As they scrambled recently to trace the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds around the country, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used a new tool for the first time — the shopper cards that millions of Americans swipe every time they buy groceries.

With permission from the patients, investigators followed the trail of grocery purchases to a Rhode Island company that makes salami, then zeroed in on the pepper used to season the meat.

Never before had the CDC successfully mined the mountain of data that supermarket chains compile.

“It was really exciting. It was a break in the investigation for sure,” CDC epidemiologist Casey Barton Behravesh said.

At least 245 people in 44 states have been sickened in the outbreak. That includes 30 in California, 19 in Illinois, 18 in New York and 17 in Washington state.

The victims included Raymond Cirimele, a 55-year-old Chicago man. He said no one asked for his shopper-card data, but he would have provided it if someone had.

“I don’t have any secrets, so I’m not worried about it,” he said. “It’s kind of like the whole airport security and all that. I’d rather fly on a safe plane.”

…

Some privacy advocates, though, are troubled.

Longtime shopper-card critic Katherine Albrecht, director of a group called Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering, said she worries that the practice could lead to a switch from a voluntary system to mandatory use of such cards.

“That sends chills down my spine,” she said.

Source/Full Story: Yahoo! News

Indeed, be not complacent in this regard, but continue onward with diligence and patience. The vaccine I wouldn’t touch with a 10 meter cattle prod, but the tactic of separation or “social distancing” is still, IMHO, the best method for decreasing the risk of infection.  And get some Sambucol, it really works well.

H1N1 cases have continued to drop since December and into the first weeks of 2010, but health officials say now is not the time to assume the worst is over.

“We want and need to avoid complacency,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, a director with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said last week. “Having as many people vaccinated as possible is our best course of action, even if we can’t read the tea leaves of the future.”

Source/Full Story: The SouthtownStar

Another new swine flu virus has made the leap to humans, though U.S. officials say it seems almost certain the virus hit a dead end.

The Centers for Disease Control reported Friday that a child from Iowa became infected with a new swine flu virus in September, though the case didn’t come to light until November.

The unnamed boy didn’t need to be hospitalized and recovered fully from the illness.

Testing later showed he’d been infected with a swine influenza virus of the H3N2 subtype, different both from the pandemic H1N1 virus and from the seasonal H3N2 viruses that have been circulating in people for decades.
…
It isn’t clear how the boy became infected with the virus. He had no known contact with pigs, an eerie echo of the emergence last spring of the pandemic H1N1 virus. H1N1 was first spotted in two children from California who had had no contact with pigs or with each other.

Source/Full Story: Yahoo! Canada News

H1N1 influenza kills Native Americans and Alaskan Natives at four times the rate of the rest of the population, making immunizations critical for native people, say national health experts.

“The virus has hit Indian Country especially hard,” said Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Health and Human Services secretary.

Sebelius joined Dr. Yvette Roubideaux, director of Indian Health Services, and Dr. Ralph Bryan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a teleconference Tuesday to introduce HHS’s new public service announcements. The announcements, starring Cherokee actor Wes Studi, focus on promoting H1N1 immunization in Native populations.

Sebelius said more Native Americans die from H1N1 complications because the population has a higher rate of underlying health issues, such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease.

Source/Full Story: rapidcityjournal.com

Two African drums stored at the United Campus Ministry in Durham have tested positive for anthrax, the state confirmed yesterday as it continues to investigate the nation’s first known case of gastrointestinal anthrax.

The young woman with the disease, who attended a drum circle at the center, remains in critical condition, state Public Health Director Jose Montero said.

The state ordered the ministry, which serves but is not part of the University of New Hampshire, closed for further testing. As many as 30 drums are stored at the 15 Mill Road building.

Montero continues to ask drum owners who attended the drum circle events since October to call his office for possible drum tests. The state lab has sent some samples, including DNA samples, for further testing at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Source/Full Story: unionleader.com

About 22 million Americans have become ill with pandemic H1N1 influenza in the past six months and 3,900 have died, according to new estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The number of pediatric deaths — about 540 — is four times as high as the number that physicians, hospitals and health departments had reported to the public health agency in Atlanta.

The new estimates, drawn from detailed surveillance and record-checking in 10 states, sketch the most detailed picture by far of the national toll from the new flu strain that emerged in California and Mexico in April.

