H1N1 (Swine Flu) spreads worldwide= Is declared a Pandemic

[vbhoutex]

We now have a school shut down till after Memorial Day(complete lockdown-no one in)with 12 confirmed cases of H1N1 in the school and literally hundreds of kids out sick.

[Dionne]

CDC.....4714
WHO....8451
66 deaths

[Cookiely]

Donald McNeil: Hi, Dr. Jernigan. There's a growing gap between the usefulness of that 4,714 confirmed and probable cases and the actual number of cases around the country. I know the teams aren't all in yet but do you have any sort of estimate at all about how many cases we're talking about across the country? Is it 10,000, 20,000, 30,000? Any sense at all of what the real number is like?

Dan Jernigan: Yeah, I agree with you regarding the utility of the numeric figure for influenza. And for that reason, we don't enumerate the numbers of individual cases each year in the United States. Somewhere between 7 percent to 10 percent of the U.S. population each year gets influenza, which is maybe 21 million to 30 million people a year. And so with the amount of activity that we're seeing now, it's a little hard to make an estimate about what that means in terms of the total number of people with flu out in the community. But if we had to make an estimate, I would say that the amount of activity we're seeing with our influenza-like illness network is probably upwards of maybe 100,000(ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND), but that's something we will have a much better estimate of once we get the information back from the field teams that are collecting that data.
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[MGC]

Yikes...Swine Flu now in Mississippi......MGC

[cycloneye]

Another U.S. Citizen dies because of the flu

NEW YORK (CNN) -- An New York middle school assistant principal who was hospitalized with the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, died Sunday apparently from flu complications, a hospital spokesman said.

Mitchell Wiener, 55, assistant principal at Intermediate School 238 in Queens, died at 6:17 p.m. Sunday, Flushing Hospital spokesman Andrew Rubin said.

"We believe he had complications of the swine flu," Rubin told CNN Radio, adding that once Wiener was admitted to the hospital, he was listed in critical condition. However, he wouldn't say whether Rubin had any pre-existing medical conditions.

"It is with great sadness tonight that we learn that New York has lost one of its residents to an illness related to H1N1," New York Gov. David Paterson said.


http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/1 ... index.html

[Stephanie]

DAMN!!! That's so sad!

[vbhoutex]

Our school that closed now has 24 confirmed cases!!

[cycloneye]

The first confirmed case in Puerto Rico was notified this afternoon at the governors residence in a press conference.This person was in a Caribbean cruise where it all started.They say the person is fine,but the authorities are investigating all the persons that had contact in the ship and in the port.

The link is in spanish but I told you the meat of the information.

http://www.elnuevodia.com/confirmanprim ... 73249.html

[lurkey]

I've been listening to two interesting books about the 1918 pandemic:

The first one, which I am done with.. . Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It, Gina Kolata my only problem with the audiobook was the narrator; should have used a professional narrator; otherwise the book was good. ..

The second one, I am currently listening to is The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History It is 19 hrs and 25 mins. . . but it is good. . . it starts with history of medicine in the US, a easy to understand explanation of viruses and how they work, and ". . .attempts to trace not just when and where but why the flu happened". It even discussed things I didn't know about the Pandemic of 1918. . .the parallel sickness that occurred in swine. . and the theory that the descendent of 1918 virus still survives as a swine flu affecting pigs today. . .

[Cookiely]

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_06_01/en/index.html

Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 18
This is the one that scares me.
1 June 2009 -- The Ministry of Health of Egypt has reported a new confirmed human case of avian influenza.

The case is a 14-month old girl from Dekernes District, Dkhalia Governorate. Her symptoms began on 25 May 2009. She was admitted to Mansoura Chest Hospital on 29 May where she received oseltamivir and is in a stable condition.

Investigations into the source of infection indicated that she had close contact with dead and sick poultry. The case was confirmed by the Egyptian Central Public Health Laboratories.

Of the 77 cases confirmed to date in Egypt, 27 have been fatal.

[lurkey]

http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_06_01/en/index.html

Avian influenza - situation in Egypt - update 18
This is the one that scares me.
1 June 2009 -- The Ministry of Health of Egypt has reported a new confirmed human case of avian influenza.

The case is a 14-month old girl from Dekernes District, Dkhalia Governorate. Her symptoms began on 25 May 2009. She was admitted to Mansoura Chest Hospital on 29 May where she received oseltamivir and is in a stable condition.

Investigations into the source of infection indicated that she had close contact with dead and sick poultry. The case was confirmed by the Egyptian Central Public Health Laboratories.

Of the 77 cases confirmed to date in Egypt, 27 have been fatal.

That is what happened in Hong Kong 2003 .. . . usually the patient has had close contact with poultry, normally in the city markets. H5N1, I believe http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avian_influenza

[Cookiely]

Egypt detects H1N1 flu case, first in Africa

02 Jun 2009 16:40:59 GMT
Source: Reuters

* Egypt detects H1N1 influenza virus in U.S. girl

* Confirmed case in 12-year-old is first in Africa

(Adds details from health ministry)

By Edmund Blair and Cynthia Johnston

CAIRO, June 2 (Reuters) - Egypt has confirmed a case of the new H1N1 influenza virus, the first in Africa, in a 12-year-old girl who arrived in Cairo from the United States, a World Health Organisation official said on Tuesday.

