ATLANTA — 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 airplane 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.
Passengers traveled to 164 countries, but four out of five of those went to the United States. That fits with the path of the epidemic a year later. The findings were reported Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The research shows promise in forecasting how a new contagion might unfold, indicated one government health official who praised the work.
"We share a common interest in this issue: If we map the global airline distribution network, can we anticipate, once a virus emerges, where it is likely to show up next?” asked Dr. Martin Cetron of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He leads CDC’s division of global migration and quarantine.
The new swine flu virus was first reported in the United States in mid-April, but the first large outbreak was in Mexico at about the same time. Health officials believe cases of the new virus were circulating in Mexico in March.
90 percent match
The study showed the majority of passengers flew to the United States, with Canada a distant second and France a more distant third.
More than 90 percent of the time, Khan and his colleagues accurately matched air traffic volumes to which countries did and did not suffer swine flu outbreaks as a result of air traffic.
by the associated press
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Showing posts with label swine Flu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swine Flu. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Death from Swine flu in Scotland
LONDON — A person with underlying health conditions died of swine flu in Scotland on Sunday — the first reported death from the illness outside the Americas, health officials said. Britain has been harder hit by the virus — known as H1N1 — than elsewhere in Europe. Earlier Sunday, Britain had reported another 61 cases of swine flu, bringing the U.K. total to 1,226 cases.
Now that the World Health Organization has declared swine flu to be a pandemic, or global outbreak, health authorities expect to see more cases and deaths. The latest WHO report said 74 countries have reported 29,669 cases, including 145 deaths.
from the wire
Now that the World Health Organization has declared swine flu to be a pandemic, or global outbreak, health authorities expect to see more cases and deaths. The latest WHO report said 74 countries have reported 29,669 cases, including 145 deaths.
from the wire
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Swine flu pandemic update
GENEVA (AP) — Swine flu is now formally a pandemic, a declaration by U.N. health officials that will speed vaccine production and spur government spending to combat the first global flu epidemic in 41 years. Thursday's announcement by the World Health Organization doesn't mean the virus is any more lethal — only that its spread is considered unstoppable.
Since it was first detected in late April in Mexico and the United States, swine flu has reached 74 countries, infecting nearly 29,000 people. Most who catch the bug have only mild symptoms and don't need medical treatment.
WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan made the long-awaited declaration after the U.N. agency held an emergency meeting with flu experts and said she was moving to phase 6 — the agency's highest alert level — which means a pandemic is under way.
"The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century," Chan said in Geneva.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, the new head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in Atlanta that he does not expect widespread public anxiety in the United States as a result of the declaration, noting it came nearly two months after the virus was identified.
For many weeks, U.S. health officials have been treating it as a pandemic, increasing the availability of anti-viral flu medicines and pouring money into a possible vaccination program. And scientists have grown to understand that the virus is generally not much more severe than the seasonal flu.
"That helps to tamp down any fears that may be excessive," Frieden said at a news conference — his first as CDC director.
But the virus can still be deadly and may change into a more frightening form in the near future, and so people should not be complacent, he added.
So far, swine flu has caused 144 deaths, compared with ordinary flu that kills up to 500,000 people a year.
The pandemic decision might have been made much earlier if WHO had more accurate information about swine flu's rising sweep through Europe. Chan said she called the emergency meeting with flu experts after concerns were raised that some countries, such as Britain, were not accurately reporting their cases.
Chan said the experts unanimously agreed there was a wider spread of swine flu than was being reported.
She would not say which country tipped the world into the pandemic, but WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the situation from Australia seemed to indicate the virus was spreading rapidly there — more than 1,300 cases were reported by Thursday.
In Chile, authorities have identified almost 1,700 cases to WHO.
Many health experts said the world has been in a pandemic for weeks but WHO became too bogged down by politics to declare one. In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would cause social and economic turmoil. At the time, WHO said it would rewrite its pandemic definition to avoid announcing one.
But with the recent surge in cases across Europe, Chile, Australia and Japan, the agency was under increasing pressure to acknowledge a pandemic.
"This is WHO finally catching up with the facts," said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota.
David Ropeik, an expert in risk perception and communication at Harvard University, says the word pandemic is less frightening than when emerged during worries about bird flu a few years ago.
He said the "soft buildup" to declaring swine flu a pandemic has been helpful.
"That allows people to get used to what is otherwise a scary word, understand the particulars of the disease, and that should mean reaction will be a little more information-based and a little less emotional," Ropeik said in an e-mail.
WHO will now recommend that pharmaceutical companies make swine flu vaccine. The agency typically recommends which flu strains drug companies should use in the vaccines. In a global outbreak, WHO also advises whether companies should make pandemic vaccine.
The decision to make pandemic vaccine is a gamble. Most flu vaccine makers cannot make both regular seasonal flu vaccine and pandemic vaccine at the same time. That means they must decide which one the world will need more.
Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC said it could start commercial production of pandemic vaccine in July but that it would take months before large quantities are available.
Glaxo spokesman Stephen Rea said the company's first doses of vaccine would be reserved for countries who had ordered it in advance, including Belgium, Britain and France. He said Glaxo would also donate 50 million doses to WHO for poor countries.
Pascal Barollier, a spokesman for Sanofi-Aventis, said they were also working on a pandemic vaccine but WHO had not yet asked them to start making mass quantities of it.
WHO described the pandemic as "moderate." Fukuda said people should not get overly anxious about the virus. "Understand it, put it in context, and then you get on with things," he said.
Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy — people who are not usually susceptible to flu. Swine flu is also crowding out regular flu viruses. Both features are typical of pandemic flu viruses.
Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.
"What this declaration does do is remind the world that flu viruses like H1N1 need to be taken seriously," said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, warning that more cases could crop up in the fall.
Now that a pandemic has been declared, some countries might be prompted to devote more money to containing the virus. Many developed countries have pandemic preparedness plans that link spending to a WHO declaration.
The U.N. is keen to avoid panic. "We must guard against rash and discriminatory action, such as travel bans or trade restrictions," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Fear has already gripped Argentina, where thousands have flooded hospitals this week, bringing emergency health services in Buenos Aires to the brink of collapse during winter weather. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger had swine flu.
China has quarantined travelers, including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, on the slightest suspicion of contact with an infected person.
The U.S. government has already increased the availability of flu-fighting medicines and authorized $1 billion for developing a new swine flu vaccine. In addition, new cases seem to be declining in many parts of the country, U.S. health officials say, as North America moves out of its traditional winter flu season.
Still, New York City reported three more swine flu deaths Thursday, including a child under 2, a teenager and a person in their 30s.
"Countries where outbreaks appear to have peaked should prepare for a second wave of infection," Chan warned.
by the associated press
Since it was first detected in late April in Mexico and the United States, swine flu has reached 74 countries, infecting nearly 29,000 people. Most who catch the bug have only mild symptoms and don't need medical treatment.
WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan made the long-awaited declaration after the U.N. agency held an emergency meeting with flu experts and said she was moving to phase 6 — the agency's highest alert level — which means a pandemic is under way.
"The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century," Chan said in Geneva.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, the new head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in Atlanta that he does not expect widespread public anxiety in the United States as a result of the declaration, noting it came nearly two months after the virus was identified.