“We feel we’re finally able to update the public on how big a toll this virus is having so far,” Anne Schuchat, a CDC physician helping to run the federal government’s pandemic response, said Thursday. “I am expecting all these numbers, unfortunately, to continue to rise.”

The total number of people who have been hospitalized is 98,000, with 36,000 of them age 17 and younger. The vast majority of deaths — about 2,920 — have been in people age 18 to 64.

In an average flu season, the seasonal virus contributes to the deaths of about 36,000 people — 90 percent of whom are 65 or older. Many are close to death, with flu being only one factor leading to their demise. That is not the case with H1N1’s victims, most of whom are much younger, and about 20 to 30 percent of whom were healthy before contracting the virus.

Source/Full Story: washingtonpost.com
Technorati Tags: H1N1

More than a third of American youth of military age are unfit for service, mainly because they are too fat or sickly, the Army Times reports, quoting the latest Pentagon figures.

Most of the rest are too dumb or have used too many drugs to qualify, the study shows.

The report says 35% of the 31 million Americans aged 17 to 24 are unqualified because of physical and medical issues.

“The major component of this is obesity,” Curt Gilroy, the Pentagon’s director of accessions, tells the Times. “We have an obesity crisis in the country. There’s no question about it.”

He also said young people, by and large, can’t do push-ups.

“And they can’t do pull-ups,” Gilroy says. ” And they can’t run.”

The Times says the Pentagon gets its data from the Centers for Disease Control, which has found that the percentage of youth 18 to 34 who are considered obese has jumped from 6% in 1987 to 23% now.

Here’s the Pentagon’s breakdown of the ineligible population, according to the Times:

* Medical/physical problems, 35%.
* Illegal drug use, 18%.
* Mental Category V (the lowest 10% of the population), 9%.
* Too many dependents under age 18, 6%.
* Criminal record, 5%.

Update at 1:06 p.m. ET: The Times reports that Education Secretary Arne Duncan and a group of retired military officers will issue a report on Thursday warning that the situation is so dire it amounts to a threat to national security.

That study will show that when all factors are considered, 75% of military-age youth are not eligible to serve.

Source/Full Story: usatoday.com

Contaminated fresh ground beef caused a possible E. coli outbreak that killed two people and sent 16 others to hospitals, federal health officials said Monday.

Twenty-eight people may have become ill after eating beef produced by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. All but three of the suspected infections are in the northeastern U.S. and 18 are in New England, said CDC spokeswoman Lola Scott Russell.

Fairbank Farms recalled almost 546,000 pounds of fresh ground beef that had been distributed in September to stores from North Carolina to Maine. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recall notice, dated Saturday, said the possibly tainted meat had been sold in numerous ways, from meatloaf and meatball mix to hamburger patties.
…
Some of the ground beef was sold at Trader Joe’s, Price Chopper, Lancaster, Wild Harvest, Shaw’s, BJ’s, Ford Brothers and Giant stores in packages that carried the number “EST. 492″ on the label. Those products were packaged Sept. 15-16 and may have been labeled with a sell-by date from Sept. 19 through Sept. 28, meaning they’re no longer being sold as fresh product in supermarkets, Fairbank Farms said.

The rest of the ground beef, packaged in wholesale-sized containers under the Fairbank Farms name, was distributed to stores in Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. That meat was likely repackaged for sale and would likely have differing package and sell-by dates.

The USDA was urging customers with concerns to contact the stores where they bought the meat.

Ron Allen, Fairbank’s CEO, urged consumers to check their freezers for the recalled ground beef.

Companies subject to such recalls are allowed to cook tainted meat to kill the bacteria and then use it in other products, a common practice in the food industry.

That won’t happen in this case, the company said.

Source/Full Story: FOXNews.com
Technorati Tags: E. coli

Just remember, “Social Distancing”, i.e physical separation from the public will be the most essential tool for avoiding infection, not a vaccine.

Swine flu is causing unprecedented illness for so early in the fall — including a worrisome count of child deaths — and the government warned Friday that vaccine supplies will be even more scarce than expected through this month.

Federal health officials said 11 more children have died in the past week because of the virus.

Manufacturer delays mean 28 million to 30 million doses, at most, will be divided around the country by the end of the month, not the 40 million-plus that states had been expecting. The new count from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention means anxiously awaited flu-shot clinics in some parts of the country may have to be postponed.

