News Reports for June 13, 2009

Roche SC plans no new production until Fall

Saturday, Jun. 13, 2009

Flu fighter made at S.C. plant
Roche Carolina sticks with plan to increase Tamiflu production this fall

By NOELLE PHILLIPS - nophillips@thestate.com

Roche Carolina in Florence will ramp up its production of Tamiflu this fall.
However, the World Health Organization's decision this week to declare the swine flu as a pandemic will not cause the plant to speed up its plans, said Pete Mazzaroni, public affairs manager at the plant.
Roche Carolina is not producing more of Tamiflu's main ingredient, known as oseltamavir phosphate, this summer, Mazzaroni said.
The plant will start production in late 2009, he said. It takes a few months to put the steps in place and to get the supply chain going, he said.
"Roche has the global capacity to produce 400 million courses annually," he said.

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by: redcloud54 @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:45:34 PM CDT

Link

http://www.thestate.com/busine...

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by: NewsDiary @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:52:39 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Link

Sorry, don't know yet how to do it any other way but this:

http://www.thestate.com/busine...

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by: redcloud54 @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:50:14 PM CDT

You did it correctly (n/t)

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by: NewsDiary @ Fri Jun 12, 2009 at 23:53:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Oops

I should have posted that in my non-super-hero alter-ego.  

I think the headline that you posted might be a little misleading, however.  The article is about the fact that this factory is just beginning to ramp up production.  As I read the article, they don't currently have the ability to produce the Tamiflu ingredient (oseltamavir phosphate): "The plant will start production in late 2009".

The article states that they don't have plans to speed up that production date, but it doesn't discuss whether it would be feasible to speed up production or whether there are regulatory/supply/construction constraints that limit the schedule.  Since Roche has an opportunity to make a lot of money on Tamiflu right now, I suspect that there are some formidable constraints or they would move up the production as quickly as they could.

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by: AlohaOR @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 00:01:15 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

You could very well be right

Didn't look at it from that angle.  I was just shocked to see the words, given what has recently transpired.

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by: redcloud54 @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 00:13:31 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thai swine flu cases double

Thailand - Authorities urged the public to remain calm as swine flu cases more than doubled in Thailand on Saturday and New Zealand warned a sharp rise inits infections could be imminent, days after the UN declared a pandemic. Hong Kong and the Philippines also confirmed more cases. None of the countries have yet reported any fatalities.
(Snip)
So far, the virus appears to be mild but experts say it might have a more devastating effect in people with underlying health problems.

Swine flu infections in Thailand soared to 106 Saturday, up from 47 on Friday.

Senior Health Ministry official Paichit Warachit said about 80 percent of the cases reported only mild symptoms and had not gone to see the doctor when they first got sick. "That's why the disease is spreading," Paichit told The Associated Press.

(Note: So are 20% more severe? That number (to me) seems to be higher than what we have been seeing in other countries for people seeking medical attention.)

(Snip) http://www.thejakartapost.com/...

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

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 06:27:09 AM CDT

NYC: community cases seem to decline

from NYC DOH website:

ED visits are ILI (influenza like illness, not tested). Admissions are tested/proven cases.

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by: DemFromCT @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 06:43:06 AM CDT

UK: Swine flu cases rise above 1,000

The number of swine flu cases in the UK has risen above the 1,000 mark but the Health Secretary has said people "should not panic" over the pandemic. The rise came as the number of people in Scotland diagnosed with the virus jumped by 83, the biggest daily increase there so far.

The announcement of the rise in Scotland followed the confirmation by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) of another 72 cases in England, as well as one new case in Wales. There was also one new case in Northern Ireland on Friday. The total UK number now stands at 1,005, according to Government figures.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said on Friday that 28 people have been admitted to hospital but the majority had made a "full and fast" recovery. He told MPs there has been "significant increases" in recent days in the number of new cases in certain parts of the UK, most notably Scotland. But he said the UK was well-prepared for dealing with a pandemic.

There has now been 574 cases confirmed in England, 420 in Scotland, eight in Northern Ireland and three in Wales. Continued: http://itn.co.uk/79ee8dd9e6c99...

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

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 06:55:59 AM CDT

Experts On Modeling Infectious Disease Spread

Scientists involved in the National Institutes of Health's Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study (MIDAS) are developing computational tools to study the emergence, spread and containment of contagious outbreaks, including H1N1.

The MIDAS researchers are currently applying their earlier work on modeling pandemic flu to understand the origin, infectiousness and likely spread of the 2009 H1N1 virus. (Snip)

While models can't forecast exactly what will happen, they do let researchers, health officials and policymakers evaluate different possible intervention strategies, aiding the development and implementation of control measures both before and during an outbreak. http://www.medilexicon.com/med...

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

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 07:04:31 AM CDT

LANL, UCLA study monitoring of pandemics

Hunting for the source of the next pandemic disease is a bit like hunting for a unique and strategically placed feather amid a 100-acre Southeast Asian animal farm.

The building blocks for a massive outbreak could be hiding anywhere, just waiting to come together inside the bodies of birds, pigs or humans, among the myriad other creatures out there. Keeping an eye on disease risk in the billions of animals we rely on daily for food and other products is a daunting task at best, but scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of California, Los Angeles, are developing a new strategy that could make the task much easier.

They've developed a piece of equipment that can automatically determine the genetic sequence of viruses much faster than anything like it. And they're setting up a lab at UCLA that will integrate with software and technology from LANL to reach around the globe and analyze emerging diseases in a wide range of creatures, creators of the project said. "When something breaks out we want to know many things about it," said Tony Beugelsdijk, leader of the high throughput laboratory network at LANL, which developed the equipment and will work on the software.

In an emerging threat, scientists and medical workers need to know about the character of the disease, where it came from, how deadly it is, if it's manmade - and they need to try to track where it's traveling in human populations, said Scott Layne, a former LANL scientist and a professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health. "There are two things that make a pandemic, and a third thing that makes a bad pandemic," Layne said. "The first two are that it has to be transmissible from person to person and that it has to be something new to the human immune system so that it has no defense against it. The third bad thing is if the virus is deadly."

