Swine Flu Expected to Back With School Opening

The swine flu might be back in force before flu season usually starts to federal health officials on Friday predicting that tell them to expect to erupt as soon as more schools open in October or November.
The swine flu circulating in the United States, especially in the summer camp even though the hot weather and the regular flu season ended last month. "We expect to challenge when the children return to school when a congregating together," said Dr.. Anne Schuchat, director of the Center for Disease Respiratory Disease Control and Prevention said in a telephone news conference held with vaccine specialist from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Department of Health and Human Services.

It is still unclear how many doses of swine flu vaccine can be received by officials and companies not willing to exceed expectations, they expect tens rather than hundreds of millions and millions of people they plan to triage people they are. vulnerable people such as pregnant women and to find the flu such as health care workers.

The CDC has been closely following the disease in southern hemisphere summer and a travesty to see patterns in the United States and Mexico in the spring she says.

Infection most serious and most cases in children and young adults and those with conditions including pregnancy information is often death. Dr. Schuchat likened spread of unpredictability. The popcorn: One city will see an explosion of cases, overwhelmed hospitals and some others see.

Her most important message is that she added. "Viruses do not go and we fully expect to be challenged in the Fall."

Read more...

Pregnancy flu advice highlighted

Precautions pregnant women and parents of young children can take against the swine flu virus are being highlighted by the government.

Expectant mothers and children under the age of five are being told they can reduce infection risk by avoiding crowded places and unnecessary travel.

The Department of Health said the advice was not new but was being given greater prominence.
The move comes after a woman with swine flu died shortly after giving birth.

Ruptara Miah, 39, died in London's Whipps Cross Hospital on 13 July. Her baby is said to be very ill in intensive care.
Another child under six months old, who died in London, is also among the latest victims of the virus.

The re-issued advice, to be collated and published on the NHS website on Sunday, is based on recommendations given out by the Royal College of Midwives.

Health experts say because expectant mothers have suppressed immune systems, they could suffer possible complications if they contract swine flu, such as pneumonia, difficulty breathing and dehydration. Young children are also vulnerable.

Pregnant women are being told to practise good hand hygiene by washing hands frequently with soap and water, and to avoid crowded places when possible.

However, the NHS website emphasises that most expectant mothers who contract swine flu will only have mild symptoms and recover within a week.

Deaths rising

Belinda Phipps, chief executive of National Childbirth Trust, said that while the risks for expectant mothers were low, women needed information to make an informed decision.

"If you are pregnant, you are slightly more susceptible to all infections. One of them is swine flu.

"It is important that pregnant women know that - and particularly other members of the population know that - so that they behave responsibly and if they are sick they don't go and put themselves close to a pregnant woman."

Twenty-nine people have now died in the UK after contracting swine flu - 26 in England and three in Scotland.

The government has warned that the number of deaths from the virus this winter in the UK could reach between 19,000 and 65,000.

However, during the 1999 to 2000 winter, seasonal flu deaths reached 21,000 and even during average winters there are normally anywhere between 6,000 to 8,000 deaths.

The main advice to everyone is still to practise good hygiene and wash hands regularly, the Department of Health says

Read more...

67 Air Force Academy cadets have H1N1 flu

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Sixty-seven cadets at the Air Force Academy have confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza -- the so-called swine flu -- and another 30 are showing symptoms of the highly contagious virus, the academy said Tuesday.

None of the cadets has required hospitalization.

All 97 are incoming freshmen, known as "Doolies" in academy slang. They are in isolation while the rest of the class of about 1,300 is in outdoor training in the mountains around the Colorado Springs academy.

Academy officials say Air Force medical personnel are treating the cadets, and they hope to have everyone out of isolation before the beginning of classes August 6.
Another 70 showed symptoms of the swine flu but tested negative and have recovered enough to return to training.

Cadets in the class of 2013 arrived at the academy June 25. By July 6, academy medical staff began noticing an increase in cadets complaining of upper respiratory problems. As cadets have begun showing symptoms, they are moved into a separate dormitory away from other cadets.
Laboratory tests are conducted at an Air Force lab in Texas, and results are forwarded to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The outbreak forced academy officials to modify "Doolie Day Out" on Saturday. Traditionally, it is the first day off for cadets, and they are allowed to leave the academy grounds. This year, cadets stayed on grounds.

Read more...

UK swine flu cases third worst in the world

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The UK now has the third highest number of cases worldwide, after the U.S. and Mexico, according from the British government data.

