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Author Topic: H1N1 - Swine Flu - Novel Flu - Information  (Read 151884 times)
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« on: April 25, 2009, 03:41:16 PM »

updated 12 minutes ago 
 

 
   World Health Organization: Swine flu could spread globally

Story Highlights

NEW: Swine flu could develop into a pandemic, WHO top official says

68 die from swine flu in Mexico; eight cases in U.S., all have recovered

CDC finds seven of 14 samples of Mexican virus identical to U.S. virus

"This situation has been developing quickly," CDC director says



http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/25/swine.flu/index.html



« Last Edit: May 29, 2009, 02:03:03 PM by klaasend » Logged

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« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2009, 03:44:17 PM »

     
(CNN) -- The presence of swine flu in Mexico and the United States is "a serious situation" that could develop into a pandemic, the World Health Organization's director-general said Saturday.

 
Women wearing masks wait at a health clinic Saturday in Mexico City.

 1 of 3  "This is an animal strain of the H1N1 virus and it has pandemic potential because it is infecting people," Dr. Margaret Chan said Saturday speaking to reporters by phone.

In Mexico, 68 people have died from swine flu, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.

Eight people were confirmed to have swine flu in the United States; six in California and two in Texas, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

All eight have recovered, according to CDC's acting Director Richard Besser.

CDC has tested 14 samples of the virus from Mexico and found seven were identical to the virus found in the U.S. cases, Besser said.  Watch an alarmed Mexico City react with face masks, cancellations »

"This situation has been developing quickly," he said. "This is something we are worried about."

Asked whether the committee would address raising the agency's alert concerning the virus to 6, a pandemic alert and the highest level on WHO's scale, Chan said, "Yes, indeed."

The alert stands at 3, meaning "No or very limited human-to-human transmission."

Chan said Saturday that WHO does not have indications of similar outbreaks elsewhere.

However, she said, "The situation is evolving quickly. A new disease is by definition poorly understood."

White House spokesman Reid Cherlin said Saturday that the White House was taking the situation "seriously and monitoring for any developments."

Health officials in Texas announced Saturday the temporary closure of Byron Steel High School in Cibolo, Texas, where swine flu was confirmed in two students earlier this month.

"The purpose is to reduce the risk to students, staff and the community," said Dr. Sandra Guerra, a public health official in Guadalupe County, Texas.

Mexico City has closed all of its schools and universities until further notice because of the virus, and on Saturday, the country's National Health Council said all soccer games would be played Saturday without public audiences.  Watch as CNN's Anderson Cooper and panelists discuss the epidemic in Mexico »

More than 1,000 people have been sickened in the country, and officials are trying to determine how many of those patients had swine flu, the country's health minister, Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos, said.

In the United States, New York health officials announced Friday they are testing about 75 students at a Queens school for swine flu after the students exhibited flu-like symptoms this week.

A team of state health department doctors and staff went to the St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens on Thursday after the students reported cough, fever, sore throat, aches and pains.

No cases of swine flu were confirmed there. The test results are expected as early as Saturday.

None of the U.S. patients had direct contact with pigs, though a patient who lives in San Diego had traveled to Mexico, the CDC said.  Watch for more on the U.S. cases »

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Besser said officials had not found common exposure or behavior among the eight U.S. patients.

"We have not seen any linkage at all between the cases in Texas and California," he said.

The new virus has genes from North American swine influenza, avian influenza, human influenza and a form of swine influenza normally found in Asia and Europe, said Nancy Cox, chief of the CDC's Influenza Division.

Swine flu is caused by a virus similar to a type of flu virus that infects people every year but is a strain typically found only in pigs -- or in people who have direct contact with pigs.

There have, however, been cases of person-to-person transmission of swine flu, the CDC said. Officials found evidence, for example, that a patient transmitted the disease to health care workers during a 1988 apparent swine flu infection among pigs in Wisconsin.

Health Library
MayoClinic.com: Influenza (flu)
Experts think coughing, sneezing and contaminated surfaces spread the infection among people.

The new strain of swine flu has resisted some antiviral drugs, officials said.

The human influenza vaccine's ability to protect against the new swine flu strain is unknown, and studies are ongoing, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's interim deputy director for science and public health program. There is no danger of contracting the virus from eating pork products, she said.


Canada is also testing samples from Mexico "and has placed a travel alert for travel to Mexico," CDC spokesman David Daigle told CNN by e-mail.