Viruses like swine flu, which has killed 27 people across the United States but isn't considered particularly deadly yet, can mutate rapidly into much more hazardous forms. And so far, scientists have had a hard time trying to predict how they might mutate or what the potential for deadly mutations really is, Layne said. Continued: http://www.santafenewmexican.c...

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

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 07:12:08 AM CDT

More:

Viruses like swine flu, which has killed 27 people across the United States but isn't considered particularly deadly yet, can mutate rapidly into much more hazardous forms. And so far, scientists have had a hard time trying to predict how they might mutate or what the potential for deadly mutations really is, Layne said.

"In the case of swine flu, we know we're in a hurricane, but we just don't know what class it will become," Layne said. "Right now we're in a class one hurricane, but we don't know if we're a few mutations away from a class five hurricane."

Outside of research mode, the lab and software can also be used in emergency mode during a pandemic, the two scientists said.

In that case, the equipment can test 10,000 samples a day, Layne said.

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by: Pixie @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:27:26 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

interview with Scott layne

here (Jan 18) and here (May 10).

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by: DemFromCT @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 18:22:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Indonesia: Travel bans not yet decided over flu pandemic

13/Jun/09
http://www.thejakartapost.com/...

Indonesia is still considering to slap a travel ban on countries affected by the newly announced pandemic of the Mexico sub-type of influenza H1N1, Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said Friday.

"We are still coordinating with other related institutions such as the Office of the Coordinating Minister of People's Welfare on a travel ban against countries affected by swine flu," she told reporters during a press conference at the Juanda International Airport just outside Surabaya.

"But we are urging Indonesians having flu not to go abroad."

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Thursday the first flu pandemic of the 21st century, urging countries to shore up defenses against the virus which is "not stoppable" but has proved so far to be mainly mild in its impact.

[snip]

"There are no swine flu cases here yet although there are already cases in countries close to us," Siti said.

"We have been dealing with the spread of bird flu H5N1 in several places across the country so our stock of Tamiflu is still monitored at several hospitals and community health centers (Puskesmas).

"However, we have yet to have special vaccine for H1N1."

Asked on the spread of the Indonesian sub-type of the H1N1 virus in East Java regions of Banyuwangi, Jember and Surabaya, the minister said there was a small possibility that the virus would mutate with the H5N1 virus.

Earlier, a researcher on bird flu from the Airlangga University (Unair), Chairul Anwar Nidom, said it would be dangerous if such a mutation ever took place.

Based on records at the Jember Lungs Hospital, there have been 13 cases of positive H1N1 infection with six infected with the H1N1 Caledonia sub-type, three of the H1N1 Shanghai sub-type and the rest were the ordinary H1N1 virus.

Meanwhile, Unair's Bird Flu Laboratory recorded 10 positive H1N1 cases in Surabaya since 2007.

Siti said the government would request the WHO to provide special vaccine for H1N1.

"The WHO has to produce and distribute the vaccines fairly and evenly to all countries in the world in accordance with raising the epidemic status," she said.

"We cannot allow WHO to send the vaccine only to developed countries already affected by swine flu.

"Let's hope there are no cases here because WHO has yet to send the vaccines to us."

Meanwhile, the Director General of Disease Control and Environment Health at the health ministry, Tjandra Yoga Aditama, said Indonesia did not have to issue travel warning because several countries conduct swine flu handling and prevention measures at all international airports.

"A visitor with flu who enters a country through an airport will be quarantined and health conditions [will be] checked," he said.

"Similar measures are also taken by the Indonesian authorities."

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by: Pixie @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 07:53:09 AM CDT

Hong Kong: Flu peak season starts within a month

 
June 13, 2009
http://www.news.gov.hk/en/cate...

Hong Kong will reach the flu peak in two to four weeks' time and Under Secretary for Food & Health Prof Gabriel Leung does not rule out the possibility of complications and deaths from the human swine flu pandemic.

Prof Leung was speaking on two different radio shows this morning. He said deaths could occur from human swine flu during the peak season.

"On average, we have had around 1,000 deaths each year from common flu and its complications. So I don't rule out the possibility of complications, even deaths, from human swine flu when we enter the peak season in two to four weeks' time," he said.

"Medical staff, children under six, elderly and chronic patients have a high risk of getting the swine flu and its complications. Since the risk is likely to be higher than the risk of getting adverse effects from the swine flu vaccine, procuring the vaccine for these people is a safe way to play."

Since Hong Kong has entered the mitigation phase of fighting the pandemic, Prof Leung said it is now important to gain clinical experience and monitor the number of common flu and swine flu cases.

While the human swine flu vaccine may be available in November, Prof Leung said whether or not to kick off the injection programme will depend on the manufacturers' clinical tests results, whether they can register with the United States' Food & Drug Administration and the experiences from the US and Europe after using the vaccine.

"The US and Europe will enter the winter flu peak season a month earlier than we will, so we'll see how things go there and decide when we should start the programme," he said.

Flu clinics open

The Hospital Authority's eight designated flu clinics started operation today. The authority chairman Anthony Wu admitted there was some confusion and inconvenience caused to chronic patients who now need to go to other drug refill clinics to get their medication.

"Not too many people went to the flu clinics this morning. Some flu clinics provide shuttle buses to take chronic patients to the drug refill clinics. We are doing our best to minimise inconvenience caused to them," he said after inspecting the clinics.

The authority's family medicine chief of Hong Kong East Cluster Dr Daniel Chu said there are hyper filters at all flu clinics to ensure good ventilation inside and the air directed outdoors is filtered and free of virus.

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by: Pixie @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:05:18 AM CDT

Carlsbad (CA) pupils quarantined in China

2:00 a.m. June 13, 2009
http://www3.signonsandiego.com...

Thirty-six ninth graders from Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad are getting a living lesson in international public health while in China, where they are being quarantined by the Chinese government because of the swine flu scare.

The students, along with seven chaperones, have been quarantined since Thursday in a hotel in Yichang, a city in the Hubei province, said Eileen Mullady, Head of School at Pacific Ridge, a private school in east Carlsbad.

The students were at the end of a 13-day trip to China as part of an educational tour of the country, and they had visited Beijing, the city of Xi'an, and the Three Gorges Dam on a riverboat cruise on the Yangtze River, Mullady said.