The girl, from Minnesota, was immediately quarantined on arrival at Cairo airport, having flown in with her mother to spend summer holidays in the most populous Arab country, health officials said.

"She is a confirmed case of H1N1 ... She has been detected at the airport by the thermal detectors," Hassan al-Bushra, regional adviser for communicable disease surveillance for the WHO, told Reuters.

"She has been given treatment, she and her mother as well," he added. "She is in a good condition."

The airborne H1N1 virus had previously been detected in all regions of the world except Africa. It has been diagnosed in more than 17,000 people worldwide, and has killed more than 100, mostly in Mexico, according to the WHO.

Egypt, already hard hit by the much more deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, had stepped up surveillance measures at the airport to try to prevent the disease from getting in. The case, while the first in Egypt, is the 24th in the Middle East region.

H1N1 spreads easily and mostly causes a mild illness.

ALERTING FELLOW PASSENGERS

Egypt, whose poultry industry was decimated by the arrival of bird flu in early 2006, fears another flu could spread quickly in a country where most of the roughly 76 million people live in the densely packed Nile Valley, many in crowded slums.

Bushra said the girl, of Egyptian origin, arrived on Monday via Europe and was confirmed on Tuesday to have contracted H1N1. Her mother had not tested positive for the virus.

The Health Ministry was trying to contact 145 passengers who were on the same flight. Bushra said they would be told to watch for symptoms and see a doctor immediately if they felt ill.

The arrival of H1N1 comes amid an upswing in bird flu cases in Egypt, hit harder by the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus than any other country outside Asia. The disease is now considered endemic in Egyptian poultry.

Egypt has reported 27 cases of bird flu in humans so far this year, more than three times the number it reported in the whole of 2008, and new human infections have not significantly stalled even as the hot summer months approach.

Experts say that it is technically possible but unlikely that H1N1 -- a mix of swine, human and avian flu -- could find a way to combine with bird flu in Egypt to create yet another flu strain.

Egypt ordered the slaughter of all its 300,000 to 400,000 pigs on April 29 as a precaution against the H1N1 virus, in a move the United Nations said was "a real mistake". Scientists say there is no danger of contracting H1N1 from eating pork. (Writing by Cynthia Johnston, editing by Mark Trevelyan)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L21017104.htm

[abajan]

Oh well... 'twas bound to happen eventually: I just heard on our local news that Barbados has recorded its 1st confirmed case of the virus.

[Stephanie]

I'm really afraid of what the next year's flu season will bring. This bug is still going WAY past the normal flu season.

[Cryomaniac]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8087213.stm

The official number of cases in the UK is over 500, but it could double.

[JonathanBelles]

The mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, has been quarantined in China after possible exposure to the H1N1 virus, his office said Sunday. Mayor Ray Nagin, who traveled to China on an economic development trip, flew on a plane that carried a passenger being treated for symptoms suspected to be from the virus.

(CNN)

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Now it's got a definite foothold in the land of the Eskimos..

19 new swine flu cases confirmed in Nunavut

Stepped-up monitoring of swine flu in Nunavut has turned up 19 new cases, health officials said Monday.

All the new cases came from communities in the Kitikmeot and Kivalliq regions, according to the territory's Health Department.

Officials said the spike in cases is due in part to heightened surveillance efforts for swine flu, which is caused by the H1N1 influenza virus.

The latest cases bring Nunavut's swine flu total to 25. Chief medical officer Dr. Isaac Sobol said he expects that number to keep climbing this week and next.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/20 ... navut.html

And....

WHO getting close to declaring H1N1 pandemic
Tue Jun 9, 2009 11:51am EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Tuesday it was getting close to declaring a full-blown pandemic caused by the H1N1 virus, which has infected more than 26,500 people in 73 countries.

Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general, voiced concern at the sustained spread of the new strain in countries including Australia following major outbreaks in North America. Confirmed community spread in a second region would trigger moving to phase 6 from phase 5 on its 6-level pandemic alert scale.

Fukuda, asked whether there was any doubt that a pandemic was under way, told a weekly teleconference: "We are really getting very close to that."

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Andrew Dobbie)
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNe ... US20090609

[lurkey]

WHO getting close to declaring H1N1 pandemic
Tue Jun 9, 2009 11:51am EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization said on Tuesday it was getting close to declaring a full-blown pandemic caused by the H1N1 virus, which has infected more than 26,500 people in 73 countries.

Keiji Fukuda, acting WHO assistant director-general, voiced concern at the sustained spread of the new strain in countries including Australia following major outbreaks in North America. Confirmed community spread in a second region would trigger moving to phase 6 from phase 5 on its 6-level pandemic alert scale.

Fukuda, asked whether there was any doubt that a pandemic was under way, told a weekly teleconference: "We are really getting very close to that."

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Andrew Dobbie)
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNe ... US20090609

they have been saying that for the last 2 weeks

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

I noticed that they are looking at the Inuit closely since they are having more severe reactions to the flu. I wonder if it is poverty or their genetic makeup that is making a difference? Canada certainly has enough of the antiviral medicine yet the Inuit and First Nation people are getting sicker.

They also mentioned that in Australia the virus is moving quickly.......how it is affecting their aboriginal community?

[lurkey]

Is this a pandemic? Define pandemic.

How a Mild Virus Might Turn Vicious