A CDC flu expert estimates that without a swine flu vaccine, current trends suggest 12% to 24% of Americans might get swine flu this fall and winter.
Over the spring and summer, H1N1 flu never went away. That's very unusual, as seasonal flu bugs don't like to spread during these warm, humid months.In the spring, H1N1 swine flu infected 6% to 8% of people in U.S. communities that had outbreaks, says Anne Schuchat, MD, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
"We think in a longer winter season, attack rates would probably reach higher levels than that, maybe more two or three times as high," Schuchat today said in a CDC teleconference. "We need to be ready for it to be challenging."
Two or three times the summer attack rate would mean 12% to 24% of people getting sick with the flu. That's a range of over one in 10 to just under one in four U.S. residents.
"We have lots of ways that we can limit the impact that it has, but it's going to take us working together," Schuchat said. "We know that our emergency rooms are often crowded in the regular year, particularly in the winter season. This particular virus might crowd the emergency department season more."
Some media have misreported Schuchat as saying that 40% of Americans would get swine flu. But Schuchat was referring to a worst-case-scenario war game in which CDC officials looked at the impact of 40% of the workforce being unable to work because they were sick or taking care of an ill family member. This is not the most likely scenario, Schuchat said.
"Worst-case scenarios we don't want to take us by surprise," Schuchat said. "A more likely scenario ... is the kind of patterns we saw in the spring in the most affected communities like New York City or Seattle, for instance."
Schuchat said the CDC is urging the medical community to help people understand that when they really need emergency care they'll need to make room for the larger-than-usual number of severe flu cases expected to occur during a wave of pandemic flu.
An effective flu vaccine would put a dent in the pandemic, if large enough numbers of people get the vaccine before the next waves of the pandemic sweep the nation. Schuchat says the CDC is telling state and local authorities to plan to start getting H1N1 swine flu vaccine in mid-October.
Swine Flu Causes Seizures in Kids
While H1N1 swine flu isn't a killer flu, a recent CDC publication warned that some kids who got the pandemic flu had seizures or other severe neurologic problems such as Reye's syndrome.
It was a scary warning, but similar neurologic complications are seen with seasonal flu, too. It's not yet known whether H1N1 swine flu is more or less likely to cause these rare but severe complications. Fortunately, all of the kids in the CDC report recovered without long-term consequences.
"We know that neurologic problems like seizures are very concerning for parents, and we want them to [know] that is one more thing to be on the lookout for in conjunction with influenza," Schuchat said. "It's another reason that we're taking this new H1N1 virus so seriously."
Saturday, July 25, 2009
'Best chance' for swine flu woman
Nicola Sturgeon said she had had a very rare reaction to the H1N1 virus.
Sharon Pentleton, 26, who is critically ill, was taken to Crosshouse Hospital, in Kilmarnock, last week, where she had been put on a ventilator.
She was transferred to Stockholm on Thursday because no beds were available in the UK for the procedure she needed.
Ms Pentleton, from North Ayrshire, needs a procedure in which her blood will be circulated out of her body and oxygen added artificially.
It is known as extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and involves a machine taking over the function of the patient's heart and lungs.
The UK has a national ECMO unit in Leicester, to which Scottish patients would normally be sent.However, all five beds in the unit were in use.
Before Ms Pentleton was transferred, a medical team from Sweden came to Scotland to assess her. She was then accompanied by the Swedish doctors on a private flight from Prestwick in Ayrshire.
Ms Sturgeon told BBC Scotland: "She is now getting treatment that gives her the best possible chance of survival."
She said doctors were pleased with how the pregnant woman had coped with the journey and she said the treatment "might and hopefully will save her life".
She added: "It is a highly-specialised procedure and that is why given a bed was found for her in Sweden the decision was taken by her clinical team to recommend transfer there."
Family hopes
A family statement, issued through NHS Ayrshire and Arran, went on: "We are grateful for the care and support we have received from intensive care staff at Crosshouse Hospital and, of course, to the medical care team who travelled from Sweden to start the specialist treatment that we hope will make her well.
"Sharon continues to receive the best possible treatment but is still gravely ill.
"For this reason we will not be making any further statement and we would ask that we are left alone to concentrate on Sharon."
Dr Palle Palmer, from Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, told the BBC the treatment would take pressure off the patient's lungs.
"We buy some time for the lungs to get better . . . but she has to get better by herself," he said.
Patient swaps
He added it was common for patients to be transferred to Sweden from other countries and they also sent patients abroad for this procedure.
"We have been swapping patients for 10 years.
"We send about 10 patients per year out and bring in 10-15 patients."
Dr Robert Masterton, executive medical director of NHS Ayrshire and Arran said: "Once an ECMO bed was identified in Sweden, our intensive care specialists worked closely with our Swedish colleagues to make sure the patient was stable before being transferred."
He added: "The family have been fully involved in this decision and support this referral. They have asked for privacy while they concentrate on the patient's treatment and recovery."
The health secretary stressed this particular case was unusual.
