UPDATE

Date: 4/30/2009

Link: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/30/swine.flu.cases/index.html

Source: CNN

Main Points:

1.       The number of confirmed swine flu cases worldwide rose to 154, with six additional cases reported in Spain, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

2.       Until now, the country had four confirmed cases.

3.       Of the 10 cases of the H1N1 virus in Spain, nine were found in people who had returned from Mexico.

4.       But authorities are troubled about the 10th case which they say is a case of community transmission, spread from one person in the community to another, said WHO spokesman Dick Thompson.

5.       If Spain now sees more such cases of community transmission, the world body may have to elevate its pandemic alert another notch to its highest level.

6.       Phase 6 is the pandemic phase and is characterized by a community-level outbreak in another country in a different WHO region.

7.       Spain falls in another region than the United States and Mexico -- the two countries that have until now shown human-to-human spread.

8.       "The significance is that it's another phase," Thompson said. "The virus is becoming established in another area, another country."

9.       But, Thompson added, the virus would have to show a sustained pattern of transmission in order for the level to be raised.

10.    "We're looking for intergenerational spread. So, that means from a traveler to a spouse to the butcher to the kindergarten, something like that -- through generations of spread in one community."

11.    An estimated 2,700 people are suspected of suffering from the virus worldwide. The first cases were detected in Mexico, where health officials suspect swine flu in more than 150 other deaths and roughly 2,500 illnesses.

12.    As of late Wednesday, 99 cases had been confirmed -- up from 26, Mexico's health secretary reported. An eighth fatality was also confirmed. However, the additional cases and fatality were not confirmed by the WHO.

13.    For now, the WHO's breakdown of confirmed cases is:

-- United States: 91, including one death
-- Mexico: 26, with seven deaths
-- Canada: 13
-- Spain: 10, including one suspected case of community transmission
-- United Kingdom: 5
-- Germany: 3
-- New Zealand: 3
-- Israel: 2
-- Austria: 1

14.    Elsewhere, Peru, Switzerland and The Netherlands reported their first cases late Wednesday and early Thursday respectively -- but they were not among the WHO's official tally.

15.    The WHO is also investigating possible swine flu cases in the following countries:

-- New Zealand: 11
-- France: 2
-- South Korea: 1
-- Switzerland: 1

16.    The world body defines "possible" as cases where the patient tested positive for Influenza A -- the general category of strains that includes the H1N1 swine.

17.    Further tests are needed to verify whether they are positive for the virus itself.

Comments: The case in Spain is extremely important because if another person gets infected without any connection to Mexico, that would cause the WHO to raise the level to phase 6. Phase 6 means the H1N1 virus is being transmitted from human-to-human in two regions of the world. Yes, the H1N1 virus is in 9 countries, but it has not been passed from human-to-human yet. These people were in Mexico or know some one who went to Mexico. In the U.S. and Mexico, it is being passed from human-to-human.

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Four Dead After Car Careens Into Crowd

Date: 4/30/2009

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518450,00.html

Source: FOX News

 

 

Main Points:

