have been
infected with H1N1. With concerns among health officials that the virus will
make a strong comeback this fall, North Texas could be on the front line for
a vaccine. Five-year-old Grace Schmidt and her two-year-old brother,
Matthew, will be among the first to test the swine flu vaccine next
month..." |
|
UN Chief Says $1 Billion May Be Needed
for Antivirals, Vaccines Against Swine Flu This Year |
|
| Associated Press (LA Times) |
|
| July 6, 2009 |
|
| "U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the world body may need over $1
billion to fight the swine flu pandemic for the rest
of this year. Ban says funds have not come in as expected. He says the money
is needed to ensure the poorest countries get
vaccine supplies and antivirals if the pandemic continues to spread. Ban
told reporters in Geneva on Monday that the relative
mildness of the pandemic so far should not be taken for granted. He says the
swine flu outbreak is a worldwide problem that
needs global solidarity. The World Health Organization says 429 people died
of swine flu and over 94,000 have been infected.
Experts fear the number of infected people may be much higher than those
confirmed..." |
|
Journal Was Told of Flu Mutation First |
|
| Japan Times |
|
| July 6, 2009 |
|
| "The Osaka Prefectural Government sent a research paper to a U.S. medical
journal on the 1st case in Japan of a genetic
mutation of swine flu resistant to Tamiflu about a week before making the
finding public, officials said Sunday. 'It's not
that we intentionally placed priority on the manuscript and delayed the
announcement,' said Tatsuya Oshita, an official in
the prefectural government's health and medical care department. 'As it
turned out, we dealt with the matter in a way that
could be criticized, and we are sorry.' The H1N1 virus resistant to Tamiflu
was found in a woman in her 40s in Osaka
Prefecture on 18 Jun 2009 -- 2 weeks before the announcement -- through
virus sample analysis at the Osaka Prefectural
Institute of Public Health, the officials said..." |
|
Tamiflu Resistant H1N1 from Hong Kong
More Worrying than Earlier Findings Canadian Press |
|
| July 4, 2009 |
|
|
| "All cases of Tamiflu resistance are not created equal. So while the 1st 3
instances of swine flu infection with Tamiflu-resistant viruses were reported in the past week, it was Number 3, not
Number 1 that put influenza experts on edge. Public
health authorities in Hong Kong announced Friday [3 Jul 2009] they have
found a case of Tamiflu resistance in a woman who
hadn't taken the drug. That means she was infected with swine flu viruses
that were already resistant to Tamiflu, the main
weapon in most countries' and companies' pandemic drug arsenals..." |
|
Swine Flu Death Toll in Argentina Climbs |
|
| New York Times |
|
| July 4, 2009 |
|
| "The death toll from swine flu in Argentina continued to rise as President
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said she would not
rule out closing major public venues where the virus could spread more
quickly. Dr. Juan Manzur, the new health minister,
said Friday that 44 people had died from swine flu and that the country had
2,800 confirmed flu cases. The numbers reflected
a sharp increase compared with a week earlier, when there were 26 deaths and
1,587 cases. Swine flu has killed more people in
Argentina than in any other country in South America, where the winter flu
season is just beginning..." |
|
Studies: Novel H1N1 Affects Deep Lung Tissue, Transmits Fairly Well |
|
| July 2, 2009 |
|
| CIDRAP News |
|
| "The novel H1N1 (swine) influenza now
circling the globe causes more serious lung disease than seasonal flu
strains and sheds from the lung and throat tissue where it reproduces at
higher rates, according to two animal studies published today—findings that
could explain autopsies and case reports of severe pneumonia as well as the
virus's rapid spread. And while the studies, conducted in ferrets and mice,
agree that the new flu passes fairly well between individuals, they disagree
over the effectiveness of different modes of transmission..." |
|
Invest in Vaccines to Avert Pandemic |
|
| Atlanta Journal-Constitution |
|
| July 1, 2009 |
|
| "Last month, the World Health Organization finally declared that the new H1N1 virus has become pandemic. Monday it reported a big jump in cases and fatalities since last week. How many people this virus will sicken and kill depends, ultimately, on three things: the virus itself; the impact of what are known as “non-pharmaceutical interventions,” or NPIs; and the availability and effectiveness of a vaccine. The virus will be the most important factor. Influenza is one of the fastest-mutating organisms in existence, which makes it unpredictable, and a virus newly infecting the human population is likely to be even more unpredictable as it adapts to a new environment..." |
|
|
|
|
Swine Flu 'Shows Drug Resistance' |
|
| BBC News |
|
| June 29, 2009 |
|
| "Experts have reported the 1st case of swine flu that is resistant to Tamiflu, the main drug being used to fight the pandemic. Roche Holding AG confirmed a patient with H1N1 influenza in Denmark showed resistance to the antiviral drug. David Reddy, company executive, said it was not unexpected given that common seasonal flu could do the same..." |
|
Study Shows Swine Flu's Spread Can Be Tracked Through Air Travel |
|
| Chicago Tribune |
|
| June 29, 2009 |
|
| "In a startling measure of just how widely a new disease can spread, researchers accurately plotted swine flu's course around the world by tracking air travel from Mexico. The research was based on an analysis of flight data from March and April last year, which showed more than 2 million people flew from Mexico to more than 1,000 cities worldwide. Researchers said patterns of departures from Mexico in those months varies little from year to year; swine flu began its spread in March and April this year..." |
|
U.S. Cases of New Flu Hit a High This Week |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 29, 2009 |
|
| “The new H1N1 swine flu may cause more-severe illness than similar seasonal strains but may spread less easily, according to preliminary findings from a study of ferrets to be published soon by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists. CDC officials said Friday they received reports of nearly 6,300 new U.S. cases in the past week, more than in any other week since the outbreak began in late April, signaling the virus isn't letting up despite summer's arrival. Almost all flu cases now tested are the new H1N1 flu rather than regular seasonal flu, the agency said. U.S. government officials and manufacturers are preparing to produce 600 million doses of vaccine for the H1N1 virus, an effort that would dwarf seasonal-flu campaigns and would include enough for those vaccinated to receive two doses. As many as 60 million doses could be ready by September, they said at a meeting Friday of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. But federal officials haven't decided whether to go ahead definitively with the campaign, determined who would get vaccinated, or worked out logistics for carrying out a campaign alongside seasonal-flu vaccinations...” |