Ms Sturgeon said: "It remains the case that for the overwhelming majority of people who get this virus the symptoms are very mild and they will make a full recovery within a matter of days without any complications whatsoever."
Sharon Pentleton, 26, who is critically ill, was taken to Crosshouse Hospital, in Kilmarnock, last week, where she had been put on a ventilator.
She was transferred to Stockholm on Thursday because no beds were available in the UK for the procedure she needed.
Ms Pentleton, from North Ayrshire, needs a procedure in which her blood will be circulated out of her body and oxygen added artificially.
It is known as extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and involves a machine taking over the function of the patient's heart and lungs.
The UK has a national ECMO unit in Leicester, to which Scottish patients would normally be sent.However, all five beds in the unit were in use.
Before Ms Pentleton was transferred, a medical team from Sweden came to Scotland to assess her. She was then accompanied by the Swedish doctors on a private flight from Prestwick in Ayrshire.
Ms Sturgeon told BBC Scotland: "She is now getting treatment that gives her the best possible chance of survival."
She said doctors were pleased with how the pregnant woman had coped with the journey and she said the treatment "might and hopefully will save her life".
She added: "It is a highly-specialised procedure and that is why given a bed was found for her in Sweden the decision was taken by her clinical team to recommend transfer there."
Family hopes
A family statement, issued through NHS Ayrshire and Arran, went on: "We are grateful for the care and support we have received from intensive care staff at Crosshouse Hospital and, of course, to the medical care team who travelled from Sweden to start the specialist treatment that we hope will make her well.
"Sharon continues to receive the best possible treatment but is still gravely ill.
"For this reason we will not be making any further statement and we would ask that we are left alone to concentrate on Sharon."
Dr Palle Palmer, from Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, told the BBC the treatment would take pressure off the patient's lungs.
"We buy some time for the lungs to get better . . . but she has to get better by herself," he said.
Patient swaps
He added it was common for patients to be transferred to Sweden from other countries and they also sent patients abroad for this procedure.
"We have been swapping patients for 10 years.
"We send about 10 patients per year out and bring in 10-15 patients."
Dr Robert Masterton, executive medical director of NHS Ayrshire and Arran said: "Once an ECMO bed was identified in Sweden, our intensive care specialists worked closely with our Swedish colleagues to make sure the patient was stable before being transferred."
He added: "The family have been fully involved in this decision and support this referral. They have asked for privacy while they concentrate on the patient's treatment and recovery."
The health secretary stressed this particular case was unusual.
Ms Sturgeon said: "It remains the case that for the overwhelming majority of people who get this virus the symptoms are very mild and they will make a full recovery within a matter of days without any complications whatsoever."
Younger People at Greater Risk of Catching Swine Flu, WHO Says
Younger people are at greater risk of catching swine flu, with most cases occurring in teenagers, the World Health Organization said.
The median age of those infected with the pandemic H1N1 virus is 12 to 17 years, WHO said in a statement yesterday, citing data from Canada, Chile, Japan, U.K. and U.S. Patients requiring hospitalization and those with fatal cases may be slightly older, the Geneva-based United Nations agency said.
“As the disease expands broadly into communities, the average age of the cases is appearing to increase slightly,” WHO said. “This may reflect the situation in many countries where the earliest cases often occurred as school outbreaks but later cases were occurring in the community.”
World health officials are trying to determine which groups are most likely to get severely ill so measures to best protect them can be taken. Drugmakers are developing vaccines to fight the scourge, which WHO says may result in 2 billion infections.
Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes and cancer put people infected with the new H1N1 virus at greater risk of developing severe complications, the UN agency said. Asthma and other forms of respiratory disease have been consistently reported as underlying conditions associated with more severe illness in several countries, it said.
Obesity has also been reported as a risk factor, and there is mounting evidence that pregnant women are at higher risk for more severe symptoms, WHO said. Some minority populations may also be more vulnerable, “but the potential contributions of cultural, economic and social risk factors are not clear.”
Vaccine Supply
Humans trials of a pandemic vaccine began in Australia this week, helping regulators gauge the safety and efficacy of shots.
The most common way to make flu vaccine is by growing the virus in fertilizer chicken eggs. The virus is then extracted, purified and killed for injection into humans, prompting the immune system to generate antibodies that fend off any infection.
WHO said yesterday that the yields for pandemic vaccine viruses are 25 percent to 50 percent of those of normal seasonal flu viruses for some manufacturers.
A network of WHO collaborators is trying to develop higher- yielding vaccine virus candidates, the agency said, adding that it will be able to revise its estimate of pandemic vaccine supply once it has the new yield information.
The median age of those infected with the pandemic H1N1 virus is 12 to 17 years, WHO said in a statement yesterday, citing data from Canada, Chile, Japan, U.K. and U.S. Patients requiring hospitalization and those with fatal cases may be slightly older, the Geneva-based United Nations agency said.
“As the disease expands broadly into communities, the average age of the cases is appearing to increase slightly,” WHO said. “This may reflect the situation in many countries where the earliest cases often occurred as school outbreaks but later cases were occurring in the community.”
