(MSNBC.com) The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday conceded shortcomings in its handling of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, including a failure to communicate uncertainties about the new virus as it swept around the globe. For complete article, click here.
(AP) The World Health Organization is recommending that swine flu be added to regular flu vaccines next season. The swine flu pandemic virus, or H1N1, emerged too late last year to be added to the regular flu vaccine, and a separate vaccine was needed. For this year’s northern hemisphere flu season, however, the two vaccines [...]
(Reuters) “Pandemic infections are occurring in many countries but overall the pattern is decreasing,” Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s top flu expert, said at the start of a week-long meeting of the organization’s Executive Board. He warned, however, that a new wave of infections could hit the northern hemisphere in late winter or early spring, saying: [...]
“No lines, free H1N1 vaccine still available at West Roxbury flu clinic. Hurry. The clinic closes today at 4.’’ – Twitter message from the Boston Public Health Commission, Sunday afternoon. Never before has a virus gone viral like this. There are swine flu blogs and swine flu tweets, swine flu videos on YouTube and swine [...]
A sixth person has tested positive for a Tamiflu-resistant strain of swine flu, public health officials say. (Read full BBC article here.)
(Examiner.com) In patients around the world, patients are being identified with a strain of the swine flu that is Tamiflu-resistant. The H1N1 mutation makes the swine flu virus resistant to treatment with Tamiflu, a common antiviral medication licensed for use in the United States. Clusters of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 mutations have been identified in North Carolina [...]
From shopping carts to door knobs to public rest rooms. Learn the simple strategies to protect yourself from the H1N1 virus / Swine flu virus by reading this article from NewsOXY.com.
The steps you need to take to protect your family from the H1N1 virus / Swine flu. Read the article from the Orange County Register by clicking here.
(Zanesville Times Recorder) The following are reader-submitted H1N1 questions with answers supplied by Dr. Alissa Ackelson, infectious diseases director of Infection Control, Genesis HealthCare System:
* Is the H1N1 vaccine / Swine flu vaccine FDA safe to get and has anyone who has received it died or gotten sick from either the shot or the mist?
* [...]
(By Carley Bowman, BBC News) How can I protect my child from swine flu [H1N1 virus]? It is a question that has kept me awake at night. For several weeks I have been waiting anxiously for my GP to call my three-year-old son Ben in for the [swine flu / H1N1 virus] vaccine. But [...]
(USA Today) The H1N1 virus / Swine flu has swept through about 22 million Americans from April to October, killing an estimated 3,900 people, including 540 children, health officials said Thursday. The analysis represents the government’s latest effort to assess a viral H1N1 virus outbreak that in just six months has flooded emergency rooms and [...]
According to the CDC, the emergency warning signs in children regarding the H1N1 virus:
Fast breathing or trouble breathing
Bluish skin color
Not drinking enough fluids
Not waking up or not interacting
Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
Fever with a rash
For additional information, visit [...]
(AP) — President Barack Obama declared the H1N1 swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed H1N1 treatment and protect noninfected patients. More than 1,000 people in the United States, including almost 100 children, have died from the strain of flu known [...]
(CNN) Public health departments across the country are quickly running out of H1N1 vaccine / swine flu vaccine and don’t know when the next batches will arrive. “We wait by the door every day to see if H1N1 vaccine is going to come,” said Erin Sutton, spokesperson for the Virginia Beach Health Department in Virginia. [...]
(Health.com) It’s important to take steps to prevent yourself from getting the seasonal flu, as well as H1N1, commonly referred to as swine flu. If you already sneeze into your sleeve, wash your hands diligently, and avoid crowds where these viruses can easily spread, you’re on the right track. But you still may be putting [...]
(CNN / Health.com) The onslaught of information about H1N1 Swine Flu — be it playground rumors, employer signs telling you to cover your cough, memos from your kids’ school, or scary-sounding news reports — is making it pretty hard to figure out what you should be doing right now. Click here for an article that [...]
(AP / New York Times) About 1 in 5 U.S. children had a flu-like illness earlier this month — and most of those cases likely were H1N1 swine flu, according to a new CDC government health survey. The information comes from a household survey of more than 14,000 adults done in the first 11 days [...]
(The New York Times / The Learning Network) What precautions should you take against the H1N1 flu? Should you get the vaccine? In this lesson, students identify and debunk some of the myths surrounding H1N1 flu, or swine flu, and the new vaccine for it. Click here for the full article.