|
|
Swine Flu Halts Muscular Dystrophy Camps |
|
| Philadelphia Inquirer |
|
| June 25, 2009 |
|
| "Thousands of Jerry's Kids will not
attend camps this summer after officials halted the program in the face
of 17 suspected swine-flu cases among campers, including six in
Montgomery County. The cancellation, which came after about 1,800
attended 33 camps, affects 2,500 children scheduled to attend 47 other
camps. The children's hereditary muscle weakness and compromised immune
systems leave them vulnerable to the H1N1 strain of influenza, Muscular
Dystrophy Association officials said..." |
|
|
In New Theory, Swine Flu Started in Asia, Not Mexico |
|
| New York Times |
|
| June 23, 2009 |
|
| "Contrary to the popular assumption
that the new swine flu pandemic arose on factory farms in Mexico,
federal agriculture officials now believe that it most likely emerged in
pigs in Asia, but then traveled to North America in a human. But they
emphasized that there was no way to prove their theory and only sketchy
data underpinning it. There is no evidence that this new virus, which
combines Eurasian and North American genes, has ever circulated in North
American pigs, while there is tantalizing evidence that a closely
related 'sister virus' has circulated in Asia. American breeding pigs,
possibly carrying North American swine flu, are frequently exported to
Asia, where the flu could have combined with Asian strains. But because
of disease quarantines that make it hard to import Asian pigs, experts
said, it is unlikely that a pig brought the new strain back West. 'The
most likely scenario is that it came over in the mammalian species that
moves most freely around the world,' said Dr. Amy L. Vincent, a swine
flu specialist at the Agriculture Department's laboratory in Ames, Iowa,
referring, of course, to people. But a sample taken from a pig in Hong
Kong in 2004 was recently found to have a virus nearly matching the new
flu. That flu, which had seven of the new flu's eight genome sequences,
was noted in an article in Nature magazine on June 11, which called it a
'sister virus.'..." |
|
|
State's Only Swine Flu Death still a Mystery
Specialists Hunting for Clues to Explain Woman's Decline |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| June 23, 2009 |
|
| "The only person known to have died
of swine flu in Massachusetts suffered from none of the underlying
medical conditions that can turn a relatively mild viral infection into
a life-threatening illness, city disease trackers disclosed yesterday.
The finding deepens the mystery around the June 14 death of a
30-year-old Boston woman who arrived at Boston Medical Center already
gravely ill from symptoms associated with the respiratory disease, known
by the scientific designation H1N1. Investigators with the Boston Public
Health Commission delved through medical records obtained from the
woman's primary care physician, hunting for clues that might explain her
precipitous decline. But there was no evidence she had ever been
diagnosed with asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or any other
chronic malady known to intensify the risk of dying from a flu virus..." |
|
|
No Signs of H1N1 Flu in Babies at NC Hospital |
|
| News & Observer (NC) |
|
| June 18, 2009 |
|
| "Officials say seven of the 33 babies
who may have been exposed to H1N1 swine flu have been sent home from a
North Carolina hospital and that none show flu symptoms. The News &
Record of Greensboro reported Tuesday that a respiratory therapist who
unknowingly exposed the babies at The Women's Hospital tested positive
for the virus last week. The babies are in the hospital's neonatal
intensive care unit. Hospital officials are asking anyone with flu-like
symptoms to stay at home away from others, drink fluids and use
over-the-counter medicine to treat their symptoms..." |
|
|
Editorial: Pandemic Reality Check |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| June 23, 2009 |
|
| "This month, the World Health
Organization finally declared that the new H1N1 virus has become
pandemic.Yesterday it reported a big jump in cases and fatalities since
Friday. How many people this virus will sicken and kill depends,
ultimately, on three things: the virus itself; the impact of what are
known as 'non-pharmaceutical interventions,' or NPIs; and the
availability and effectiveness of a vaccine. The virus will be the most
important factor. Influenza is one of the fastest-mutating organisms in
existence, which makes it unpredictable, and a virus newly infecting the
human population is likely to be even more unpredictable as it adapts to
a new environment...But we do have non-pharmaceutical interventions and
the possibility of a vaccine. Such interventions would come into play
primarily in a moderate or severe pandemic..." |
|
|
Editorial: A Pandemic's Dry Run |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| June 21, 2009 |
|
| "Although Massachusetts recorded its
first swine-flu death this month, the effect of the disease has not been
as dire as many feared. As a result, public health officials have been
able to view the health system's response to the pandemic as a test case
for an even more dangerous outbreak of flu. Among the lessons learned is
the need for better coordination between the public-health sector and
the private suppliers of the tools needed to contend with flu: face
masks, swabs, and antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu..." |
|
|
Experts See Bad, but not Disastrous, Flu Season |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 19, 2009 |
|
| "So what are health officials doing
to help us prepare for the upcoming flu season? According to the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, which also oversees the Centers
for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration, the government
has now shifted its pandemic planning focus from H5N1 to H1N1 for the
upcoming flu season. Seasonal flu still remains a priority. The
government is still asking the five U.S.-licensed flu vaccine makers to
supply the U.S. market with about 100 million doses of seasonal flu
vaccine, a request on par with those of recent years..." |
|
|
Camps Seeing Outbreaks of Swine Flu, Agency Says |
|
| New York Times |
|
| June 19, 2009 |
|
| "Although it is fading in much of the
nation as warmer weather comes on, swine flu is causing outbreaks in
summer camps just as it has in schools, federal officials said Thursday.