A few students had developed the sniffles, and one student had experienced food poisoning during the trip, she said. Chinese health officials placed the students and chaperones under quarantine while they're tested for the swine flu virus, Mullady said. The group is expected to fly home early next week, she said.

"They're absolutely following the protocol that (the World Health Organization) set up when they declared a pandemic," Mullady said of the actions by the Chinese government. She said she met with parents yesterday to brief them on the situation.  

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by: Pixie @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:07:30 AM CDT

No, it's not WHO protocol

to quarantine a bunch of kids 13 DAYS after entering the country because of sniffles!  

If NYC tried this sort of thing M. Chan would be all over them. China gets a pass.  

If those kids have A/H1N1, they picked it up internally in China. If not, why are they being quarantined?  What's really going on here?  

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by: Pixie @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:09:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

the WHO's protocol

says no travel restrictions, no border closures, and no trade bans.  Didn't say no quarantine.  For the record.  

http://www.who.int/mediacentre...

http://www.who.int/csr/disease...

Mind you, I don't agree with China's quarantine policy.  It's not effective, unnecessarily disruptive, and is more often used as PR than anything else - like saying to their people, look, we are doing everything to keep it out.  Instead of what they should be doing, eg ramping up domestic disease surveillance and public education etc.   They can do with a lot of personal hygiene campaigns.  Just MHO.


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

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by: SusanC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:23:39 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

cancel all field trips to China

This has happened at least twice that was in the news -- school field trips to China, getting quarantined.   At the very least if I were a teacher planning a trip to China right now with my kids, I'd think long and hard about whether to go somewhere else.

GetPandemicReady.org - non commerical website with practical ways for families to prepare.

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by: Average Concerned Mom @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:28:11 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

exactly what I was thinking

You don't really want to be quarantined in a country like China.  Not a comfortable experience at the best of times in any country.  Plus the whole trip becomes ruined.

Also China will also suffer from the loss of visitors.  It's a lose-lose situation IMO


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

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by: SusanC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:35:41 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Cancel more trips than just China . . .

I think the same could be true of more countries than just China - at this point, I wouldn't want to even think about traveling to most foreign countries, and I certainly wouldn't think it was a good idea to send a child off on a field trip.  Things are just too uncertain right now.

Nobody ever died from not taking a field trip, that I know of.

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by: Clawdia @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 11:09:14 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Local

We're staying pretty local this summer - youth hostelling and camping in Yorkshire (what else could I possibly want from a holiday??). We have cancelled a trip to the south (meant a long train trip) and have decided not to go to any gigs or festivals. Keep ourselves to ourselves.

David

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by: dawood @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 11:28:39 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

No nursing stations to close in northern 'Toba: feds

" Canada's health minister says no nursing stations in northern Manitoba will close just days after Health Canada said some clinics may have to shut their doors if it can't find more nurses willing to work there.

The nursing stations are on the frontlines of a severe flu outbreak which has seen dozens of people from the province's northern reserves airlifted and hospitalized with severe flu symptoms, including swine flu.

Leona Aglukkaq was asked yesterday to guarantee the survival of these nursing stations in the House of Commons.

"I want to be very clear to the House that we will not close nursing stations in Manitoba," she told the House. "The facts were misrepresented..."

http://www.winnipegsun.com/new...

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little- Edmund Burke

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by: MaMa @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:09:53 AM CDT

A New Way of Treating the Flu

What happens if the next big influenza mutation proves resistant to the available anti-viral drugs? (Snip)

Promising new research announced by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute could provide an entirely new tool to combat the flu. The discovery is a one-two punch against the illness that targets the illness on two fronts, going one critical step further than any currently available flu drug.

"We have been fortunate with H1N1 because it has been responding well to available drugs. But if the virus mutates substantially, the currently available drugs might be ineffective because they only target one portion of the virus," said Robert Linhardt, (Snip) "By targeting both portions of the virus, the H and the N, we can interfere with both the initial attachment to the cell that is being infected and the release of the budding virus from the cell that has been affected." The findings of the team, which have broad implications for future flu drugs, will be featured on the cover of the June edition of European Journal of Organic Chemistry.

The influenza A virus is classified based on the form of two of its outer proteins, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). Each classification - for example H5NI "bird flu" or H1N1 "swine flu" - represents a different mutation of hemagglutinin and neuraminidase or H and N.

Flu drugs currently on the market target only the neuraminidase proteins, and disrupt the ability of the virus to escape an infected cell and move elsewhere to infect other healthy cells. The new process developed by Linhardt is already showing strong binding potential to hemagglutinin, which binds to sialic acid on the surface of a healthy cell, allowing the virus to enter the cell.

"We are seeing promising preliminary results that the chemistry of this approach will be effective in blocking the hemagglutinin portion of the disease that is currently not targeted by any drug on the market," he said. Continued: http://www.physorg.com/news164...

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

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:14:40 AM CDT

Good news

for the next flu pandemic..

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by: Pixie @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:18:40 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

true n/t

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

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by: SusanC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:25:51 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

LOL

sad but true.

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by: DemFromCT @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 18:25:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

H1N1 cases double in Thailand

Associated Press , Bangkok | Sat, 06/13/2009 5:46 PM
http://www.thejakartapost.com/...

Authorities urged the public to remain calm as swine flu cases more than doubled in Thailand on Saturday and New Zealand warned a sharp rise inits infections could be imminent, days after the UN declared a pandemic.

Hong Kong and the Philippines also confirmed more cases. None of the countries have yet reported any fatalities.

The World Health Organization on Thursday announced the first global flu epidemic in 41 years. Some 74 countries hae reported some 29,700 cases, including 145 deaths. Mexico and the United States have been worst affected.

So far, the virus appears to be mild but experts say it might have a more devastating effect in people with underlying health problems.

Swine flu infections in Thailand soared to 106 Saturday, up from 47 on Friday.

Senior Health Ministry official Paichit Warachit said about 80 percent of the cases reported only mild symptoms and had not gone to see the doctor when they first got sick.

"That's why the disease is spreading," Paichit told The Associated Press.

He said more cases can be expected in the next one to two weeks "but the public should not be overly panicked. We are prepared to handle this."  

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by: Pixie @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:17:07 AM CDT

Maybe they should spend a bit more time

instructing their citizens on how to treat this disease, rather than running on and on about "panic."  

