News Reports for May 22, 2009

please do not post whole articles

just snippets and links, thanks!!

---

by: DemFromCT @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 04:36:07 AM UTC

NYC: long waits in ERs

Across New York, emergency room visits began to surge on Saturday, as schools closed like falling dominoes and word spread of an assistant principal who was in critical condition with swine flu; he died on Sunday night...

In accordance with city guidelines, "We're no longer routinely testing children who don't have underlying conditions," said Dr. Joy Nagelberg, chief of pediatric emergency medicine at Schneider.

"The overwhelming majority, you would look at them and say that they're fine," she said. "You would be surprised that they're here at all."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05...

---

by: DemFromCT @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 04:36:46 AM UTC

When is a pandemic not a pandemic?

http://www.nature.com/news/200...

Arguments about the pandemic status of swine flu are a distraction from tackling the outbreak, warns Declan Butler.

Declan Butler

As the influenza A (H1N1) swine flu virus fans out across the globe, there can be little doubt that we are already in the early stages of a flu pandemic. Nonetheless, there is considerable resistance to calling it a pandemic.

On 29 April, the World Health Organization (WHO) moved its assessment of the pandemic threat to phase 5 on its six-point scale, indicating that the new virus had caused "sustained community level outbreaks in two or more countries in one WHO region".

And that is where the threat level has sat ever since - one point short of official global pandemic status. The current definition of phase 6 requires that there are "sustained community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region". That criterion will almost certainly be met sooner or later.

   "Level 6 does not mean that we are facing the end of the world." Margaret Chan WHO

Yet this week Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, came under pressure from member states - including the United Kingdom and Japan - to move the goalposts to delay or prevent a move to phase 6, by redefining it to include an assessment of the severity of the disease, and not only its geographical spread.

Adding that requirement of severity may sound like common sense. But it is not, because the severity of a pandemic is unpredictable. The flu might fizzle out; or it could go away for months only to come back with a vengeance, creating as much devastation as the 1918 flu outbreak, which caused an estimated 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

[more]

---

by: Nimbus @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 08:41:03 AM UTC

Pandemics: good hygiene is not enough

http://www.nature.com/nature/j...

Commentary

Nature 459, 322-323 (21 May 2009) | doi:10.1038/459322a; Published online 20 May 2009

The US government is doing well to communicate uncertainty over swine flu. It must also help the public to visualize what a bad pandemic might be like, says Peter M. Sandman.
Pandemics: good hygiene is not enough

Hygiene is useful, but getting ready for a pandemic also requires stocking up on key supplies.

By the time you read this, the outbreak of H1N1 'swine flu' may no longer seem to be a worldwide threat and the disease may have receded from the headlines. As the initial fuss dies down, public-health experts will remain on high alert, but the media and public will move on to something else, muttering about fear-mongering.

And whatever the situation is like now, it won't be the end of the story. A mutated virus (more virulent or transmissible or resistant to drugs) could appear a few months later.

As a risk-communication professional, I have been watching the US government walk a tightrope between over-reassurance and over-alarm about a swine-flu outbreak that could easily turn out to be devastating, relatively mild or anywhere in between. The United States hasn't issued false reassurances that they will keep the pandemic from 'our' shores - a temptation to which dozens of governments have succumbed. Here I will show what else I think the country is doing right - and wrong.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is doing a superb job of explaining the current situation and how uncertain it is. The reiteration of uncertainty and what that means - advice may change; local strategies may differ - has been unprecedentedly good.

The CDC's biggest failure is in not doing enough to help people visualize what a bad pandemic might be like so they can understand and start preparing for the worst.

For the ordinary citizen, the US government has so far recommended only hygiene. It has told people to stay at home if they are sick and to wash their hands. It hasn't told people to stock up on food, water, prescription medicines or other key supplies. Two years ago in response to 'bird flu' worries, Mike Leavitt, the then US secretary of health and human services (HHS), was criss-crossing the country with that advice (http://www.pandemicflu.gov). Today, CDC officials won't say whether it is still good advice. It is.

   Why are officials so wary of describing the worst case vividly and urging people to prepare for that?

[more]

---

by: Nimbus @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 08:45:43 AM UTC

this bears highlighting again

The CDC's biggest failure is in not doing enough to help people visualize what a bad pandemic might be like so they can understand and start preparing for the worst.

For the ordinary citizen, the US government has so far recommended only hygiene. It has told people to stay at home if they are sick and to wash their hands. It hasn't told people to stock up on food, water, prescription medicines or other key supplies. Two years ago in response to 'bird flu' worries, Mike Leavitt, the then US secretary of health and human services (HHS), was criss-crossing the country with that advice (http://www.pandemicflu.gov). Today, CDC officials won't say whether it is still good advice. It is.

All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

---

by: SusanC @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 10:17:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

CDC PSA Did Recommend Prep - Briefly

Remember the CDC did have a PSA up on their website that did recommend preparing.
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/sho...

Community Planning for Swine Flu
April 28, 2009 6:45 PM ET

Audio
Audio - Download MP3 file

Script
Health officials are concerned about a new influenza virus of swine origin that's spreading from person to person. Officials are acting to combat this threat, but the outbreak might grow. So be prepared.

Store a two-week supply of food and water. Have two weeks of your regular prescription drugs at home. Keep health supplies on hand, including pain relievers and cold medicines.
For more details, visit www.cdc.gov/swineflu or call 1-800-CDC-INFO.

A message from HHS.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Swine Flu Preparedness

April 28, 2009 6:45 PM ET

Audio
Audio - Download MP3 file

Script
Health officials are concerned about a new influenza virus of swine origin that's spreading from person to person. Officials are acting to combat this threat, but the outbreak could grow. Prepare now.

Check with local leaders, schools, employers, and other community groups about their plans regarding an outbreak in your community. It's important for everyone to know what to do about swine flu.