The advice to camp administrators and parents is basically the same as
for schools, said Dr. Daniel B. Jernigan, deputy director of the flu
division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Camps should
be on the alert for sick children, who should be kept home for a week or
until 24 hours after symptoms have finished. (Not all camps offer
refunds, the American Camp Association noted.) Parents should be
prepared to take sick children home on short notice. Religious camps in
Clayton, Ga.; Santa Rosa, Calif.; and Cleveland, Ga., and a Boy Scout
camp near Asheville, N.C., all reported probable swine flu cases in
local newspapers this week..." |
|
|
Editorial: Death from the Flu |
|
| Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |
|
| June 19, 2009 |
|
| "The swine flu pandemic passed
another tragic milestone in Wisconsin this week with the first deaths of
youths from the disease. Health officials and family members said
14-year-old Tiara Mosely of Milwaukee did not appear to have any of the
underlying medical conditions that put those who contract the disease at
high risk...." |
|
|
Malaysia Introduces Stricter Measures to Fight A/H1N1 Flu |
|
| English News Service |
|
| June 19, 2009 |
|
| "Malaysia has introduced ten new
measures to prevent A/H1N1 flu from spreading in the country. Malaysian
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that one of the measures was
compulsory health declaration form by all travelers arriving in the
country, which would be gazetted next week, according to local
newspapers on Friday. Any travelers whoever fail to do so could be
liable to a 10,000 ringgit (2,857. 1 U. S. dollars) fine or two years'
jail or both, under the Malaysian Disease Prevention Act, Muhyiddin told
reporters here on Thursday. Other measures included sending health
officers on board flights to scan body temperatures of passengers coming
from the United States, Melbourne of Australia and Manila of the
Philippines..." |
|
|
H1N1 Cases in Health Workers Show Need for Protection |
|
| CIDRAP News |
|
| June 18, 2009 |
|
| "An analysis of novel H1N1 influenza
cases in healthcare workers in the early weeks of the epidemic shows
that half of them were probably infected on the job, and most of those
weren't using respiratory protection, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) said today. Among 26 cases for which detailed
information was available, 13 of the healthcare personnel (HCP) were
believed to have been infected in a healthcare setting, the CDC said.
Only three of the infected workers reported using a surgical mask or an
N-95 respirator. The findings suggest that health workers are being
infected both at work and in the community and that healthcare
facilities need to reinforce messages about current infection control
recommendations, the CDC said in the Jun 19 issue of Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report..." |
|
Vaccinate Kids to Control H1N1 Flu |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 18, 2009 |
|
| "Targeting children for vaccination
may be the best way of using limited supplies of vaccine to control the
current H1N1 flu pandemic, British researchers said on Thursday.
Drugmakers are racing to make a vaccine against the new flu strain but
if the disease increases significantly in the northern hemisphere
autumn, as many experts fear, there are unlikely to be enough shots to
vaccinate entire populations. Researchers from the University of Warwick
said that vaccinating children rather than adults would not only help
protect a group at greatest risk of exposure to the virus, but would
also offer protection to unvaccinated adults..." |
|
|
Sebelius Says Kids May Get Swine Flu Shots First |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| June 16, 2009 |
|
| "Schoolchildren could be first in
line for swine flu vaccine this fall - and schools are being put on
notice that they might even be turned into shot clinics. Health and
Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday she is urging
school superintendents around the country to spend the summer preparing
for that possibility, if the government goes ahead with mass
vaccinations..." |
|
|
Flu Pandemic Spurs Queries about Vaccine |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 15, 2009 |
|
| "Governments and drug companies
ramping up production of a vaccine against the swine-flu virus are
facing a tough question: Who really needs it? The world's biggest drug
companies have started producing vaccines against the H1N1 virus and
expect the first doses to be available by the fall. Many Western
countries have ordered millions of doses, at a cost of more than $1
billion. But they have yet to figure out who should be first in line to
get the shots, or to what extent they are even needed, given that the
virus has so far proved less deadly than feared..." |
|
|
China’s Sinovac Enters Race for Flu Vaccine |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 15, 2009 |
|
| "Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac
Biotech Ltd hopes to put its H1N1 vaccine through its first clinical
trial by the end of July, as pharmaceutical firms race to put vaccines
against the new flu virus into commercial production. Workers at
Sinovac's laboratory in Beijing readied thousands of chicken eggs to
grow the H1N1 virus on Monday, after the World Health Organization
declared a pandemic last Thursday and warned governments to prepare for
a long battle against the virus. On Friday, Novartis AG said it expected
its H1N1 vaccine to be available by autumn after it produced a first
batch for testing and clinical trials..." |
|
|
Swiss Drugmaker Novartis Says Produces First Batch of Swine Flu Vaccine
Grown in Cells |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 15, 2009 |
|
| "Swiss pharmaceuticals company
Novartis AG said Friday it has successfully produced a first batch of
swine flu vaccine weeks ahead of expectations. The vaccine was made in
cells, rather than grown in eggs as is usually the case with vaccines,
the company said..." |
|
|
Swine Flu Declaration Will Speed Work on Vaccine |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| June 12, 2009 |
|
| "One immediate effect of the
declaration of an H1N1 flu pandemic will be to speed the production of a
vaccine against the new virus, but it will be fall at the earliest
before the first doses are available. Scientists have encountered some
problems in paving the way for such a vaccine. The H1N1 virus grows more
slowly in eggs than the seasonal flu virus does, so it has taken longer
than expected to prepare the seed stocks of virus that manufacturers
will use to start production. But all have now received the starting
material, which will allow them to begin full-scale efforts at
production, according to Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny of the World Health
Organization. Some companies that do not manufacture a seasonal flu
vaccine have already started growing the virus, she said, and others
will do so as soon as they finish their current vaccine runs, probably
within the next week or two. But it is not yet clear whether the
slow-growth problems encountered in producing the seed stock will carry
over into production..." |
|
|
WHO: Full Pandemic Flu Vaccine Production To Start In 2 Weeks |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| June 11, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization
Thursday said vaccine makers should continue producing shots to protect
against the common flu, a process that will take another two weeks, and
then start producing a vaccine to combat the (A) H1N1 swine flu virus.