Lab tests show that there were 9,718 confirmed cases of the virus in the UK, a figure that's just behind Mexico, which had 10,262 cases as of Wednesday.
The U.S. currently has the highest number with 33,902 lab-confirmed cases, according to latest figures from the World Health Organization.
Across the world there have been 94,512 cases of swine flu since it was first reported in Mexico in April with 429 deaths, WHO figures show.
Fourteen patients are now thought to have died in the UK after contracting swine flu, the country's Health Protection Agency reported.
The number of deaths in the UK has risen dramatically since Tuesday when seven people were known to have died from the H1N1 virus. A week ago, the total was four.

However, not all the people who have died of swine flu, died as direct result of the virus. All patients had underlying health problems, Britain's Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said.
An estimated 8,000 people are thought to have contracted the disease in Britain in the last week, from around 27,000 who called their doctor complaining of the flu, newly released National Health Service (NHS) figures show.
There are currently 335 people in hospital in England with swine flu, of whom 43 are in critical care, the NHS said.
Figures for the rates per 100,000 people in the UK showed children aged between five and 14 were among the worst affected by swine flu, followed by those aged one to four.
But the true scale of numbers affected in Britain could remain unknown as the figures did not take into account those treating themselves at home.

Donaldson was reported by the UK's Press Association as saying: "We know something about the people seeking help from the NHS but there will be many other people who look after themselves or don't realize they have it and don't show up."
He added: "We have to acknowledge the problem is bigger than surveillance is showing us. "That will always be the case, it would be the case with seasonal flu or anything else."
Last week, health secretary Andy Burnham warned that by the end of August, around 100,000 people will be affected with the virus every single day.
He moved the country on to treatment mode, which means people with flu symptoms will be encouraged to quarantine themselves at home and get a friend to pick up anti-viral drugs for them.
The first batches of vaccine are expected to arrive in the UK by late August, according to the NHS.

It says 30 million double doses -- enough for half the population -- are expected to be available by the end of the year.
"The government has ordered enough vaccine for the whole population and, when it becomes available, will focus on those at the greatest risk first," the NHS reports on it's Web site.

Read more...

Students quarantined

A group of British students and teachers are being held in Beijing, China, after four were diagnosed with swine flu.


ส่วนที่เหลือ

Read more...

Thailand battles swine flu

Thailand's government battles swine flu by ordering thousands of "cramming schools" to close. CNN's Dan Rivers reports


ส่วนที่เหลือ

Read more...

CDC: U.S. may need 600 million swine flu vaccine doses

(CNN) -- Questions abound about how to best inoculate the world against swine flu as health officials plan for a campaign that could dwarf any previous flu vaccination effort.

Among the issues to be resolved are the amount of vaccine likely to be available, the timing of the vaccine's availability, how it would be distributed, who would provide the shots, who would pay for them and whether it will be possible to track potential side effects.

At a recent meeting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health officials said U.S. demand could reach 600 million doses of vaccine, enough for two doses for each of the approximate 300 million people in the United States. That's in case two doses are required for children and adults under 50, CDC representatives said.

That would come on top of the 115 million doses of seasonal flu that are distributed annually, health officials said Friday.

Although there has been no official decision to undertake a major vaccination campaign, senior officials are hinting strongly that they would recommend such an effort.

Congress passed a supplemental appropriation for $7.5 billion, which President Obama recently signed, to cover the costs of preparing for the virus, which includes a vaccination campaign, CDC spokesman Thomas Skinner said.

Small studies in ferrets at the CDC suggest that when compared with seasonal flu, the virus appears to cause more severe disease but also seems to spread less easily.

Ferrets are often used in flu research because the animal's respiratory tract responds to flu viruses in much the same way as a human's. Still, it's too soon to draw any conclusions, said Nancy Cox, director of the CDC's influenza division.

More detailed results will be published in the journal Science this week.

The World Health Organization declared the virus, also known as the novel influenza A(H1N1), a global pandemic June 11. More than 70 countries have reported cases of human infection with the virus, and more than 70,000 cases have been documented worldwide, according to the WHO. There are 27,717 cases in the United States, according to the CDC.

As the first pandemic strain to emerge since 1968, the novel H1N1 virus has attracted interest from pharmaceutical companies around the world. Samples have been sent to dozens of potential vaccine makers, said Michael Shaw, lab team leader for the novel H1N1 response at the CDC.

Most vaccine production will involve the traditional route of growing a modified virus in eggs, but demand is so high that newer methods are getting a serious look.

One comes from a small company called Protein Sciences Corp., based in Meriden, Connecticut, which recently received a $35 million contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to pursue a new vaccine technology.

