The new flu strain, which I contend is spreading in Ukraine and Belarus, is characterized by a lightning form of viral pneumonia — very similar to what happened in 1918. The new flu virus appears to have profound tissue affinity for sialic acid receptors deep in the lungs, replicating in the alveoli. To put it mildly, the lungs fill with blood. Quotes from Ukrainian officials included quotes such as “total destruction of the lungs.” Ukrainian Doctor Viktor Bachinsky has stated, “The virus causing the deaths is extremely aggressive — it doesn’t first infect the throat (as is common in flu), but strikes the lungs directly.” In Ukraine’s western Chernovetsky region, an epicenter of the outbreak, doctors have said lab tests showed at least some of the fatalties appeared to be caused by a flu dissimilar to both common flu and swine flu. In other words, a mutant flu. This claim of a ‘mutant flu’ has been echoed by Ukrainian public health officials such as Dr. Vasyl Lazoryshynetz. Unfortunately, as noted in the above Russia Today video, pharmacies across the country are sold out of antivirals. To the hard of thinking — yes, this is currently happening in Ukraine.

Source/Full Story: zero hedge

In Ukraine, schools have been closed, all public events have been banned and restrictions imposed on people’s movements after the country confirmed its first death from H1N1 swine flu.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko announced a three-week period of precautionary measures and health officials are said to be considering introducing quarantine across the country..

An outbreak of flu and pneumonia has killed 30 people in western Ukraine since mid-October, but until now officials have been insisting the H1N1 strain was not the cause.

A health ministry spokeswoman said not all the dead were tested, but checks on one body have proved positive.

In western Ukraine more than 5,000 flu cases have been registered during the last week. Tests are now being carried out to determine the origin of the virus.

Source/Full Story:  euronews
Technorati Tags: Ukraine, H1N1

Cases of swine flu in the UK have almost doubled this week, the Department of Health revealed today, as the outbreak imposes increasing pressure on intensive care beds.

So far 122 people have died after contracting the H1N1 virus and more than 500 are being treated in hospital, of whom 99 are in critical care – the highest figure since the disease emerged. Children appear to be vulnerable to higher rates of infection.

Emergency planners have, however, downgraded the UK’s worst case scenario, calculating this month that as many as 1,000 people could die during the pandemic infection. Far more of the victims are likely to be younger patients, unlike the normal pattern of seasonal flu, which affects the elderly most severely.

Estimates of likely casualties have come down progressively over the past few months from an initial upper assessment of 65,000 deaths, later reduced to 19,000 and now cut back again.

Source/Full Story: The Guardian
Technorati Tags: H1N1

The federal government originally promised 120 million doses of swine flu vaccine by now. Only 13 million have come through.

As nervous Americans clamor for the vaccine, production is running several weeks behind schedule, and health officials blame the pressure on pharmaceutical companies to crank it out along with the ordinary flu vaccine, and a slow and antiquated process that relies on millions of chicken eggs.

There have been other bottlenecks, too: Factories that put the precious liquid into syringes have become backed up. And the government itself ran into a delay in developing the tests required to assess each batch before it is cleared for use.

What effect the delays will have on the course of the outbreak is unclear, in part because scientists cannot say with any certainty just how dangerous the virus is, how easily it spreads, or whether it will mutate into a more lethal form.

“We’re in this race against the virus, and only Mother Nature knows how many cases are going to occur over the next six to 10 weeks,” said Michael Osterholm, a vaccine expert at the University of Minnesota.

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

The family of the assistant principal who was New York City’s first swine flu victim has filed court papers with the intention of suing the city and its health and education departments.

Mitchell Wiener’s widow and three sons said in a notice of claim last week that they intend to file a $40 million wrongful death lawsuit. The notice claims the city was negligent in failing to quickly report the outbreak and failing to warn Weiner that he’d been exposed to the virus. It also claims the city didn’t do its best to control the outbreak.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says “the city didn’t do anything wrong.” He says the city has an obligation to keep schools open, and he’s sorry Wiener died.

Wiener, who worked at Intermediate School 238 in Queens, died on May 17 after succumbing to H1N1 virus. Wiener, who had been hospitalized and placed on a ventilator, had been sick with the new flu strain for nearly a week before his school was closed three days before his death. Complications besides the virus likely played a part in his death, officials said.

But Wiener’s family insisted in May he was only being treated for gout. His wife, Bonnie Wiener, lashed out at city officials for not closing the school, when students were first diagnosed with swine flu.

Source/Full Story: wcbstv.com

Tests have confirmed that swine flu has broken out at a piggery in the central west of New South Wales.

It is the first case of the virus among pigs in Australia and the State Government believes the animals probably caught the disease from workers at the piggery.