1. A photographer said the car appeared to be deliberately driving at high speed toward an open bus carrying Queen Beatrixand her family in the western Dutch city of Apeldoorn.
2. Prosecutors said they believe the incident was deliberate, but not an act of terrorism. They did not indicate a motive or say why the popular queen might have been a target. The driver was a 38-year-old white Dutch male with no police record or history of mental illness, police said. They would not give his name. Cynthia Boll said she saw about 20 people "flying through the air" after the black car swerved across police railings, where crowds of people were waiting to see the queen pass.
3. The car slammed into a monument. Video footage showed police removing a man from the vehicle and putting him into an ambulance. The royal bus was not hit and no one in the queen's entourage was injured.
4. "From initial contact with police before the suspect was removed from the car ... we have reason to believe it was a deliberate action," prosecutor Ludo Goossens told reporters. Apeldoorn Mayor Fred de Graaf said eight of the injured were in serious condition.
5. "What began as a great day has ended in a terrible tragedy that has shocked us all deeply," a visibly upset Queen Beatrix said in a brief statement broadcast on national television channels. "We are speechless that something so terrible could have happened. My family, and I think everybody in the country, sympathize with the victims, their families and friends and all who have been hit so hard by this accident," she said.
6. People have been tweeting about the crash, saying the royals saw what happened and were shocked. People were lining railings five or six deep to see the royal family pass on its way to a palace. The motorcade was part of celebrations for the annual national holiday of Queen's Day.
7. Journalist Peter von de Vorst said the incident was like watching a horror movie. "It was a really nice day. Then you hear a bang. Everyone looks up and you see people flying through the air. This must be a joke or a strange prank. Then suddenly panic, and you realise that something really terrible has happened," he said.
8. Dutch television said four people were killed and about a dozen injured, including children. Shortly after the incident, investigators and a sniffer dog examined the car for explosives, then sawed off the roof for a closer inspection.

Comments:

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Scientists see this flu strain as relatively mild

Date: April 30, 2009

Link: http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-swine-reality30-2009apr30,0,119808,full.story

Source: Los Angeles Times

Main Points:

1. As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked to swine flu inside U.S. borders, scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza -- at least in its current form -- isn't shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.
2. In fact, the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which emerged in San Diego and southern Mexico late last month, may not even do as much damage as the run-of-the-mill flu outbreaks that occur each winter without much fanfare.
3. "Let's not lose track of the fact that the normal seasonal influenza is a huge public health problem that kills tens of thousands of people in the U.S. alone and hundreds of thousands around the world," said Dr. Christopher Olsen, a molecular virologist who studies swine flu at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison.
4. Flu viruses are known to be notoriously unpredictable, and this strain could mutate at any point -- becoming either more benign or dangerously severe. But mounting preliminary evidence from genetics labs, epidemiology models and simple mathematics suggests that the worst-case scenarios are likely to be avoided in the current outbreak.
5. "This virus doesn't have anywhere near the capacity to kill like the 1918 virus," which claimed an estimated 50 million victims worldwide, said Richard Webby, a leading influenza virologist at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
6. When the current virus was first identified, the similarities between it and the 1918 flu seemed ominous. Both arose in the spring at the tail end of the flu season. Both seemed to strike people who were young and healthy instead of the elderly and infants. Both were H1N1 strains, so called because they had the same types of two key proteins that are largely responsible for a virus' ability to infect and spread.
7. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health published genetic sequence data Monday morning of flu samples isolated from patients in California and Texas, and thousands of scientists immediately began downloading the information. Comparisons to known killers -- such as the 1918 strain and the highly lethal H5N1 avian virus -- have since provided welcome news.
   "There are certain characteristics, molecular signatures, which this virus lacks," said Peter Palese, a microbiologist and influenza expert at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York. In particular, the swine flu lacks an amino acid that appears to increase the number of virus particles in the lungs and make the disease more deadly.
8. Scientists have identified several other differences between the current virus and its 1918 predecessor, but the significance of those differences is still unclear, said Dr. Scott Layne, an epidemiologist at the UCLA School of Public Health.
9. Ralph Tripp, an influenza expert at the University of Georgia, said that his early analysis of the virus' protein-making instructions suggested that people exposed to the 1957 flu pandemic -- which killed up to 2 million people worldwide -- may have some immunity to the new strain. That could explain why older people have been spared in Mexico, where the swine flu has been most deadly.
10. But certainly nothing that would dwarf a typical flu season. In the U.S., between 5% and 20% of the population becomes ill and 36,000 people die -- a mortality rate of between 0.24% and 0.96%.
11. Dirk Brockmann, a professor of engineering and applied mathematics at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., used a computer model of human travel patterns to predict how this swine flu virus would spread in the worst-case scenario, in which nothing is done to contain the disease. After four weeks, almost 1,700 people in the U.S. would have symptoms, including 198 in Los Angeles, according to his model. That's just a fraction of the county's thousands of yearly flu victims.
12. Just because the virus is being identified in a growing number of places -- including Austria, Canada, Germany, Israel, New Zealand, Spain and Britain -- doesn't mean it's spreading particularly quickly, Olsen said.
13. As the virus adapts to its human hosts, it is likely to find ways of spreading more efficiently. But evolution also suggests it might become less dangerous, Olsen said. "If it kills off all its potential hosts, you reach a point where the virus can't survive," he said. Working to calm public fears, U.S. officials on Wednesday repeatedly stressed the statistic of yearly flu deaths -- 36,000. Sebelius and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also rejected calls to close the borders, which several lawmakers reiterated Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
14. Though scientists have begun to relax about the initial toll, they're considerably less comfortable when taking into account the fall flu season. They remain haunted by the experience of 1918, when the relatively mild first wave of flu was followed several months later by a more aggressive wave. The longer the virus survives the more chances it has to mutate into a deadlier form. "If this virus keeps going through our summer," Palese said, "I would be very concerned."