"The technology has advanced in recent years to a point that we believe it could help meet a surge in demand for U.S.-based vaccine for seasonal and pandemic flu," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement last week.

The company is producing 100,000 doses of vaccine per week, said Daniel Adams, CEO of Protein Sciences Corp.

The technology involves caterpillar ovary cells, which were isolated 20 years ago, and a virus called baculovirus that infects insects but does not harm humans, Adams said. Scientists inject a protein of the novel H1N1 virus into the baculovirus, which can multiply quickly in insect cells.

Making large quantities of this vaccine is faster than with traditional production methods because the basic cells are able to be frozen and stored, the company said in a statement.

Protein Sciences Corp. will have the vaccines ready for use in clinical trials in a month, Adams said. They will also be ready for human use if the FDA issues an emergency authorization to start distributing swine flu vaccines.

"We'll be paving the way for everybody, because the data that's generated in those trials will allow other people to get any idea of what it's going to take, how to make an effective vaccine," Adams said.

But the researchers do not know what is the appropriate dose size for this vaccine or whether it should be given once or twice, he said. These are issues that may be resolved in clinical trials.

A more established player in the vaccine arena is Sanofi Pasteur, which could have vaccines for the novel H1N1 virus available for clinical investigation in humans this summer, spokeswoman Donna Cary said. Supplies could become available to public health authorities in four to six months, and the FDA is reviewing the final clinical trial design, she said.

Novartis AG, another large pharmaceutical company, announced June 12 that it had produced the first batch of H1N1 vaccine weeks ahead of expectations, using cell-based manufacturing technology.

The company plans for clinical trials to start in July and expects licensure in the fall.

Abroad, the United Kingdom's department of health has signed contracts with pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline and Baxter. The advance purchase agreement allows for up to 130 million doses, but there is flexibility in the contract, spokesman James Hotson said.

The UK health department expects that 75 million doses will be produced before the end of the year, with the first supplies arriving in August, Hotson said.

GlaxoSmithKline spokesman Jeff McLaughlin said his company's first doses are expected to be available in four to six months.

Baxter has just gone into full-scale production of its novel H1N1 vaccine and is hoping to deliver it for clinical trials as early as July, said Kim White, spokesperson for the company. The clinical work for this vaccine is based on the H5N1 avian flu, she said.

"The clinical trials [part] is a little tricky, given that this is a brand new virus," she said. "No one has done clinical trials with this particular virus."

In planning, U.S. health officials are taking into account the experience of the 1976 swine flu vaccine campaign, which strove to immunize against the strain found at Fort Dix, New Jersey. More than 40 million people received the vaccine before the campaign ended because some recipients developed Guillain-Barre syndrome, which causes temporary paralysis.

There's still no good working theory on what caused it, Cox said. Comparisons between the two episodes are limited in value, she said, because genetic analysis shows that the current H1N1 virus is very different from the 1976 swine flu virus.

By Elizabeth Landau

CNN

Read more...

Doctors warn against 'swine flu parties'

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Health experts are warning parents against holding "swine flu parties" in the hope of infecting their children with the H1N1 virus.

Talk of swine flu parties has emerged on Internet forums. The idea is that exposing a child to the H1N1 virus while it remains relatively mild will give the child immunity if the virus returns in a more virulent form later on.

The idea is an extension of chicken pox and measles parties that were once a popular way of exposing children to those diseases so that they might acquire resistance to subsequent infections.

But health officials have been quick to condemn the idea. Speaking at a conference, Dr Richard Jarvis, chairman of the British Medical Association's public health committee, said "I have heard of reports of people throwing swine flu parties. I don't think it is a

good idea.

"I would not want it myself. It is quite a mild virus, but people still get ill and there is a risk of mortality."

Last month, Richard Besser, the acting head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also warned against deliberately exposing people to the virus.

While it's not clear if any swine flu parties have been held, Justine Roberts, the founder of Web site mumsnet, today told BBC Radio 4 that some people have been discussing the idea.

"We have heard of people saying 'can we come round to your house when you get it?" she said.

"There's definitely a prevailing view that it might be better to get it now and some people are not despairing if there is a case in their school."

Flu epidemics often come in waves and there are fears that a more virulent form of H1N1 may strike in the fall. That happened with the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918.

Researchers at George Washington University in Washington DC have studied the 1918 pandemic and have found that in areas where there were more cases during the first wave of Spanish flu, there were fewer deaths during its second wave, in the fall of that year.

The suggestion is that exposure to the first wave of the flu conferred immunity to its second wave.