For details, visit www.cdc.gov/swineflu or call 1-800-CDC-INFO.

A message from HHS.

Then almost immediately, they took the preparation advice out and substituted the "check with local leaders" language for both.

Just a guess, but 'fear of panic buying' was probably involved. (As if the CDC has the audience or impact of Johnny Carson or Oprah.) Of couse, a 2-wk supply of these things is just good common sense for general hazard preparation, but we would not want to use this as a "teachable moment" now would we?

I can imagine whoever thought it was right and good to follow existing policy of recommending individual and family prep (as shown on the various other official sites like pandemicflu.gov and many state pandemic sites) was dealt with firmly by their supervisors.

Good deeds will not go unpunished.

ITW(Joel J)
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
- Mark Twain
 

---

by: Into The Woods @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 18:23:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Pandemics: avoiding the mistakes of 1918

Nature 459, 324-325 (21 May 2009) | doi:10.1038/459324a; Published online 20 May 2009

John M. Barry

  1. John M. Barry is a Distinguished Scholar at the Center for Bioenvironmental Research of Tulane and Xavier Universities, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112, USA. He is author of The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History.
     Email: jbarry@tulane.edu

As bodies piled up, the United States' response to the 'Spanish flu' was to tell the public that there was no cause for alarm. The authority figures who glossed over the truth lost their credibility, says John M. Barry.

In the next influenza pandemic, be it now or in the future, be the virus mild or virulent, the single most important weapon against the disease will be a vaccine. The second most important will be communication. History has shown that to cut vaccine production time, minimize economic and social disruption, deliver health care and even food, governments need to communicate well - both between themselves and with the public.

The US response to the 1918 flu offers a case study of a communication strategy to avoid. The world response to the threat of an emerging flu in recent weeks shows that we have learned from the past. And there is much to learn.

The pandemic that began in January 1918 and ended in June 1920 killed an estimated 35 million-100 million people worldwide, or 1.9-5.5% of the entire population1. Although an estimated 2% of people died in Western countries, some large subgroups were affected disproportionately. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, based in New York, found that the disease killed 3.26% of its insured US industrial workers aged 25-45. Given that 25-40% of the population contracted the disease, case mortality would have been 8-13% in that population2.

   The communication strategy of either reassurance or silence had its effect. Its effect was terror.

The flu started slowly. In the United States, a small wave of the disease sputtered across the country in the spring of 1918, but went largely unnoticed except in military training camps. The effects were more noticeable in Europe, where many soldiers in the armies of the First World War fell ill. By the end of summer, a more lethal wave had surfaced in Switzerland. On 3 August, the US military received an intelligence report comparing the Swiss epidemic to the Black Death.

[snip]

Although a false alarm can be damaging, it is not nearly as damaging as silence - the type of silence that makes people believe the truth is being withheld. That is how trust disintegrates and how rumours - passed in the streets in 1918, today passed over Internet blogs - take hold and grow.

I don't much care for the term 'risk communication'. It implies that the truth is being managed. The truth should not be managed, it should be told. Only by knowing the truth can imaginary horrors be transformed into concrete realities. And only then can people start to deal with those realities, and do so without panic.

---

by: Nimbus @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 08:50:03 AM UTC

Link

http://www.nature.com/nature/j...

ITW(Joel J)
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
- Mark Twain
 

---

by: Into The Woods @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 18:32:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks Joel!

---

by: Nimbus @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 18:44:02 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Fear of Contagion

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05...

By PAULINE W. CHEN, M.D.
Published: May 21, 2009

Early on in my internship, a senior doctor pulled me aside after hearing a couple of other interns grouse with me about our workload. "Caring for patients is a privilege, a calling," he said. "Remember, no one forced you to sign your contract."

[snip]

Over the years, I have been stuck, cut, coughed on, scratched and splashed several more times. Each time, I feel the floor and my life fall away. I have never contracted a life-threatening infectious disease; but sometimes I catch myself wondering if it's only a matter of time. During the SARS epidemic a few years back, for example, health care workers were disproportionately affected; certain hospitals in affected areas reported that over half their workers contracted the disease.

And then every day there is news that swine flu may still reach pandemic proportions.

When I think about the possibility of becoming infected with a potentially deadly disease during the course of my work - when I allow myself to think about it - I struggle to reconcile my beliefs about a doctor's responsibilities and my fears about my own safety.

But, always, I arrive at the same conclusion. Like that senior doctor, I believe it's a privilege, a calling, to take care of patients. And I believe that in deciding to practice medicine, I have consented to an unspoken contract with the public, one that requires that I take care of those who are sick.

Lately, however, I have also begun to think that there is another side to that contract. Maybe there are obligations that the general public has to its health care workers.

[snip]

I recently spoke to Gerald M. Oppenheimer, a historian who has written extensively about the doctors who chose to care for AIDS patients just as the disease was emerging in the 1980s. It was a frightening period; no one understood how the illness was transmitted or infected.

"We are so used to seeing heroes as different, as people who are larger than life and who prepare all their lives for this event. But it's not that at all," Dr. Oppenheimer said. "[These doctors] were ordinary people who were responding to something that appeared to be very dangerous. And they were willing to take that risk because of their beliefs."

Supporting a national registry of occupational deaths in health care workers would go a long way toward recognizing and supporting some of the extraordinary decisions of ordinary individuals. And that registry, I believe, should be part of the agreement between health care workers and those they serve.

---

by: Nimbus @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 09:11:18 AM UTC

Swine flu: pandemic planning by dummies

http://scienceblogs.com/effect...

Category: Pandemic preparedness • Swine flu
Posted on: May 21, 2009 6:17 AM, by revere

Military planners are fond of saying that no battle plan survives the first contact with the enemy. The same can be said for the military's pandemic flu plans, although they aren't telling us exactly what those plans are. Some good reporting by Associated Press's Lolita Baldor has uncovered some of it:

The rapid spread of swine flu from Mexico surprised Pentagon officials, who had been focused on a possible Asian-borne pandemic in a response plan that would give the military a last-resort role in helping to impose quarantines and border restrictions.