The United States had not issued any travel alerts or advisories by late Friday, but some private companies issued their own warnings.
 

CNN's Caleb Hellerman and Elaine Quijano contributed to this report.

All About Mexico • Influenza • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2009, 03:49:47 PM »

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION INFORMATION ON LINK BELOW

 
WHO is coordinating the global response to human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) and monitoring the corresponding threat of an influenza pandemic. Information on this page tracks the evolving situation and provides access to both technical guidelines and information useful for the general public.



Latest information
24 April 2009
Influenza-like illness in the United States and Mexico



http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html


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« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2009, 03:56:09 PM »

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC) LINK FOR SWINE FLU INFORMATION:

Swine Influenza (Flu)
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza that regularly cause outbreaks of influenza among pigs. Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans, however, human infections with swine flu do occur, and cases of human-to-human spread of swine flu viruses has been documented. See General Information about Swine Flu.

From December 2005 through February 2009, a total of 12 human infections with swine influenza were reported from 10 states in the United States. Since March 2009, a number of confirmed human cases of a new strain of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus infection in California, Texas, and Mexico have been identified. An investigation into these cases is ongoing. For more information see Human Swine Flu Investigation.

General Information about Swine Flu
Questions and answers and guidance for treatment and infection control

Human Swine Flu Investigation Apr 24, 2009
Information about the investigation of human swine flu in California


http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

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« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2009, 04:13:02 PM »

How swine flu spreads in humans

Reuters
April 24, 2009

A new strain of influenza is infecting people in Mexico and the United States and may have killed up to 60 people in Mexico, global health officials said today.

The CDC has analyzed samples of the H1N1 virus from some of the U.S. patients, all of whom have recovered, and said it is a never-before-seen mixture of viruses from swine, birds and humans.


Here are some facts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about how swine flu spreads in humans:

• Swine flu viruses typically sicken pigs, not humans. Most cases occur when people come in contact with infected pigs or contaminated objects moving from people to pigs.

• Pigs can catch human and avian or bird flu. When flu viruses from different species infect pigs, they can mix inside the pig and new, mixed viruses can emerge.


• Pigs can pass mutated viruses back to humans and they can be passed from human to human. Transmission among humans is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu - by touching something with flu viruses and then touching their mouth or nose, and through coughing or sneezing.

. Symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to those of seasonal influenza - sudden fever, coughing, muscle aches and extreme fatigue. This new strain also appears to cause more diarrhea and vomiting than normal flu.

• Vaccines are available to be given to pigs to prevent swine influenza. There is no vaccine to protect humans from swine flu although the CDC is formulating one. The seasonal influenza vaccine may help provide partial protection against swine H3N2, but not swine H1N1 viruses, like the one circulating now.

• People cannot catch swine flu from eating pork or pork products. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-flu-box25-2009apr25,0,5114253.story
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« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2009, 07:05:27 PM »

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/25/swine.flu/index.html?iref=mpstoryview


CNN....STORY HIGHLIGHTS.....MORE CASES OF SWINE FLU REPORTED

Story Highlights
NEW: Two cases confirmed in Kansas; more suspected in New York

NEW: Mutated form concerns World Health Organization

Swine flu could develop into a pandemic, WHO top official says

68 die from swine flu in Mexico; all schools closed in Mexico City
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« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2009, 02:08:40 PM »

Print
 Play Video AP  – Obama: Swine flu cause for concern, not alarm
 Slideshow:Swine Flu
 Play Video Video:World rushes to contain swine flu AP
 Play Video Video:Swine flu: pandemic fears grow Reuters
 
Reuters – A passenger arriving on a flight from Mexico wears a mask at Barcelona's airport April 27, 2009. …


By BRYAN WALSH Bryan Walsh – 44 mins ago
Concern that the world could be on the brink of the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years escalated Sunday as France, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Spain reported potential new cases in which people had been infected with swine flu and Canada confirmed several new cases. In the U.S., where 20 such infections have been confirmed, federal health officials declared a public-health emergency and are preparing to distribute to state and local agenciesa quarter of the country's 50 million-dose stockpile of antiviral drugs. Meanwhile, in hard-hit Mexico, where more than 80 people have died from what is believed to be swine flu, the government closed all public schools and canceled hundreds of public events in Mexico City.