(Reuters) – The U.S. government this week warned against the online marketing of unlicensed health remedies claiming to protect against H1N1 swine flu infection, including fake “Tamiflu” pills from India. One order, which arrived in an unmarked envelope from India, consisted of unlabeled white pills that contained talc and the common pain reliever acetaminophen, the [...]
(ABC News) Hospitals today began to receive the first doses of a H1N1 vaccine / Swine Flu vaccine designed to ward off a potential H1N1 flu pandemic — this, after months of anticipation and debate over who would be the first to be vaccinated. Full article here.
(Reuters) – Younger children will need two doses of the vaccine against the new pandemic of H1N1 influenza, U.S. officials said on Monday. They said tests of Sanofi-Pasteur’s (SASY.PA) swine flu vaccine showed children respond to it just as they do to seasonal flu vaccines, with children over 10 needing only a single dose. Dr. [...]
(Excerpt from Reuters report.) Flu experts themselves have little doubt the vaccine being made against H1N1 is safe. It is made using precisely the same technology as the annual seasonal flu vaccine, which is given to hundreds of millions of people every year. But because is new, vaccine makers have been testing it to [...]
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Tuesday during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing that H1N1 vaccines (swine flu vaccines) produced by four manufacturers — CSL Ltd., Novartis, Sanofi-Pasteur and Medimmune — had won FDA approval, paving the way for a large-scale U.S. H1N1 swine flu vaccination campaign, the Wall Street Journal reports. Full article [...]
(New York Times) Several prominent epidemiologists are warning that even though the new H1N1 swine flu vaccine works much better than expected, it will still come too late to blunt the peak of this season’s pandemic. The epidemiologists said Friday that they expected the peak to come as early as next month, long before enough [...]
(New York Times) Defying the expectations of experts, clinical trials are showing that the new H1N1 swine flu vaccine protects with only one dose instead of two, so the H1N1 vaccine supplies now being made will go twice as far as had been predicted. That means it should be possible to vaccinate — well before [...]
Health officials may return to that method of mass inoculation, in an effort to contain the spread of the H1N1 flu virus this fall among school-age children… Vaccine for the H1N1 virus will be shipped to each state in October… Full article here.
(HealthDay News) — Every person who is infected with the H1N1 swine flu puts 1.5 other people at risk over the three days before coughing, fever and other symptoms appear. That’s the conclusion of a new study published in the journal Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses. Anyone showing early symptoms of the flu needs [...]
(HealthDay News) – As clusters of H1N1 swine flu break out on U.S. college campuses, school administrators are beefing up efforts to encourage students to take preventative steps to keep the virus from spreading further. Full article here.
(Reuters) – Scientific advisers to President Barack Obama may have asked the government to speed up the availability of [H1N1 virus] swine flu vaccines, but they are unlikely to be ready before October, the new head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday. Full article here.
(Bloomberg) — Swine flu [H1N1 virus] may infect half the U.S. population this year, hospitalize 1.8 million patients and lead to as many as 90,000 deaths, more than twice the number killed in a typical seasonal flu, White House advisers said. In a report by the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, President [...]
(The Washington Post) One of the main battlegrounds in the fight against an expected resurgence of swine flu this fall will be the schoolyard, a place where the disease could, well, go viral. People between 6 months and 24 years old appear to be particularly vulnerable to the swine flu virus, known as H1N1. And [...]
(NYTimes.com) There have been no serious side effects from the first set of injections of the new [H1N1] swine flu vaccine, federal health officials said Friday in predicting that nearly 200 million doses could be produced by year’s end. Full article here.
Governments must prepare for a swift response to the global spread of swine flu as it is expected to speed up in the next few months, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
The World Health Organization’s Western Pacific director Dr. Shin Young-soo warned countries to be prepared for an “explosion” of H1N1 Virus / Swine [...]
(USA TODAY) A Chinese company has become the first drugmaker worldwide to complete clinical trials for an H1N1 swine flu vaccine, and the developer reports that one shot has proved “safe and effective.” Health officials had predicted that two shots per person would be needed, raising concerns about possible shortages of the vaccine. Full article [...]
(Reuters) – U.S. officials on Monday said they had slashed their estimate of how many swine flu vaccine doses will be available for the start of a mass vaccination campaign in the fall. Citing delays in manufacturing and packaging the vaccines, the Department of Health and Human Services said only 45 million doses of the [...]