Drafted and overhauled several times in recent years, the military's closely guarded plan for an influenza pandemic assumed that officials would have more time before the flu hit U.S. shores. The Associated Press obtained briefing documents about the military's pandemic contingency plan

   [snip]

But in the event of a widespread pandemic, the Pentagon maintains standing plans to use the active-duty military as a last-resort force to help law enforcement manage quarantines, limit state-to-state travel and restrict access to government buildings. (Lolita Baldor, AP)

This is enough information to make even a skeptic about conspiracy and plans for martial law at least think twice. And for that reason it's colossal stupidity to keep the plan "under wraps." It's hard to think of anything about the plan that, if known, would make it more difficult to carry out -- except if it included elements that were clearly unconstitutional, illegal and generally objectionable. Which, alas, is quite likely.

[snip]

Legislation that goes back 150 years makes it illegal for federal troops (not National Guard troops who are under the Governor's direction) to arrest people, search them or seize their property. Federal troops can only do this if the President declares an insurrection. Their role is limited to protecting the military itself, the country from attack from outside, and helping to keep the government to function, which might include assisting local law enforcement with transportation, resources and communication.

So is that what the plan envisions? They won't tell us. Why not?

   The Defense Department and Northern Command have refused to publicly release the details of their operations plan for pandemic influenza. Labeled "for official use only," the plan lays out the active-duty military's six-phase response to an influenza outbreak.

   In interviews, Pentagon officials repeatedly expressed concerns about alarming the public, stressing that the plan would only unfold in a crisis situation and under orders from the president.

If the military really wants to scare the crap out of everyone, just tell us they are planning to do things they can't tell us about because it might scare us. That's like pushing the button marked, "Imagination runs wild."

What a bunch of dummies. Doesn't give me much confidence in their foresight and therefore their ability to plan intelligently.

---

by: Nimbus @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 09:30:07 AM UTC

Dummies? Let's Get Some Perspective On DoD Pandemic Planning

I'm as willing as the next guy to don my tinfoil hat when it comes to over-reach of authority by govmint and military entities.  

But I am not sure I understand the heat coming off of Revere at Effect Measure on this occasion.  

Military support of civilian authorities is part of the pandemic response plan and has been now for years.  

Some of the problems the folks at DoD have been asked to plan for would fall under "worst case" (for example civil unrest due to pandemic impact.) We here may think that 'worst case' more likely than the general public, but to the general public (and us) it would be scary stuff. (Not that we'd panic, but we'd sure as hell be scared.)

Given the government's fear and trepidation over the small, tentative act of giving the smallest bit of preparation advice (CDC PSA given and withdrawn), it should be no surprise that they won't discuss in detail the kind of scenarios and related plans that they have requested and been given by the DoD to deal with real shtf issues.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see it and have spent time looking.  But I have not been able to dig up either the Pandemic Concept Plan (CONPLAN) or Operational Plan (OPLAN) for NORTHCOM.  

Anyone interested in a bit broader perspective on this might be interested in the following:

Department of Defense Implementation Plan for
Pandemic Influenza  August 2006
This document serves as planning guidance for the Services and Combatant Comands (such as NORTHCOM) for their preparation and response to a pandemic.  As far as I have been able to find, this is the most current available.
http://fhp.osd.mil/aiWatchboar...

GAO report number GAO-08-251 entitled 'Homeland Defense: U.S. Northern Command Has Made Progress but Needs to Address Force Allocation, Readiness Tracking Gaps, and Other Issues' which was released on April 17, 2008.
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d...

It indicates that the Pandemic plan was in final form (which should change it to an OPLAN perhaps) as of January 2008 (the concept plan #2591)and the Support of Civil Authorities CONPLAN 2501) was still being revised. (See Table 1)

GAO report number GAO-07-696 entitled 'INFLUENZA PANDEMIC
DOD Combatant Commands' Preparedness Efforts Could Benefit from More Clearly Defined Roles, Resources, and Risk Mitigation' which was released in June of 2007
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d...

In part I've loaded up the materials a bit to show that while some parts are missing, it's not a complete black hole that some seem intent on portraying.

They may not be perfect, but these docs sure don't look like a grab for martial law just yet.  

ITW(Joel J)
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
- Mark Twain
 

---

by: Into The Woods @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 02:11:40 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Australia ups swine flu pandemic threat level

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20...

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia upped its pandemic threat level, invoking sweeping powers allowing for the closure of schools, public places and major events as the number of confirmed swine flu cases reached 12.

A 10-year-old girl became the country's first case of human-to-human transmission after contracting the disease from a classmate who fell ill upon returning from a family holiday to the United States.

Two teenagers, one in Melbourne and another in Adelaide, were also diagnosed with the virus without having travelled overseas or come into contact with an identified case, prompting Canberra to escalate its pandemic management plan.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the shift to the "containment" phase gave the government greater scope to try to control the spread of the disease.

"It provides us with flexibility for social distancing measures such as school closures, which we have already seen in South Australia and Victoria," Roxon said.

"The contained phase is not the top phase. There are three more levels after that," she added.

The alert level was raised following a meeting of the Australian Public Health Committee, and came as five new cases of the virus were confirmed, including the 10-year-old.

[snip]

Australia's chief medical officer Jim Bishop said it was vital the outbreak was brought under control before the country entered the southern hemisphere winter, traditionally flu season.

More than 11,000 cases and 85 deaths have been recorded since the outbreak of A(H1N1) influenza emerged in Mexico and the United States a month ago, and the world remains at flu alert level five, signalling an "imminent pandemic."

---

by: Nimbus @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 09:39:51 AM UTC

All good articles.

Thanks Nimbus.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 11:34:57 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Swine flu hitting local schoolkids

Link to full article

[Please follow the link - the numbers offer useful feedback on the ramifications of policy.  Useful graph.]