Comments: There is good news and bad news in the article. I guess time will tell.

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20 "suspect"' swine flu cases in Miami-Dade

Date: 4/29/09

Link: http://www.miamiherald.com/1484/story/1024433.html

Source: Miami Herald

Main Points:

1. Twenty possible swine flu cases have been identified in Miami-Dade County, health officials said Wednesday. But it could be several days before the test results come back.
2. The cases are considered ''suspect'' because the patients have flu symptoms and have traveled to Mexico or other areas where the swine flu has been identified.
3. ''If they have fever and respiratory symptoms and they've traveled, they meet the definition [for testing],'' Conte said.
4. The viral samples, collected over the past few days, have been sent to the Florida Department of Health lab in Tampa, he said. Virologists there will analyze them to see if they can identify them as regular seasonal flu. If they can't, they will send them on to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for final analysis. Results might take five days or more, they said, because of a backlog in cases.
5. Suspected cases in Broward are also sent to a state lab in Miami, but Broward County Health Department spokeswoman Candy Sims wouldn't discuss numbers.
6. ''There may have been many samples submitted for testing, but that's all I can say,'' she said.
7. The health department is not seeking to quarantine the suspect individuals.
8. ''We're asking their families and doctors to have them remain in voluntary isolation,'' said Dr. Fermin Leguen, an epidemiologist for the health department.
9. He said the individuals were identified by private physicians, hospitals and health clinics.
10. ''The CDC is the only lab in the country that can do the analysis, and they're inundated with samples from the whole country,'' Conte said.

Comments: Let’s see what happens. I hope the truth comes out.

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WHO Moving Closer To Pandemic

Date: 4/29/2009

Link: http://www.miamiherald.com/1484/story/1023003.html

Source: Miami Herald

Main Points:

1. The World Health Organization warned Wednesday that the swine flu outbreak is moving closer to becoming a pandemic, as the United States reported the first swine flu death outside of Mexico, and Germany and Austria became the latest European nations hit by the disease.
2. In Geneva, WHO flu chief Dr. Keiji Fukuda told reporters that there was no evidence the virus was slowing, moving the agency closer to raising its pandemic alert to phase 5, indicating widespread human-to-human transmission.
3. But he said the health body was not yet ready to raise the level from its current level of 4, which means the virus is being passed among people. Phase 6 - the highest in the scale - is for a full-scale pandemic.

Comments: None

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WHO Calls Emergency Meeting

Date: 4/29/2009

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518323,00.html

Source: FOX News

Main Points:

1. The World Health Organization is calling a third emergency meeting of its flu experts in response to a spike in swine flu cases.
2. The panel meeting Wednesday will discuss the current alert level — at phase 4, two levels below the threshold for a full pandemic outbreak.
3. In response to the panel's earlier advice, WHO declared the outbreak an international public health emergency and raised its pandemic alert level, meaning the risk of a global outbreak has jumped.
4. WHO spokesman Dick Thompson said the agency's director-general Margaret Chan "has seen a jump in cases and she wants to have that evaluated by the outside experts."
5. He says that does not automatically mean there will be a change in the pandemic alert level. This comes in addition to a WHO scientific review meeting, also on Wednesday.