It also delays efforts to blunt increasing infections. Overall, what CDC calls the 2009 H1N1 flu is causing widespread disease in 41 states, and about 6 percent of all doctor visits are for flu-like illness — levels not normally seen until much later in the fall.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about half of the child deaths since September have been among teenagers.

And overall for the country, deaths from pneumonia and flu-like illnesses have passed what CDC considers an epidemic level. About 6 percent of all doctor visits are for flu-like illnesses, levels not normally seen until later in the fall.

The CDC’s Dr. Anne Schuchat (SHU’-kit) says, “These are very sobering statistics.”

This new strain is different from regular winter flu because it strikes the young far more than the old, and child deaths are drawing particular attention. Eighty-six children have died of swine flu in the U.S. since it burst on the scene last spring — 43 of those deaths reported in September and early October alone, said CDC’s Dr. Anne Schuchat.

That’s a startling number because in some past winters, the CDC has counted 40 or 50 child deaths for the entire flu season, she said, and no one knows how long this swine flu outbreak will last. Half of those early fall child deaths are among teenagers, also surprising as preschoolers are thought to be most vulnerable.

Source/Full Story:  Yahoo! News
Technorati Tags: Swine flu, H1N1

I would consider the cares and concerns of these parents to be prudent, and not irrational by any stretch of the imagination.  What idiot would even say such a thing!?   Ahh…government officials of course.  And I wonder if Ms. Sebelius would be willing to be held accountable for any damage done by the vaccine, since she unconditionally vouches for it’s safety.   I’m thinking something about a snowball’s chance…

…
A recent poll by Consumer Reports found that two-thirds of parents plan to delay or skip getting their children the H1N1 shot altogether.

Some believe the vaccine was rushed and not adequately tested. Others just don’t trust flu shots in general and avoid them each winter like the plague.

But government officials say those concerns are irrational. H1N1 flu has hit children particularly hard — 36 youths in the U.S. had died from it through August — so they are advising parents very strongly to do what’s best for their kids and get them vaccinated.

“I think many of the concerns by parents are based on the perception that this vaccine has been rushed into production and may not be safe,” said Tom Skinner, spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“And we understand parents’ concerns — they want what is best for their children. We often tell people the best antidote for fear is information. And we ask them to really seek out sound and reliable information from sources they trust.”

Skinner said the vaccine was made in exactly the same manner as the seasonal flu vaccine, which has a “very, very good track record as far as safety is concerned.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius made the rounds Tuesday and Wednesday morning, appealing to all Americans to get the vaccine and trust that it is safe.

Sebelius unconditionally vouched for the safety of the vaccine, saying it “has been made exactly the same way the seasonal vaccine has been made, year in and year out.”

Health experts say most fears about the flu vaccine, especially the seasonal vaccine, are unfounded.

Source/Full Story:: FOXNews.com
Technorati Tags: H1N1, vaccines

Gov. John Baldacci, I know your a nincompoop, and I strongly suspect you of being a scalawag!

Tell me sir, if you can, how you go about having “a responsible and aggressive vaccination” campaign when the very means by which you go about establishing it has as it’s primary feature a negation of responsibility for those administering the program?  How do you define responsibility exactly?

Oh, the “vaccination and public education campaign” will be aggressive, of this I have no doubt, but it will be so by virtue of a lack of liability in the event of someone being injured or killed by the vaccine.   Somehow I get the creepy feeling that someone is just after the children, and will take whatever steps necessary to get them.  Paranoid ya think?  We’ll see.

“And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him.”  Mark 12:17

“We the people” do not belong to the State, and neither do our children.  You and those of your ilk would do well to remember this, and keep your grubby mitts off our kids.

Gov. John Baldacci on Tuesday declared a statewide civil emergency because of the H1N1 influenza virus, paving the way for mass immunization of Maine schoolchildren and other residents.

The emergency designation protects schools and health care providers against liability claims related to their participation in school-based vaccine clinics this fall for both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu. “Maine has been proactive in its response to this new flu,” Baldacci said in announcing the proclamation. “But as the school year begins, we must continue our vigilance, which will require a responsible and aggressive vaccination and public education campaign. It’s our goal that every person in the state has access to vaccines for the seasonal and H1N1 flu.”