Vaccine makers have now received the seed virus that will allow them to
start developing the vaccine. The first doses of a pandemic vaccine
could be available in September, but supply will be limited, Margaret
Chan, WHO's director general, told journalists at a news briefing..." |
|
|
WHO Declares Swine Flu Pandemic |
|
| VOA News |
|
| June 11, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization has
declared the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, as
infections of the H1N1 swine flu virus continue to spread. WHO
Director-General Margaret Chan announced Thursday that the U.N. agency
is raising the pandemic alert level from Phase 5 to the maximum Phase 6
following a meeting of experts in Geneva. Officials note that declaring
a pandemic does not mean the disease has become more severe, but that
there is an increasing number of infections in different geographical
locations..." |
|
|
Flu Pandemic? U.S. Has Been There for Weeks |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 11, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization may
have just declared a pandemic of the H1N1 flu virus, but the United
States has been acting as if a pandemic was under way for weeks, health
officials said on Thursday. The new swine flu virus was first identified
in two U.S. children in April and by the time the news was out, it had
already begun spreading. CDC experts estimate that hundreds of thousands
of people are likely infected in every state..." |
|
|
H1N1 Flu Vaccine a Step Closer as Firms Test Vaccines |
|
| Reuters |
|
| June 10, 2009 |
|
| "Drugmakers are on track to have a
vaccine against the new H1N1 strain of flu ready for the northern
hemisphere autumn after receiving seed virus samples, company officials
said on Wednesday. Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis and Solvay
all said their vaccine teams had obtained the new influenza A (H1N1)
seed virus within the past fortnight, enabling them to begin the
production process. What is still unclear, however, is how much vaccine
they will be able to manufacture, since this depends on how easily the
new virus strain grows within a commercial production environment..." |
|
|
More Cases of Flu in Egypt and Lebanon Peninsula (Qatar) |
|
|
| June 9, 2009 |
|
| "Five New Cases of Foreigners
Infected with Swine Flu Were Discovered at a Cairo University Dormitory
Yesterday. Egypt's health ministry said, bringing the total number of
cases there to 7. Lebanon also discovered 5 new cases of swine flu but
they were under control, the health ministry said, bringing the total
number of cases there to 8..." |
|
|
WHO Says Swine Flu Pandemic 'Very Close,' Expresses Concerns About
Australia And Canada |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| June 9, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization said
Tuesday a spike in swine flu cases in Australia may push it to finally
announce the first flu pandemic in 41 years. It also expressed concern
about an unusual rise in severe illness from the disease in Canada.
WHO's flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the agency wanted to avoid "adverse
effects" if it announces a global outbreak of swine flu. Fukuda said
people might panic or that governments might take inappropriate actions
if WHO declares a pandemic..." |
|
|
Bipartisan WMD Panel Criticizes Obama Plan to Fund Flu Vaccine |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| June 8, 2009 |
|
| "President Obama's contingency plan
to help finance production of a swine flu vaccine with funds set aside
to develop defenses against biological attacks would weaken the nation's
preparedness for terrorism, the leaders of a bipartisan commission on
weapons of mass destruction said yesterday..." |
|
|
Avian Flu Fears Said to Help U.S. Prepare for Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| June 5, 2009 |
|
| "Six years of worrying about bird flu
did much to prepare the United States for the current swine flu
outbreak, federal officials and an independent monitoring group said
Thursday, but they cautioned that there were still gaps in planning.
After the H5N1 avian flu emerged widely in Asia in 2003, killing about
60 percent of those infected by it, many countries took steps to head
off the crisis that would emerge if that virus were to acquire the
ability to jump easily from human to human. It has not, but a number of
the measures were helpful. These are some of them: The federal
government stockpiled 50 million courses of Tamiflu. New vaccine
factories were opened. Pandemic plans were written, and emergency drills
were held..." |
|
|
City Reports Eighth Death Connected With Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| June 5, 2009 |
|
| "New York City's Department of Health
and Mental Hygiene has confirmed an eighth death linked to swine flu,
the first of a person older than 65, officials said Friday. Jessica
Scaperotti, a spokeswoman for the department, declined to release
further identifying details, but she said the victim had underlying
complications that increased the risk of death. Health officials have
said such complications include being over 65 or under 2, having
respiratory or immune system problems or being obese, among others.?.." |
|
|
Officials Don't Track All Possible Swine Flu Cases: Only a third of 266
samples submitted here were tested |
|
| Columbus Dispatch |
|
| June 5, 2009 |
|
| "Just because someone has swine flu
doesn't mean that public-health workers monitoring the outbreak will
track the case. Recently, a test at Nationwide Children's Hospital
showed that an 11-year-old girl from suburban Columbus had influenza A,
raising the probability that she had swine flu..." |
|
|
Contra Costa County Child Infected with Swine Flu Dies |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| June 4, 2009 |
|
| "An elementary school-aged child
infected with the H1N1 swine flu virus in central Contra Costa County
has died, health officials said Thursday. It was not immediately clear
whether the child died from the flu, a secondary bacterial infection the
child also suffered from, or another cause..." |
|
|
Chicago Swine Flu Death: New mom dies of flu a day after giving birth;
woman, 20, had other underlying medical conditions; baby is in neonatal
ICU |
|
|
|
June 4, 2009 |
|
| "Chicago woman became the fourth
person in the state to die of the H1N1 swine flu a day after she gave
birth, officials said Wednesday. The latest death was a 20-year-old
woman from Chicago who died Saturday at the University of Illinois
Medical Center, said Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez, a hospital spokeswoman.