Though the World Health Organization (WHO) is referring to the situation as a "public-health emergency of international concern," the apparent emergence in several countries of an entirely new strain of H1N1 flu virus has led some scientists to believe that it is only a matter of time before the WHO declares pandemic status, a move that could prompt travel bans to infected countries. "We are clearly seeing wide spread," says Michael Osterholm, a pandemic risk expert who runs the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. "There is no question." (See a photogallery on swine flu hitting Mexico.)


Health officials in Washington were quick to point out Sunday that none of the 20 cases identified in the U.S. so far has been fatal; all but one of the victims has recovered without needing to be hospitalized. Officials also noted that only one American has been infected so far who had not recently traveled to Mexico - a woman in Kansas got sick after her husband returned from a business trip in that country, where he became ill - but that could change as more intensive disease surveillance begins. "As we continue to look for more cases, I expect we're going to find them," said acting Centers for Disease Control (CDC) director Richard Besser.


In the U.S., where cases have also been found in California, Texas, and New York City, the declaration of a public-health emergency is part of what federal officials termed an "aggressive response" to the outbreaks. In addition to releasing from the national stockpile some 12.5 million doses of the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza - which scientists say has so far been effective against the H1N1 swine flu virus - the Department of Homeland Security will begin "passive surveillance" to screen people entering the U.S. Any traveler coming from a country with a confirmed human swine flu infection will be questioned, checked for symptoms and potentially isolated if they are found ill. Though the CDC has issued public warnings about the more serious outbreak in Mexico, there are no recommendations from Washington against traveling to the neighboring country. (Read about the vaccine being prepared in case of a pandemic.)


That is in contrast to the more extreme actions of some other governments, including Hong Kong, where officials on Sunday urged residents to avoid going to Mexico. Hong Kong officials also ordered the immediate detention in a hospital of anyone who arrives with a fever above 100.4 F, respiratory symptoms and a history of traveling over the past seven days to a city with a confirmed case of swine flu infection.


But Washington officials Sunday did their best not to overstate the situation and emphasized that their response wasn't out of the ordinary. "I wish we could call it declaration of emergency preparedness, because that's really what it is in this context," said Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. "We're preparing in an environment where we really don't know ultimately what the size or seriousness of this outbreak is going to be."


See the top 10 medical breakthroughs of 2008.


See TIME's pictures of the week.

Right now health officials around the world are trying to take precautions without inciting panic. Here are just a few of the questions facing them - and ultimately, us as well:


1. Is this a flu pandemic?


The influenza virus is constantly mutating. That's why we can't get full immunity to the flu, the way we can to diseases like chicken pox, because there are multiple strains of the flu virus and they change from year to year. However, even though the virus makes us sick, our immune systems can usually muster enough of a response so that the flu is rarely fatal for healthy people.


But every once in awhile, the virus shifts its genetic structure so much that our immune systems offer no protection whatsoever. (This usually happens when a flu virus found in animals - like the avian flu still circulating in Asia - swaps genes with other viruses in a process called reassortment, and jumps to human beings.) A flu pandemic occurs when a new flu virus emerges for which humans have little or no immunity and then spreads easily from person to person around the world. In the 20th century we had two mild flu pandemics, in 1968 and 1957, and the severe "Spanish flu" pandemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 40 to 50 million people worldwide.


The WHO has the responsibility of declaring when a new flu pandemic is underway, and to simplify the process, the U.N. body has established six pandemic phases. Thanks to H5N1 avian flu, which has killed 257 people since 2003 but doesn't spread very well from one human to another, we're currently at phase 3. If the WHO upgraded that status to phase 4, which is marked by a new virus that begins to pass easily enough from person to person that we can detect community-sized outbreaks, such a move would effectively mean that we've got a pandemic on our hands.


The H1N1 swine flu virus has already been identified as a new virus, with genes from human and avian flus as well as the swine variety. And since it is apparently causing large-scale outbreaks in Mexico, along with separate confirmed cases in the U.S. and Canada and suspected cases in other countries, it would seem that we've already met the criteria for phase 4. But though an emergency committee met on April 25 to evaluate the situation, the WHO hasn't made the pandemic declaration yet. Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's interim assistant director-general for health, security and environment, said on Sunday that its experts "would like a little bit more information and a little bit more time to consider this." The committee is set to meet again by April 28 at the latest.


As health officials have repeatedly emphasized, with good reason, the swine flu situation is evolving rapidly, and more lab tests are needed to ascertain exactly what is going on in Mexico and elsewhere. "We want to make sure we're on solid ground," said Fukuda, a highly respected former CDC official and flu expert.