For many weeks, U.S. health officials have been treating it as a pandemic, increasing the availability of anti-viral flu medicines and pouring money into a possible vaccination program. And scientists have grown to understand that the virus is generally not much more severe than the seasonal flu.
"That helps to tamp down any fears that may be excessive," Frieden said at a news conference — his first as CDC director.
But the virus can still be deadly and may change into a more frightening form in the near future, and so people should not be complacent, he added.
So far, swine flu has caused 144 deaths, compared with ordinary flu that kills up to 500,000 people a year.
The pandemic decision might have been made much earlier if WHO had more accurate information about swine flu's rising sweep through Europe. Chan said she called the emergency meeting with flu experts after concerns were raised that some countries, such as Britain, were not accurately reporting their cases.
Chan said the experts unanimously agreed there was a wider spread of swine flu than was being reported.
She would not say which country tipped the world into the pandemic, but WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the situation from Australia seemed to indicate the virus was spreading rapidly there — more than 1,300 cases were reported by Thursday.
In Chile, authorities have identified almost 1,700 cases to WHO.
Many health experts said the world has been in a pandemic for weeks but WHO became too bogged down by politics to declare one. In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would cause social and economic turmoil. At the time, WHO said it would rewrite its pandemic definition to avoid announcing one.
But with the recent surge in cases across Europe, Chile, Australia and Japan, the agency was under increasing pressure to acknowledge a pandemic.
"This is WHO finally catching up with the facts," said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota.
David Ropeik, an expert in risk perception and communication at Harvard University, says the word pandemic is less frightening than when emerged during worries about bird flu a few years ago.
He said the "soft buildup" to declaring swine flu a pandemic has been helpful.
"That allows people to get used to what is otherwise a scary word, understand the particulars of the disease, and that should mean reaction will be a little more information-based and a little less emotional," Ropeik said in an e-mail.
WHO will now recommend that pharmaceutical companies make swine flu vaccine. The agency typically recommends which flu strains drug companies should use in the vaccines. In a global outbreak, WHO also advises whether companies should make pandemic vaccine.
The decision to make pandemic vaccine is a gamble. Most flu vaccine makers cannot make both regular seasonal flu vaccine and pandemic vaccine at the same time. That means they must decide which one the world will need more.
Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC said it could start commercial production of pandemic vaccine in July but that it would take months before large quantities are available.
Glaxo spokesman Stephen Rea said the company's first doses of vaccine would be reserved for countries who had ordered it in advance, including Belgium, Britain and France. He said Glaxo would also donate 50 million doses to WHO for poor countries.
Pascal Barollier, a spokesman for Sanofi-Aventis, said they were also working on a pandemic vaccine but WHO had not yet asked them to start making mass quantities of it.
WHO described the pandemic as "moderate." Fukuda said people should not get overly anxious about the virus. "Understand it, put it in context, and then you get on with things," he said.
Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy — people who are not usually susceptible to flu. Swine flu is also crowding out regular flu viruses. Both features are typical of pandemic flu viruses.
Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.
"What this declaration does do is remind the world that flu viruses like H1N1 need to be taken seriously," said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, warning that more cases could crop up in the fall.
Now that a pandemic has been declared, some countries might be prompted to devote more money to containing the virus. Many developed countries have pandemic preparedness plans that link spending to a WHO declaration.
The U.N. is keen to avoid panic. "We must guard against rash and discriminatory action, such as travel bans or trade restrictions," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Fear has already gripped Argentina, where thousands have flooded hospitals this week, bringing emergency health services in Buenos Aires to the brink of collapse during winter weather. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger had swine flu.
China has quarantined travelers, including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, on the slightest suspicion of contact with an infected person.
The U.S. government has already increased the availability of flu-fighting medicines and authorized $1 billion for developing a new swine flu vaccine. In addition, new cases seem to be declining in many parts of the country, U.S. health officials say, as North America moves out of its traditional winter flu season.
Still, New York City reported three more swine flu deaths Thursday, including a child under 2, a teenager and a person in their 30s.
"Countries where outbreaks appear to have peaked should prepare for a second wave of infection," Chan warned.
by the associated press
Swine flu pandemic
GENEVA — The World Health Organization is gearing up to declare a swine flu pandemic, a move that could trigger both the large-scale production of vaccines and questions about why the step was delayed.
On Wednesday, WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan quizzed eight countries with large swine flu outbreaks to see if a pandemic, or global epidemic, should be declared. The agency then announced that an emergency meeting would be held today.
The world is in phase 5 of WHO’s pandemic alert scale, meaning a global outbreak is imminent. Moving to phase 6, the highest level, means a pandemic has begun. If that declaration is made, it will push drugmakers to fast-track production of a swine flu vaccine.
It would be the first flu pandemic in 41 years, since the Hong Kong flu of 1968.
WHO said announcing a pandemic would not mean the situation was worsening, since no mutations have been detected.
by the associated press
On Wednesday, WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan quizzed eight countries with large swine flu outbreaks to see if a pandemic, or global epidemic, should be declared. The agency then announced that an emergency meeting would be held today.
The world is in phase 5 of WHO’s pandemic alert scale, meaning a global outbreak is imminent. Moving to phase 6, the highest level, means a pandemic has begun. If that declaration is made, it will push drugmakers to fast-track production of a swine flu vaccine.
It would be the first flu pandemic in 41 years, since the Hong Kong flu of 1968.
WHO said announcing a pandemic would not mean the situation was worsening, since no mutations have been detected.
by the associated press
Monday, May 25, 2009
Swine-Flu infected U.S. troops recovered, Kuwait says
KUWAIT CITY — Eighteen U.S. soldiers infected with swine flu have recovered after treatment on an American base in Kuwait and left the country, a Kuwaiti official said Sunday.
"They were treated and they have fully recovered,” said Youssef Mandakar, deputy head of Kuwait’s public health department. He said the soldiers had shown "mild symptoms” of the disease upon their arrival at an Air Force base.
Kuwaiti authorities confirmed that the soldiers came from the U.S., but would not say where they had gone, adding that the troops had no contact with the local population and were treated at U.S. military facilities.
"Kuwait is very comfortable with the measures taken there,” said Ibrahim Abdul-Hadi, an under-secretary at Kuwait’s Health Ministry.
He said the U.S. military has examined and quarantined a number of soldiers who mixed with the infected ones as a precaution.
Kuwait is a major ally of Washington and a logistics base for U.S. military personnel serving in Iraq.
Raad Mahmoud, a spokesman for the Iraqi Health Ministry, said precautions are being taken at airports and border entry points, but he said Iraqi authorities have no authority over U.S. troops and the foreigners who enter with them.
He said the U.S. military has to administer medical tests to everybody when they enter the country, and the military must present the reports to the ministry.
U.S. Army Maj. Jose Lopez, a military spokesman, said there were no reported cases of swine flu among American troops in Iraq.
Elsewhere in the Gulf
The United Arab Emirates confirmed its first case of the illness, saying an airline passenger coming from Canada was found to be infected and was being treated at a hospital.
The country’s health minister, Hanif Hassan, was quoted by the official news agency as saying the patient no longer showed symptoms but would remain in treatment for 10 days. The report did not give the patient’s nationality.
"They were treated and they have fully recovered,” said Youssef Mandakar, deputy head of Kuwait’s public health department. He said the soldiers had shown "mild symptoms” of the disease upon their arrival at an Air Force base.