Comments: Something to keep an eye on. As I mentioned yesterday, phase 5 is around the corner and phase 6 is about 1½ - 2 weeks away in my opinion based on what I have read are the requirements for raising the level to that phase. IMHO (in my humble opinion), we are very close to phase 6, but they, the World Health Organization, do not want the public to panic just yet. Let’s just keep an eye on this for now.

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Swine Flu Update

Date: 4/28/2009

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518196,00.html

Source: FOX News

Main Points: The information in bold is important.

1. The Los Angeles County coroner's office is investigating two recent deaths for links to swine flu.
2. Coroner's Capt. John Kades says tests are being run on two bodies to see if swine flu was a factor in their deaths, but there is no confirmation that the disease killed them.
3. The Los Angeles Times reports on its Web site that both men's deaths were reported to the coroner's office on Monday.
4. Coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey told the paper that a Bellflower hospital reported the death of a 33-year-old Long Beach man who was brought in Saturday with symptoms resembling swine flu.
5. The other death was a 45-year-old La Mirada man who died April 22 at a Norwalk hospital.
6. The World Heath Organization has now confirmed person-to-person transmission of the swine flu virus in the United States.
7. The WHO said some students in New York City infected with swine flu had not traveled to Mexico and must have contracted the disease from classmates who had recently returned from a trip to the country.
8. That is significant because it suggests the swine flu virus that is suspected in dozens of deaths in Mexico is now strong enough to be passed among people in other countries, raising the likelihood of a flu pandemic.
9. There had been suspicions that the diseases were being passed from human to human outside of Mexico, but this is the first confirmation.
10. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are now 64 confirmed cases of swine flu in the U.S., while state officials reported at least four more.
11. The state of Indiana is reporting a new confirmed case, but Indiana's health commissioner said the infected person was "doing well." In addition to 28 confirmed swine flu cases in New York City, health officials say they're also investigating a possible cluster of swine flu cases at a special education school in Queens.
12. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday there are five new suspected cases; one of which is related to the Queens high school outbreak and two more under investigation. There is a 2-year-old boy in the Bronx in the hospital and is recovering, Bloomberg said, and he has an older brother who also exhibited flu symptoms, but tests for the flu are not complete.
13. Orlando may have a case swine flu. Chief medical officer for Adventist Health System, Loran Hauck, told WFTV-Orlando the case was diagnosed Tuesday morning.
14. "A case was diagnosed here in Orlando today on a tourist from Mexico who came to Disney attractions two days ago to visit," Hauck wrote in an email obtained by Eyewitness News WFTV.
15. The CDC and state health officials have not confirmed the Orlando case.
16. Officials from New Jersey, South Carolina and North Carolina say those states have "suspected" cases.
17. Dr. Nancy Cox of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said she believes the earliest onset of swine flu in the United States happened on March 28. Cordova said a sample taken from a 4-year-old boy in Mexico's Veracruz State in early April tested positive for swine flu. However, it is not known when the boy, who later recovered, became infected.

Comments: I really hope I am wrong, but this is only the beginning of the swine flu. A pandemic (Phase 6) will be issued within a couple of weeks.

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BREAKING NEWS

Authorities in California are conducting tests on the bodies of two people that have passed away. I am assuming that if tests are being conducted that these people must have had the swine flu. More info to follow on this developing story……..

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Q&A About Swine Flu

Date: 4/27/2009

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517982,00.html

Source: FOX News

Main Points:

A never-before-seen flu strain — a mix of pig, human and bird viruses — has turned killer in Mexico and is causing milder illness in the United States and elsewhere. While authorities say it's not time to panic, they are taking steps to stem the spread and urging people to pay close attention to the latest health warnings.