A total of 280 pigs have been placed in quarantine and strict biosecurity measures are in place to try to contain the spread of the virus.

NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald says the piggery’s owner and staff have previously suffered flu-like symptoms and are being tested for swine flu by the health department.

Mr Macdonald says the outbreak poses no threat to humans.

Source/Full Story: ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Elderly people with swine flu should be treated as the lowest priority for antiviral drugs in a bid to preserve stocks for the younger population, according to new research.

The controversial view was published yesterday by an Italian scientist who claimed that distributing drugs such as Tamiflu to those over 65 has little effect on the spread of the infection or on mortality rates.

Age Concern said last night that older people were at high risk of complications if infected with swine flu and should receive antiviral treatment.

However, halting the prescription of the drugs for the over 65s could be the most effective way to save lives and prevent illness, the report by Stefano Merler, of the Bruno Kessler Foundation, an Italian research organisation found.

The research was carried out to establish the most effective way to distribute antivirals after it emerged that Italy has only enough Tamiflu to prescribe 12% of the population, around half of the supply recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Scotland has enough of the drug to cover 50% of the population, it was confirmed last night.

Mr Merler looked to the 1918-1919 flu pandemic, which claimed between 20 million and 40 million lives and was most lethal to those in their 30s, to offer a comparison to today’s infection.

When looking at the use of antivirals during the peak of the outbreak, Mr Merler found that the mortality rate among adults of working age who were given the drugs dropped by up to 40%.

When the drugs were given to the elderly, classed as those over 65, the death rate fell by a maximum of 2.8%.

Mr Merler said: “Although a policy of age-specific prioritisation of antiviral use will be controversial ethically, it may be the most effective use of stockpiled therapies. This is of particular importance for countries where the amount stockpiled is well below the WHO’s suggested level.

“Our work demonstrates that even in countries where the antiviral stockpile is not sufficient to treat 25% of the population, the minimum level suggested by the WHO, it is possible to reduce morbidity by prioritising the use of antivirals by age.”

Mr Merler’s suggested approach is the reverse of the policy adopted during outbreaks of normal seasonal flu, when priority is given to the over-65s.

Dr Rowland Kao, senior lecturer in animal production and public health at the University of Glasgow, said that Mr Merler’s research should be considered.

“It might be worth thinking about if this group is not producing a lot of the virus and are not at severe risk from the infection,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said that distribution of Tamiflu was purely a clinical decision and that no-one was excluded from being supplied.

A spokesman for Help the Aged said that the Italian-based research was not relevant to the UK given the healthy stock of antivirals.

He added: “Although older people seem at present less likely to catch the virus, they are more likely to have other long-standing health problems which could place them at higher risk once infected.”

Meanwhile, The family of Saltcoats woman Sharon Pentleton remains by her bedside in a Stockholm hospital after the pregnant 26 year old was flown to Sweden for treatment after suffering a rare reaction to swine flu.

A spokeswoman for NHS Ayrshire and Arran said last night that Ms Pentleton remains in a critical but stable condition.

Source/Full Story: The Herald

The U.S. military wants to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials.

The proposal is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The officials would not be identified because the proposal from U.S. Northern Command’s Gen. Victor Renuart has not been approved by the secretary.

The plan calls for military task forces to work in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is no final decision on how the military effort would be manned, but one source said it would likely include personnel from all branches of the military.

It has yet to be determined how many troops would be needed and whether they would come from the active duty or the National Guard and Reserve forces.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

H1N1 swine flu has killed more than 700 people around the world since the outbreak began four months ago, says the World Health Organization (WHO).

This represents a jump of at least two-thirds from the last official death toll figure of 429, published by the WHO on July 6.

Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, has warned that swine flu will become the biggest flu pandemic ever seen.

However, most cases continue to produce only mild symptoms.

The overwhelming majority of patients usually recover, even without medical treatment, within a week of falling ill.

The WHO has said the pandemic is developing at such a high speed that it is now pointless to try to document every case.

In past pandemics, flu viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks.

But officials have stressed that there is an ongoing need for all countries to monitor unusual events, such as clusters of severe or fatal cases, or unusual clinical patterns, closely.

Source/Full Story:: BBC NEWS
Technorati Tags: H1N1, swine flu, Margaret Chan, World Health Organization

About 150 people have fallen ill aboard a cruise ship berthed in Scotland following a suspected outbreak of the vomit-inducing norovirus, health officials said Monday.

…”NHS Highland can confirm that around 150 people on board a cruise ship docked at Invergordon have become unwell with suspected norovirus,” he said.

…Germany-based operators Transocean Tours said the man’s death earlier Monday was unrelated to the outbreak, saying he had chronic heart and breathing problems and “suffered a fatal heart attack on board ship”.