Kuwaiti authorities confirmed that the soldiers came from the U.S., but would not say where they had gone, adding that the troops had no contact with the local population and were treated at U.S. military facilities.
"Kuwait is very comfortable with the measures taken there,” said Ibrahim Abdul-Hadi, an under-secretary at Kuwait’s Health Ministry.
He said the U.S. military has examined and quarantined a number of soldiers who mixed with the infected ones as a precaution.
Kuwait is a major ally of Washington and a logistics base for U.S. military personnel serving in Iraq.
Raad Mahmoud, a spokesman for the Iraqi Health Ministry, said precautions are being taken at airports and border entry points, but he said Iraqi authorities have no authority over U.S. troops and the foreigners who enter with them.
He said the U.S. military has to administer medical tests to everybody when they enter the country, and the military must present the reports to the ministry.
U.S. Army Maj. Jose Lopez, a military spokesman, said there were no reported cases of swine flu among American troops in Iraq.
Elsewhere in the Gulf
The United Arab Emirates confirmed its first case of the illness, saying an airline passenger coming from Canada was found to be infected and was being treated at a hospital.
The country’s health minister, Hanif Hassan, was quoted by the official news agency as saying the patient no longer showed symptoms but would remain in treatment for 10 days. The report did not give the patient’s nationality.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Agency might have swine flu vaccine ready , soon
WASHINGTON — Inching closer to a swine flu vaccine, the government is beginning to analyze two candidates for the key ingredient to brew one.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes to deliver one or both to vaccine manufacturers by the end of next week so they can begin the months-long process of producing shots.
Friday, the government set aside $1 billion for crucial testing of the first pilot doses and stockpiling of key ingredients — in case world authorities decide that people indeed need to be vaccinated starting sometime next fall.
CDC scientists also unveiled the most detailed genetic examination yet of the novel virus, finding that the new swine flu may have been circulating undetected in pigs for years.
That report still fails to solve the bigger mystery of when and where the virus made the jump to people and what genetic change allowed it to start spreading so rapidly. The virus was first detected last month, and at least 42 countries now have confirmed it in more than 11,000 people. At least 85 people have died from it.
The candidate vaccine viruses the CDC has begun analyzing contain a mix of genes from the new swine flu virus itself with components of other viruses that allow them to grow better in the eggs that manufacturers use to produce vaccine. If one or both prove usable, manufacturers could begin producing lots for testing.
by the associated press
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes to deliver one or both to vaccine manufacturers by the end of next week so they can begin the months-long process of producing shots.
Friday, the government set aside $1 billion for crucial testing of the first pilot doses and stockpiling of key ingredients — in case world authorities decide that people indeed need to be vaccinated starting sometime next fall.
CDC scientists also unveiled the most detailed genetic examination yet of the novel virus, finding that the new swine flu may have been circulating undetected in pigs for years.
That report still fails to solve the bigger mystery of when and where the virus made the jump to people and what genetic change allowed it to start spreading so rapidly. The virus was first detected last month, and at least 42 countries now have confirmed it in more than 11,000 people. At least 85 people have died from it.
The candidate vaccine viruses the CDC has begun analyzing contain a mix of genes from the new swine flu virus itself with components of other viruses that allow them to grow better in the eggs that manufacturers use to produce vaccine. If one or both prove usable, manufacturers could begin producing lots for testing.
by the associated press
Friday, May 22, 2009
Swine Flu inquiry becomes heart of Mexican Town
MEXICO CITY — No one has identified ground zero in the swine flu epidemic. Just where or when the strain of influenza first jumped from a pig and began infecting people is a scientific mystery — one that officials are determined to solve.
Scientists are returning next week to La Gloria, a pig-farming village in the Veracruz mountains where Mexico’s earliest confirmed case of swine flu was identified. They hope to learn where the epidemic began by taking fresh blood samples from villagers and pigs.
Some experts say it’s pointless to worry about what happened in La Gloria now that the virus has spread around the world. Others say a thorough investigation could help prevent future epidemics.
And Mexico has another reason to care: If it can somehow rule out the possibility that La Gloria’s pigs infected humans, then it can tell the world it wasn’t to blame — that the H1N1 virus came from somewhere else.
More than half of La Gloria’s 3,000 residents fell ill with flu symptoms weeks before the virus was identified. Many found it hard to breathe, burned with fever and ached. About 450 of the sickest residents were diagnosed with acute respiratory infections and sent home with antibiotics and masks.
Mexican health officials initially downplayed the outbreak, saying the villagers suffered from regular flu. A 5-year-old boy was the only confirmed swine flu case among 43 villagers whose mucous samples were taken in early April. But some disease experts suspect swine flu was circulating more widely in La Gloria.
Crossing species
Pigs — like people — get the flu, usually over the winter months. This new virus is unusual in that it also has infected humans and has become a full-blown human flu.
La Gloria’s villagers believe they were sickened by the surrounding commercial pig farms. But the pork industry wants a closer look at pigs raised in the villagers’ back yards.
by the associated press
Scientists are returning next week to La Gloria, a pig-farming village in the Veracruz mountains where Mexico’s earliest confirmed case of swine flu was identified. They hope to learn where the epidemic began by taking fresh blood samples from villagers and pigs.
Some experts say it’s pointless to worry about what happened in La Gloria now that the virus has spread around the world. Others say a thorough investigation could help prevent future epidemics.
And Mexico has another reason to care: If it can somehow rule out the possibility that La Gloria’s pigs infected humans, then it can tell the world it wasn’t to blame — that the H1N1 virus came from somewhere else.
More than half of La Gloria’s 3,000 residents fell ill with flu symptoms weeks before the virus was identified. Many found it hard to breathe, burned with fever and ached. About 450 of the sickest residents were diagnosed with acute respiratory infections and sent home with antibiotics and masks.
Mexican health officials initially downplayed the outbreak, saying the villagers suffered from regular flu. A 5-year-old boy was the only confirmed swine flu case among 43 villagers whose mucous samples were taken in early April. But some disease experts suspect swine flu was circulating more widely in La Gloria.
Crossing species
Pigs — like people — get the flu, usually over the winter months. This new virus is unusual in that it also has infected humans and has become a full-blown human flu.
La Gloria’s villagers believe they were sickened by the surrounding commercial pig farms. But the pork industry wants a closer look at pigs raised in the villagers’ back yards.
by the associated press
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Swine flu distracts from other sickness
GENEVA — Diseases killing millions of people all over the world are being neglected at this year’s World Health Assembly because of fears about swine flu and its potential to become a pandemic, health campaigners said Wednesday.
Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was upset that discussions were postponed on fighting Chagas disease, a scourge in Latin American countries. Cancer and diabetes groups said non-communicable diseases responsible for 35 million deaths a year needed greater attention. And hepatitis campaigners were disappointed that a first-ever WHO resolution addressing that disease was dropped from the meeting’s agenda.
Health officials from some poorer nations also could not understand why the diseases hurting them most were a distant second to swine flu.
"Malaria, drug-resistant tuberculosis — they are killing people every day,” said Dr. Sam Zaramba, Uganda’s chief medical officer. "If all the emphasis that has been put on swine flu had been put on malaria and TB, we would have made a bigger impact on health.”
WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham said the assembly still was taking on a "broad agenda” that went far beyond swine flu to deal with improving basic health care and tackling global killers like TB.
by the associated press
Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was upset that discussions were postponed on fighting Chagas disease, a scourge in Latin American countries. Cancer and diabetes groups said non-communicable diseases responsible for 35 million deaths a year needed greater attention. And hepatitis campaigners were disappointed that a first-ever WHO resolution addressing that disease was dropped from the meeting’s agenda.
Health officials from some poorer nations also could not understand why the diseases hurting them most were a distant second to swine flu.
"Malaria, drug-resistant tuberculosis — they are killing people every day,” said Dr. Sam Zaramba, Uganda’s chief medical officer. "If all the emphasis that has been put on swine flu had been put on malaria and TB, we would have made a bigger impact on health.”
WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham said the assembly still was taking on a "broad agenda” that went far beyond swine flu to deal with improving basic health care and tackling global killers like TB.
by the associated press
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
U.N. ask's unity in swine flu fight
GENEVA — The World Health Organization urged drugmakers to reserve some of their pandemic swine flu vaccine for poor countries, but received few concrete offers Tuesday as experts disclosed that an effective flu shot is still months away.
The global body wants companies to donate at least 10 percent of their production or offer reduced prices for poor countries that could otherwise be left without vaccines if there is a sudden surge in demand. But some are skeptical about what such a commitment could mean for their business.
"I don’t think that all of the answers are there yet,” said Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG spokesman Eric Althoff.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, called for global solidarity in confronting the disease. Solidarity "must mean that all have access to drugs and vaccines,” he added.
The only major drugmaker that publicly agreed to the WHO request Tuesday was Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday the U.S. felt it had a responsibility to ensure that both antiviral drugs and any new vaccine also are available to poor countries.
The U.S. has so far refrained from reserving any new vaccine.
Sebelius said the U.S. is working to boost its production capacity for seasonal flu vaccines so the factories can switch to the swine flu strain if needed.
by the associated press
The global body wants companies to donate at least 10 percent of their production or offer reduced prices for poor countries that could otherwise be left without vaccines if there is a sudden surge in demand. But some are skeptical about what such a commitment could mean for their business.
"I don’t think that all of the answers are there yet,” said Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG spokesman Eric Althoff.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, called for global solidarity in confronting the disease. Solidarity "must mean that all have access to drugs and vaccines,” he added.
The only major drugmaker that publicly agreed to the WHO request Tuesday was Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday the U.S. felt it had a responsibility to ensure that both antiviral drugs and any new vaccine also are available to poor countries.
The U.S. has so far refrained from reserving any new vaccine.
Sebelius said the U.S. is working to boost its production capacity for seasonal flu vaccines so the factories can switch to the swine flu strain if needed.
by the associated press
Monday, May 18, 2009
WHO is working to find best way to stop virus ?
GENEVA — Health experts are looking closely at the spread of swine flu among people in Spain, Britain and Japan, an official with the World Health Organization said Sunday.
The swine flu epidemic is expected to dominate the group’s annual meeting, a five-day event that begins today in Geneva and involves health officials from the agency’s 193 member states.
WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan will reveal experts’ recommendations on the production of a swine flu vaccine sometime at the meeting.
As of Sunday, the swine flu virus — which WHO calls the A (H1N1) virus — has sickened at least 8,480 people in 39 countries, killing 75 of them, mostly in Mexico.
Spain and Britain have had the highest numbers of cases in Europe, reporting 103 and 101 cases.
A pandemic could be triggered if the virus starts to be transmitted from person to person on a large scale outside the Americas, WHO experts have said. But it would have to jump among people outside schools, hospitals and other institutions that typically pass on such viruses quickly.
Vaccine takes months
WHO estimates up to 2 billion doses of swine flu vaccine could be produced yearly, although the first batches wouldn’t be available for four to six months.
Most flu vaccine companies can only make one vaccine at a time: seasonal flu vaccine or pandemic vaccine. Production takes months, and it is impossible to switch halfway through if health officials make a mistake.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working on a "seed stock” to make the vaccine, which should be ready in a few weeks. Until vaccine manufacturers get the seed stock, they won’t know how many doses of vaccine they can make or how long that would take.
WHO is negotiating with vaccine producers to save some of their swine flu vaccine for poorer nations. Many rich nations have already signed deals with vaccine makers to guarantee them pandemic vaccines.
by the associated press
The swine flu epidemic is expected to dominate the group’s annual meeting, a five-day event that begins today in Geneva and involves health officials from the agency’s 193 member states.
WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan will reveal experts’ recommendations on the production of a swine flu vaccine sometime at the meeting.
As of Sunday, the swine flu virus — which WHO calls the A (H1N1) virus — has sickened at least 8,480 people in 39 countries, killing 75 of them, mostly in Mexico.
Spain and Britain have had the highest numbers of cases in Europe, reporting 103 and 101 cases.
A pandemic could be triggered if the virus starts to be transmitted from person to person on a large scale outside the Americas, WHO experts have said. But it would have to jump among people outside schools, hospitals and other institutions that typically pass on such viruses quickly.
Vaccine takes months
WHO estimates up to 2 billion doses of swine flu vaccine could be produced yearly, although the first batches wouldn’t be available for four to six months.
Most flu vaccine companies can only make one vaccine at a time: seasonal flu vaccine or pandemic vaccine. Production takes months, and it is impossible to switch halfway through if health officials make a mistake.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working on a "seed stock” to make the vaccine, which should be ready in a few weeks. Until vaccine manufacturers get the seed stock, they won’t know how many doses of vaccine they can make or how long that would take.
WHO is negotiating with vaccine producers to save some of their swine flu vaccine for poorer nations. Many rich nations have already signed deals with vaccine makers to guarantee them pandemic vaccines.
by the associated press
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Fears evident as world's cases top 6,000 , Swine Flu
MEXICO CITY (AP) — In China, mask-wearing police cordoned off more hotels Wednesday, quarantining anyone who came in contact with swine flu patients, no matter how mild their symptoms. Not so in Mexico, where the health secretary encouraged tourists to come relax in their favorite vacation spots despite a growing swine flu caseload.
The global outbreak appears mild, but skittishness is evident. Not long after Switzerland lifted its advisory against travel to Mexico and the United States, the Japanese national women's soccer team canceled a tour to North America, where most swine flu cases have been reported.
And in China, hundreds of people have been quarantined inside hotels, hospitals and homes after they came in contact with several infected plane or train travelers from Canada and U.S. The U.S. Embassy said Americans are among those quarantined.
There are now 33 countries reporting an estimated total of 6,080 confirmed swine flu cases, including 3,009 in 45 U.S. states, 2,446 in Mexico and 358 in Canada. But the death total is relatively low — 65, of which 60 were in Mexico, three in the U.S., one in Canada and one in Costa Rica.
Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said Wednesday that Mexico has tested about 9,000 sick people, working through a backlog of samples taken before and after the virus was identified as swine flu — and found that Mexico's dead represents 2.5 percent of confirmed cases, suggesting the virus is not as deadly as intitially feared.
Pneumonia, often brought on by regular seasonal flu, may be much more deadly, Cordova said — killing 9,500 people in Mexico last year. The last death from swine flu was on May 7, he said.