2. What will happen if this outbreak gets classified as a pandemic?


Moving the world to pandemic phase 4 would be the signal for serious containment actions to be taken on the national and international level. Given that these actions would have major implications for the global economy, not to mention the effects of the public fear that would ensue, there is concern that the WHO may be considering politics along with science. "What the WHO did makes no sense," says Osterholm. "In a potential pandemic, you need to have the WHO be beyond question, and (April 25) was not a good day for them."


Of course, declaring a pandemic isn't a decision that should be taken lightly. For the WHO, phase 4 might trigger an attempt to keep the virus from spreading by instituting strict quarantines and blanketing infected areas with antivirals. But we appear to have missed the opportunity to contain the disease at its source since the virus is already crossing borders with ease. "We cannot stop this at the border," said Anne Schuchat, the CDC's interim director for science and public health. "We don't think that we can quench this in Mexico if it's in many communities now."


That would leave the WHO and individual countries to fall back on damage control, using antivirals and old-fashioned infection control - like closing schools, limiting public gatherings and even restricting travel - to slow the spread of the virus. But such efforts would likely inflict serious damage on an already faltering global economy - and the truth is, we don't know how well those methods will work.

3. Why have the U.S. cases been so much milder than the ones in Mexico?

This is the question that has health officials from Geneva to Washington puzzled. In Mexico, swine flu has caused severe respiratory disease in a number of patients - and even more worryingly, has killed the sort of young and healthy people who can normally shrug off the flu. (Fueling such concerns is the fact that similar age groups died in unusually high numbers during the 1918 pandemic.) Yet the cases in the U.S. have all been mild and likely wouldn't have even garnered much attention if doctors hadn't begun actively looking for swine flu in recent days. "What we're seeing in this country so far is not anywhere near the severity of what we're hearing about in Mexico," said the CDC's Besser. "We need to understand that."

Some of the difference may be due to the fact that Mexico has apparently been grappling with swine flu for weeks longer than the U.S. As doctors across the U.S. begin checking patients with respiratory symptoms for swine flu, CDC officials expect to see more severe cases in the U.S. as well - and as better epidemiological work is done in Mexico, we'll probably hear about more mild cases there too. Right now, however, the true severity of the H1N1 swine flu virus is still an open question, whose answer could change over time. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic began with a fairly mild wave of infections in the spring, but the virus returned a few months later in a far more virulent form. That could happen with the current swine flu as well. "It's quite possible for this virus to evolve," said Fukuda. "When viruses evolve, clearly they can become more dangerous to people."

4. How ready is the U.S. - and the world - to respond to a flu pandemic?

In some ways, the world is better prepared for a flu pandemic today than it has ever been. Thanks to concerns over H5N1 avian flu, the WHO, the U.S. and countries around the world have stockpiled millions of doses of antivirals that can help fight swine flu as well as other strains of influenza. The U.S. has a detailed pandemic preparation plan that was drafted under former President George W. Bush. Many other countries have similar plans. SARS and bird flu have given international health officials useful practice runs for dealing with a real pandemic. We can identify new viruses faster than ever before, and we have life-saving technologies - like artificial respirators and antivirals - that weren't available back in 1918. "I believe that the world is much, much better prepared than we have ever been for dealing with this kind of situation," said Fukuda.

At the same time, the very nature of globalization puts us at greater risk. International air travel means that infections can spread very quickly. And while the WHO can prepare a new swine flu vaccine strain in fairly short order, we still use a laborious, decades-old process to manufacture vaccines, meaning it would take months before the pharmaceutical industry could produce its full capacity of doses - and even then, there wouldn't be enough for everyone on the planet. The U.S. could be particularly vulnerable; only one plant, in Stillwater, Penn., makes flu vaccine in America. In a pandemic, that could produce some ugly political debates. "Do you really think the E.U. is going to release pandemic vaccine to the U.S. when its own people need it?" asks Osterholm.