The woman was admitted to the hospital May 23 with flulike symptoms. Her
condition quickly deteriorated, and her baby, a 27-week fetus, was
delivered by Caesarean section on Friday, officials said..." |
|
|
2nd Pa. Swine Flu Death Reported in Philadelphia? |
|
|
Philadelphia Inquirer |
|
| June 4, 2009 |
|
| "A Philadelphia woman has become the
second Pennsylvanian to die from swine flu. Health department officials
say the 26-year-old woman died Sunday. Philadelphia Department of Public
Health spokesman Jeff Moran says the woman was very ill when she was
hospitalized. The state's first swine flu death happened last week when
a 55-year-old woman from Berks County died. At least 29 people have died
nationwide from the H1N1 influenza outbreak..." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Talk of 'Underlying Conditions' May Add to Flu Worries |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 28, 2009 |
|
| "In announcing this week that swine
flu had been implicated in the deaths of two more New Yorkers, the
city's health commissioner, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, added a by-now
familiar caveat: Both of them, he said, had ''underlying conditions." He
went on to enumerate a list of conditions that could aggravate the
effects of swine flu and that characterize a large portion of New York's
population: diabetes, asthma, heart disease, lung disease, a weakened
immune system and, possibly, obesity. He did not even mention three
other risk factors that alone apply to more than 1.2 million New Yorkers
and 50 million Americans: pregnancy, being younger than 2, or being
older than 65..." |
|
|
Swine Flu, with 63 More Confirmed Cases, Closes Boston's Biggest Charter
School |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "Public health authorities in Boston
announced that they are temporarily closing the city's biggest charter
school, Boston Renaissance, for a week because of a suspected outbreak
of swine flu. Classes are suspended at the Theatre District school
starting today and are expected to resume June 4. The closing was
prompted by an unusually high number of absences in recent days, the
Boston Public Health Commission said. Boston Renaissance is the eighth
public or private school in the city to shut down because of swine flu
fears..." |
|
|
China Quarantines Teens, Teachers from Md. |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "Twenty-one students and three
teachers from a Silver Spring private school who flew last week to China
for a weeklong tour have been confined to their hotel rooms, quarantined
for possible exposure to swine flu during their flight from the United
States. The group arrived in Guizhou province in southwestern China on
Friday for an "extended study week," one of several such excursions from
the Barrie School, which stresses experiential learning. Government
officials quarantined the students and chaperons at a hotel in the city
of Kaili because a passenger on the plane was suspected of having swine
flu..." |
|
|
Op-ed: Preparing Ourselves for the Next Epidemic |
|
Oregonian
By Jay Nelson, director of OHSU's Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "While it's still hard to tell just
how big the H1N1 (also known as swine flu) outbreak will be, it has
already highlighted some urgent needs for our country. We must continue
to improve our methods for rapidly detecting and tracking outbreaks. We
must improve communications between international, national, state and
local health officials. We must also use our limited research resources
to improve and speed up vaccine development. As a scientist who has
devoted most of my professional career to researching infectious
disease, I know there is still an enormous amount of work to accomplish
before the next epidemic comes. How serious is the threat? Consider
this: Each year up to 20 percent of the American population gets the
common flu. More than 200,000 people are hospitalized due to
complications and about 36,000 people die annually from flu-related
causes. Now imagine the impact and casualties from a more serious
outbreak..." |
|
|
Swine Flu Spreads in Australia |
|
| Voice of America |
|
| May 27, 2009 |
|
| "The number of H1N1 flu cases in
Australia has doubled in the past day to 59. The federal government has
warned that the H1N1 influenza A virus is spreading fast. Health experts
say its rapid transmission coincides with the southern hemisphere's
traditional winter flu season. The H1N1 flu has been confirmed in most
Australian states and territories. The epicenter of the outbreak is in
Victoria, where a group of children are among those being treated. Virus
origin unknown. Tests have yet to reveal if the infections in Australia
have been imported from other countries or whether the virus has started
to spread among those who have not traveled overseas..." |
|
|
CDC: H1N1 Flu Infections Slowing In Most Parts of US |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| May 26, 2009 |
|
| "Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention says number of outpatient visits for influenza-like illnesses
declined in most part of US last week; states in New England along with
New York and New Jersey are still seeing elevated levels of H1N1
influenza activity..." |
|
|
Shifting Interest on Flu? It's Fishy; Study of Twitter Says Reactions
Swing Quickly |
|
| Chicago Tribune |
|
| May 26, 2009 |
|
| "As two Stanford University
researchers described their experience watching public reactions in the
initial days of the H1N1 flu outbreak, it sounded like one of those
nature films in which tiny fish dart back and forth in perfect unison --
thousands of individuals behaving as if they were one body. But what the
researchers were watching was in cyberspace, and instead of schools of
fish, they were tracking thousands of Twitter-posts pouring into an
Internet site in response to shifting news developments on the flu. With
every twist and turn of the flu reports, the mass of Twitters swung in
near perfect unison, the researchers noticed, even though the individual
Twitterers had no contact with each other outside the Web site..." |
|
|
U.S. to Spend $1 Billion on H1N1 Flu Vaccine Production |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| May 24, 2009 |
|
| "Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius said Friday the U.S. will spend $1 billion to start
the process of making an H1N1 influenza vaccine. The money, which comes
from funds already set aside for pandemic influenza, will fund new and
existing contracts with influenza vaccine makers such as Sanofi Aventis
SA, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis..." |
|
|
The Next Steps for Swine Flu: Predictions, Protection and Prevention |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 22, 2009 |
|
| "Federal health officials will
probably recommend that most Americans get three flu shots this fall:
one regular flu shot and two doses of any vaccine made against the new
swine flu strain. Having had annual flu shots for the last several years
gives 'little or no immune benefit' against the new virus, the officials
said on Thursday as they released more details of blood tests briefly
described on Wednesday..." |
|
|
U.S. Says People Born Before 1957 May Have Some Immunity to New Virus
Strain |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 21, 2009 |
|
| "Confirming the first impressions of
many American and Mexican doctors, federal health officials said on
Wednesday that people born before 1957 appear to have some immunity to
the swine flu virus now circulating. Tests on blood serum from older
people showed that they had antibodies that attacked the new virus, Dr.