Cordova also addressed Mexico's hard-hit tourism industry, saying there are "very few" cases in tourist destinations — including 7 in Cancun.
"There is no risk for tourists — they can return to these relaxing vacation spots," he said.
There is a danger the virus will mutate into something more dangerous — perhaps by combining with the more deadly but less easily spread bird flu virus circulating in Asia and Africa, according to experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Another concern is that it will combine with the northern winter's seasonal H1N1 virus. While not unusually virulent, it was resistant to Tamiflu, and health officials worry it could make the new swine flu resistant to Tamiflu as well.
With swine flu still spreading around the globe, the World Health Organization is warning countries to limit the use of antiviral drugs to ensure adequate supplies.
European countries have been using antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza much more aggressively than the U.S. and Mexico, administering them whenever possible in an attempt to contain the virus before it spreads more widely.
Officials from EU and Latin American nations, including Mexico, were meeting in Prague on Wednesday to discuss the threat.
A WHO medical expert, Dr. Nikki Shindo, said the U.N. agency thinks antivirals should be targeted mainly at people already suffering from other diseases or complications — such as pregnancy — that can lower a body's defenses against flu.
The CDC also said pregnant women should take the drugs if diagnosed with swine flu — even though the effects on the fetus are not completely known.
Pregnant women are more likely to suffer pneumonia when they catch flu, and flu infections have raised the risk of premature birth in past flu epidemics. A pregnant Texas woman with swine flu died last week, and at least 20 other pregnant women with swine flu have been hospitalized in the U.S., including some with severe complications.
For all these reasons, risks from the virus are greater than the unknown risks to the fetus from Tamiflu and Relenza, said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC.
"We really want to get the word out about the likely benefits of prompt antiviral treatment" for pregnant women, she said.
Mexico now gives Tamiflu to anyone who has had direct contact with a person infected with swine flu, Cordova said. And now that schools are back in session, authorities plan to give it to any children who show symptoms and are suspected of being infected.
In Mexico's Baja California state, on the U.S. border, 5,689 children were turned away from schools when classes resumed because they had symptoms like runny noses, headaches or sore throats, the state education department reported Tuesday.
Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche Holding AG announced it was donating enough Tamiflu for 5.65 million more people to WHO. A further 650,000 packets containing smaller doses of the drug will be used to create a new stockpile for children.
Mexican authorities had enough Tamiflu for 1 million people at the start of the outbreak and have received more, building reserves of 1.5 million courses.
by the associated press
The global outbreak appears mild, but skittishness is evident. Not long after Switzerland lifted its advisory against travel to Mexico and the United States, the Japanese national women's soccer team canceled a tour to North America, where most swine flu cases have been reported.
And in China, hundreds of people have been quarantined inside hotels, hospitals and homes after they came in contact with several infected plane or train travelers from Canada and U.S. The U.S. Embassy said Americans are among those quarantined.
There are now 33 countries reporting an estimated total of 6,080 confirmed swine flu cases, including 3,009 in 45 U.S. states, 2,446 in Mexico and 358 in Canada. But the death total is relatively low — 65, of which 60 were in Mexico, three in the U.S., one in Canada and one in Costa Rica.
Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said Wednesday that Mexico has tested about 9,000 sick people, working through a backlog of samples taken before and after the virus was identified as swine flu — and found that Mexico's dead represents 2.5 percent of confirmed cases, suggesting the virus is not as deadly as intitially feared.
Pneumonia, often brought on by regular seasonal flu, may be much more deadly, Cordova said — killing 9,500 people in Mexico last year. The last death from swine flu was on May 7, he said.
Cordova also addressed Mexico's hard-hit tourism industry, saying there are "very few" cases in tourist destinations — including 7 in Cancun.
"There is no risk for tourists — they can return to these relaxing vacation spots," he said.
There is a danger the virus will mutate into something more dangerous — perhaps by combining with the more deadly but less easily spread bird flu virus circulating in Asia and Africa, according to experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Another concern is that it will combine with the northern winter's seasonal H1N1 virus. While not unusually virulent, it was resistant to Tamiflu, and health officials worry it could make the new swine flu resistant to Tamiflu as well.
With swine flu still spreading around the globe, the World Health Organization is warning countries to limit the use of antiviral drugs to ensure adequate supplies.
European countries have been using antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza much more aggressively than the U.S. and Mexico, administering them whenever possible in an attempt to contain the virus before it spreads more widely.
Officials from EU and Latin American nations, including Mexico, were meeting in Prague on Wednesday to discuss the threat.
A WHO medical expert, Dr. Nikki Shindo, said the U.N. agency thinks antivirals should be targeted mainly at people already suffering from other diseases or complications — such as pregnancy — that can lower a body's defenses against flu.
The CDC also said pregnant women should take the drugs if diagnosed with swine flu — even though the effects on the fetus are not completely known.
Pregnant women are more likely to suffer pneumonia when they catch flu, and flu infections have raised the risk of premature birth in past flu epidemics. A pregnant Texas woman with swine flu died last week, and at least 20 other pregnant women with swine flu have been hospitalized in the U.S., including some with severe complications.
For all these reasons, risks from the virus are greater than the unknown risks to the fetus from Tamiflu and Relenza, said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC.
"We really want to get the word out about the likely benefits of prompt antiviral treatment" for pregnant women, she said.
Mexico now gives Tamiflu to anyone who has had direct contact with a person infected with swine flu, Cordova said. And now that schools are back in session, authorities plan to give it to any children who show symptoms and are suspected of being infected.
In Mexico's Baja California state, on the U.S. border, 5,689 children were turned away from schools when classes resumed because they had symptoms like runny noses, headaches or sore throats, the state education department reported Tuesday.
Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche Holding AG announced it was donating enough Tamiflu for 5.65 million more people to WHO. A further 650,000 packets containing smaller doses of the drug will be used to create a new stockpile for children.
Mexican authorities had enough Tamiflu for 1 million people at the start of the outbreak and have received more, building reserves of 1.5 million courses.
by the associated press
Monday, May 11, 2009
New Swine Flu Deaths in U.S., Costa Rica
SEATTLE — The number of swine flu-related deaths outside Mexico has inched up to five with the U.S. reporting its third fatality and Costa Rica its first, both involving men who also had underlying illnesses.
Washington state health officials said the victim there was a man in his 30s who had underlying heart conditions and viral pneumonia when he died Thursday from what appeared to be complications from swine flu. The state Department of Health said in a statement Saturday that swine flu was considered a factor in his death.
"We’re working with local and federal partners to track this outbreak,” said Washington State Secretary of Health Mary Selecky.
The man was not further identified. He began showing symptoms April 30, and was treated with anti-viral medication. The death of a 53-year-old man in Costa Rica on Saturday was the first involving swine flu outside North America.
He also suffered from diabetes and chronic lung disease, the Health Ministry said
Most of the victims are in Mexico, where 48 people with swine flu have died. Most have been adults aged 20 to 49, and many had no reported complicating factors.
by the associated press
Washington state health officials said the victim there was a man in his 30s who had underlying heart conditions and viral pneumonia when he died Thursday from what appeared to be complications from swine flu. The state Department of Health said in a statement Saturday that swine flu was considered a factor in his death.
"We’re working with local and federal partners to track this outbreak,” said Washington State Secretary of Health Mary Selecky.