By Sandi Doughton
Seattle Times science reporter

The rapid spread of so-called "swine flu" among local school children shows that the virus is not fading away, a top regional health official said Thursday.

"We're not out of the woods at all," said Dr. Jeff Duchin, chief of epidemiology for Public Health - Seattle and King County.

Nearly 70 percent of the confirmed cases in King County are in children between the ages of 5 and 18, Duchin told a special meeting of the King County Board of Health.

Confirmed cases are "only the tip of the iceberg" in terms of the total number of infections. Area emergency rooms also are reporting increasing numbers of sick children, he said.

The levels of infection in school-aged children seem to be slightly higher than during a normal flu season, Duchin said. Most of the illnesses are mild, though 11 school-aged children were hospitalized....

But in children who have never seen anything like this virus, the course of the illness and the infectious period are longer than with an ordinary flu strain, Duchin said. And that appears to be contributing to the bug's spread, as sick children circulate instead of staying home for at least a week.

---

by: InKy @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 10:14:42 AM UTC

Egypt:Swine hunt death squads: commentary

Pig stuff
By Salama A Salama

Bird flu hit us a few years ago and to this day the government doesn't know what to do with it. Bird flu has already spread in our villages, farms and cities and many have contracted it. Yet, we're still at a loss about it. We're still wondering what vaccine to use, and whether people and birds can co-exist. To this day, we don't know the extent of the threat bird flu poses to the country. One day the prime minister or the agriculture minister says that bird flu is over. Another day, experts tell us that they just found a vaccine that would rid the country from it. So roughly speaking, we're still at risk, but shouldn't worry too much. This alone makes me worry.

Recently another strain of flu, just as potentially deadly, hit the country. Swine flu, which appeared in Mexico and spread fast across the globe, was billed by the World Health Organisation as a major international health peril. Initially, our government went into denial, telling us it has everything under control. A few days later, it reversed its position, telling us that the country has a swine population of 350,000 that is a menace to all humans in this country.

Then the swine hunt began. Death squads, with and without masks, were detailed to annihilate the swine population in a hurry. Small details, as the proper disposal of animal carcasses, were left for later. Tens of thousands of pigs were rounded up and executed. Only a few were properly slaughtered for storage and later sale. No differentiation was made between healthy and infected animals -- as far as we know none of the swine population was found infected with that particular virus.

full article
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/200...

(good commentary)

United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com

---

by: cottontop @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 10:29:59 AM UTC

Study Detects Flu Immunity in Older People

don't know if this was posted already

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

Antibodies Found In One-Third of Americans Over 60

A substantial portion of older Americans may have some immunity to the swine-origin H1N1 influenza virus, a finding that may prove useful when and if a vaccine to the new flu strain becomes available.

[snip]

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday that a study using stored blood samples found that one-third of people older than 60 have antibodies that might protect them from infection with the new virus. If further research is able to better define who has partial immunity, those people might need only one dose of vaccine, not two.

[snip]

Samples from children 6 months to 9 years old contained virtually no antibodies against the swine flu strain. However, 6 percent of people 18 to 40, 9 percent of people 18 to 64 and 33 percent of people older than 60 had the antibodies.

When blood samples taken after the same people had received seasonal flu vaccine were tested, the percentage with active antibodies against the swine flu strain increased in the two older groups. Specifically, for the 18-to-64-year-olds, it increased from 9 to 25 percent; and for the older-than-60 group, from 33 to 43 percent.

this may mean that the seasonal flu vaccine provides partial immunity, particularly if you've taken it more than once



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

---

by: SusanC @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 10:31:23 AM UTC

Do humans have cross-type immunity? 2005 journal asks

...Only 5.6% of the adults who had had symptomatic influenza A in earlier study years developed influenza during the pandemic, despite living in households with participants who had influenza. In contrast, 55.2% of the children who had had symptomatic influenza A contracted it again . These findings suggest an impact of accumulated heterosubtypic immunity during a pandemic. Such immunity, as well as its implications for vaccination, should be further investigated.

http://www.journals.uchicago.e...

This study considers flu 'before and during the 1957 pandemic (during which a shift from subtype H1N1 to H2N2 occurred)".  
[There was some kind of coding problem with this, so I had to post pieces at a time in yesterday's news, making it hard to read; it seems relevant here, although it's about immunity from previous infection, not vaccines.]

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor

---

by: Jane @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 14:05:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

possible leaked CDC Director's Update Brief

The source that acquired the possible leaked document is less than savory to put it mildly, but caused a stir in the macroeconomic world with possible leaked bank "stress test" results a month or so ago.

The document looks real, it would be beyond the scope of anyone not well versed in the data to fake.  So, I figured it best to share here.  Not much new data, very nice charts.

They do pay close attention to the world zeitgeist of concern.  For example, the Communication Summary and Themes-

Themes
• 2 deaths linked to H1N1: St. Louis man and 16-month old boy in NYC
• School closings in NYC
• WHO meeting vaccine development
-"proving much tougher than expected"; taking "longer than expected"; now "delayed"
• Nations urge WHO to change criteria, consider severity not just spread
Emerging Themes
• Controversy over change in school closing guidelines,
-NYC: "Guidelines did not call for that school to be closed and public is upset...school
should have been closed sooner"
-Schools across the country continue to close
-Strong local reaction to deaths in the community: NYC hospitals
-seeing hundreds
more people than usual

The link goes directly to pdf download-

http://turnerradionetwork.com/...

---

by: mercury john @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 12:04:34 PM UTC

El Paso/Juarez/Southern New Mexico

May 22, 2009
http://www.elpasotimes.com/new...
El Paso:  Most of the swine flu cases in the region have been mild, but experts warned Thursday that this is no time to get complacent.  Health authorities have documented 54 cases of swine flu in El Paso County, 29 in Juárez and 22 in four Southern New Mexico counties. They have attributed only one death to virus-related complications, that of an already ailing 38-year-old army officer in Juárez.  