World health officials are trying to determine which groups are most likely to get severely ill so measures to best protect them can be taken. Drugmakers are developing vaccines to fight the scourge, which WHO says may result in 2 billion infections.
Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, diabetes and cancer put people infected with the new H1N1 virus at greater risk of developing severe complications, the UN agency said. Asthma and other forms of respiratory disease have been consistently reported as underlying conditions associated with more severe illness in several countries, it said.
Obesity has also been reported as a risk factor, and there is mounting evidence that pregnant women are at higher risk for more severe symptoms, WHO said. Some minority populations may also be more vulnerable, “but the potential contributions of cultural, economic and social risk factors are not clear.”
Vaccine Supply
Humans trials of a pandemic vaccine began in Australia this week, helping regulators gauge the safety and efficacy of shots.
The most common way to make flu vaccine is by growing the virus in fertilizer chicken eggs. The virus is then extracted, purified and killed for injection into humans, prompting the immune system to generate antibodies that fend off any infection.
WHO said yesterday that the yields for pandemic vaccine viruses are 25 percent to 50 percent of those of normal seasonal flu viruses for some manufacturers.
A network of WHO collaborators is trying to develop higher- yielding vaccine virus candidates, the agency said, adding that it will be able to revise its estimate of pandemic vaccine supply once it has the new yield information.
Swine flu claims state's fourth victim
A fourth person has died of swine flu in Maryland - but unlike previous deaths in the state, the person did not appear to also have an underlying medical problem, health officials said Friday.
Officials gave few details on the death, saying only that the person was an adult from the Eastern Shore with no "immediately apparent underlying medical condition or risk factors."
State health officials said the death of someone without pre-existing illness should serve as a reminder to the public of how serious this flu, known as H1N1, can be - even in otherwise healthy people.
"We are saddened to report yet another death that has been associated with the novel H1N1 influenza," said John M. Colmers, Maryland's health secretary. "More H1N1 flu-related deaths are expected, as we would normally see with seasonal flu. While we wait for the development and delivery of a vaccine, everyone should remain vigilant and take precautions to protect themselves and their loved ones."
While not common, it's not unheard of for healthy people to die of the flu - either this new swine flu or the seasonal variety, said Andrew Pekosz, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "A certain number of healthy people will succumb to the flu," he said.
Since the outbreak this spring, 302 people have died nationwide of the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 151 people whose deaths the CDC has studied, 86 percent were at higher risk because they had some underlying medical issue - including people with compromised immune systems, chronic diseases like asthma and even obesity.
While the virus has been described as "mild," it appears to be reacting differently in people, causing a wide range of problems, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
"We've seen people with high fever and cough and respiratory illness and really not able to do much more than four or five days," she said. "Then we've seen people who have difficulty breathing, severe respiratory failure and need to be in intensive care unit for weeks. So I think there's really a spectrum."
Infectious disease experts have been concerned that the virus could mutate into a deadlier strain this fall, and Pekosz said experts will be closely examining the deaths of healthy people to determine whether the virus they died from has become more lethal.
Some 36,000 people are killed by seasonal flu each year in the United States. But Pekosz noted that those deaths happen in a nation with widespread vaccinations, with many people who have antibodies against influenza to protect them from the disease.
"If this one emerges like a seasonal flu, the number of people who could potentially be infected will be much larger than what we will have in a normal flu season," he said. "Since there is very little pre-existing immunity, vaccines are going to be an important way to limit the large number of cases that will happen."
Earlier this week, the government announced it would begin testing two H1N1 vaccines on adults and children at eight centers nationwide, including the University of Maryland's Center for Vaccine Development. It is the start of what could be a mass vaccination campaign to start in mid-October.
Meanwhile, yesterday, the CDC strengthened its recommendation that all children aged 6 months to 18 years get vaccinated against seasonal flu. In previous years, the agency has only encouraged the shots.
Maryland has 766 documented cases of the new flu virus, but officials say that figure is likely a fraction of the total cases. Most people who become ill with flulike symptoms aren't tested and recover within a week, much like seasonal flu.
Officials gave few details on the death, saying only that the person was an adult from the Eastern Shore with no "immediately apparent underlying medical condition or risk factors."
State health officials said the death of someone without pre-existing illness should serve as a reminder to the public of how serious this flu, known as H1N1, can be - even in otherwise healthy people.
"We are saddened to report yet another death that has been associated with the novel H1N1 influenza," said John M. Colmers, Maryland's health secretary. "More H1N1 flu-related deaths are expected, as we would normally see with seasonal flu. While we wait for the development and delivery of a vaccine, everyone should remain vigilant and take precautions to protect themselves and their loved ones."
While not common, it's not unheard of for healthy people to die of the flu - either this new swine flu or the seasonal variety, said Andrew Pekosz, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "A certain number of healthy people will succumb to the flu," he said.
Since the outbreak this spring, 302 people have died nationwide of the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the 151 people whose deaths the CDC has studied, 86 percent were at higher risk because they had some underlying medical issue - including people with compromised immune systems, chronic diseases like asthma and even obesity.