The man was not further identified. He began showing symptoms April 30, and was treated with anti-viral medication. The death of a 53-year-old man in Costa Rica on Saturday was the first involving swine flu outside North America.
He also suffered from diabetes and chronic lung disease, the Health Ministry said
Most of the victims are in Mexico, where 48 people with swine flu have died. Most have been adults aged 20 to 49, and many had no reported complicating factors.
by the associated press
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Swine flu saga
WASHINGTON — The most pivotal moments in the swine flu saga are yet to come, experts say.
Will it sweep through impoverished Southern Hemisphere countries? Will it roar back in the rest of the world in the fall? And who will be vaccinated if it does?
In the weeks since swine flu grabbed world attention, and even years before that, some important actions have helped shape the course of this outbreak and the ways the world will handle future epidemics.
It’s not clear if this new swine flu strain is a brush fire, sparking up around the globe only to fizzle, or if it will worsen when the influenza season hits.
No matter how this story ends, at the very least it has offered a real-world drill to find gaps in the playbook.
First turning point
A different virus was the world’s wake-up call. SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) started in China, and once it broke out of the mainland in early 2003, it took just weeks to infect more than 8,000 people from 37 countries. The virus killed more than 770 people.
Governments started scrambling to put together plans to handle the next global disease threat. Soon after, bird flu hit Asia, reinforcing the need.
Had the new swine flu hit sooner, it almost certainly would have spread faster. Even if it proves no more dangerous than garden-variety flu, that’s deadly enough. The World Health Organization says between 250,000 and 500,000 people worldwide die each year because of regular winter flu.
Uncovering threat
As early as February, people in the Mexican hamlet of La Gloria were suffering unusually strong flu symptoms. When officials arrived to investigate in mid-March, nearly half the 3,000 villagers sought medical help. About 450 were diagnosed with acute respiratory infections, but it was not until April 12 would the world start getting official word of the unexplained illness.
By then Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already was on the trail of swine flu in California. Studies found two children in San Diego with a strain of Type A influenza that turned out to be a never-before-seen type of swine flu.
On April 23, CDC confirmed five more illnesses in California and Texas and put all states on alert. That same day, CDC delivered the bad news: The new flu was in Mexico, too.
Aggressive action
With the diagnosis, Mexico’s government ordered the closure of all schools, museums, libraries and theaters in Mexico City. Schools nationwide and other businesses shut down in the following days, and soldiers handed out millions of face masks.
The U.S. raced antiflu drugs from a government stockpile to every state. After a large outbreak at a New York City school, U.S. schools started closing. Ultimately about 468,000 students were affected before the CDC decided that schools should reopen because the virus was mild.
What’s still to come?
What happens to all those antiflu medicines that were shipped to U.S. states but not used? They’re waiting in case they’re needed come fall. Experts say that’s the next weakness. Flying in drugs is easy; getting them to the sick is hard.
Then there’s the vaccine dilemma.
Makers could be told to start brewing doses in a few weeks. But that will take months and require testing to see if they induce immunity and seem safe. And if vaccine is ordered, would developing countries get a fair share?
The big worry is that the virus will mutate, becoming more severe.
"The thing that’s keeping me up at night ... is that feeling of dodging the bullet, in the sense that people are taking a sigh of relief too soon,” said Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the CDC.
by the associated press
Will it sweep through impoverished Southern Hemisphere countries? Will it roar back in the rest of the world in the fall? And who will be vaccinated if it does?
In the weeks since swine flu grabbed world attention, and even years before that, some important actions have helped shape the course of this outbreak and the ways the world will handle future epidemics.
It’s not clear if this new swine flu strain is a brush fire, sparking up around the globe only to fizzle, or if it will worsen when the influenza season hits.
No matter how this story ends, at the very least it has offered a real-world drill to find gaps in the playbook.
First turning point
A different virus was the world’s wake-up call. SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) started in China, and once it broke out of the mainland in early 2003, it took just weeks to infect more than 8,000 people from 37 countries. The virus killed more than 770 people.
Governments started scrambling to put together plans to handle the next global disease threat. Soon after, bird flu hit Asia, reinforcing the need.
Had the new swine flu hit sooner, it almost certainly would have spread faster. Even if it proves no more dangerous than garden-variety flu, that’s deadly enough. The World Health Organization says between 250,000 and 500,000 people worldwide die each year because of regular winter flu.
Uncovering threat
As early as February, people in the Mexican hamlet of La Gloria were suffering unusually strong flu symptoms. When officials arrived to investigate in mid-March, nearly half the 3,000 villagers sought medical help. About 450 were diagnosed with acute respiratory infections, but it was not until April 12 would the world start getting official word of the unexplained illness.
By then Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already was on the trail of swine flu in California. Studies found two children in San Diego with a strain of Type A influenza that turned out to be a never-before-seen type of swine flu.
On April 23, CDC confirmed five more illnesses in California and Texas and put all states on alert. That same day, CDC delivered the bad news: The new flu was in Mexico, too.
Aggressive action
With the diagnosis, Mexico’s government ordered the closure of all schools, museums, libraries and theaters in Mexico City. Schools nationwide and other businesses shut down in the following days, and soldiers handed out millions of face masks.
The U.S. raced antiflu drugs from a government stockpile to every state. After a large outbreak at a New York City school, U.S. schools started closing. Ultimately about 468,000 students were affected before the CDC decided that schools should reopen because the virus was mild.
What’s still to come?
What happens to all those antiflu medicines that were shipped to U.S. states but not used? They’re waiting in case they’re needed come fall. Experts say that’s the next weakness. Flying in drugs is easy; getting them to the sick is hard.
Then there’s the vaccine dilemma.
Makers could be told to start brewing doses in a few weeks. But that will take months and require testing to see if they induce immunity and seem safe. And if vaccine is ordered, would developing countries get a fair share?
The big worry is that the virus will mutate, becoming more severe.
"The thing that’s keeping me up at night ... is that feeling of dodging the bullet, in the sense that people are taking a sigh of relief too soon,” said Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the CDC.
by the associated press
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Bird flu and Swine Flu , what happens if they mix?
MEXICO CITY — Bird flu kills more than 60 percent of its human victims, but doesn’t easily pass from person to person. Swine flu can be spread with a sneeze or handshake, but kills only a small fraction of the people it infects.
So what happens if they mix?
This is the scenario that has some scientists worried: The two viruses meet and combine into a new bug that is both highly contagious and lethal.
Scientists are unsure how likely this possibility is, but note that the new swine flu strain — a never-before-seen mixture of pig, human and bird viruses — has shown itself to be especially adept at snatching evolutionarily advantageous genetic material from other flu viruses.
Experts have long feared that bird flu could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people. The past three flu pandemics — the 1918 Spanish flu, the 1957-58 Asian flu and the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69 — were all linked to birds.
by the associated press
So what happens if they mix?
This is the scenario that has some scientists worried: The two viruses meet and combine into a new bug that is both highly contagious and lethal.
Scientists are unsure how likely this possibility is, but note that the new swine flu strain — a never-before-seen mixture of pig, human and bird viruses — has shown itself to be especially adept at snatching evolutionarily advantageous genetic material from other flu viruses.