Daniel Jernigan, chief flu epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, said in a telephone news conference...." |
|
|
Survey Finds Link Between Obesity and Flu Severity |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| May 20, 2009 |
|
| "A recent Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) survey of the 30 people hospitalized in California
due to the swine flu shows that about 67 percent had an underlying
medical condition. According to the report, 11 people had a lung
condition, six had an immune disorder, five had heart disease, another
five were pregnant, four had diabetes, and another four were obese..." |
|
|
Flu signs shutter Boston Latin Nearby Winsor also halts classes |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| May 20, 2009 |
|
| "Boston's biggest public school,
Boston Latin, will be shuttered for a week in hopes of halting a
suspected outbreak of swine flu, city authorities said yesterday. The
decision came after more than 250 students called in sick or were sent
home because of respiratory symptoms. In a hastily arranged City Hall
press conference, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, flanked by his top health and
school administrators, acknowledged the move was inconvenient for
Latin's 2,400 students and their families..." |
|
|
U.S. Officials Consider Bumping Up Flu Shot Season |
|
| Reuters |
|
| May 20, 2009 |
|
| "U.S. health officials said on
Wednesday they are considering starting the vaccination campaign for
seasonal flu earlier this year to make room for a possible second round
of shots against the new H1N1 flu. The United States also reported its
eighth death from the new swine flu virus, in a patient in Arizona. 'If
possible we do want to have an earlier rollout of seasonal vaccine,' Dr
Daniel Jernigan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
told reporters in a telephone briefing..." |
|
|
'We Are Not Out of the Woods' with New Flu, CDC Warns |
|
| CNN |
|
| May 19, 2009 |
|
| "Health officials say the H1N1 virus,
commonly known as the swine flu, is likely to cause more illnesses and
deaths in the United States, even though much of the initial anxiety has
eased. A researcher investigates swine flu at the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention reported higher levels of flu activity than the
average for mid-May and an unusual number of outbreaks in schools. Some
clinics reported high numbers of respiratory diseases more commonly seen
during the peak of flu season. "We do think that the way the virus is
spreading in the U.S., we are not out of the woods, and the disease is
continuing," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director for science
and public health program at the CDC in a news conference this week..." |
|
|
Options, and Hurdles, in Speeding Vaccines |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 19, 2009 |
|
| "While a universal flu vaccine would
be ideal, the world's best hope for now might be to speed up the
production of strain-specific vaccines. The World Health Organization
estimates that the world has the capacity to produce one billion to two
billion doses of a vaccine against the new swine flu virus in one year.
That would leave most of the world's population dangerously unprotected
if the virus, known as H1N1, leads to a pandemic..." |
|
|
The Slippery Slope From Fear to Panic |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 19, 2009 |
|
| "Could a reason for the panicky
reaction to the swine flu outbreak be that it diverted our attention,
however briefly, from the devastating effects of the global financial
crisis, not to mention the myriad chronic health issues that threaten
millions of lives? Or is it simply human nature to overreact to threats
over which we have little control? 'The fact is that we love to be
scared,' argue two British statisticians, Simon Briscoe and Hugh
Aldersey-Williams, in 'Panicology,' published in the United States this
year by Skyhorse Publishing..." |
|
|
A Long Search for a Universal Flu Vaccine |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 19, 2009 |
|
| "Scientists and vaccine manufacturers
are working on a universal flu vaccine, with a goal of providing at
least several years of protection against seasonal and pandemic flu
strains. A universal vaccine would eliminate the need for scientists to
guess which strains will be dominant during the upcoming flu season, and
it would make vaccination more affordable for countries with limited
funds for immunization campaigns. However, some experts believe a
universal flu vaccine would be a supplement to the seasonal flu vaccine,
rather than a replacement. Proteins on the outside of the flu virus that
come in contact with antibodies do not vary as much as those on the
inside, but researchers working on a universal flu vaccine are targeting
the M2 protein that sticks out of the virus..." |
|
|
New York Reports Its First Swine Flu Death |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 18, 2009 |
|
| "An assistant principal at a New York
City public school died of complications from swine flu in an intensive
care unit of a Queens hospital on Sunday night, the first death in New
York State of the flu strain that has swept across much of the world
since it was first identified in April. Hours before the death of the
assistant principal, Mitchell Wiener, city officials announced that five
more Queens schools had closed. On Friday, Dr. Daniel Jernigan, head of
flu epidemiology for the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, said there had been 173 hospitalizations and 5 deaths
reported to the agency. But he emphasized that most cases in the United
States — possibly "upwards of 100,000" — were mild. In
Japan, the number of swine flu cases soared over the weekend, and
authorities closed more than 1,000 schools and kindergartens..." |
|
|
New Virus Appears to Be a Factor in Extended Flu Season |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| May 16, 2009 |
|
| "More than half of the states are
reporting higher levels of flu-like illness when the respiratory disease
should be disappearing, and about half of the people with flu are
testing positive for the new swine flu virus. As a precaution in the
event of a widespread outbreak, Britain, France, Belgium and Finland
have collectively placed orders for 127 million doses of a vaccine that
GlaxoSmithKline will develop. The vaccine will include an adjuvant that
boosts the body's immune response, and the ingredient is not licensed by
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)..." |
|
|
Analysis of Flu Virus Could Lead to Better Vaccines |
|
| Science Daily |
|
| May 13, 2009 |
|
| "Researchers from Princeton
University suggest that a phenomenon known as antibody interference may
help scientists develop a more effective flu vaccine. The study is
described in the May 11 online edition of the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. In antibody interference, a virus prompts
the creation of different types of antibodies, which may sometimes crowd
each other out in an attempt to attach themselves to a virus' surface.
Antibodies that are less effective at protecting the body against a
specific virus are often better able to attaching to the virus, which
blocks the more effective antibodies..." |
|
|
Race for Pandemic Vaccine |
|
| Financial Times |
|
| May 12, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization (WHO)
says requests for wild type virus samples of the A (H1N1) virus to
prepare a pandemic vaccine have been received from major vaccine
manufacturers Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, and Sanofi-Aventis, with
samples also being sent to MedImmune, Baxter, CSL, Solvay, Microgen,
Nobilon International, Omnivest Vaccines, and Vivaldi. The WHO plans to
make a recommendation in the coming weeks on whether a pandemic vaccine
is needed and how to go about producing one. First, health officials
must determine whether this flu strain is as severe as the seasonal flu,
which results in 500,000 deaths annually..." |
|
|
Other Illness May Precede Worst Cases of Swine Flu |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 9, 2009 |
|
| "Individuals infected with the H1N1
flu who have underlying conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease,
are at greater risk of hospitalization or death, according to experts
from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC). These preliminary observations are based on discussion
of about 40 deaths in Mexico and half of the 57 hospitalizations in the
United States. Most of the Americans hospitalized had an additional
health problem, said Dr. Richard E. Besser, acting director of the CDC.