Here's what you need to know:

1. Q: How do I protect myself and my family?

      A: For now, take commonsense precautions. Cover your coughs and sneezes, with a tissue that you throw away or by sneezing into your elbow rather than your hand. Wash hands frequently; if soap and      water aren't available, hand gels can substitute. Stay home if you're sick and keep children home from school if they are.

2. Q: How easy is it to catch this virus?

      A: Scientists don't yet know if it takes fairly close or prolonged contact with someone who's sick, or if it's more easily spread. But in general, flu viruses spread through uncovered coughs and sneezes or —            and this is important — by touching your mouth or nose with unwashed hands. Flu viruses can live on surfaces for several hours, like a doorknob just touched by someone who sneezed into his hand.

3. Q: Is it treatable?

      A: Yes, with the flu drugs Tamiflu or Relenza, but not with two older flu medications.

4. Q: Why are people dying in Mexico and not here?

      A: That's a huge mystery. First, understand that no one really knows just how many people in Mexico are dying of this flu strain, or how many have it. Only a fraction of the suspected deaths have been             tested and confirmed as swine flu, and some initially suspected cases were caused by something else.

5. Q: What are the symptoms?

      A: They're similar to regular human flu — a fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people also have diarrhea and vomiting.

6. Q: How do I know if I should see a doctor?

      A: Health authorities say if you live in places where swine flu cases have been confirmed, or you recently traveled to Mexico, and you have those symptoms, your doctor can decide whether you need         treatment or to be tested.

7. Q: Did last winter's flu shot protect me?

      A: Probably not. Even though it did protect against the Type A family of flu viruses that this new swine flu belongs to, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ran some preliminary tests and doesn't       think it offered any cross protection.

8. Q: Why are people calling it swine flu if it's not just from pigs? Did it really come from pigs?

      A: Pigs do spread their own strains of influenza and every so often people catch one, usually after contact with the animals. This new virus is a mix of human, pig and bird viruses but the name, for ease,            was shortened to swine flu — and unlike typical swine flu, it is spreading person-to-person.

9. Q: So is it safe to eat pork?

      A: Yes. Swine influenza viruses don't spread through food.

Comments:

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Swine Flu Fears

Date: 4/27/2009

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,517958,00.html

Source: FOX News

Main Points:

1. Meanwhile, officials from New York State have confirmed 20 more cases of swine flu, bringing the confirmed total up to 28. The state is watching another 17 possible cases.
2. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are on high alert tracking swine flu cases throughout North America and the world. Spain was the first European country to confirm a case of swine flu, in an announcement earlier Monday. Suspected cases from New Zealand to Israel were raising concern that the new virus was spreading rapidly.
3. EU health officials urged Europeans on Monday to postpone nonessential travel to the United States and Mexico because of the swine flu virus, and Spanish health officials confirmed the first case outside North America. Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines dusted off thermal scanners used during the 2003 SARS crisis and were checking for signs of fever among passengers arriving from North America. South Korea and Indonesia introduced similar screening. China, Russia and Taiwan said it would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus amid a surging global concern about a possible pandemic.
4. The World Health Organization said Monday during a news conference it's confirmed 40 cases in the United States. It said none of the cases in the U.S. have been fatal, and the figures were confirmed by the U.S. Government Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
5. Still, the U.N. agency could decide in a matter of hours whether to raise its pandemic alert level as a result of the increasing number of confirmed swine flu cases in Mexico and elsewhere, said WHO spokesman Paul Garwood. "Today we've seen increased number of confirmed cases in several countries," Garwood told The Associated Press. "WHO is very concerned about the number of cases that are appearing, and the fact that more and more cases are appearing in different countries."
6. Mexico still appeared the epicenter, with 1,614 suspected swine flu cases and as many as 103 deaths in which the virus is suspected, according to Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova.
7. Obama told a gathering of scientists Monday that the administration is "closely monitoring" cases of swine flu, how many people have it and what the threat is. Obama also said the American people can expect to get regular and frequent updates about what Washington is doing. He said the swine flu threat dramatizes how the United States cannot allow itself to fall behind in scientific and medical research.
8. Dr. Richard Besser, acting head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday U.S. officials were questioning border visitors about their health. The U.S. government declared a public health emergency Sunday to respond to the outbreak, which also has sickened people in Kansas, California, Texas and Ohio. Health officials in Michigan said they have one suspected case. Many of them had recently visited Mexico.
9. Besser said Monday people can best protect themselves against the swine flu threat by taking precautions they were taught as kids, like frequently washing their hands and covering their mouths when coughing. The virus also appears responsive to the antiviral drug Tamiflu, which can be used to reduce the severity of the flu if used within two days of the appearance of flu symptoms. Roughly 12 million doses of Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to places where states can quickly get their share if they decide they need it, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.
10. Also, Baxter International Inc. has requested the swine flu virus sample from the World Health Organization so that it can research the virus and then develop a vaccine in what the company spokesperson said is half the time, approximately 13 weeks, of normal manufacturing, which is usually 26 weeks. Baxter specializes in research and development in emerging vaccines.