Indeed, the greatest risk from a pandemic might not turn out to be from the swine flu virus itself - especially if it ends up being relatively mild - but what Osterholm calls "collateral damage" if governments respond to the emergency by instituting border controls and disrupting world trade. Not only would the global recession worsen - a 2008 World Bank report estimated that a severe pandemic could reduce the world's GDP by 4.8% - but we depend on international trade now for countless necessities, from generic medicines to surgical gloves. The just-in-time production systems embraced by companies like Wal-Mart - where inventories are kept as low as possible to cut waste and boost profit - mean that we don't have stockpiles of most things. Supply chains for food, medicines and even the coal that generates half our electricity are easily disruptable, with potentially catastrophic results. Though we'll likely hear calls to close the border with Mexico, Osterholm points out that a key component used in artificial respirators comes from Mexico. "We are more vulnerable to a pandemic now than at any other time over the past 100 years," he says. "We can't depend on ourselves."

5. So how scared should we be?

That depends on whom you ask. Officials at the CDC and the WHO have emphasized that while the swine flu situation is serious, they're responding with an abundance of precautions. Even Osterholm, who has been highly critical of the U.S. government's long-term failures to better prepare for a pandemic, gives the CDC a 9 out of 10 for its response so far. Outside of Mexico, the swine flu hasn't looked too serious yet - unlike during the SARS outbreaks of 2003, when an entirely new virus with no obvious treatment took the world by surprise. In the U.S., the normal flu season is winding down, which should make it easier for public-health officials to pick out swine flu cases from run-of-the-mill respiratory disease. And there are simple things that people can do to protect themselves, like practicing better hygiene (wash hands frequently and cover mouth and nose when sneezing) and staying away from public places or traveling if they feel sick. "There's a role for everyone to play when an outbreak is ongoing," said Besser.

But the truth is that every outbreak is unpredictable, and there's a lot we don't know yet about the new swine flu. There hasn't been a flu pandemic for more than a generation, and there hasn't been a truly virulent pandemic since long before the arrival of mass air transit. We're in terra incognito here. Panic would be counterproductive - especially if it results in knee-jerk reactions like closing international borders, which would only complicate the public-health response. But neither should we downplay our very real vulnerabilities. As Napolitano put it: "This will be a marathon, not a sprint." Be prepared.

Sent to me by my sister....heading was Yahoo News

Fox News states 2 minutes ago....Flu count in NYC is now 28....giving the US a total of 40.
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« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2009, 08:28:32 PM »

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/?s_cid=swineFlu_outbreak_internal_001
 
Swine Flu Update from CDC.....4/27/09......1:00 pm.....
 
States and Number of Laboratory Confirmed Cases
What You Can do to Stay Healthy
More on the Situation
Travel Notices
Antiviral Drugs


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« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2009, 08:30:09 PM »

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_04_27/en/index.html
 
World Health Organization - Update 3 - 4/27/09
 
....evolving rapidly....WASH HANDS

 
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html
 
World Health Organization Website on Swine Flu
 
Latest Information
Director's Statement
Guidance for surveillance
...plus Picture of 3 Pigs....LOL


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« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2009, 08:39:32 PM »

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090428/ap_on_he_me/med_swine_flu
 
WHO raises its pandemic alert level on swine flu...
and what it means to go from 3 to 4.....and more.
 
This is an AP article that is quite good and was released 25 minutes ago.


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« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2009, 09:59:33 PM »

We ate at a Mexican restaurant tonight to demonstrate the risks we face. When we are in phase 5 and 6 of a pandemic it will be more difficult to enjoy the normal daily life we take for granted sometimes.
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« Reply #11 on: April 28, 2009, 09:12:27 AM »

I married an OCD guy and well the Swine Flu is on his radar at this point, so he went searching last night for respitory masks......... aparently there are many other OCD people out there and Walgreen, Walmart, Target, CVS, and Publix are all completely sold out down here.......

After he called to tell me this and FINALLY asked for MY direction, I sent him to Home Depot.  Home Depot has respitory masks for the lawn working type people so it blocks out pollin and debris that float in the air.  So if you too are OCD or just plain old stir crazy over this Swine Flu, may I suggest Home Depot!!
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« Reply #12 on: April 28, 2009, 10:25:49 AM »

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090428/ap_on_he_me/med_swine_flu
 
Official:  U.S. flu victims may be infecting others
 
MEXICO CITY – The swine flu epidemic crossed new borders Tuesday with the first cases confirmed in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region, as world health officials said they suspect American patients may have transmitted the virus to others in the U.S.
 
Most people confirmed with the new swine flu were infected in Mexico, where the number of deaths blamed on the virus has surpassed 150.