In accordance with recommendations from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, officials in Maine are encouraging public schools to offer on-site immunization clinics for all children, including infants over 6 months and preschoolers as well as children who are home-schooled. Participating schools will offer the seasonal influenza vaccine as soon as possible, and many also will offer the new H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available.
…

The emergency proclamation allows for those clinicians, once their credentials have been approved, to become temporary employees of the state, relieving provider agencies from the administrative burden and legal liabilities associated with hiring them directly.

…
Schools are no more liable for injuries associated with the vaccine clinics than they would be for injuries incurred at a basketball game or other community event, Mills said. And while vaccine manufacturers are generally not liable for ill effects of the vaccines they produce, Mills said, the federal government does have a compensation fund for vaccine-related illnesses or injuries.

Source/Full Story:: Bangor Daily News
Technorati Tags: John Baldacci, H1N1, civil emergency, vaccinations

Swine flu vaccinations may begin in three weeks, earlier than previously anticipated, after the first U.S. tests found a single shot to be effective in eight to 10 days, U.S. health officials said.

The first shots may be available by the end of this month and administered to patients the first week of October, said Nancy Cox, director of the flu division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Health officials had previously planned for vaccinations to begin in mid-October, requiring two shots administered three weeks apart.

Swine flu outbreaks have rippled across U.S. schools and universities after pupils returned to classes in the past few weeks. Washington State University reported more than 2,500 cases, and the CDC last week reported a nationwide spike of influenza cases months earlier than the past three flu seasons. The test results are boosting hopes the vaccine may be available in time to curb the first pandemic in 41 years, Cox said.

“We were anticipating that it would begin mid-October,” Cox told reporters today at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco. “This was a conservative estimate but it was a necessary conservative estimate. We now feel that we will have vaccine for more people earlier and this is extremely good news.”

Source/Full Story:: Bloomberg.com
Technorati Tags: vaccinations, Swine Flu

Almost three-quarters (73%) of American colleges and universities are reporting cases of influenza-like illnesses among students, with the highest rates in the Southeast and Midwest, the American College Health Association says.

There were 4,045 new flu-like illness cases between Aug. 29 and Sept. 4 among 204 schools taking part in voluntary reporting, the new data show.

Most schools are not testing to confirm the virus is H1N1, or swine flu. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly all the flu virus now circulating is H1N1.

So far there has been only one flu-related college death. Troy University freshman Andrew Salter, 18, of Valley, Ala., died on Sept. 4 after fighting first H1N1 and then pneumonia, says university official Herbert Reeves.

So far Washington State University in Pullman has been hardest hit, with about 2,500 cases, says the school’s Paula Adams.

Source/Full Story @: USATODAY.com
Technorati Tags: H1N1

by Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, September 4, 2009

 

Iowa public health officials have acknowledged the existence of a blank template entitled FACILITY QUARANTINE ORDER in the case of a Novel Influenza A H1N1 pandemic. The official press release states, however, that there is no draft or text of  a “Quarantine Order” by the Iowa Department of Public Health. 
Reported by the Iowa Independent:

“A quarantine template created by the Iowa Department of Public Health and accessible through the Centers for Disease Control Web site should not be of great concern, according to a press release from health department officials. ‘IDPH wants to make it clear that Iowa has not issued any isolation and quarantine orders for novel influenza A (H1N1), and has no plans to issue any this fall,’ officials wrote in the press release. See Health officials: Iowa quarantine document not cause for concern, Iowa Independent, Sept 1, 2009‎

The IDPH suggests in this regard that the drafting of public health templates is a routine undertaking, while also confirming that “in preparation for public health emergencies,” …“isolation and quarantine orders are only very rarely used in very specific situations.” (emphasis added). 
The last statement of the IDPH is notoriously ambiguous: If indeed isolation and quarantine orders are rarely used, why then was a template prepared which explicitly contemplates an ORDER pertaining to a QUARANTINE FACILITY? Moreover, the template was issued on May 1st, at the very outset of the H1N1 swine flu crisis in Mexico, barely two days after the WHO declared a level 5 pandemic advisory on April 29th. 
Are we playing on words?
The template already contains the essential features of a formal QUARANTINE ORDER, which suggests that quarantine procedures are contemplated within the Iowa Department of Public Health. The result of these procedures have led to the formulation of the blank template. 
The issue, therefore, is not whether a quarantine order has been activated. The issue is
1) the State of Iowa has contemplated a policy of “forced confinement”,
2) at some future date, in the next few months, the blank template entitled FACILITY QUARANTINE ORDER could be activated with a view to actually implementing the quarantine precedures.  