Comments: Keep your immune system very healthy to combat the flu. The swine flu has killed at least 149 people in Mexico. That stat above is outdated.

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Napolitano Draws Resignation Calls

Date: 4/23/2009

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/23/napolitano-draws-resignation-calls-gaffes-veterans-canada/

Source: FOXNews

Main Points:

1.      Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is under fire for what critics see as a string of gaffes, with a small but vocal group of conservatives calling for her to step down.

2.      The outrage continues to build over a report from her department that warned of the danger of right-wing "extremists," and singled out returning war veterans as susceptible to recruitment. 

3.      Napolitano expressed regret for the reference to veterans -- but she raised eyebrows again this week when she suggested that the Sept. 11 hijackers entered the United States through Canada, even though the 9/11 Commission determined they came to the United States from overseas. 

4.      "I don't know that the secretary understands the depth of the disruption that she's caused," Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, told FOX News on Thursday, referring to the report on extremist threats. "I think the appropriate thing to do is for her to step down and let's move on."

5.      Napolitano on Thursday acknowledged the criticism and reiterated that the extremist report was "not well written" and should not have been released in that form.

6.      She said she would meet with the leadership of the American Legion on Friday over the reference to returning war veterans. But she rebuffed those who say an apology is not enough. "That's what they're going to get," Napolitano said. 

7.      She also corrected her statements on Canada, admitting that she falsely suggested Sept. 11 terrorists crossed over from Canada.

8.      "I knew the minute it came out of my mouth it was wrong," she said. Napolitano first clarified her comments in a written statement that said: "I know that the September 11th hijackers did not come through Canada to the United States. There are other instances, however, when suspected terrorists have attempted to enter our country from Canada to the United States." 

9.      Her explanation was not so clear during the interview Monday with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that sparked the new controversy. The secretary was asked to elaborate on comments about giving the Mexican and Canadian borders equal treatment, even though Canada is not experiencing a violent drug war.

10.     "Yes, Canada is not Mexico, it doesn't have a drug war going on," she said. "Nonetheless, to the extent that terrorists have come into our country or suspected or known terrorists have entered our country across a border, it's been across the Canadian border. There are real issues there." Napolitano was asked if she was referring to the Sept. 11 hijackers.

11.     She said: "Not just those but others as well." This angered some Canadian officials, who called such claims an unfortunate "misconception" in media interviews. 

12.     Such criticism sprung in part from a speech Napolitano delivered last month at the Brookings Institution, in which she said "we shouldn't go light on one (border) and heavy on the other. If things are being done on the Mexican border, they should also be done on the Canadian border," she said. "This is one NAFTA, its one area, its one continent and there should be some parity there."

Comments: Another dope Obama’s vetting process brought into the White House. How stupid does someone has to be to say something that insensitive at the level she is at in the government?

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