But confirmation that people had become infected outside Mexico would indicate that the disease was spreading beyond travelers returning from the country, World Health Organization spokesman Gregory Hartl told reporters on Tuesday in Geneva.

Hartl said the source of some infections in the United States, Canada and Britain was unclear.

Hartl said WHO was waiting for U.S. authorities to announce that a number of students at a New York high school have passed the virus on to one another after their return from a spring vacation in Mexico. "I think we might have one other instance in the U.S.," he said.

Pressed by reporters to elaborate, he declined, saying it was up to U.S. authorities to provide further information.

Possible scenarios include students getting infected who did not travel to Mexico, or students who traveled there but became infected only after returning to the United States, or family members getting infected from returning students.

WHO calls this "community transmission" and says it's a key test for gauging whether the spread of the virus has reached pandemic proportions. The swine flu has already spread to at least six countries besides Mexico, prompting WHO officials to raise its alert level on Monday.

"At this time, containment is not a feasible option," said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization.

WHO raised the alert level to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country. Monday was the first time it has ever been raised above Phase 3.

Flu deaths are nothing new in the United States or elsewhere. The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. But the new flu strain is a combination of pig, bird and human viruses that humans may have no natural immunity to.

New Zealand reported Tuesday that 11 people who recently returned from Mexico contracted the virus. Tests conducted at a WHO laboratory in Australia had confirmed three cases of swine flu among 11 members of the group who were showing symptoms, New Zealand Health Minister Tony Ryall said.

Officials decided that was evidence enough to assume the whole group was infected, he said.

Israel's Health Ministry confirmed Tuesday the region's first swine flu case in the city of Netanya. The patient, 26, recently returned from Mexico and had contracted it. A hospital official said the patient had recovered, but will remain hospitalized until the health ministry approves his release.

Another suspected case has been tested at another Israeli hospital but results are not in, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, a second case was confirmed Tuesday in Spain, Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said, a day after the country reported its first case. The 23-year-old student, one of 26 patients under observation, was not in serious condition, Jimenez said.

With the virus spreading, the U.S. prepared for the worst. President Barack Obama said the outbreak is "not a cause for alarm," but the U.S. stepped up checks of people entering the country and warned Americans to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico.

"We anticipate that there will be confirmed cases in more states as we go through the coming days," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on NBC's "Today" show on Tuesday.

The Food and Drug Administration late Monday issued emergency guidance that allows certain antiviral drugs to be used in a broader range of the population in case mass dosing is needed to deal with a widespread swine flu outbreak.

The European Union health commissioner suggested that Europeans avoid nonessential travel both to Mexico and parts of the United States. Canada warned Tuesday against nonessential travel to Mexico. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus.

Mexico, where the number of deaths believed caused by swine flu rose by 50 percent on Monday to 152, is suspected to be the center of the outbreak. But Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova late Monday said no one knows where the outbreak began, and implied it may have started in the U.S.

"I think it is very risky to say, or want to say, what the point of origin or dissemination of it is, given that there had already been cases reported in southern California and Texas," Cordova told a press conference.

Dr. Nancy Cox of the CDC has said she believes the earliest onset of swine flu in the U.S. was 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.

A decision by WHO to put an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. Phase 6 is for a full-blown pandemic, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.

Fifty cases — none fatal and most of them mild — were confirmed in the United States. Including the New Zealand, Israeli and new Spanish reports, there were 92 confirmed cases worldwide on Tuesday. That included six in Canada, one in Spain and two in Scotland.

Amid the alarm, there was a spot of good news. The number of new cases reported by Mexico's largest government hospitals has been declining the past three days, Cordova said, from 141 on Saturday to 119 on Sunday and 110 Monday.

Symptoms include a fever of more than 100, coughing, joint aches, severe headache and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea. Many victims have been in their 30s and 40s — not the very old or young who typically succumb to the flu.

So far, no deaths from the new virus have been reported outside Mexico.

It could take four to six months before the first batch of vaccines are available, WHO said. Some antiflu drugs do work once someone is sick.

The best way to keep the disease from spreading, the CDC's acting director, Richard Besser, said, is by taking everyday precautions such as frequent handwashing, covering up coughs and sneezes, and staying away from work or school if not feeling well.

World stock markets fell Tuesday as investors worried that any swine flu pandemic could derail a global economic recovery.

__

AP writers Mark Stevenson in Mexico City, Mike Stobbe in Atlanta, Ray Lilley in Wellington, New Zealand, Aron Heller in Jerusalem, Frank Jordans in Geneva and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.