(AP REPORT) — Hundreds of schools are heeding the government’s call to set up [H1N1 "swine flu"] flu-shot clinics this fall, preparing for what could be the most widespread school vaccinations since the days of polio. An Associated Press review of [H1N1] swine flu planning suggests there are nearly 3 million students in districts where [...]
LONDON (Reuters) – GlaxoSmithKline has started testing its pandemic H1N1 swine flu vaccine in humans, and expects to start giving the results to government agencies next month, the drugmaker said on Friday. Full article here.
[BBC Report] Work in the British Medical Journal shows Tamiflu and Relenza rarely prevent complications in children with seasonal flu, yet carry side effects. Although they did not test this in the current swine flu pandemic, the authors say these drugs are unlikely to help children who catch the H1N1 virus. For the full report, [...]
“The symptoms of H1N1 (swine) flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with H1N1 (swine) flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported [...]
(August 7, 2009) Updated federal guidelines offer state and local public health and school officials a range of options for responding to 2009 H1N1 influenza [Swine flu] in schools, depending on how severe the flu may be in their communities. The guidance says officials should balance the risk of flu in their communities with the [...]
July 31 (UPI) — Maryland-based Medimmune pharmaceuticals expects to produce nearly five times the amount of H1N1 vaccine originally anticipated…. [The company] expects to make 200 million doses by March [2010]. Medimmune is of the five companies under contract to the U.S. government to produce H1N1 flu vaccine. Medimmune also makes the nasal spray [...]
July 23 (Reuters / by Julie Steenhuysen) – Children who have unexplained seizures and flu-like symptoms should be tested for infection with the H1N1 swine flu virus and treated with flu-fighting drugs, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.
They said four children in Dallas County, Texas, who got the new swine flu virus in late May [...]
By Thomas H. Maugh II / July 18, 2009 / Los Angeles Times
Experts, who expected a seasonal slowdown, think that more than a million Americans have been infected with pandemic H1N1 influenza. They say a rise in cases is likely when school starts. For complete article, click here.
(By Daniel J. DeNoon / WebMD Health News / July 17)
Pandemic swine flu vaccine should be fast-tracked, with vaccinations starting in mid-September — soon after schools open. That recommendation is expected at today’s meeting of the National Biodefense Safety Board (NBSB), an influential board of outside advisors to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
A [...]
(CNN) — At a recent meeting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], health officials said U.S. demand could reach 600 million doses of vaccine [for H1N1 virus / swine flu], enough for two doses for each of the approximate 300 million people in the United States. That’s in case two doses are [...]
(Los Angeles Times) At least 1 million Americans have now contracted the novel H1N1 influenza, according to mathematical models prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while data from the field indicates that the virus is continuing to spread even though the normal flu season is over and that an increasing proportion of [...]
June 23 (Reuters) – The WHO [World Health Organization) has declared an influenza pandemic and advised governments to prepare for a long-term battle against the virus.
Latvia has registered its first confirmed case of the A (H1N1) flu virus. A second Australian diagnosed with H1N1 has died. Honduras has confirmed its first H1N1 swine flu death. [...]
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) – The new strain of H1N1 flu is causing “something different” to happen in the United States this year — perhaps an extended year-round flu season that disproportionately hits young people, health officials said on Thursday.
So far the virus [H1N1 virus] is causing mild to [...]
WASHINGTON (AP) by Lauran Neergaard — Schoolchildren could be first in line for swine flu [a h1n1] 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 [...]
By Steve Sternberg. USA TODAY
The World Health Organization’s decision Thursday to declare the first influenza pandemic in nearly half a century has prompted public health experts worldwide to plan for an extended siege of global illness.
“When you’re talking about pandemic influenza, you’re talking about a marathon, not a sprint,” says the WHO’s top flu expert, [...]
The A/H1N1 flu [a h1n1 virus / a(h1n1) virus] continues to spread around the world, and in some places rapidly. As of Friday, June 12, there were 29,669 confirmed cases A/H1N1 [a h1n1 virus / a(h1n1) virus] in 74 countries and regions, including 145 deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
(CNN) — The World Health Organization raised the swine flu alert Thursday [June 11, 2009] to its highest level, saying the H1N1 virus has spread to enough countries to be considered a global pandemic.
“This is an important and challenging day for all of us,” WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in a briefing with reporters. [...]