While the virus has been described as "mild," it appears to be reacting differently in people, causing a wide range of problems, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
"We've seen people with high fever and cough and respiratory illness and really not able to do much more than four or five days," she said. "Then we've seen people who have difficulty breathing, severe respiratory failure and need to be in intensive care unit for weeks. So I think there's really a spectrum."
Infectious disease experts have been concerned that the virus could mutate into a deadlier strain this fall, and Pekosz said experts will be closely examining the deaths of healthy people to determine whether the virus they died from has become more lethal.
Some 36,000 people are killed by seasonal flu each year in the United States. But Pekosz noted that those deaths happen in a nation with widespread vaccinations, with many people who have antibodies against influenza to protect them from the disease.
"If this one emerges like a seasonal flu, the number of people who could potentially be infected will be much larger than what we will have in a normal flu season," he said. "Since there is very little pre-existing immunity, vaccines are going to be an important way to limit the large number of cases that will happen."
Earlier this week, the government announced it would begin testing two H1N1 vaccines on adults and children at eight centers nationwide, including the University of Maryland's Center for Vaccine Development. It is the start of what could be a mass vaccination campaign to start in mid-October.
Meanwhile, yesterday, the CDC strengthened its recommendation that all children aged 6 months to 18 years get vaccinated against seasonal flu. In previous years, the agency has only encouraged the shots.
Maryland has 766 documented cases of the new flu virus, but officials say that figure is likely a fraction of the total cases. Most people who become ill with flulike symptoms aren't tested and recover within a week, much like seasonal flu.
Swine flu: Correspondents' round-up
Courtesy:BBC
Swine flu has spread around the world and will almost inevitably reach every country, the World Health Organization has said. But there remains uncertainty about its threat.
The number of swine flu cases in India has continued to rise. With 23 new cases reported on Friday from eight cities, the number of people who have tested positive for the flu has risen to 371, according to the federal health ministry. Of this, 237 patients have been discharged, while the rest of them remain admitted in special hospital wards. Some patients who have been quarantined in special wards have complained of poor facilities.
Last month the government issued an alert against swine flu and announced health screening of incoming passengers from affected countries: nearly four million passengers flying into India's 22 international airports have been screened so far.
The federal health minister has also urged people not to travel abroad until swine flu in the country is under control.
When the first cases of the flu were detected, it made the front pages of all the Indian newspapers but since then coverage has been muted.
In the last week, however, there has been an upsurge in coverage because at least one school in Delhi has had to be shut down for a few days because of suspected swine flu cases. This has led to fresh anxiety among parents and school authorities, leading to a revival of interest in the story.
AUSTRALIA
There have been more than 15,000 cases in Australia, and 46 deaths.
All of the victims have had underlying medical conditions.
The number of cases jumped two weeks ago, but there has not yet been the really fast acceleration, an exponential increase, that public health officials feared.
Children have been on their winter holidays here and their return to school is expected to make things worse. Kids are seen as the super-spreaders of the virus.
There has been a lot of pressure on intensive care units, with some patients spending as long as three weeks in intensive care.
There is also a potential shortage of special ventilation machines which oxygenate the blood of sufferers whose lungs are too diseased or damaged for normal mechanical ventilation.
Doctors say the very sick have tended to be the young, the pregnant and the overweight.
There is also a concern about outbreak in Aboriginal communities, where the quality of health care is not always that good and because people often suffer from different conditions.
Human trials for a vaccine started this week in Melbourne and Adelaide, the first in the world. If successful - and the expectation is that the trials will be - the government is hoping to start vaccinating people by October.
By then the winter will be over, but as countries in the northern hemisphere have shown, the virus can spread at the height of summer.
GERMANY
According to the latest figures, Germany has 2,844 confirmed cases of swine flu.
On Friday German officials reported that the virus had started spreading rapidly through the country. "The numbers have doubled in the last few days," says Professor Reinhard Burger, Vice-President of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. His institute is leading the battle against swine flu in Germany.
"There is no cause for panic, but this is serious and it causes us some concern," Professor Burger told me. On Friday the German authorities ordered 50 million doses of vaccine, enough to protect around a third of the population this autumn.
Worried by the spread of the virus, some companies have taking steps to improve hygiene.
At Deutsche Telekom's headquarters in Berlin, disinfectant machines have been installed in the company cafeteria.
USA
In the United States, swine flu has dropped out of the headlines in recent weeks, although the number of cases has increased steadily. Over one million Americans are likely to have been infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 302 deaths, although most reported cases have been mild.
There is, however, a growing sense of unease as the autumn flu season approaches. The main focus of the authorities is the development and distribution of an effective vaccine.
Officials have said the illness could hit up to 40% of Americans over the next two years, if a vaccine campaign and other measures are not successful.
Swine flu has spread around the world and will almost inevitably reach every country, the World Health Organization has said. But there remains uncertainty about its threat.
The number of swine flu cases in India has continued to rise. With 23 new cases reported on Friday from eight cities, the number of people who have tested positive for the flu has risen to 371, according to the federal health ministry. Of this, 237 patients have been discharged, while the rest of them remain admitted in special hospital wards. Some patients who have been quarantined in special wards have complained of poor facilities.