Kyle L. Johnson and German Rosas-Acosta, virologists at the University of Texas at El Paso, said they have been following the swine flu developments closely since Mexico first reported the outbreak in April.   Rosas-Acosta, who specializes in influenza studies, said much is still unknown about the new strain of A (H1N1) swine flu virus, which combines human, swine and bird flu viruses.

"We were expecting a pandemic (widespread) flu, but we were surprised it was not the avian flu," Rosas-Acosta said.

Avian A (H5N1) or bird flu, which started in Southeast Asia, has been reported in Africa, the Pacific, Europe and the Near East, according to the World Health Organization. The mortality for bird flu cases is 50 to 60 percent, and is highest for children and young adults.  Rosas-Acosta said, "The current swine flu has an intriguing genetic makeup, an incredible mix."  Johnson said a pig can have all three viruses, "but finding the origin of this new virus will be difficult." She speculated environmental factors might have contributed to Mexico's large number of deaths, 75, most of them in the capital, which has more than 20 million people packed together, a high altitude (7,350 feet above sea level) and significant air pollution.
(snip)

Rosas-Acosta said the swine flu could continue to circulate in its current mild form, or it could return stronger, producing more severe symptoms, hospitalizations and deaths.
Johnson said the swine flu virus was unusual also because it broke out when the flu season typically ends.  Since the first cases were reported in Mexico City, the flu has spread to 48 of the 50 states and 41 countries. Most cases are in North America with 5,710 in the United States, 3,892 in Mexico and 719 in Canada.  The two scientists said another worrisome characteristic of the swine flu is how it is attacking younger people in general.

"The average age for cases in El Paso County is 15 years old," said Tammy Fonce-Olivas, spokeswoman for the city of El Paso Department of Public Health.

Health authorities are watching to see how the virus will continue to spread in the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season is just beginning.  Rosas-Acosta, a native of Colombia, said the flu is transmitted year-round in his country because of the climate. Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil and Colombia recently have confirmed cases of the swine flu.  Most of the hospitalizations and deaths attributed to the virus involved people with compromised immune symptoms and other health problems.
This could spell trouble for countries large populations of HIV and tuberculosis-infected people from low-income backgrounds.
(more)

"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson

---

by: History Lover @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 12:48:33 PM UTC

WHO chief says world should prepare for severe flu

http://www.reuters.com/article...

Fri May 22, 2009 9:08am EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - Countries should be ready for more serious H1N1 flu infections and more deaths from the newly discovered virus, World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan said on Friday.

The highly-contagious strain must be closely monitored in the southern hemisphere, where the winter season is beginning, as it could mix with seasonal influenza and mutate in "unpredictable ways," she said.

"In cases where the H1N1 virus is widespread and circulating within the general community, countries must expect to see more cases of severe and fatal infections," she said. "We do not at present expect this to be a sudden and dramatic jump in severe illness and deaths."

According to the WHO's latest tally, the strain has infected more than 11,000 people in 42 countries, and killed 86 of them.

Chan said in her closing remarks to the WHO's week-long annual congress that countries in the developing world needed to act quickly to improve their monitoring for the virus, which has caused mainly mild symptoms in most patients so far but could cause more serious effects as it spreads.

"This is a subtle, sneaky virus," she said. "We have clues, many clues, but very few firm conclusions."

She also stressed there is little real difference between the WHO's current pandemic alert level of 5 and the highest of 6 in terms of preparedness measures taken, and said she would consult experts before opting to raise it again.

[more]

---

by: Nimbus @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 13:33:52 PM UTC

Guess by now we know what that means!

"She also stressed there is little real difference between the WHO's current pandemic alert level of 5 and the highest of 6 in terms of preparedness measures taken, and said she would consult experts before opting to raise it again."

The last decision was based on certain governments saying "no, don't raise it to phase 6 because it is to hot of a political subject and to costly". I guess these are "the expects" she is referring to here.  She caved in then and will do so again. IMO, Ms Chan is ALL about politics instead of the welfare of the world's population.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 14:22:49 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

she is required to consult experts

It's written into the International Health Regulations, which has the status of international law.



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

---

by: SusanC @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 14:36:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Experts, yes.

Experts in the field of medicine and science. Does it say she is to base her decisions on what is politically correct or only if it doesn't cost to much? No, it doesn't! The World Health Organization is suppose to be all about protecting and caring about the health of the world's population. It is not suppose to be about kissing the b*tts of the politicians and caving in so that they don't have to face reality and deal with it!!!

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 15:07:18 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I agree totally!! n/t

All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

---

by: SusanC @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 19:58:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Those B*tts Belong To Politicians That Control

the purse-strings and also to a large degree control the operational cooperation that the WHO recieves.

One of the primary rules of leading an organization made up of and funded by a large number of other independent organizations is that when interacting with one of your many bosses: Know what to kiss and when.

Chan has a degree of responsibility, but we don't see what is going on behind the scenes.

The WHO-Member nations (or critical corporate sponsors) that are throwing up roadblocks or sitting back and doing nothing to tear them down are more likely the real culprits.

But as with any other circus, we throw pies at the person sitting in the cage.  

ITW(Joel J)
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
- Mark Twain
 

---

by: Into The Woods @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 20:44:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Swine flu genes circulated undetected for years

http://www.google.com/hostedne...

Genes included in the new swine flu have been circulating undetected in pigs for at least a decade, according to researchers who have sequenced the genomes of more than 50 samples of the virus.

Researchers led by Rebecca Garten of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied samples of the flu isolated in Mexico and the United States.

The findings suggest that in the future pig populations will need to be closely monitored for emerging influenza viruses, according to the report, released Friday by the journal Science.