Really, which would be more helpful?

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by: Pixie @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:17:41 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Canada(MB): Co-operation needed to help natives deal with flu crisis: MDs

"The global volunteer agency Doctors Without Borders says Canada can and should help its own First Nations struggling with Third World conditions and an H1N1 health care crisis.

"I believe in Canada we have the capacity to respond to that," said Dr. Joanne Liu, the outgoing president of Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) Canada.

"Being a country of the G-8 and with all the resources we have here, it would be unfortunate if we are not able to co-ordinate ourselves and respond to the crisis," Liu said Friday..."

..."Governments and agencies involved need to work together and make sure care is getting to the people in times of crisis, said Liu.

"We need to get our act together and do what is right for the First Nations people," said Liu. "That needs political leadership. It's a question of will..."

..."There are signs some help is mobilizing for the remote communities.

On Friday, Manitoba Nurses Union president Sandi Mowat said the union has paved the way for Winnipeg Regional Health Authority nurses to volunteer to work at some of the understaffed northern nursing stations to give their colleagues a break.

Local pharmacy mogul Daren Jorgenson said he has been trying to send doctors to those communities for several years and has been repeatedly rebuffed by provincial and federal officials.

"We have repeatedly requested for permission to have our physicians work in the nursing stations of these two communities for years now and have always been told no," Jorgenson said in an email distributed to the media Thursday."

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little- Edmund Burke

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by: MaMa @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:35:24 AM CDT

Hi MaMa

Can you give me the link to this article? Thanks.

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

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 09:34:59 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

sorry Carol@SC

no brains today brains I guess:-)

http://www.winnipegfreepress.c...

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little- Edmund Burke

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by: MaMa @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 09:53:51 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm making coffee for you, MaMa. n/t

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

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by: History Lover @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 10:44:37 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thanks MaMa

I have to put it in the headline updates or Bronco Bill docks my pay. ROTF

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

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 14:00:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Guatemala urges 2 swine flu-hit towns to shut down

Guatemala urges 2 swine flu-hit towns to shut down
Posted By: Mitcheal Pearl     7 hrs ago

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) -- Guatemala's government is asking two towns to close down nearly all public venues to prevent the spread of swine flu.

Health Secretary Celso Cerezo said the virus has infected 96 people in the Central America country, including 11 in the last 24 hours. Most have recovered.

On Wednesday, Guatemala suspended all schools nationwide until at least July 1.

Cerezo said most of the cases have been reported in two small southern towns, Palin and Santa Lucia. The government recommended Friday that those towns close restaurants, bars movie, theaters, churches and other public venues until the epidemic subsides.
more
http://www.wtsp.com/news/local...

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

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by: mojo @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:37:10 AM CDT

Canada(MB): Paging doctors, nurses

" Trying to downplay any fears, provincial health officials say there's no need to wear a mask in public, avoid contact or cancel public events due to the H1N1 flu pandemic, even on an isolated reserve overrun by an outbreak.

Despite the alarm created by worldwide attention paid to St. Theresa Point -- where more than nine cases are confirmed and plenty more suspected -- it's not a dangerous place to visit, said Dr. Joel Kettner, Manitoba's chief provincial public health officer.

Kettner made the remarks after he and Health Minister Theresa Oswald toured the northern community yesterday, the same day the province announced 42 new H1N1 infections, bringing to 119 the number of confirmed cases in Manitoba.

In 31 of those cases, people have been hospitalized with severe symptoms. It's believed there are many more unreported cases where people have mild or no symptoms of all.

Half of all confirmed cases in Manitoba are in the northern part of the province, which is in urgent need of health-care workers as the strain continues to spread through First Nations.

Oswald yesterday put out a call for doctors and nurses to volunteer to head north to work in St. Theresa Point and other understaffed communities.

So far at least two doctors and two nurses are on their way, she said.

"We need more, and we need much more," Oswald said.

There should be no fear of travelling to the northern communities as long as appropriate precautions are taken, health officials said..."

http://www.winnipegsun.com/new...

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little- Edmund Burke

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by: MaMa @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:38:59 AM CDT

The school closing problem

Effect Measure by revere

Hat Tip: FLA_MED at Avian Flu Diary

The easiest way for public officials to scare the crap out of people is to tell them "not to panic." A variant on this is, "It's not time to panic," implying that there will be such a time or that there is ever such a time. The first to panic are usually public officials because they feel powerless at a time when people are expecting them to do something. So what they do is incite panic by telling people not to panic. Public anxiety -- often well founded -- is not the same as panic. If parents are keeping their kids out of school from fear it is a flu incubator, that's not panic. That's a fairly reasonable judgment, which may be incorrect or fruitless but it isn't panic. Many parents don't let their kids walk home alone or drive around town for fear something will happen to them. That's not panic. So when I read this, it makes me shake my head:

Responding to an alarming increase in absences at two city elementary schools, the Philadelphia School District and the city Department of Public Health announced plans yesterday to quell a rising panic surrounding swine flu in schools.
[snip]

District spokesman Fernando Gallard said the two schools - William H. Hunter Elementary, at Front Street and Kensington Avenue, Kensington; and Rowan Elementary, on Gratz Street below Godfrey Avenue, Ogontz - had experienced a high volume of absences.

After a meeting for parents held at Hunter on Wednesday night, Gallard said that parents weren't convinced that there wasn't a risk.

"Parents are really concerned. They have not been reassured enough that this is another seasonal flu," Gallard said. "[And essentially] they're saying, 'We don't believe you, we're keeping our kids at home.' "

At Hunter, 57 percent of its 560 students were absent yesterday - up from 33 percent earlier in the week - while at Rowan, 22 percent of its 523 students were absent. (Julia Terruso, Philadelphia Daily News)

Here's the situation. Two city schools in Philadelphia have high absenteeism at a time when a novel influenza virus is circulating in the community. Parents know this is a contagious disease. They are uncertain what the meaning is because the public health community itself is uncertain about the meaning. School and public health officials can't tell anyone if the absences are from flu and admit they are no longer keeping track of how many cases of the new flu there are. The state has hundreds of cases and two deaths. They apparently have tried to minimize what is happening by portraying it as no different than seasonal flu. The parents don't believe them. Continued: http://scienceblogs.com/effect...