Experts have long feared that bird flu could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people. The past three flu pandemics — the 1918 Spanish flu, the 1957-58 Asian flu and the Hong Kong flu of 1968-69 — were all linked to birds.
by the associated press
Friday, May 8, 2009
Mexican flu survivors
MEXICO CITY — Moises Bonilla spent five days struggling to breathe in a hospital ward he shared with others suspected of having swine flu. He watched the woman in the bed next to him die.
Bonilla lived to tell his story — a bold choice for swine flu survivors in Mexico, where neighbors have shunned the sick out of fear of contagion, even as the government protests foreign quarantines of its citizens. Most of the country’s more than 1,000 confirmed survivors have remained anonymous.
"We are discriminating against each other in Mexico. Imagine how it must be in other countries,” said Bonilla, an unemployed maintenance worker.
Eight days after leaving the hospital, he was all but recovered Wednesday but had yet to venture out except for checkups at his local public clinic.
Bonilla came down with a sore throat and a headache April 22. He tried to self-medicate. The next day it hurt to breathe.
Bonilla spent the next two days in intensive care, isolated along with five other people showing symptoms of swine flu, including three hooked up to ventilators.
"I just really want to live my life right now,” he said.
by the associated press
Bonilla lived to tell his story — a bold choice for swine flu survivors in Mexico, where neighbors have shunned the sick out of fear of contagion, even as the government protests foreign quarantines of its citizens. Most of the country’s more than 1,000 confirmed survivors have remained anonymous.
"We are discriminating against each other in Mexico. Imagine how it must be in other countries,” said Bonilla, an unemployed maintenance worker.
Eight days after leaving the hospital, he was all but recovered Wednesday but had yet to venture out except for checkups at his local public clinic.
Bonilla came down with a sore throat and a headache April 22. He tried to self-medicate. The next day it hurt to breathe.
Bonilla spent the next two days in intensive care, isolated along with five other people showing symptoms of swine flu, including three hooked up to ventilators.
"I just really want to live my life right now,” he said.
by the associated press
Two billion people may get virus
GENEVA — Up to 2 billion people could be infected by swine flu if the current outbreak turns into a pandemic lasting two years, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the historical record of flu pandemics indicates one-third of the world’s population gets infected in such outbreaks. Independent experts agreed that the estimate was possible but pointed out that many would not show any symptoms.
With the current total population of more than 6 billion, that would mean an infection total of 2 billion, he said, but added that the world has changed since pandemics of earlier generations.
by the associated press
WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the historical record of flu pandemics indicates one-third of the world’s population gets infected in such outbreaks. Independent experts agreed that the estimate was possible but pointed out that many would not show any symptoms.
With the current total population of more than 6 billion, that would mean an infection total of 2 billion, he said, but added that the world has changed since pandemics of earlier generations.
by the associated press
Flu danger persists
CHICAGO — Did government health officials "cry swine” when they sounded the alarm on what looked like a threatening new flu?
The so-far mild swine flu outbreak has many people saying all the talk about a devastating global epidemic was just fear-mongering hype.
But that’s not how public health officials see it, calling complacency the thing that keeps them up at night.
Schools shut down, idling even healthy kids and forcing parents to stay home from work; colleges scaled back or even canceled graduation ceremonies; a big Cinco de Mayo celebration in Chicago was canned; face masks and hand sanitizers sold out — all because of an outbreak that seems no worse than a mild flu season.
"I don’t know anyone who has it. I haven’t met anyone who knows anyone who contracted it,” said Carl Shepherd, a suburban Chicago video producer and father of two. "It’s really frightening more people than it should have. It’s like crying wolf.”
Miranda Smith, whose graduation ceremony at Cisco Junior College in central Texas was canceled to avoid spreading the flu, blames the media.
"It’s been totally overblown,” she said Thursday.
"Everyone seems to know it’s not going to kill you and it’s not as deadly as they think,” she said. "Everybody needs to just calm down and chill out.”
Did government overreact?
Craig Heyl of Decatur, Ga., said the government overreacted.
"Swine flu is just another strain of flu. People get the flu. I guess you have to call it a pandemic when it’s a widespread virus, but I don’t think the severity of it is all that concerning,” said Heyl, 43.
Public health authorities acknowledge their worst fears about the new virus have not materialized. But no one’s officially saying it’s time to relax. And experts worry that people will become too complacent and tune out the warnings if the virus returns in a more dangerous form in the fall.
Peter Sandman, a risk communication specialist, says on his Web site that reminding people the risk is real and warning them in the future if a pandemic looks imminent "will be extremely difficult.”
"Swine flu looks to be an extremely mild pandemic if it goes pandemic at all, despite WHO warnings that it may ‘come back with a vengeance’ in the fall. People are going to be very, very skeptical,” Sandman wrote.
Dr. Robert Daum, a University of Chicago infectious disease expert, says authorities acted properly when news first broke about the new flu strain.
"It’s like overcalling a snowstorm .... You want the plows out even if it’s only going to snow a flake,” Daum said. If not, and a blizzard hits, "there will be an outcry like you’ve never seen before.”
The so-far mild swine flu outbreak has many people saying all the talk about a devastating global epidemic was just fear-mongering hype.
But that’s not how public health officials see it, calling complacency the thing that keeps them up at night.
Schools shut down, idling even healthy kids and forcing parents to stay home from work; colleges scaled back or even canceled graduation ceremonies; a big Cinco de Mayo celebration in Chicago was canned; face masks and hand sanitizers sold out — all because of an outbreak that seems no worse than a mild flu season.
"I don’t know anyone who has it. I haven’t met anyone who knows anyone who contracted it,” said Carl Shepherd, a suburban Chicago video producer and father of two. "It’s really frightening more people than it should have. It’s like crying wolf.”
Miranda Smith, whose graduation ceremony at Cisco Junior College in central Texas was canceled to avoid spreading the flu, blames the media.
"It’s been totally overblown,” she said Thursday.
"Everyone seems to know it’s not going to kill you and it’s not as deadly as they think,” she said. "Everybody needs to just calm down and chill out.”
Did government overreact?
Craig Heyl of Decatur, Ga., said the government overreacted.
"Swine flu is just another strain of flu. People get the flu. I guess you have to call it a pandemic when it’s a widespread virus, but I don’t think the severity of it is all that concerning,” said Heyl, 43.
Public health authorities acknowledge their worst fears about the new virus have not materialized. But no one’s officially saying it’s time to relax. And experts worry that people will become too complacent and tune out the warnings if the virus returns in a more dangerous form in the fall.
Peter Sandman, a risk communication specialist, says on his Web site that reminding people the risk is real and warning them in the future if a pandemic looks imminent "will be extremely difficult.”
"Swine flu looks to be an extremely mild pandemic if it goes pandemic at all, despite WHO warnings that it may ‘come back with a vengeance’ in the fall. People are going to be very, very skeptical,” Sandman wrote.
Dr. Robert Daum, a University of Chicago infectious disease expert, says authorities acted properly when news first broke about the new flu strain.
"It’s like overcalling a snowstorm .... You want the plows out even if it’s only going to snow a flake,” Daum said. If not, and a blizzard hits, "there will be an outcry like you’ve never seen before.”
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Don’t try ‘pox party’ for flu
NEW YORK — It seems logical: Why not try to get sick with swine flu now, and get some immunity in case it comes roaring back this fall in a deadlier form? Sort of like those "pox parties” to get your kids exposed to a disease.