It said 769 passengers and 340 crew were on the Marco Polo and its medical team had reported that 54 passengers and 21 crew “have an unconfirmed virus that causes a form of gastroenteritis”.

Norovirus is highly contagious and induces vomiting and diarrhea. It affects between 600,000 and one million people in Britain each year and outbreaks are common within contained environments.

Passengers on the world-famous Queen Elizabeth II luxury liner were struck by an outbreak in 2007.

Source/Full Story: breitbart.com

The World Health Organization said Tuesday a spike in swine flu cases in Australia may push it to finally announce the first flu pandemic in 41 years. It also expressed concern about an unusual rise in severe illness from the disease in Canada.

WHO’s flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the agency wanted to avoid “adverse effects” if it announces a global outbreak of swine flu. Fukuda said people might panic or that governments might take inappropriate actions if WHO declares a pandemic.

Some flu experts think the world already is in a pandemic and that WHO has caved in to country requests that a declaration be postponed.

“On the surface of it, I think we are in phase 6,” or a pandemic, said Margaret Chan, WHO’s director-general.

Chan said it was important to verify the reports that the virus is becoming established outside North America before declaring a pandemic. “The decision to make a phase 6 announcement is a heavy responsibility, a responsibility that I will take very seriously, and I need to be convinced that I have indisputable evidence,” she said.

Chan said she will hold a conference call with governments Wednesday in order to verify some of the reports she has received before making a formal announcement. “Once I get indisputable evidence, I will make the announcement,” she told reporters in Geneva.

WHO said the virus has infected 26,563 people in 73 countries and caused 140 deaths. Most of the cases have been in North America, but Australia also has seen a sharp increase in recent days.

In most of the 73 countries, the new H1N1 virus has triggered only mild illness. But the fact that some of the deaths have occurred in otherwise healthy adults has prompted WHO to classify the outbreak as “moderate” for the time being.

“Approximately half the people who have died from this H1N1 infection have been previously healthy people,” Fukuda said, adding that this was “one of the observations which has given us the most concern.”

Source/Full Story: Yahoo! News

The outbreak of the new H1N1 flu virus has begun to wane with the start of summer in North America, and U.S. health officials said on Thursday they are looking to lessons learned as they prepare for its return in the autumn.

There are now 11,468 probable and confirmed cases of the new H1N1 swine flu in the United States, Dr Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers and Disease Control and Prevention told reporters in a telephone briefing.

So far, 770 people, or 2.5 percent of cases, have required hospitalization. California reported another death on Thursday, for a total of 21 U.S. deaths.

“Activity seems to be declining in the nation as a whole, but there are some areas where illness is ongoing,” she said.

Schuchat said the CDC will use the current lull to take stock of the nation’s response to the new H1N1 flu and attempt to patch any gaps in the public health safety net before flu season starts this fall.

Source/Full Story: Reuters

The World Health Organization said Tuesday it is “getting closer” to declaring a global outbreak of the swine flu virus as the infection appears to be taking hold outside of North America.

WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the disease has reached 64 countries and infected 18,965 people, causing 117 deaths.

The overwhelming majority of cases and deaths have been reported in Mexico and the United States, but increasingly the virus is spreading from person to person in countries as far apart as Britain, Spain, Japan, Chile and Australia.

“We still are waiting for evidence of really widespread community activity in these countries, and so it’s fair to say that they are in transition and are not quite there yet, which is why we are not in phase 6 yet,” Fukuda said.

Phase 6 is the highest alert on WHO’s scale, signaling a pandemic — a global epidemic. In terms of the geographic spread of swine flu, the world is “at phase 5 but getting closer to phase 6,” Fukuda said.

Source/Full Story: The Associated Press

Up to 24 May 2009, 11,748 confirmed cases of the new virus influenza A (H1N1) infection, including 91 deaths, have been notified in 15 countries of the Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras Mexico, Panama, Peru and the United States. (Figure 1) The date of the onset of symptoms of the first confirmed case was 28 March 2009 in the United States. WHO is not recommending any travel restrictions related to the outbreak of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus.

So far, available evidence shows that most cases of severe and fatal infections with the Influenza A (H1N1) virus, outside the outbreak in Mexico, are occurring in people with underlying chronic conditions.

Source/Full Story: Pan American Health Organization

Are the governments of the world preparing to vaccinate the entire populace? It seems that may be the case. According to Reuters 4.9 billion vaccinations against the supposed swine flu could be ready shortly. Documents have been leaked that suggest the CDC is preparing to have a Day of Planning for an H1N1 Vaccination Campaign. The WHO” is also now saying that because of the outbreak in Japan they may be forced to declare a level 6 pandemic

Source/Full Story: YouTube