Seven of the cases involved asthma, which has become more common in the
United States, along with diabetes and obesity..." |
|
|
Vaccine Would Be Spoken For |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| May 7, 2009 |
|
| "No final decision has been made yet
to produce a vaccine against the H1N1 swine flu virus, but some
wealthier countries reportedly have made "pre-production contracts" that
claim substantial quantities of the vaccine, if made. The worldwide
capacity for making a pandemic vaccine ranges between 1 billion and 2
billion, and the United States' preexisting contracts allow it to
purchase at least 600 million of those doses. This would provide the
U.S. population of about 305 million with almost two doses for each
person, as immunity may need two shots to be stimulated against the
swine flu strain. A panel of scientific experts are expected to meet
next week to advise the World Health Organization on whether it should
ask manufacturers to begin large-scale vaccine production and how to
provide more equal access to the vaccine for developing countries..." |
|
|
Officials Note Youth of Serious Flu Cases |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 7, 2009 |
|
| "Dr. Richard Besser, acting director
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the swine flu
has caused only 35 hospitalizations in the United States, but there are
concerns that the median age of these patients is 15 years. In contrast,
the elderly, infants, and the sick account for a majority of deaths each
year from the seasonal flu. Besser says teenagers may be more prone to
infection because a bulk of the early cases were tied to students who
traveled to Mexico for spring break. Additionally, individuals born
prior to 1957 may have some immunity, as the H1N1 seasonal flu was
replaced by the H2N2 "Asian flu" strain that year..." |
|
|
U.S. May Add Shots for Swine Flu to Fall Regimen |
|
| Washington Post |
|
| May 6, 2009 |
|
| "The Obama administration is
considering an unprecedented fall vaccination campaign that could entail
giving Americans three flu shots -- one to combat annual seasonal
influenza and two targeted at the new swine flu virus spreading across
the globe. If enacted, the multibillion-dollar effort would represent
the first time that top federal health officials have asked Americans to
get more than one flu vaccine in a year, raising serious challenges
concerning production, distribution and the ability to track potentially
severe side effects..." |
|
|
Cooking Up Millions of Viruses for a New Vaccine |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 6, 2009 |
|
| "As soon as Doris Bucher learned that
a new strain of swine flu had turned up in the United States, she
e-mailed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offering to send
materials that might be useful in making a vaccine. Her colleagues at
the C.D.C. had a better idea. Less than a week later, they sent a sample
of the new type of virus, influenza A(H1N1), to Dr. Bucher, an associate
professor of microbiology and immunology at New York Medical College.
Dr. Bucher, a cheerful, fast-talking scientist who has been involved in
flu research for 40 years, runs a laboratory here in Westchester County
that is highly regarded for its skill at turning flu viruses into 'seed
stock’ — a form of the virus that will grow rapidly in eggs so that drug
companies can use it to
make hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine..." |
|
|
Swine Flu School Closures Not Recommended by U.S. |
|
| Bloomberg |
|
| May 5, 2009 |
|
| "Swine flu shouldn’t close schools
unless so many students or teachers get sick that the institutions can’t
function, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said,
reversing earlier advice. The agency today changed its recommendation
that schools consider closing if they suspect swine flu. That advice led
to the closure today of at least 726 schools in 24 states and the
District of Columbia, keeping about 468,000 students out of class,
according to the U.S. Education Department..." |
|
|
Flu, Mostly Mild, Has Spread Across U.S. |
|
| New York Times |
|
| May 4, 2009 |
|
| "Swine flu has become widespread in
the United States, with 226 cases in 30 states and more expected to turn
up in additional states in the next few days, federal health officials
said Sunday. 'I think it’s circulating all over the U.S.,' Dr. Anne
Schuchat, the interim deputy director for science and public health at
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a news
conference..." |
|
|
Swine Flu Breaking News Update: Global case update, eyeing phase 6,
probable cases, southern hemisphere viruses, WHO gathers clinical
experts |
|
| CIDRAP |
|
| May 4, 2009 |
|
| "The World Health Organization (WHO)
reported 1,085 confirmed cases of influenza A/H1N1 (swine flu) and 26
deaths in 21 countries as of 18:00 GMT (noon US EST) today, up from 985
cases in 20 countries reported earlier in the day. Mexico has reported
590 confirmed cases and 25 deaths. The WHO's latest total reflects
today's updated US numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), which stand at 286 cases and 1 death..." |
|
|
WHO Says Existing Vaccine Little Use Against New Flu |
|
| Reuters |
|
| May 1, 2009 |
|
| "Testing shows that the current
vaccine against seasonal flu would not be effective against the new H1N1
strain, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday. Marie-Paule
Kieny, director of the WHO's initiative for vaccine research, said that
making a successful vaccine against the new strain is possible, but it
would take between four and six months for it to be available. Samples
needed to make a vaccine would be ready for manufacturers by mid to late
May..." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Swine Flu Case in Spain May Point to Global Pandemic, WHO Says |
|
| Bloomberg |
|
| April 30, 2009 |
|
| "A swine-flu patient in Spain who
hadn't traveled to Mexico may signal a new front of the outbreak,
potentially heralding the first influenza pandemic in 41 years. The
World Health Organization raised its six-tier alert to 5, the
second-highest, and said a pandemic declaration may come soon. It urged
countries to make final preparations to deal with a virus that may sweep
across the globe. The WHO has confirmed 154 cases in nine countries, and
hundreds of people are being tested for the virus from Australia to New
York. Eight of those known to have had swine flu have died, though many
more may be carrying the virus and not getting seriously ill, the WHO
said..." |
|
|
W.H.O. Alert Says a Global Spread of Flu Is Likely |
|
| New York Times |
|
| April 30, 2009 |
|
| "For the first time since it rolled
out the pandemic warning system in 2005, the World Heath Organization
(WHO) has increased the alert level to Phase 5, which is the
second-highest level. The increase is in response to the ongoing spread
of the swine flu in the United States and Mexico, with the number of
U.S. cases rising to 91 in 10 states from 64 in five states on April 28,
according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The
first swine flu-related death in the United States was reported on
Wednesday, a 23-month-old child from Mexico who was being treated in
Houston. WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan has urged every country
to activate their pandemic preparedness plans right away, while at the
same time encouraging people to remain calm. Dr. Anthony Fauci of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says the lack of