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« Reply #13 on: April 28, 2009, 10:50:02 AM »

I married an OCD guy and well the Swine Flu is on his radar at this point, so he went searching last night for respitory masks......... aparently there are many other OCD people out there and Walgreen, Walmart, Target, CVS, and Publix are all completely sold out down here.......

After he called to tell me this and FINALLY asked for MY direction, I sent him to Home Depot.  Home Depot has respitory masks for the lawn working type people so it blocks out pollin and debris that float in the air.  So if you too are OCD or just plain old stir crazy over this Swine Flu, may I suggest Home Depot!!


Hi Dolce....good things to do now are HANDWASHING.....or use of Purell or Germ-X type gel....cover mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, then wash hands well.  Tell hubby that there is a Kleenex product that says it kills 99.9% of cold and flu viruses....(does not say swine flu virus)....
I use this all the time for respiratory.  And good common sense works wonders.  If there is someone
ill at work, send them home (they should be checked) and if you are ill, do not go to work. Smile

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« Reply #14 on: April 28, 2009, 01:08:41 PM »

One confirmed case in another State - Indiana  via CNN Headline News

CNN reports that the CDC will only update the numbers once a day. 
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« Reply #15 on: April 28, 2009, 02:00:06 PM »

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.

The state of Indiana is reporting a new confirmed case, but Indiana's health commissioner said the infected person was "doing well."

State Health Commissioner Judy Monroe said the person was a young adult from northern Indiana, but released no other details on how the person might have acquired the illness.

She said the case had been confirmed in testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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.

"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

State Health Commissioner Judy Monroe said the person was a young adult from northern Indiana, but released no other details on how the person might have acquired the illness.

She said the case had been confirmed in testing by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518196,00.html
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« Reply #16 on: April 28, 2009, 02:17:11 PM »

Ernst + Young employee has swine flu: report

Tue Apr 28, 2009 12:55am EDT  Email | Print | Share| Reprints | Single Page[-] Text

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Another New York City case of swine flu has been confirmed, striking an employee at the accounting firm of Ernst & Young, CBS News reported late on Monday.

Workers at the company's Times Square offices were notified on Monday that an employee had been diagnosed with swine flu.

The virus has afflicted at least 28 students of a New York City private high school, all of whom were reported to be recovering from mild cases. The school was closed on Monday.

An Ernst & Young e-mail said its employee became ill Sunday after contact with a family member who had been exposed to the virus. It said woman employee had been treated and was resting at home and was doing well.

The employee had not been at work since Thursday. The e-mail said that since the disease has a 24-hour incubation period, it was unlikely that other Ernst & Young workers would be affected but they were given the option of working from home, CBS reported.

Employees of the firm also were told that areas of the building that could possibly have been contaminated had been closed for cleaning, and that anyone who had contact with the affected employee had been so notified.

Swine flu has killed up to 149 people in Mexico and sickened about 2,000 so far, official said. More than 40 mostly mild cases have been diagnosed in five U.S. states, with more expected. There have been no known U.S. fatalities.

Representatives of Ernst & Young could not be reached late Monday for confirmation.

WNBC television reported that New Jersey health officials suspect five probable cases of swine flu in people who recently traveled to Mexico or California. The symptoms are reportedly mild and no one has been in hospital, the station said citing the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.

Test results from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are expected within two days.

(Reporting and writing by Chris Michaud; Editing by Bill Trott)
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« Reply #17 on: April 28, 2009, 02:22:20 PM »

Dolce...thank you for that article....!

I was going to mention before that hubby should avoid large crowds....like Disney World....!
That is the kind of case that is truly worrisome.  How many people would that one person
have had close contact with in those two days?  I believe close contact is between 3 - 6 feet.
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« Reply #18 on: April 28, 2009, 02:31:55 PM »

Dolce...thank you for that article....!

I was going to mention before that hubby should avoid large crowds....like Disney World....!
That is the kind of case that is truly worrisome.  How many people would that one person
have had close contact with in those two days?  I believe close contact is between 3 - 6 feet.
I was just discussing this with my Mother.  What a selfish thing for a person to do!  Knowingly sick go to a theme park....ugh!!
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« Reply #19 on: April 28, 2009, 02:43:40 PM »

O/T  NYC health chief says ‘many hundreds’ of school kids sick with suspected swine flu

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

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