But H1N1 is still very much an unknown quantity. Experts warn that little is known about the virus and that actively encouraging its spread could risk the health of those who are most vulnerable.

While the symptoms associated with swine flu are not usually life threatening among people in good health, it can be deadly for elderly people or those with other medical conditions.

The latest figures from the World Health Organization show there have now been 311 confirmed deaths around the world from the H1N1 virus first identified in Mexico this spring, and just over 70,000 infections in 113 countries.

Read more...

States told to prepare for worst-case swine flu scenario

BETHESDA, Maryland (CNN) -- Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told government leaders at a swine flu preparedness summit Thursday that a vaccine to fight the H1N1 virus should be ready for distribution in mid-October.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius tells a summit Thursday that the impact of the H1N1 virus may worsen in the fall.

But Sebelius also advised 500 government, health and education leaders to plan for the worst-case scenario of the virus reappearing with renewed strength this fall.

"What we need to assume is that it will come back in a much more severe form," she said at the conference at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, outside Washington.

Commonly called swine flu, the virus is also known as influenza A(H1N1). The World Health Organization declared the virus a global pandemic last month.

Sebelius said that extensive planning to combat the spread of the virus always could be scaled back later but that officials could not delay starting work on those preparations.

"We can step back from our planning. What we can't do is wait until October," she said.

The fight against H1N1 will be federally funded, the secretary said. She said the government will announce $350 million in preparedness grants on Friday, with $260 million for state health departments and $90 million for hospitals preparing for a possible surge of patients.

President Obama requested the summit, and he spoke to the group via video link from Italy, where he is attending the Group of Eight meeting of industrialized nations.

"We want to make sure we aren't promoting panic, but we are promoting vigilance and preparation," Obama said.

Obama urged state and local officials, including school districts, to prepare for a vaccination campaign in the fall and to anticipate that the virus could significantly affect schools.

Health care workers hope to evaluate a candidate vaccine against H1N1 in August, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who also spoke at the meeting.

Sebelius said medical experts are testing virus strains, preparing the production lines and beginning clinical trials.

She said the initial target group for the vaccine will be pregnant women, children ages 5 to 17, health care workers, the elderly and anyone with chronic health conditions such as asthma.

A new Web site has been set up for H1N1, http://www.flu.gov/, which has information on the virus and helpful tips.

A school nurse was one of three education workers invited to talk about their experiences in the spring during the wave of swine flu cases.

Mary Pappas of St. Francis Prep High School in Fresh Meadows, New York, said she was called on to take charge when students began showing up in her office with fevers.

Pappas said that she told the kids to pull out their cell phones and call their parents to come get them. That Thursday, she sent 102 students home; on Friday, another 80 sick students left school.

At one point, she said, there were so many sick teens that she asked a security guard to take their temperatures, write the number on a Post-it note and attach it to their chests.

The private school was closed during the following week.

According to the New York City Health Department, at least 69 cases of the H1N1 virus were confirmed at the school, and the number likely increased after the agency stopped counting.

A health department survey showed that one-third of the students, or 659 teens, reported flulike symptoms during April.

Belinda Lee Pustka, a school superintendent in Schertz, Texas, a suburb of San Antonio, said parks and churches closed when the swine flu hit.

Parents wanted to know the impact of the virus on their family and community, said Pustka, who oversees the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District.

Good communication was the key, she said. The district held daily news conferences and opened a Twitter account that some people used to ask questions during briefings.

"It was a very positive experience, but it was a very hard experience for the community," Pustka added.

Swine flu continues to circulate in the United States and more than 120 other countries -- especially in the Southern Hemisphere, where flu season is under way. The virus could hit the U.S. as children return to school, which is only weeks away, Sebelius told CNN earlier Thursday.

Thursday's symposium offers an opportunity to look ahead and begin to put things in place, Sebelius said on CNN's "American Morning."

There are more than 33,900 confirmed and probable cases of the H1N1 virus in the United States, with 170 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 98,000 cases have been documented worldwide, with 440 deaths, according to the WHO.

The virus has bucked traditional flu outbreak patterns. Influenza is typically more active during winter and then slows when the weather turns hot.

"Now, in the UK, as in many of the North American countries -- Canada, Mexico and the United States -- there has been quite widespread activity, or a lot of activity of this pandemic influenza virus. And right now, it is at a typical point of the year where the activity should be pretty low, but the activity is quite high because it is a pandemic situation for these countries," Keiji Fukuda, WHO assistant director-general, said this week.

Regular seasonal flu kills about 36,000 Americans annually. Sebelius said the vaccine for seasonal flu is ready for use.

Read more...