Also of significance is the fact that this template entitled FACILITY QUARANTINE ORDER has been endorsed by the Atlanta based Center for Disease Control (CDC), which has published the document on its website.The CDC is the main federal agency responsible for H1N1 pandemic preparedness in coordination with other governmental agencies including FEMA, Homeland Security, State and municipal governments, as well as in liaison with the WHO.    

There are two quarantine documents on the CDC’s website. The first refers to HOME QUARANTINE ORDER, the second to FACILITY QUARANTINE ORDER. (pdf) 
Click to access the CDC page, which identifies both templates as CDC reference documents. Media reports pointed to “rumors swirling after a quarantine form was found by someone on the internet…” (See report on kimt.com, September 1, 2009)
We are not dealing with rumors. The FACILITY QUARANTINE ORDER document posted on the website of the CDC, a federal government agency, envisages quite explicitly “forced confinement” in the case of the H1N1 swine flu: 

“The Department has determined that it is necessary to quarantine your movement to a specific facility to prevent further spread of this disease. The Department has determined that quarantine in your home and other less restrictive alternatives are not acceptable because [insert the reason home quarantine is not acceptable, the person violated a previously issued home quarantine order, the person does not have an appropriate home setting conducive to home quarantine, etc.] The Department is therefore ordering you to comply with the following provisions during the entire period of quarantine:

1. Terms of confinement. You are ordered to remain at the quarantine facility, _____________________ [insert name and address of facility], from ___________ to ____________ [insert dates of quarantine].

….

4. Legal authority. This order is issued pursuant to the legal authority contained at Iowa Code chapters 135, 139A and 641 Iowa Administrative Code chapter 1, a copy of which is labeled Attachment B and is attached to this order for your review. The Department shall comply with the principles for quarantine contained in subrule 1.9(3) of this attachment when issuing and implementing this order.

5. Ensuring compliance. In order to ensure that you strictly comply with this Quarantine Order the Department or persons authorized by the Department may regularly inspect the quarantine facility.

6. Violations of order. If you fail to comply with this Quarantine Order you may be ordered to be quarantined in a more restrictive facility. In addition, failure to comply with this order is a simple misdemeanor for which you may be arrested, fined, and imprisoned.”

This is an official document of the Iowa State government, which has also been endorsed by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). If it were a preliminary or internal draft, it would not have been published by the CDC. The question is whether similar quarantine procedures are being replicated in other states across America.  

---

The full text of the controversial Iowa Template is indicated below: To access the pdf version of the Template on the CDC website, click FACILITY QUARANTINE ORDER

BEFORE THE IOWA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH

DIRECTED TO: [insert full name and address of subject of order]

[insert case #]

FACILITY QUARANTINE ORDER

The Iowa Department of Public Health (Department) has determined that you have had contact with a person with Novel Influenza A H1N1. Novel Influenza A H1N1 is a disease which is spread from person to person and is associated with fever (greater than 100.0 F), cough, sore throat, rhinorrhea (runny nose), nasal congestion, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Novel Influenza A H1N1 presents a risk of serious harm to public health and if it spreads in the community severe public health consequences may result.

The Department has determined that it is necessary to quarantine your movement to a specific facility to prevent further spread of this disease. The Department has determined that quarantine in your home and other less restrictive alternatives are not acceptable because [insert the reason home quarantine is not acceptable, the person violated a previously issued home quarantine order, the person does not have an appropriate home setting conducive to home quarantine, etc.] The Department is therefore ordering you to comply with the following provisions during the entire period of quarantine:

1. Terms of confinement. You are ordered to remain at the quarantine facility, _____________________ [insert name and address of facility], from ___________ to ____________ [insert dates of quarantine].