GENEVA, June 2 (Xinhua) — As the A/H1N1 flu virus spreads further around the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) is getting closer to declaring a full pandemic, a senior official of the UN agency said on Tuesday.
“Globally we believe that we are at phase 5, but we are getting closer to phase 6,” said [...]
ScienceDaily (June 2, 2009) — Scientists around the world are accelerating their efforts to develop a vaccine against the H1N1 influenza virus (Swine flu) as rapidly as possible, reports Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN). The need for such a vaccine received a strong impetus from the World Health Organization, which has issued a Phase [...]
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization said on Monday the H1N1 flu strain has spread to Taiwan, Kuwait, Iceland, Switzerland and Honduras, but with still few deaths outside of Mexico.
In its latest tally, which tends to lag national reports but is considered more secure, the United Nations agency said its labs have confirmed 12,515 [...]
The number of people infected with swine flu jumped to nearly 10,000, prompting new warnings from officials around the world. United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon warned everyone to remain vigilant against swine flu as 1,350 people around the world were confirmed to have been infected with swine flu just in the past two days.
To view [...]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The new H1N1 influenza virus is now widespread, causing a range of illness, and U.S. health officials said on Tuesday they fear it could mix with drug-resistant versions of seasonal flu.
So far the new strain of swine flu, which has killed seven people in the United States and may have infected more [...]
The New York Times is reporting that the World Health Organization (WHO) may soon raise its pandemic alert level to 6 — the highest level. The escalation to level 6 is reportedly due to the rise in Japanese cases of the H1N1 “Swine Flu” virus. MarketWatch reports that Japan’s cases of influenza A-H1N1 [...]
Visit the World Heath Organization’s (WHO’s) Web site for the latest regional and global information regarding the H1N1 Virus “Swine Flu” including:
* Influenza A(H1N1) special highlights and bulletins
* Daily updates on the A(H1N1) virus
* Recommendations regarding travel
* Influenza pandemic alert level
* H1N1 virus frequently asked questions (FAQs)
* Use of antiviral [...]
Novel influenza A (H1N1) is a new flu virus of swine origin that was first detected in April, 2009. The virus is infecting people and is spreading from person-to-person, and has sparked a growing outbreak of illness in the United States with an increasing number of cases being reported internationally as well.
For more information, please [...]
May 12, 2009
Bernadine Healy, M.D.
Copyright © 2009 U.S.News & World Report
The H1N1 virus, or swine flu, first brought to public attention a mere couple of weeks ago, quickly spread from its epicenter in Mexico to at least four other continents, 30 countries, and more than 5,000 people, reaching near-pandemic levels before subsiding.
So far, the global [...]
World Health Organization (WHO): Global Swine Flu Cases Top 5,200
By VOA News
12 May 2009
The World Health Organization says the number of swine influenza A-H1N1 cases now tops 5,200 in 30 countries, while two additional countries reported their first cases Tuesday.
Finland and Thailand on Tuesday each confirmed two cases of swine flu. Authorities in both [...]
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
The New York Times
Published: May 8, 2009
The World Health Organization said Friday that 2,384 people in 24 countries now had confirmed cases of swine flu.
Only 46 people are known to have died of the virus, all but 2 of them in Mexico.
Scientists on Thursday described 11 cases of Americans who were [...]
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Click on the world map image or the following link to bring up the Interactive Worldwide H1N1 Virus Pandemic map provided by the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk//nol/shared/bsp/hi/flash_slides/09/swine_flu/swf/imageslider.swf
The following is the direct link to the CDC Web page for all updates regarding the H1N1 Virus “Swine Flu” Pandemic. Includes a daily update of U.S. Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection, key disease facts, tips on staying healthy, antiviral information, and more: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/
Wed Apr 29, 2009 9:30pm EDT (Copyright 2009, Reuters)
By Laura MacInnis and Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA (Reuters) – The World Health Organization said on Wednesday the world is at the brink of a pandemic, raising its threat level as the swine flu virus spread and killed the first person outside of Mexico, a toddler in Texas.
“Influenza pandemics [...]
Welcome to H1N1Virus.us, a Web site created as a public-service information resource regarding the H1N1 virus “swine flu” pandemic.
This is a Web site we wish we didn’t have to create, as it is a result of a worldwide health crisis. However, as part of our mission to be good corporate citizens, we have devoted [...]