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

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:39:43 AM CDT

Oops!

I meant to say Hat Tip: Fla_Medic

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

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:46:00 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Canada: H1N1 cases hit 119 in Manitoba

"The number of confirmed H1N1 flu cases in Manitoba jumped by 42 Friday, bringing the total to 119 laboratory-confirmed cases, provincial health officials said.

Two-thirds of those cases are aboriginal with 17 coming from northern Manitoba, the hardest-hit area of the province in the flu outbreak.

"This isn't unexpected," acting chief provincial public health officer Dr. Elise Weiss said. "It confirms, basically, what we knew before, that the virus is present throughout the province..."

..."Jan Currie, vice-president and chief nursing officer for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said of the 119 cases, 31 patients are in hospital being treated for severe respiratory illness. No health care workers have become severely ill.

Currie also said officials will monitor the number of new cases over the weekend to determine if elective surgeries should be cancelled next week to free up resources.

She also said the current hospital system is satisfactorily handling the outbreak and the number of people being admitted. Two Winnipeg hospitals, the Health Sciences Centre and Seven Oaks General Hospital, will open as flu clinics should the number of people becoming sick increase sharply.

"We wouldn't be opening those clinics unless we had a need beyond our normal services or a need to hand out antivirals in large quantities," Currie said.

She added about 25 per cent of visits to Winnipeg emergency rooms are flu related, with only the most severely ill being tested for H1N1 so as to not put strain on resources..."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.c...

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little- Edmund Burke

---

by: MaMa @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:45:51 AM CDT

Canada(MB): Chance of getting H1N1? 1 in 2

"I suspect by the time this virus has worked its way through Manitoba as many as half, if not more, Manitobans will have been infected," said Dr. Joel Kettner, the province's chief provincial public health officer.."

..."Kettner stressed his prediction won't mean that more than 500,000 Manitobans are about to be hospitalized or even diagnosed with H1N1..."

..."Kettner said of those Manitobans on ventilators, almost half are diabetic and more than 40 per cent are smokers, while close to one-fifth have a history of substance abuse.

About a quarter of those in intensive care have pre-existing lung conditions, and a quarter are overweight or obese.

"I think it's important for the public to understand who's at more risk for severe disease -- which of course needs to be distinguished from who is at risk for getting infected, which is pretty much everybody," he said..."

http://www.winnipegfreepress.c...

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little- Edmund Burke

---

by: MaMa @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 08:53:35 AM CDT

UK - Update on confirmed swine flu cases 3 June 2009

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

67 further patients under investigation in England have today been confirmed with swine flu. Together with the 83 cases in Scotland announced yesterday (June 12 2009) by the Scottish Government this brings the current total number of confirmed UK cases to 1121.

East of England 1 48

East Midlands - 13

London 8 149

North East 1 19

North West 2 21

South East 5 84

South West - 14

West Midlands 47 299

Yorkshire & Humber 3 18

TOTAL ENGLAND 67 691

Northern Ireland - 7

Scotland 83 420

Wales - 3

TOTAL UK 150 1121

682 cases are currently under laboratory investigation in the UK.

Comment cases have roughly doubled every week since the first UK cases were detected. Scotland declares in about an hour.

---

by: UK - Bird @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 09:20:53 AM CDT

UK Total now 1176 n/t

---

by: UK - Bird @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 13:03:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Indonesia: Govt urged to watch the spread of H1N1 flu

Indra Harsaputra and Lutfiana Mahmudah
THE JAKARTA POST, Surabaya, Jember  
Fri, 06/12/2009 2:44 PM  
http://www.thejakartapost.com/...

A researcher from Surabaya's Airlangga University, Chairul Anwar Nidom, has called on the government to pay serious attention to the spread of swine (H1N1) flu in cities across East Java.

"Actually, the H1N1 flu virus has been here since 2000, but the Indonesian type of H1N1 is not fatal. In 2005, I warned the government the virus could possibly mutate and unite with bird flu (H5N1) and become more dangerous," Nidom who is head of the university's bird flu laboratory, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Nidom said the current strain of H1NI flu in Indonesia, which had spread to Jember, Banyuwangi and Surabaya, could mutate into a more serious virus like the one experienced in Mexico.

The laboratory has recorded at least 10 cases of H1NI flu in Surabaya since 2007.

Nidom explained that theoretically, the H5N1 virus could spread from mammals such as pigs before affecting humans. "It's possible the H5N1 virus could unite with the H1N1 virus in pigs. Based on this pattern, the H1N1 and H5N1 could develop into a new virus," he said.

He said bird and swine farms, which were located in close proximity to each other, supported the unification of swine and bird flu viruses.

Another researcher from Jember University, Romadhoni, confirmed that Indonesia already has a local type of the H1N1 flu, despite public fear about the Mexican strain.

"Based on my observation at Jember Lung Hospital, the swine flu local type produces the same symptoms as standard influenza, such as high fevers and coughs," Romadhoni said.

The hospital director, Arya Sidhemen revealed the hospital has been monitoring global influenza under the direction of the Health Ministry in cooperation with US NAMRU-2 laboratory in Jakarta.

"We have sent samples from every influenza patient to Jakarta. But, unfortunately the cooperation was discontinued last year," Arya said.

Yumarlis, a spokesman from the Jember Health Agency denied that a case of H1N1 flu was found in the regency. "Soebandi General Hospital, which has been appointed as the referal hospital, has not reported any cases of H1N1 flu. People should not be panic."

"We are also continuing to monitor farms and warn people, as well as checking on Indonesian migrant workers who have returned home."

Yumarlis said the local husbandry agency had also sprayed disinfectant at swine farms in Jember.

Based on the data from the East Java Statistics Bureau, the number of swine in the province was 75,019 in 2008.

---

by: Pixie @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 09:22:37 AM CDT

Hope Arya doesn't get in trouble for this comment.

...the hospital has been monitoring global influenza under the direction of the Health Ministry in cooperation with US NAMRU-2 laboratory in Jakarta.

"We have sent samples from every influenza patient to Jakarta. But, unfortunately the cooperation was discontinued last year," Arya said....