First detected last month, the H1N1 flu has sickened more than 11,000 people in 41 countries and killed 85, according to the World Health Organization, whose figures often trail those of individual countries. Mexico has reported 75 swine flu deaths, the United States 10, and there has been one death each in Canada and Costa Rica.

Garten's team said the exact combination of the virus' eight gene segments has not previously been reported among swine or human influenza viruses.

They said all of the segments originated in bird hosts and then began circulating in pigs at various times in history, from 1918 through 1998. Infected pigs might not have shown signs of illness, but gave the viruses an opportunity to mix with other viruses and create more dangerous strains.

cont.

---

by: UK - Bird @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 14:45:52 PM UTC

UK - Update on confirmed swine flu cases 22 May 2009

http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPA...

Five further patients under investigation in England have today been confirmed with swine flu bringing the current total number of confirmed UK cases to 117.

Testing of the swine flu virus is carried out by the Health Protection Agency's laboratories.

The three new confirmed cases in England are children from the West Midlands region - all returning travellers.

169 cases are currently under laboratory investigation in the UK.

---

by: UK - Bird @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 14:52:27 PM UTC

Corrected working

The five new confirmed cases in England - two adults from London and two from the South East and one child from the West Midlands region. There are two cases of returning travellers, one is linked to a previously confirmed case and in the two other cases the source of infection remains under

Comment Now it makes sense.

---

by: UK - Bird @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 17:23:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

First cases of swine flu in Russia

google translation from French
First cases of swine flu in Russia

MOSCOW, May 22, 2009 (AFP) - Friday 22 May 2009 - 16h33 - A first case of swine influenza A (H1N1) has been registered in Russia on a Russian citizen returning from the United States, announced the chief Russian sanitary , Gennady Onichtchenko, quoted Friday by the Interfax agency.
http://www.izf.net/upload/AFP/...

Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy. Ralph Waldo Emerson

---

by: mojo @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 15:33:51 PM UTC

also reported in Russia Today

The Russia Today story is already in English, no translation needed...

http://www.russiatoday.com/Top...

---

by: MilwaukeeGuy @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 16:23:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

U.S. directs $1 billion for new swine flu vaccine

http://www.reuters.com/article...

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. government said on Friday it is setting aside $1 billion to help companies develop a vaccine against the new strain of H1N1 influenza that is sweeping the world.

U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the money will be used for clinical studies over the summer and for commercial-scale production of vaccine ingredients for the government's stockpile of drugs and vaccines that is on hold in case of a pandemic of influenza.

[snip]

"The U.S. government will share as much information as possible from the results of these clinical studies with the World Health Organization and the global community so that other countries can benefit from the U.S. efforts to determine dosage, safety and effectiveness," HHS added.

World health experts have not yet decided if a vaccine is needed against the new strain of swine flu, which has infected more than 11,000 people in 42 countries, and killed 86.

[more]

 



"History never looks like history when you are living through it." ~John W. Gardner

---

by: tess @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 17:20:17 PM UTC

Sixth swine flu case confirmed in Taiwan

http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn...

Taipei, May 22 (CNA) The Central Epidemics Command Center confirmed yet another case of swine flu, officially known as influenza A (H1N1) , late Friday, bringing the number of infected patients in Taiwan to six.

The sixth patient is the 5-year-old daughter of the fourth confirmed patient, a 30-year-old Taiwanese woman who, along with her daughter, returned home Wednesday from Manila on Philippine Airlines flight RP896, said center spokesman Shih Wen-yi.

Because the girl attended her kindergarten class -- affiliated with Guangfu Elementary School in Taipei County's Zhonghe City -- as usual Thursday, the school will be closed until May 29, Shih said.

All of the elementary school's 1,589 faculty members and students should observe their health during the week-long period, and the kindergarten's 119 teachers, staff members and students should confine themselves to their homes and take anti-flu medicine for 10 days, Shih added.

[More]

 



"History never looks like history when you are living through it." ~John W. Gardner

---

by: tess @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 17:28:22 PM UTC

When is a flu pandemic not a flu pandemic?

http://www.newscientist.com/bl...

H1N1 swine flu continues to roam the planet. In the US, cases are thought to be in the hundreds of thousands. In Japan, hundreds of teenagers have caught it, despite no obvious connections with Mexico or the US.

Yet in Europe, health authorities are not testing widely for it and are prescribing drugs as though they could still contain it. And in Geneva, health ministers have fought this week to keep the World Health Organization from following its own rules and calling this a pandemic.

So are we in a pandemic or not? And have we got the whole idea of a flu pandemic completely wrong?

No. There has been a phenomenal mismatch between quite sensible rules about how to declare a flu pandemic, and equally sensible rules about how to respond. The mismatch was wholly predictable, yet somehow no one saw this coming.

Cont.

---

by: magdelaine @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 17:58:54 PM UTC

Swine Flu Must Be Global to Spark Pandemic, WHO Says (Update2)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/...

May 22 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu would need to be global and show significant harm to people before declaring a pandemic, the World Health Organization said, as the number of new reported cases declined and surveillance was pared in Japan and the U.K.

Japan's swine flu taskforce eased policies on quarantine and flight inspections and downplayed the severity of the virus in new guidelines issued today that include ending mandatory on- board health checks of passengers arriving from the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The U.K.'s Health Protection Agency said its staff will stop routinely meeting flights from Mexico today after a decline in new cases and hospitalizations there.

The WHO said 134 more people were confirmed to have the new H1N1 flu strain since yesterday, the fewest since May 17. Dozens of new cases in Japan this week prompted speculation that the bug had gained a foothold in Asia, and may compel the WHO to raise the pandemic alert to the highest of its 6-level scale.

"What has become clear is that it is not just the spread of the virus that is considered important; it really is the impact on the populations," said Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's assistant director-general for health security and environment, at a press briefing in Geneva. "This input needs to be considered from a phase 5 to phase 6 change."

(Cont.)