Last month the government issued an alert against swine flu and announced health screening of incoming passengers from affected countries: nearly four million passengers flying into India's 22 international airports have been screened so far.
The federal health minister has also urged people not to travel abroad until swine flu in the country is under control.
When the first cases of the flu were detected, it made the front pages of all the Indian newspapers but since then coverage has been muted.
In the last week, however, there has been an upsurge in coverage because at least one school in Delhi has had to be shut down for a few days because of suspected swine flu cases. This has led to fresh anxiety among parents and school authorities, leading to a revival of interest in the story.
AUSTRALIA
There have been more than 15,000 cases in Australia, and 46 deaths.
All of the victims have had underlying medical conditions.
The number of cases jumped two weeks ago, but there has not yet been the really fast acceleration, an exponential increase, that public health officials feared.
Children have been on their winter holidays here and their return to school is expected to make things worse. Kids are seen as the super-spreaders of the virus.
There has been a lot of pressure on intensive care units, with some patients spending as long as three weeks in intensive care.
There is also a potential shortage of special ventilation machines which oxygenate the blood of sufferers whose lungs are too diseased or damaged for normal mechanical ventilation.
Doctors say the very sick have tended to be the young, the pregnant and the overweight.
There is also a concern about outbreak in Aboriginal communities, where the quality of health care is not always that good and because people often suffer from different conditions.
Human trials for a vaccine started this week in Melbourne and Adelaide, the first in the world. If successful - and the expectation is that the trials will be - the government is hoping to start vaccinating people by October.
By then the winter will be over, but as countries in the northern hemisphere have shown, the virus can spread at the height of summer.
GERMANY
According to the latest figures, Germany has 2,844 confirmed cases of swine flu.
On Friday German officials reported that the virus had started spreading rapidly through the country. "The numbers have doubled in the last few days," says Professor Reinhard Burger, Vice-President of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. His institute is leading the battle against swine flu in Germany.
"There is no cause for panic, but this is serious and it causes us some concern," Professor Burger told me. On Friday the German authorities ordered 50 million doses of vaccine, enough to protect around a third of the population this autumn.
Worried by the spread of the virus, some companies have taking steps to improve hygiene.
At Deutsche Telekom's headquarters in Berlin, disinfectant machines have been installed in the company cafeteria.
USA
In the United States, swine flu has dropped out of the headlines in recent weeks, although the number of cases has increased steadily. Over one million Americans are likely to have been infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 302 deaths, although most reported cases have been mild.
There is, however, a growing sense of unease as the autumn flu season approaches. The main focus of the authorities is the development and distribution of an effective vaccine.
Officials have said the illness could hit up to 40% of Americans over the next two years, if a vaccine campaign and other measures are not successful.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
65 Ore. students caught in China swine flu scare
BEIJING - Sixty-five Oregon students were in quarantine in Beijing, China, after one of them tested positive for swine flu, a NBC News producer in Beijing said on Sunday.
Separately, Britain's Foreign Office said that China placed 52 visiting British students in quarantine after four of the group were hospitalized with suspected swine flu, according to the BBC.
The British and American students had been in contact, the BBC reported.
Medford school trip
School officials from Medford, Oregon, said a student traveling in China had tested positive for the disease and been confined in a hospital despite showing no symptoms, The Associated Press reported earlier.
St. Mary's school principal Frank Phillips told the AP that the positive test also triggered the quarantine of the entire school group of 65 students and seven chaperones, the AP said. The group was traveling in China on a three-week language and culture camp sponsored by the Chinese government.
Phillips said the groups was quarantined at a hospital and has missed several planned tours, but he says that if no signs of fevers were found by Chinese health officials, the group would be able to continue its planned program in China.
NBC's producer in Beijing reported that the Oregan students would be held for four days and should be released on July 22. One of those being held was Nicholas Phillips, son of the school's principal, he said.
Travel warning
A spokeswoman from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing told msnbc.com she could not confirm whether the Oregon students were indeed being held in the city.
The U.S. State Department has issued travel advisories warning of China's swine flu policy but does not release information on specific cases or numbers because of privacy concerns, Susan Stevenson, a press attache at the embassy, told msnbc.com.
About 1,800 American citizens have been held in quarantine since China's new procedures were put in place in May, and there had been around 200 cases of the virus, she said.
Separately, Britain's Foreign Office said that China placed 52 visiting British students in quarantine after four of the group were hospitalized with suspected swine flu, according to the BBC.
The British and American students had been in contact, the BBC reported.
Medford school trip
School officials from Medford, Oregon, said a student traveling in China had tested positive for the disease and been confined in a hospital despite showing no symptoms, The Associated Press reported earlier.
St. Mary's school principal Frank Phillips told the AP that the positive test also triggered the quarantine of the entire school group of 65 students and seven chaperones, the AP said. The group was traveling in China on a three-week language and culture camp sponsored by the Chinese government.
Phillips said the groups was quarantined at a hospital and has missed several planned tours, but he says that if no signs of fevers were found by Chinese health officials, the group would be able to continue its planned program in China.