 

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

---

by: Jane @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 10:34:19 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Health Official Declares Indonesia is Ready for Swine Flu

Health Official Declares Indonesia is Ready for Swine Flu
June 13, 2009, http://thejakartaglobe.com/hom...
Photo:  An official distributes health declaration cards to tourists at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport on Friday. The government is distributing health declaration cards to all tourists as part of preventive measures against the spread of swine flu. (Photo: Murdani Usman, Reuters)

Responding to the first global flu pandemic alert in 41 years, health authorities on Friday said that the country was well prepared to handle the worst scenario, if the A(H1N1) influenza virus hit Indonesia's shores.
(snip)

"We have to remember that, until now, not one case has been found in our country, so stay alert but there is no need to panic," Tjandra said.
(more)

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

---

by: History Lover @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 10:48:36 AM CDT

Baxter to release flu vaccine in July

http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/H...

Illinois-based Baxter International Inc. said it expects by early July to release the first commercially available dosages of H1N1 swine flu vaccine.

Baxter, based in Deerfield, Ill., is one of several vaccine makers working with the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to combat the virus, which WHO this week declared a global pandemic.

Baxter's cell-based technology yields vaccines in about 13 weeks, as compared to the 24 weeks needed for an older process where millions of chicken eggs were processed by hand to produce vaccines, the Chicago Tribune reported Saturday.

---

by: UK - Bird @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 11:25:43 AM CDT

Indonesian govt preparing steps to anticipate H1N1 flu pandemic

Saturday, June 13, 2009 05:45 WIB | National | | Viewed 94 time(s)
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government is preparing anticipatory steps to prevent the entry of H1N1 flu virus into the country after the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the disease a global pandemic.

"Although no confirmed case of H1N1 flu has been found in Indonesia, the government through the health ministry as the agency standing in the front is prepared to prevent the entry of the disease into the country. Indonesia is ready to face the phase 6 pandemic announced by the WHO on Thursday," executive chairman of the National Commission on Bird Flu Control and Awareness on Influenza Pandemic (Komnas FBPI) Bayu Krisnamurthi said in a press statement on Friday.

The government would take anticipatory steps according to the Phase 6 Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response guidance by, among other things, intensifying checking process in all gateways particularly at airports and seaports which had a high rate of tourist arrivals from affected acountries, he said.

In addition, the government would also activate a Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response plan and take necessary steps according to the national action plan, he said.

"We will also intensify our efforts to familiarize companies with the business continuity plan to minimalize panic caused by circulating media reports," he said.

The government called on people from all walks of life to keep calm in facing the problem and try to understand and respond to any change related to the spread of the disease which began to spread in Mexico and the United States last April, he said.
On Thursday, the WHO raised its pandemic alert to phase 6 on a six-point scale because of the outbreak of the disease, widely known as swine flu.

The world body noted that the number of H1N1 flu cases increased by 2441 in two days earlier.

WHO data show by June 11 influenza A (H1N1) had affected 28,774 people with 144 deaths in 74 countries.  (*)

http://www.antara.co.id/en/vie...

United we stand: Divided we fall

http://cottontopssandbox.wordp...

---

by: cottontop @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 12:36:10 PM CDT

Egypt flu cases rise to 18

CAIRO - EGYPT reported three new cases of swine flu on Saturday, as two Egyptian children and a Colombian woman tested positive for the A(H1N1) virus, bringing to 18 the total.
A health ministry official was quoted by state news agency Mena as saying the new cases had recently arrived from Canada and the United States, but provided no details on their ages or condition.

An American University of Cairo residence in the upscale neighbourhood of Zamalek remains under quarantine after six American students and one teaching assistant were found to have been infected with the virus last week.

The university, which has suspended classes, says courses will resume on Monday, when the quarantine is due to be lifted.

Egypt, which decided to cull its estimated 250,000 pigs after reports of outbreaks in other countries, has not taken any new measures since the World Health Organisation announced a swine flu pandemic on Thursday.

Authorities check travellers at airports and quarantine those who exhibit flu symptoms.

Egypt reported its and the continent's first case on June 2, when a 12-year-old girl travelling from the United States tested positive.

The country is already battling the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed 27 people since it was first reported in 2006. -- AFP

http://www.straitstimes.com/Br...

United we stand: Divided we fall

http://cottontopssandbox.wordp...

---

by: cottontop @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 12:53:52 PM CDT

UK - Swine flu cases continue to rise

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sco...

A further 55 new cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Scotland, bringing the total number to 463.

The majority of the new cases were in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. There were eight new cases in Highland, four in Lanarkshire and one in Lothian.

Eleven people are being treated in hospital and across Scotland 508 possible cases are being investigated.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon urged people to continue taking sensible hygiene precautions.

---

by: UK - Bird @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 13:01:59 PM CDT

Swine flu declared global pandemic, but are people paying attention?

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

The World Health Organization made it official Thursday, declaring that swine flu is now a global pandemic. As the number of cases rapidly increases, some are worried that people have let down their guard too soon.

"I am concerned that people are not taking this seriously," said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, Minnesota's state epidemiologist. "This story," she added, "hasn't played out yet."

Ironically, Lynfield and other experts worry that Thursday's announcement - of the first worldwide flu pandemic in 41 years - could lull the public into complacency. This is the fourth pandemic in the last century, and so far, the least deadly.

"People are going to say, 'geez, pandemics don't amount to much,'" said Dr. Allan Kind, a retired infectious disease specialist who now serves on a pandemic advisory panel for the state of Minnesota.

"That," he said, "is going to be the problem."

cont.

---

by: UK - Bird @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 13:09:18 PM CDT

Baxter in 'full production' of swine flu vaccine

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200...

DEERFIELD, Ill. - Specialty drug maker Baxter International Inc. says it's in "full scale" production of a swine flu vaccine that will be commercially available in July.

The company based in Deerfield, Ill., made its announcement Friday, a day after the World Health Organization declared swine flu a global pandemic.

Baxter has said that its patented technology cuts in half the usual time it takes to develop a vaccine - to about 13 weeks instead of 26.

 



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

---

by: tess @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 15:06:29 PM CDT

Winnipeg hospitals may cancel elective surgeries if more flu cases confirmed

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

WINNIPEG - The chief nursing officer for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says city hospitals may have to cancel elective surgeries if more flu cases turn up in Manitoba this weekend.