(Comment - doesn't that reflect less testing and not fewer real cases? :P )

---

by: magdelaine @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 18:07:09 PM UTC

Possibly

And it makes me wonder whether officials are actually turning a blind eye to this in Europe/Asia...and in so doing, allowing the virus more opportunity to evolve and mutate undetected.

---

by: Jonathan @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 20:18:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

2 Rome schools closed over swine flu fears

http://www.pr-inside.com/rome-...

(AP) - Italy's Health Ministry has closed two schools in Rome as a precaution after five students returned from a trip to New York with swine flu.
The ministry ordered the high schools to shut down Friday, a day after the new cases were confirmed. It was not immediately clear how long the schools would stay closed.
The students were on a school trip to New York and returned on Tuesday with flu symptoms. The ministry said they were treated in hospitals in the Italian capital.

The students brought the number of confirmed swine flu cases in Italy to 15. Most of those infected in the country were returning travelers who caught the flu in Mexico or the United States. All the patients have recovered.  

---

by: magdelaine @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 18:08:30 PM UTC

Philippines records first case of new flu

http://www.alertnet.org/thenew...

MANILA, May 21 (Reuters) - The Philippines has recorded its first case of the new H1N1 flu virus, a 10-year-old girl who had returned from a trip to the United States and Canada, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said on Thursday.

The Filipino girl returned on May 18 and was stopped at the airport when found to be suffering from a fever, sore throat and a cough, Duque told reporters. He said the girl was confirmed to be suffering from H1N1 on Wednesday but was recovering.  

---

by: magdelaine @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 18:10:08 PM UTC

Tests of new flu virus suggests more are out there

http://www.newsdaily.com/stori...

By Maggie Fox, Health
and Science Editor  Posted 2009/05/22 at 12:03 pm EDT

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2009 (Reuters) - The most complete analysis yet of the new H1N1 swine flu virus shows it must have been circulating undetected for years, most likely in pigs, researchers said on Friday.

They said it is important to start doing better surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs, as they are clearly a potential source of human pandemics.

"Pigs have become a reservoir of viruses with the potential to cause significant respiratory outbreaks or even a possible pandemic in humans," the international team of researchers reported in the journal Science.

"This virus might have been circulating undetected among swine herds somewhere in the world," they added.

[snip]

They also said they cannot yet find out how this particular virus acquired the ability to infect people. It does not have the usual mutations that allow animal viruses to jump into people and then to pass easily from one person to another.

[more]

 



"History never looks like history when you are living through it." ~John W. Gardner

---

by: tess @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 20:48:48 PM UTC

About 18 swine flu cases found on US military bases in Kuwait

http://www.fayobserver.com/art...

Approximately 18 people on U.S. military bases in Kuwait have tested positive for swine virus, a U.S. Central Command spokeswoman said today.

They are the first cases reported in Kuwait. It remains unclear whether the virus has spread to the civilian population.

The names and units of the infected people were not immediately available.

Maj. Kristi Beckman said everyone who tested positive for the disease was quarantined in military health facilities approved by officials from the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health.

[snip]

The country is aggressively screening anyone arriving in Kuwait to prevent the virus from entering the country, Beckman said. Anyone who exhibits symptoms of the disease is immediately isolated and tested using WHO and Centers for Disease Control guidelines, Beckman said.

"The embassy in Kuwait has been working with the Kuwait Ministry of Health and other U.S. military elements in Kuwait just to assure we're safeguarding the health of all residents in Kuwait," Beckman said.

---

by: Nimbus @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 21:52:48 PM UTC

that age group.

This virus is going to spread explosively in military camps.  I hope they have enough tamiflu for these young people/



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

---

by: SusanC @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 22:52:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

NYC strategy

   

The update on the flu-like illness that prompted the closure of MS 113 through next Tuesday is that there's probably not going to be an update. As in the cases of the other 30 or so public schools that it has shut down due to illness in recent weeks, the Health Department does no plan to test the students who went home sick from MS 113 for swine flu, which prefers to be known as the H1N1 virus.

   The odds are that they do have H1N1, and knowing for sure would not help much at this point in the epidemiological cycle, said Jessica Scaperotti, a spokeswoman for the Health Department.

   "Because we already know that the H1N1 virus is in the community, and most likely if you are sick right now you probably have the H1N1 virus, there's no need for us to test every possible single case," he said. "So we're only testing in cases where there is severe illness or an unusual cluster."

http://fort-greene.blogs.nytim...

---

by: DemFromCT @ Fri May 22, 2009 at 23:50:14 PM UTC

Son of NYC Swine Flu Victim Pitches no Hitter

Need a good cry?  Read on...

Associated Press

The son of a New York City assistant principal who died of swine flu has pitched a no-hitter while wearing a cap bearing his father's initials.

Jordan Wiener is the son of Mitchell Wiener, a 55-year-old assistant principal at an intermediate school in Queens. Jordan attends Robert F. Kennedy High School in Queens and struck out 14 batters on Thursday.

His father was buried Wednesday after dying of the virus on Sunday.

The 18-year-old senior says he felt his father giving him the power to win. He says his dad "would want me to do what I do best, and that's pitching."

The 10-0 victory was over Brooklyn's Prospect Heights School.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other...

---

by: LauraB @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 00:30:25 AM UTC

CDC press conference

Anne Schuchat, CDC:

So, while on the national level, the picture is looking better, there's some places where it's still very, very active, and we don't want people to think that they're out of the woods yet.  We also need people to remember that this is a new virus, and it could keep circulating during the summer, even though usual seasonal influenza viruses become very rare in the summer.  It's also a new virus that could come back in a worse way in the fall.  So, those are important cautions about what's going on today and what may be coming in the next weeks or months.

---

by: DemFromCT @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 02:37:58 AM UTC

Nancy Cox, CDC

Richard Knox: Yes, please.  How much concern do you currently have as the new H1N1 gets established throughout the world, and maybe especially in Asia and perhaps in places like Egypt, where H5N1 is still circulating that there could be another reassortment event between H1N1, the new H1N1 and H5N1, and how good do you think we'll be picking that up?