2. Requirements during confinement. During the period of quarantine:

a. You must not leave the quarantine facility at any time unless you have received prior written authorization from the Department to do so.
b. You must not come into contact with anyone except the following persons:
(i) other persons who are also under similar quarantine order at the quarantine facility;
(ii) authorized healthcare providers and other staff at the quarantine facility;
(iii) authorized Department staff or other persons acting on behalf of the Department; and
(iv) such other persons as are authorized by the Department.
c. Your daily needs, including food, shelter, and medical care, will be provided for you during the period of quarantine at the quarantine facility. You should bring clothing, toiletries, and other personal items with you to the quarantine facility. You will have limited access to a telephone at the quarantine facility. You may bring your cell phone with you should you desire to have greater access to a means of communication.
d. You should inform your employer that you are under quarantine order and are not authorized to physically come to the work place, although you may work from the facility via electronic or other means if appropriate. You should be aware that Iowa law prohibits an employer from firing, demoting, or otherwise discriminating against an employee due to the compliance of an employee with a quarantine order issued by the Department. (Iowa Code Section 139A.13A)

3. Information about Novel Influenza A H1N1. You should review the information contained at Attachment A for information about Novel Influenza A H1N1. You should refer to information provided at the quarantine facility to address specific concerns and questions you have about Novel Influenza A H1N1. In order to find out more information about Novel Influenza A H1N1 and its symptoms and spread, you may also access the Department’s web-page at www.idph.state.ia.us. If you do not have access to the internet from the quarantine facility, you may contact the Department at 1-800-362-2736.

4. Legal authority. This order is issued pursuant to the legal authority contained at Iowa Code chapters 135, 139A and 641 Iowa Administrative Code chapter 1, a copy of which is labeled Attachment B and is attached to this order for your review. The Department shall comply with the principles for quarantine contained in subrule 1.9(3) of this attachment when issuing and implementing this order.

5. Ensuring compliance. In order to ensure that you strictly comply with this Quarantine Order the Department or persons authorized by the Department may regularly inspect the quarantine facility.

6. Violations of order. If you fail to comply with this Quarantine Order you may be ordered to be quarantined in a more restrictive facility. In addition, failure to comply with this order is a simple misdemeanor for which you may be arrested, fined, and imprisoned.

7. Your rights B appeal rights. While under quarantine you have the rights as described in subrule 1.9(8) of Attachment B. In addition, you have the right to appeal this order pursuant to subrule 1.9(7) of Attachment B.

(signed & dated)
DIRECTOR or MEDICAL DIRECTOR
IOWA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Lucas State Office Building
Des Moines, IA 50319

Attachments to this Order:
Attachment A — Facts About Novel Influenza A H1N1
Attachment B — 641 Iowa Administrative Code chapter 1
To access the second document click HOME QUARANTINE ORDER

For most people, August is a month for swimming pools and summer vacations, with the aching misery of fall and winter flu outbreaks still safely distant.

This year, however, public health experts say the H1N1 flu that emerged in April is poised to return with a vengeance much earlier than the regular seasonal flu — possibly as soon as the end of this month, when many schools reopen.

Drug makers are scheduled to begin testing this week of two potential vaccines to help prevent H1N1, or swine flu. Immunizations against the disease, however, aren’t expected to be available until mid-October.

Even then, the government plans to first distribute the H1N1 shots to 159 million people — about half the U.S. population — in certain high-risk groups, such as pregnant women, children, adults with chronic diseases, health care workers and emergency medical workers.

People in those groups also will receive priority in getting doses of antiviral medication such as Tamiflu. Government officials say they don’t expect shortages of H1N1 vaccines, although they caution that availability and demand may be unpredictable

If supplies are limited at first, the remainder of the population– most of the healthy adults who help provide the nation’s services and keep its economy running — will have to wait to receive vaccine and anti-flu medications, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the meantime, public health experts say, individuals and families might be asked to stay home from work, school, church, public events, public transportation and other crowded places for as long as four months — the worst-case scenario — to help prevent the spread of disease.

While inconvenient, such “social distancing” measures can help contain an epidemic, saving lives and ultimately saving companies money by keeping workers healthy and productive, said Dr. Bruce Lee, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Pittsburgh.

“Pay very close attention to what the CDC and what other public health officials are saying — and that’s actually a big problem because I think a lot of people don’t pay much attention — and take it seriously,” said Dr. Lee, an assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology and biomedical informatics. “If they say to implement social distancing, do it.”

Source/Full Story: post-gazette.com