Bad idea, flu experts say. It’s too risky.
It’s true that once your body has encountered a particular virus strain, it is generally better able to fight it off later on. Vaccines work by masquerading as germs, priming the immune system to attack particular bugs.
Dr. William Schaffner, a flu expert at Vanderbilt University, said there’s no way to predict how bad a case of flu will be in a particular person. Given the risk of life-threatening complications, "this is not something where you want to do a biological experiment,” he said.
"You can’t control the infection that you’re going to get, and you may be the one, or your child may be the one, that gets a severe infection.”
What’s more, a person who decides to get sick can accidentally pass it along to other, more vulnerable people, even before any symptoms show up, Schaffner said.
Dr. Robert Atmar, a flu researcher at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, agreed. He said he would "strongly recommend against” purposely trying to catch the new flu.
And it’s not yet clear that swine flu will return in deadlier form this fall.
He also said flu medicines should be available to ease symptoms of patients during the winter flu season, and that scientists hope a vaccine will be ready by then.
by the associated press
Bad idea, flu experts say. It’s too risky.
It’s true that once your body has encountered a particular virus strain, it is generally better able to fight it off later on. Vaccines work by masquerading as germs, priming the immune system to attack particular bugs.
Dr. William Schaffner, a flu expert at Vanderbilt University, said there’s no way to predict how bad a case of flu will be in a particular person. Given the risk of life-threatening complications, "this is not something where you want to do a biological experiment,” he said.
"You can’t control the infection that you’re going to get, and you may be the one, or your child may be the one, that gets a severe infection.”
What’s more, a person who decides to get sick can accidentally pass it along to other, more vulnerable people, even before any symptoms show up, Schaffner said.
Dr. Robert Atmar, a flu researcher at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, agreed. He said he would "strongly recommend against” purposely trying to catch the new flu.
And it’s not yet clear that swine flu will return in deadlier form this fall.
He also said flu medicines should be available to ease symptoms of patients during the winter flu season, and that scientists hope a vaccine will be ready by then.
by the associated press
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Swine Flu kills teacher in Texas
McALLEN, Texas — Texas health officials on Tuesday announced the first death of a U.S. resident with swine flu, and said she was a 33-year-old schoolteacher who recently given birth to a healthy baby.
The woman died early Tuesday and had been hospitalized since April 19, said Leonel Lopez, Cameron County epidemiologist.
Health officials stopped short of saying that swine flu caused the woman’s death. State health department spokeswoman Carrie Williams said the woman had "chronic underlying health conditions” but wouldn’t give any more details.
Lopez said the flu exacerbated the woman’s condition. "The swine flu is very benign by itself,” Lopez said.
But "by the time she came to see us it was already too late.”
The only other swine flu death in the U.S. was of a Mexico City boy who also had other health problems and had been visiting relatives in Brownsville, near Harlingen. He died last week at a Houston children’s hospital.
The teacher was from Harlingen, a city of about 63,000 near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The school district where she worked announced it would close its schools for the rest of the week, though officials said anyone who might have contracted the disease from her would have shown symptoms by now.
School plans change
U.S. health officials changed course on their advice to schools Tuesday, saying they are no longer recommending that schools close for the swine flu. Last week, the government had advised schools to shut down for about two weeks if there were suspected cases of swine flu.
by the associated press
The woman died early Tuesday and had been hospitalized since April 19, said Leonel Lopez, Cameron County epidemiologist.
Health officials stopped short of saying that swine flu caused the woman’s death. State health department spokeswoman Carrie Williams said the woman had "chronic underlying health conditions” but wouldn’t give any more details.
Lopez said the flu exacerbated the woman’s condition. "The swine flu is very benign by itself,” Lopez said.
But "by the time she came to see us it was already too late.”
The only other swine flu death in the U.S. was of a Mexico City boy who also had other health problems and had been visiting relatives in Brownsville, near Harlingen. He died last week at a Houston children’s hospital.
The teacher was from Harlingen, a city of about 63,000 near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The school district where she worked announced it would close its schools for the rest of the week, though officials said anyone who might have contracted the disease from her would have shown symptoms by now.
School plans change
U.S. health officials changed course on their advice to schools Tuesday, saying they are no longer recommending that schools close for the swine flu. Last week, the government had advised schools to shut down for about two weeks if there were suspected cases of swine flu.
by the associated press
Virus mutates
WASHINGTON — A flu virus is a powerhouse of evolution, mutating at the maximum speed nature allows. A mild virus can become a killer and vice versa.
One change already made this year’s swine flu more of a problem, helping it spread more easily among people. The big question is: What mutations are next? That’s why scientists are watching it so closely.
"There are no rules to flu viruses; they are just so mutable,” said Dr. Paul Glezen, a flu epidemiologist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "The fact that it changes all the time really confounds our efforts to control it.”
Think of flu’s evolution like a family tree: In the current flu’s distant ancestry are last century’s three pandemics. But its more immediate relatives are swine flu strains that were no big deal to humans.
The good news right now is that this flu has lost some of the most dangerous genetic traits of past pandemics. The bad news is that it’s gained something its parents didn’t have: the ability to spread from human to human.
Why are mutations more common?
Flu reproduces about every eight hours, said Dr. Raul Rabadan, professor of computational biology at Columbia University. That means this morning’s flu is a parent by the afternoon, a grandparent by the evening, and a great-grandparent by the next day.
Instead of double-helix DNA — nature’s basic biological instruction book — flu has a simpler, single strand of genetic code.
DNA has a spellcheck-like system that reduces mistakes in replicating the code; the flu virus’ genetic code does not.
So mutations come more often. If the mutations are good for the virus, they multiply, and voila, you have a new and sometimes nastier flu.
Scientists are trying to piece together swine flu’s ever-changing genome, its genetic ancestors and the random mutations that in this instance turned a simple pig disease into something that scares billions.
by the associated press
One change already made this year’s swine flu more of a problem, helping it spread more easily among people. The big question is: What mutations are next? That’s why scientists are watching it so closely.
"There are no rules to flu viruses; they are just so mutable,” said Dr. Paul Glezen, a flu epidemiologist at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "The fact that it changes all the time really confounds our efforts to control it.”
Think of flu’s evolution like a family tree: In the current flu’s distant ancestry are last century’s three pandemics. But its more immediate relatives are swine flu strains that were no big deal to humans.
The good news right now is that this flu has lost some of the most dangerous genetic traits of past pandemics. The bad news is that it’s gained something its parents didn’t have: the ability to spread from human to human.
Why are mutations more common?
Flu reproduces about every eight hours, said Dr. Raul Rabadan, professor of computational biology at Columbia University. That means this morning’s flu is a parent by the afternoon, a grandparent by the evening, and a great-grandparent by the next day.
Instead of double-helix DNA — nature’s basic biological instruction book — flu has a simpler, single strand of genetic code.
DNA has a spellcheck-like system that reduces mistakes in replicating the code; the flu virus’ genetic code does not.
So mutations come more often. If the mutations are good for the virus, they multiply, and voila, you have a new and sometimes nastier flu.
Scientists are trying to piece together swine flu’s ever-changing genome, its genetic ancestors and the random mutations that in this instance turned a simple pig disease into something that scares billions.
by the associated press
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