Nancy Cox: That's another very good question.  Influenza viruses, because of their ability to reassort, do pose a particular challenge to us.  And so, we're concerned first and foremost about reassortment between seasonal influenza viruses and the currently circulating seasonal influenza viruses and this new H1N1 virus.  And we feel that this is a much more likely reassortment event to occur simply because there's so many more human infections with seasonal influenza viruses.Nevertheless, we are somewhat concerned about the possibility that the new H1N1 virus could reassort with H5N1 viruses if they co-infected humans.  But the frequency of infection of humans by H5N1 virus is just very low.  It's a relatively rare infection.  And so, that's not where our biggest concern is for reassortment.  Thank you.

 

---

by: DemFromCT @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 02:39:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

exactly what I think n/t

All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

---

by: SusanC @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 04:09:09 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Genetic analysis of swine flu virus released

http://www.sciencenews.org/vie...

Components have existed for years but are combined in a new way

By Tina Hesman Saey
Web edition : 5:58 pm

Components of the H1N1 swine flu virus have been circulating undetected for years, but the virus combines the bits and pieces in a way never before seen, a detailed genetic analysis reveals.

The analysis, published online May 22 in Science, pinpoints the origins of each of the virus's components. It suggests that current influenza vaccines probably won't provide protection from the virus, but that the virus is susceptible to some antiviral drugs and will be amenable to new vaccine development. A separate study of the virus's neuraminidase protein (the N in H1N1), published May 20 in Biology Direct, also shows that the virus is sensitive to some drugs but that parts of the protein important for vaccine development and antibody therapies are already changing.

[snip]

Genetic analysis of the new H1N1 virus reveals that three of its genes, including the hemagglutinin gene (the H in H1N1), originally came from the 1918 Spanish influenza virus and have been present in pigs ever since. The genes have not changed much, likely because pigs do not live long enough to get reinfected with the same virus, Cox says.

[snip]

Viruses isolated from patients during the first two weeks of the current outbreak already have changes on the outer surface on the neuraminidase protein that could interfere with antibodies against the virus or alter the effectiveness of future vaccines. But none of the changes have altered the parts of the protein targeted by antiviral drugs, such as Tamiflu or Relenza.

 



"History never looks like history when you are living through it." ~John W. Gardner

---

by: tess @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 02:43:29 AM UTC

For Carol

I'll be using the NewsDiary log-in for about 15-20 minutes to create the next set of news diaries.  I'll post when I'm done.

---

by: AlohaOR @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 02:50:09 AM UTC

All done (n/t)

---

by: AlohaOR @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 03:05:25 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thank you AlohaOR

Thank you for setting up the diaries for the coming week and for everything else you do behind the scenes on fluwikie!!!

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 03:08:39 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Egypt: Avian influenza WHO update 16 - 5 confirmed cases

http://www.who.int/csr/don/200...

22 May 2009 -- Between 13 to 20 May, the Ministry of Health of Egypt reported five new confirmed human case of avian influenza.

The first case is a 4-year old boy from Kafr Sakr District, Sharkia Governorate. His symptoms began on 10 May 2009 and he was admitted to Zagazig Fever Hospital on 11 May. He is in a stable condition.

The second case is a 3-year old boy from Mahalla District, Gharbia Governorate. His symptoms began on 12 May and he was admitted to Mahalla Fever Hospital on 15 May 2009. He is in a stable condition.

The third case was a 4-year old girl from Meet Ghamr District, Dakahlia Governorate. Her symptoms began on 9 May 2009 and she was admitted to Mansoura Chest Hospital on 17 May 2009. She died on 18 May 2009.

The fourth case is a 4-year old boy from Sherbin District, Dakahlia Governorate. His symptoms began on 18 May 2009 and he was admitted to Mansoura Chest Hospital on the same day. He is in a stable condition.

The fifth case is a 3-year old boy from Sohag District, Sohag Governorate. His symptoms began on 17 May 2009 and he was admitted to Sohag Fever Hospital on 18 May 2009. He is in a stable condition.

Investigations into the source of infection indicated that all the above cases had close contact with dead and sick poultry. All five cases have been confirmed by the Egyptian Central Public Health Laboratory.

Of the 74 cases confirmed to date in Egypt, 27 have been fatal.

---

by: AlohaOR @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 03:08:25 AM UTC

U.S. Asks Firms to Make Swine Flu Vaccine

Link to full article

By David Brown and Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, May 23, 2009

The federal government has asked three drug companies to make enough swine flu vaccine to immunize at least 20 million people in key positions in health care, national security and emergency services, officials said yesterday.

The order, announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, is part of a $1 billion investment in immediate production and testing of vaccine against the newly emerged strain of the H1N1 flu virus. Further orders for potentially hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine are expected....

"The order is for bulk quantities of a killed version of the virus and two different adjuvants, chemical additives that boost the immune system's response and allow a lower dose of vaccine to be used, which in turn stretches the supply. The money will also pay for testing pilot lots of the vaccine in human volunteers.

The vaccine ingredients would not be combined and "finished" into usable vaccine until late summer. Special permission from the Food and Drug Administration will be needed for the adjuvants to be used, as neither one is currently approved for use in this country....

HHS has contracts with five companies to make pandemic vaccine. The department has activated the ones with Sanofi Pasteur, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline. It is still negotiating with the two others, MedImmune and CSL, an Australian company.

---

by: InKy @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 03:44:22 AM UTC

Please post new news stories to...

 

News Reports for May 23, 2009

Thank you!

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 04:10:16 AM UTC

Even though there were fewer articles

available today online, you folks managed to find and post the best of them. Great job......thank you!

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Sat May 23, 2009 at 04:14:35 AM UTC

[ Parent ]