background immunity in the population is a major concern and, along with
human-to-human transmission, could lead to a pandemic..." |
|
|
Officials Face a Tough Decision over Ordering Vaccine |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| April 30, 2009 |
|
| "Global health officials trying to
gauge the severity of the swine-flu outbreak face a tough call on how
quickly to move on creating a vaccine for the new virus. As confirmed
cases of the new A/H1N1 flu virus mount and spread around the world,
health officials must balance the desire to stop the spread quickly with
some serious risks of moving too fast. Even with a full push, it would
take months to get a vaccine ready, and the effort could force drug
companies to cut corners or reduce production of regular flu vaccine
needed for the winter. But waiting too long could allow the swine-flu
virus to have a much more deadly impact. Work has already begun on a
vaccine. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta
has the basic components for a swine-flu vaccine, and is studying the
makeup of the virus to better understand a central mystery: why it has
caused serious illness and deaths in Mexico but generally milder
symptoms elsewhere." |
|
|
Swine Flu Vaccine May Be Months Away, Experts Say |
|
| New York Times |
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "Federal officials said it would take
until January, or late November at the earliest, to make enough vaccine
to protect all Americans from a possible epidemic of swine flu. And
beyond the United States and a few other countries that also make
vaccines, some experts said it could take years to produce enough swine
flu vaccine to satisfy global demand. Although production is much faster
than would have been possible even a few years ago, it still may not be
in time to avert death and illness if the virus starts spreading widely
and becomes more virulent, some experts said. In this country, the
biggest problem is that despite years of effort, the country is still
relying on half-century-old technology to make the flu vaccines..." |
|
|
Obama Says Flu-Hit Schools May Need to Close |
|
| NPR |
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "President Barack Obama suggested
Wednesday that school closings may be necessary in an escalating global
health emergency that claimed the first death in the United States — a 23-month-old child in Texas. Obama said educators with confirmed swine
flu infections should weigh shutting down classes if conditions
worsen..." |
|
|
Vaccine Makers Await Critical Swine Flu Samples; Swine Flu Won't Be in
Seasonal Flu Vaccines |
|
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "As the World Health Organization
(WHO) today acknowledged the spreading swine influenza virus by moving
the pandemic threat awareness level up one notch to 5, the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) worked to get drug companies the materials
they need to create a vaccine. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) said it is unlikely that any new swine flu
vaccine would be included in the batches of seasonal influenza vaccines
already in production for the typical August vaccine ship date..." |
|
|
The Naming of Swine Flu, a Curious Matter |
|
| New York Times |
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "What to call the new strain of flu
raising alarms around the world has taken on political, economic and
diplomatic overtones. Pork producers question whether the term "swine
flu" is appropriate, given that the new virus has not yet been isolated
in samples taken from pigs in Mexico or elsewhere. While the new virus
seems to be most heavily composed of genetic sequences from swine
influenza virus material, it also has human and avian influenza genetic
sequences as well, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta..." |
|
|
Op-ed: Understanding Swine Flu |
|
| Wall Street Journal |
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "The trouble starts in poor countries
where too many people live in proximity to pigs and poultry. The extent
and impact of the swine flu epidemic, which appears to have originated
in Mexico and spread rapidly to a dozen countries and parts of the U.S.,
is still unknown. The epidemiology of such disease outbreaks is rather
like a jigsaw puzzle, and we are now at the stage where the picture is
intriguing even if we're not sure what we're seeing..." |
|
|
Swine Flu Kills First Victim in U.S. |
|
| Los Angeles Times |
|
| April 29, 2009 |
|
| "A 23-month-old child in Texas has
become the first swine flu fatality in the U.S. The child was one of six
people with confirmed cases of swine flu in the Lone Star State, in
addition to the 10 confirmed cases in California, two in Kansas, and one
in Ohio, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease
Control. Another 45 cases have been confirmed in New York City. That
brings the total number of confirmed cases in the U.S. to 64. Meanwhile,
President Obama is calling for action to contain the spread of the
virus. He noted that health authorities across the country need to be
diligent in monitoring the outbreak of swine flu, and said that schools
with suspected cases of the virus should follow the advice of public
health officials and consider closing temporarily. Obama has also asked
for $1.5 billion to deal with swine flu, and has put his new Health and
Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, to work on dealing with the
outbreak..." |
|
|
Past Epidemics Have Current Import |
|
| Boston Globe |
|
| April 28, 2009 |
|
| "In responding to the swine flu,
public health officials can take some lessons from previous outbreaks.
Because epidemics are unpredictable, each outbreak must be examined 'on
its own terms,' said Dr. Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of
Medicine. An outbreak of swine flu emerged at Fort Dix, N.J., in 1976,
with more than 200 soldiers infected, including one death. Fearful of
greater spread of the virus, more than 40 million Americans were
vaccinated, though that flu cluster never did move beyond Fort Dix.
Analysis of the 1918 flu pandemic has also helped scientists identify
strategies to control the spread of disease, including shutting down
schools and isolating those who are sick. The most important thing to
examine at the beginning of an outbreak, experts say, is the mortality
rate and knowing how it is being transmitted..." |
|
|
US Wants Ingredient in Swine Flu Vaccine by May |
|
| Seattle Times |
|
|
April 28, 2009 |
|
| "U.S. scientists hope to have a key
ingredient for a swine flu vaccine ready in early May, but are finding
that the novel virus grows slowly in eggs — the chief way flu vaccines
are made. Even if all goes well, it still will take a few months before
any shots are available for the first required safety testing, in
volunteers. 'We're working together at 100 miles an hour to get material
that will be useful,' Dr. Jesse Goodman, who oversees the Food and Drug
Administration's swine flu work, told The Associated Press. Using
samples of the new swine flu, taken from people who fell ill in Mexico
and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the
immune system without causing illness. 'We're about a third of the way'
to that goal, Dr. Ruben Donis of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said in an interview Tuesday..." |
|
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