Jan Currie says the authority is closely watching to see if more people get sick and need to be hospitalized.

There are currently 119 cases of confirmed swine flu in the province.

About two dozen people with severe flu-like symptoms are being treated in intensive care.

About two-thirds of those are aboriginal.

---

by: UK - Bird @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 15:16:21 PM CDT

That gives about 1 hospital admission for every 5 confirmed cases

The UK pandemic documentation gave a figure of 1 hospital admission for every 7 GP consultation for a pandemic with a CFR of 2.5% (I'm not sure what those figure are supposed to be for other CFRs)

page 97

http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_cons...

Now I'm assuming that there are more visits to the doctor than confirmed tests but....

---

by: UK - Bird @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 15:53:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

2 drug firms in vaccine race

http://www.philstar.com/Articl...

ZURICH - Novartis AG expects a vaccine for the A(H1N1) virus, the source of the first flu pandemic for 40 years, to be available by autumn after it produced the first batch for testing ahead of schedule.

US company Baxter International Inc. said though it is in full-scale production of an A(H1N1) flu pandemic vaccine that could be ready for commercial use as early as next month.

[snip]

The Baxter and Novartis vaccines were both developed using cell-based technology that could allow for much more rapid production and distribution than traditional vaccines produced using chicken eggs.

The Novartis vaccine will enter clinical trials next month,

[snip]

Baxter said it had completed testing and evaluation of the virus and would submit its A(H1N1) vaccine for approval upon completion of initial manufacturing runs.

European drugmakers Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline and Solvay all obtained the influenza A(H1N1) seed virus in recent weeks and aim to have a vaccine ready ahead of the northern hemisphere flu season.

The WHO has estimated vaccine makers could produce up to 4.9 billion pandemic flu shots a year in a best-case scenario, leaving some of the world's 6.5 billion population unprotected, particularly if more than one injection was needed to gain immunity.

Novartis said first results with the A(H1N1) wild type strain showed it was quicker to make the vaccine through cell-based rather than through egg-based production, and it had completed its first batch weeks earlier than expected.

Its cell-culture vaccine plant in Marburg, Germany had the potential to produce millions of doses per week, but it was difficult to predict output capacity for now.

 



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

---

by: tess @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 15:16:30 PM CDT

Baxter's press release for "Celvapan" pandemic vaccine

Baxter's June 12th press release for its "Celvapan" pandemic vaccine is at:
http://www.baxter.com/about_ba... .

---

by: Monsieur-Argan @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 16:14:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Canada - Quebec confirms 2nd person dead of H1N1 flu

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/Arti...

Quebec's public health department has confirmed a second person in the province has died after contracting the H1N1 flu virus.

Health officials said today the latest victim was a Montreal man in his 40s who was already suffering from a separate illness.

They also confirmed 131 new cases of the swine flu in Quebec, which brings the total number of people infected in the province since April to 833.

Twelve more people have been hospitalized, bringing the total to 118.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says just over five per cent of the people confirmed to have swine flu in this country have been treated in hospital, and estimates a quarter of those hospitalized had an underlying medical condition.

Five people across Canada have now died after contracting swine flu.

---

by: UK - Bird @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 16:10:00 PM CDT

UK - NHS office staff to go on swine flu front line

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsm...

HOSPITALS have been told to mobilise thousands of NHS office workers to help doctors and nurses if the swine flu pandemic causes widespread staff shortages.

Hundreds of administrators, managers and cleaners will be "redeployed" to frontline duties ranging from changing dirty linen to helping prepare bodies for mortuaries, if medical staff are unable to cope. The revelation comes as the number of Scots affected by the influenza H1N1 virus continues to increase.

[snip]

However it remains unclear exactly why there are so many cases in Scotland.

So far, 11 cases are among healthcare staff thought to have caught the virus from patients. Fears are growing that large numbers of frontline healthcare workers could be laid low.

[snip]

The move comes as rates of the virus in Scotland soar to one of the highest in the world - one case per 11,904, compared with Mexico's rate of one in 17,625.

Professor Mark Woolhouse, an expert in infectious disease at the University of Edinburgh said: "The containment strategy hasn't worked, clearly.

"It's difficult to say why there are so many cases in Scotland. The first problem is that we were looking for it in people who had travelled to the US or Mexico, and we were only looking for it where we expected to find it.

"Now it's quite clear it's much more widespread than that and probably has been for a few weeks. The official figures are probably a very significant underestimate."

Dr Rowland Kao, an expert in infectious diseases at Glasgow University's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, said: "A lot is random chance. It could simply be that Scotland had more people travelling in Mexico, in the wrong places, than England and Wales."

cont.

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by: UK - Bird @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 16:21:14 PM CDT

Now they admit it...

"It's difficult to say why there are so many cases in Scotland. The first problem is that we were looking for it in people who had travelled to the US or Mexico, and we were only looking for it where we expected to find it.

"Now it's quite clear it's much more widespread than that and probably has been for a few weeks. The official figures are probably a very significant underestimate."

Duh! Too bad those in charge hadn't been reading FluWiki - this had been mentioned many times over the past several weeks! Sad, but ironic... let's hope they have wised up.

Keep the information coming!

---

by: Cathy M @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 16:29:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

LOL I'm not sure it would have changed the outcome.

Personally I want them to make a few mistakes, now, while it's early. Make 'em more cautious for the main event... maybe. Containment was always going to be a big experiment and for a pandemic of this nature it was never going to be vigorously followed.

I'm not sure that randomly looking for H1N1 rather than concentrating on known outbreaks would have meant there were less seed cases overall.

There's about another two weeks of exams in schools. I think there will be another change in policy once those are over.

Spread in the UK will be very fast once it gets going. Towns and cities are very close together and people routinely travel between multiple locations during their work and leisure week. It will resemble NYC rather than the individual states.

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by: UK - Bird @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 17:08:22 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

NYC (public health, not the mayor)

has been pretty open and transparent, after some pushing form parents.

Hope the UK does the same.

---

by: DemFromCT @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 18:33:30 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Swine flu: would your business survive?

http://www.sundayherald.com/bu...