NBC's producer in Beijing reported that the Oregan students would be held for four days and should be released on July 22. One of those being held was Nicholas Phillips, son of the school's principal, he said.
Travel warning
A spokeswoman from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing told msnbc.com she could not confirm whether the Oregon students were indeed being held in the city.
The U.S. State Department has issued travel advisories warning of China's swine flu policy but does not release information on specific cases or numbers because of privacy concerns, Susan Stevenson, a press attache at the embassy, told msnbc.com.
About 1,800 American citizens have been held in quarantine since China's new procedures were put in place in May, and there had been around 200 cases of the virus, she said.
More UK swine flu pupils in China
Another four British school pupils have been confirmed as having swine flu after being taken to hospital in Beijing.
Four other British and four US pupils from the same trip have been diagnosed, and more than 100 of their classmates and teachers quarantined in a hotel
Quentin Sommerville reports from Beijing
Four other British and four US pupils from the same trip have been diagnosed, and more than 100 of their classmates and teachers quarantined in a hotel
Quentin Sommerville reports from Beijing
Got swine flu? Tweet it.
When students return to school this fall, school nurses will once again chase after them with hand sanitizer. Familiar posters about sneezing into elbows will plaster the hallways. But when it comes to managing a potential swine flu outbreak in high schools, county health officials are going beyond cartoon admonitions.
"We're going to start the 'Don't Let the Flu Get You' page on Facebook," said Joy Alexiou, head of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department's flu prevention campaign. "Students know best how to talk to each other. We just want to give them the tools and information so they're communicating the correct information."
The county will use the Facebook page, as well as posts to MySpace and Twitter, to get health updates out as quickly as possible. It'll also equip students with T-shirts and details about a swine flu prevention video contest, counting on the wisdom that knowledge sinks deeper into students' heads if it comes from their peers.
The teen-centered strategy responds to one of swine flu's quirks: Unlike the seasonal flu, which mostly affects the elderly, this strain primarily befalls the young. To date, the county has 120 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, with 75 percent of those cases occurring in people under 24 years old. At least 32 of those cases resulted in hospitalizations; one 44-year-old Santa Clara County woman with a history of medical problems died from swine flu complications three weeks ago.
Statewide, there have been 3,168 swine flu cases, 441 hospitalizations and 55 deaths. Health officials say that deaths from swine flu are not surprising, since even in a normal year, the seasonal flu kills about 36,000 Americans. Most deaths are caused by respiratory infections, such as pneumonia.
Santa Clara County is borrowing its strategy from the federal government, which was quick to tap into social media tools during the spring swine flu scare, producing podcasts on hand washing, Twitter feeds with the latest infection numbers, and eCards on managing swine flu symptoms.
Experts believe the flu will resurface in greater numbers this fall, but are unclear if the strain — which has been relatively mild so far — will mutate and cause more severe illness. The county is still waiting to hear when a vaccine will be available, and deciding how to distribute it.
Officials see the social networks as the fastest, most direct way of communicating updates, and hope they will keep information flowing back from students, too.
"We know that with kids social networking is their life," said Karen Fuqua, manager of community development for the San Jose Unified School District. "They'll be telling county health what's going on at their schools."
The strategy will also help reach parents of high school students, an elusive group, Fuqua said. With elementary school kids, "backpack mail" has been a reliable way of communicating with parents. But parents can't rely on teens offering their bags for inspection, then discussing the contents over an after-school snack.
Both county and federal health departments are asking the public to translate their medical advisories into a pop culture format.
Public service announcements starring bad actors with bad haircuts fall flat with discriminating teenagers, stimulating sarcasm and not much more. But offer teens $2,500 to produce a video that educates and entertains their peers, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes the message will spread on YouTube faster than the virus could in a school locker room.
This month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services called for 15-, 30- or 60-second videos that make hand washing seem as appealing as "Gossip Girl.'' Entries must be posted to YouTube by Aug. 17. Details can be found at www.pandemicflu.gov/psa/index.html. Santa Clara County will host its own contest for high school students in the fall — with much more modest prizes for the winners.
Melinda Landau, head of health services for San Jose schools, wondered how accurate medical information will remain as teens send it through Internet channels.
"It will be interesting to see how kids forward it to friends," she said, noting the false reports circulating this past spring as swine flu shuttered schools. "If they put their own spin on it, well, we'll have some rumor control problems."
But, Alexiou said, the social networking sites will be good for that, too. "If we hear about a rumor or misinformation, then we can share the right info with our fans," she said. "We can correct with some audiences as soon as we hear about it."
"We're going to start the 'Don't Let the Flu Get You' page on Facebook," said Joy Alexiou, head of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department's flu prevention campaign. "Students know best how to talk to each other. We just want to give them the tools and information so they're communicating the correct information."
The county will use the Facebook page, as well as posts to MySpace and Twitter, to get health updates out as quickly as possible. It'll also equip students with T-shirts and details about a swine flu prevention video contest, counting on the wisdom that knowledge sinks deeper into students' heads if it comes from their peers.