Experts warn Scottish bosses to ensure they are prepared for outbreak

BUSINESSES IN Scotland have been urged to review their preparations in the face of disruption by a potential swine flu outbreak, following last week's upgrading by the WHO of the threat to level 6 or "global pandemic" status.

Charlotte Smith, of the Stirling-based business continuity specialist Teed Business Continuity, told the Sunday Herald businesses that had not already thought through the implications of an outbreak on their staffing and supply chain arrangements, should conduct a review of how they would function in the event of major disruption.

cont.

Comment better late than never.

---

by: UK - Bird @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 16:23:11 PM CDT

This week's FORTUNE magazine ran a three

page special section aimed at businesses.  One picture shows people in suits in a conference room wearing masks.  But there was also a full page add by Roche talking about their "pandemic planning" assistance.  The ad also showed 6 people in business suits wearing masks.  Little weird.

---

by: LauraB @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 18:22:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The UK is now following the North American pandemic model. Cases are zooming.

They are also making the same mistakes we made too.  They will keep the schools open etc.  Can't do anything that might affect the economy now can they.

Don't count on all those NHS staff showing up and if they do don't expect them to be very good with laundry and bed pans.  What a joke!

We are so lucky this pandemic has an uneven severity.  The next stage may not be so kind but unless we wise up, which is very unlikely for numerous reasons, we are toast.

I like mind a little burnt, how about you?

As for the transparency of the NYC HD mentioned by Demfromct, I am simply astonished.  They are about as transparent as a cesspool.  Where did that comment come from?  How can you possibly say that?
GW

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by: The Doctor @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 20:39:33 PM CDT

NYC data

GW-

Will you check out the NYC Health Dept website:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/ht...

What other data should they be releasing?    

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by: skyblue @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 22:06:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

good question by skyblue

what would you have them report that they are not reporting?  While uneven at the beginning, they now report on every school absence, and publish the data on their web site they collected on St Francis, on their rationale for school closure, on their ILI data from ERs... they had to be pushed a little in the beginning, but wouldn't you like to see that everywhere?

---

by: DemFromCT @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 22:31:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

First swine flu case finally confirmed in N.L.

Newfoundland and Labrador has officially recorded its first case of swine flu, becoming the final province to report an incidence of the disease.

"As other Canadian jurisdictions have recorded cases of H1N1 influenza, we anticipated it would be only a matter of time before Newfoundland and Labrador recorded its first case," Dr. Faith Stratton, the province's chief medical officer of health, said in a release Saturday evening.

The case involves a sample collected from a young adult male who was treated Thursday at the hospital in Grand Falls-Windsor. Public health officials confirmed the case Saturday.
more
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfo...

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

---

by: mojo @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 21:16:52 PM CDT

Drive-through medical experiment conducted at Stanford Hospital & Clinics

http://www.mercurynews.com/top...

The cars, minivans and sport-utility vehicles began lining up and slowly moving forward, just as they would at a busy fast-food drive-through. But there weren't any burgers or fries on the menu. Instead, drivers and passengers were examined by a team of Stanford doctors and nurses, all without getting out of their cars.

In what is believed to be the first training exercise in the country, a team of health care professionals at Stanford Hospital & Clinics turned the first floor of a parking garage into a drive-through emergency room Friday morning in hopes of creating a more efficient way to treat a large number of patients during an influenza pandemic or other emergency.

Ed. -- I don't think they're the first...

---

by: Bronco Bill @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 21:18:08 PM CDT

nope

http://www.newfluwiki2.com/dia...

http://www.newfluwiki2.com/dia...

---

by: DemFromCT @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 22:27:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

This may be a better link

to the article above: http://www.mercurynews.com/top...

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 Jun 13, 2009 at 23:13:47 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

A/H1N1 flu cases in Asia-Pacific region

 Factbox: A/H1N1 flu cases in Asia-Pacific region
www.chinaview.cn 2009-06-14 05:13:21   Print

   HONG KONG, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The following is the latest confirmed cases of Influenza A/H1N1 in the Asia-Pacific region on Saturday:

   Japan: 549; Australia: 1,336; South Korea: 55; China: 293 (165 in mainland, 84 in Hong Kong, 44 in Taiwan); New Zealand: 43; the Philippines: 111; Thailand: 106; Malaysia 12; India: 17; Singapore:27; Vietnam: 25; French Polynesia: 1.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/engl...

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

---

by: mojo @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 21:18:19 PM CDT

Israel finds 17 more A/H1N1 flu cases

http://news.xinhuanet.com/engl...

2009-06-14 04:56:19      

   JERUSALEM, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Seventeen additional A/H1N1 flu cases have been diagnosed in Israel over the weekend, local news service Ynet reported Saturday on its website.

   The latest cases have brought to 94 the total number of confirmed cases of the global pandemic in the Jewish state.

   Israeli Health Ministry has called on passengers of El Al flight 0104 from Toronto and Air France flight 2220 to go to the hospital if they developed flu-like symptoms, said the report.

   On Thursday, nine additional A/H1N1 flu cases were diagnosed in Israel, bringing to 77 the total number of confirmed cases in the country.

[more]

 



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

---

by: tess @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 22:26:18 PM CDT

Canada reports fifth A/H1N1 flu death

http://news.xinhuanet.com/engl...

2009-06-14 08:47:41      Print

   OTTAWA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A man in his 40s has died after contracting the A/H1N1 flu, becoming the fifth person died of the virus in Canada, health officials announced Saturday.

   The man was from Montreal and had underlying health problems that had weakened his immune system, Dr. Alain Poirier, Quebec's director of public health, said in Montreal.

   He is the second victim of the virus in Quebec province, after an elderly woman died last week.

   Two men from Toronto and one woman from northern Alberta have previously died of the disease.

   As of Friday, the total number of confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases stood at 3,515, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

   The agency says just over five percent of the cases in this country have been treated in hospital, and estimates a quarter of those hospitalized had an underlying medical condition.
_________

5%? I'm not a medical professional. Is this higher than hospitalization rates for regular seasonal flu?

 



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

---

by: tess @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 22:35:35 PM CDT

Please post new news stories to ...

News Reports for June 14, 2009

Thank you!

---

by: AlohaOR @ Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 23:03:48 PM CDT