The teen-centered strategy responds to one of swine flu's quirks: Unlike the seasonal flu, which mostly affects the elderly, this strain primarily befalls the young. To date, the county has 120 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, with 75 percent of those cases occurring in people under 24 years old. At least 32 of those cases resulted in hospitalizations; one 44-year-old Santa Clara County woman with a history of medical problems died from swine flu complications three weeks ago.
Statewide, there have been 3,168 swine flu cases, 441 hospitalizations and 55 deaths. Health officials say that deaths from swine flu are not surprising, since even in a normal year, the seasonal flu kills about 36,000 Americans. Most deaths are caused by respiratory infections, such as pneumonia.
Santa Clara County is borrowing its strategy from the federal government, which was quick to tap into social media tools during the spring swine flu scare, producing podcasts on hand washing, Twitter feeds with the latest infection numbers, and eCards on managing swine flu symptoms.
Experts believe the flu will resurface in greater numbers this fall, but are unclear if the strain — which has been relatively mild so far — will mutate and cause more severe illness. The county is still waiting to hear when a vaccine will be available, and deciding how to distribute it.
Officials see the social networks as the fastest, most direct way of communicating updates, and hope they will keep information flowing back from students, too.
"We know that with kids social networking is their life," said Karen Fuqua, manager of community development for the San Jose Unified School District. "They'll be telling county health what's going on at their schools."
The strategy will also help reach parents of high school students, an elusive group, Fuqua said. With elementary school kids, "backpack mail" has been a reliable way of communicating with parents. But parents can't rely on teens offering their bags for inspection, then discussing the contents over an after-school snack.
Both county and federal health departments are asking the public to translate their medical advisories into a pop culture format.
Public service announcements starring bad actors with bad haircuts fall flat with discriminating teenagers, stimulating sarcasm and not much more. But offer teens $2,500 to produce a video that educates and entertains their peers, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hopes the message will spread on YouTube faster than the virus could in a school locker room.
This month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services called for 15-, 30- or 60-second videos that make hand washing seem as appealing as "Gossip Girl.'' Entries must be posted to YouTube by Aug. 17. Details can be found at www.pandemicflu.gov/psa/index.html. Santa Clara County will host its own contest for high school students in the fall — with much more modest prizes for the winners.
Melinda Landau, head of health services for San Jose schools, wondered how accurate medical information will remain as teens send it through Internet channels.
"It will be interesting to see how kids forward it to friends," she said, noting the false reports circulating this past spring as swine flu shuttered schools. "If they put their own spin on it, well, we'll have some rumor control problems."
But, Alexiou said, the social networking sites will be good for that, too. "If we hear about a rumor or misinformation, then we can share the right info with our fans," she said. "We can correct with some audiences as soon as we hear about it."
Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers
ATLANTA - The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu, thousands filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time, the government has already taken steps to head that off.
Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday.
Since the 1980s, the government has protected vaccine makers against lawsuits over the use of childhood vaccines. Instead, a federal court handles claims and decides who will be paid from a special fund.
Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday.
Since the 1980s, the government has protected vaccine makers against lawsuits over the use of childhood vaccines. Instead, a federal court handles claims and decides who will be paid from a special fund.
Swine Flu: Why You Should Still Be Worried
In the U.S., the H1N1 virus has sickened tens of thousands and closed summer camps at a time when there should be little or no flu activity.
Even as the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to raise awareness of this potentially deadly disease, which appears to be killing both sick and healthy individuals, the topic has virtually disappeared from the headlines.
“Complacency is a major concern,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director for National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.
“This virus is a new one, and on top of that, we really still don’t know how it’s going to behave,” Schuchat said during a media conference call Friday. “There are special efforts that have been undertaken by health agencies, but individuals also need to be ready, to be thinking ahead and have steps in place should a family member get sick or a workplace close down or a situation arise that requires working from home.”
Over the next six to 12 weeks, there are several concerns that national health officials are preparing for:
1. Figuring out how the virus will react and spread once students return to schools, especially inner city schools, which typically struggle with overcrowding issues.
2. Overseeing the completion of a vaccine and getting it to the individuals who need it most.
3. Determining how the virus will behave as it spreads and mutates.
Schools
School districts across the U.S. struggle every fall with outbreaks of typically non-flu respiratory viruses, which are easily spread through germs on surfaces and doorknobs, as well as passed from student to student through sneezing, coughing, and sharing drinks and food.
Seasonal influenza usually begins to spread through schools in the late fall and early winter, but this probably will not be the case with swine flu, which behaves differently than seasonal influenza – by oddly thriving in warm and humid conditions.
“This year we’re seeing the H1N1 virus circulating through summer camps and military units, so I’m expecting we may see an increase in cases once school starts, but we don’t definitely know that,” Schuchat said. “We are concerned that there will be challenges in the fall. It is the kind of thing we want to be ready for and not surprised by.”
Schuchat said national and state health officials are working closely together on updating their guidance for schools and similar institutions with regard to swine flu outbreaks.
“We still believe that the best place for kids is in schools, where they can be nourished receiving a healthy breakfast and lunch and learning,” she said. “But we also believe the best place for a sick kid is at home being cared for. So we’re working on putting strong plans in place on communication and preparedness on the local and state levels.”
Vaccine
Companies such as Baxter, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis are working to ready a swine flu vaccine for October. Earlier this week, concerns were raised that the U.S. may not receive all the vaccine it needs because it only manufactures about 20 percent of its own supply. The other 80 percent is produced in foreign countries, which will also need ample supplies of the vaccine.
But Schuchat downplayed those concerns, saying the U.S. has contracts in place with manufacturers around the world that guarantee it will receive adequate vaccine.
But, will the vaccine be effective?
In a typical year, the seasonal flu vaccine is about 70 to 90 percent effective, depending on how closely the vaccine matches the strains circulating and on the population the vaccine is used in. In other words, a vaccine is not going to be as effective in a person with a compromised immune system or someone who is considered at high risk for the virus.
Scientists typically spend months researching the strains of seasonal flu virus that are circulating the globe in order to pick out the three strains that it puts into the annual vaccine.
Because swine flu is new and mutating – for example, in Argentina the virus appears to have mutated to where it can now easily spread from humans to pigs – scientists have their work cut out for them when it comes to determining what strains of the H1N1 swine flu virus to include in the vaccine.
“Unfortunately, right now, we do not know how effective it will be in different populations,” Schuchat said. “We will be looking back at how well it worked, taking into account whether it worked as well as expected, better than expected or worse than expected. Unfortunately, that’s something we’re not able to do until after the fact.”
Virus Behavior
World and U.S. health officials have already determined that swine flu behaves differently than seasonal flu in a number of ways. First, it’s able to spread in hot and humid weather, which is not usually the case for the seasonal flu virus.
Second, the infection appears to be more severe in young people and less severe in the elderly than the typical seasonal flu. Schuchat said in some countries, elderly people, usually at high-risk for influenza, appear to be immune to swine flu – possibly because of the similarities between swine flu and the 1918 flu pandemic, which some of the world’s elderly survived and may be resistant to.
“We are particularly concerned about pregnant women; we’re seeing fatalities and life-threatening illnesses that have occurred in pregnant women in the Southern Hemisphere,” Schuchat said. “We are expecting pregnant women to get a recommendation to get the H1N1 vaccine to reduce the risk of complications from influenza. We know many pregnant women don’t like to take any drugs, but this is one instance where you need to be much more concerned about your health than the baby’s health.”
“We’re in a very active stage of preparing for the [coming months],” she continued. “We’re working with the private sector. We want individuals and families to be preparing. Influenza in general is unpredictable, and we don’t know what to expect in the weeks and months ahead.”
Even as the WHO and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to raise awareness of this potentially deadly disease, which appears to be killing both sick and healthy individuals, the topic has virtually disappeared from the headlines.
“Complacency is a major concern,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director for National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.
“This virus is a new one, and on top of that, we really still don’t know how it’s going to behave,” Schuchat said during a media conference call Friday. “There are special efforts that have been undertaken by health agencies, but individuals also need to be ready, to be thinking ahead and have steps in place should a family member get sick or a workplace close down or a situation arise that requires working from home.”
Over the next six to 12 weeks, there are several concerns that national health officials are preparing for:
1. Figuring out how the virus will react and spread once students return to schools, especially inner city schools, which typically struggle with overcrowding issues.
2. Overseeing the completion of a vaccine and getting it to the individuals who need it most.
3. Determining how the virus will behave as it spreads and mutates.
Schools
School districts across the U.S. struggle every fall with outbreaks of typically non-flu respiratory viruses, which are easily spread through germs on surfaces and doorknobs, as well as passed from student to student through sneezing, coughing, and sharing drinks and food.
Seasonal influenza usually begins to spread through schools in the late fall and early winter, but this probably will not be the case with swine flu, which behaves differently than seasonal influenza – by oddly thriving in warm and humid conditions.
“This year we’re seeing the H1N1 virus circulating through summer camps and military units, so I’m expecting we may see an increase in cases once school starts, but we don’t definitely know that,” Schuchat said. “We are concerned that there will be challenges in the fall. It is the kind of thing we want to be ready for and not surprised by.”
Schuchat said national and state health officials are working closely together on updating their guidance for schools and similar institutions with regard to swine flu outbreaks.
“We still believe that the best place for kids is in schools, where they can be nourished receiving a healthy breakfast and lunch and learning,” she said. “But we also believe the best place for a sick kid is at home being cared for. So we’re working on putting strong plans in place on communication and preparedness on the local and state levels.”
Vaccine
Companies such as Baxter, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis are working to ready a swine flu vaccine for October. Earlier this week, concerns were raised that the U.S. may not receive all the vaccine it needs because it only manufactures about 20 percent of its own supply. The other 80 percent is produced in foreign countries, which will also need ample supplies of the vaccine.
But Schuchat downplayed those concerns, saying the U.S. has contracts in place with manufacturers around the world that guarantee it will receive adequate vaccine.
But, will the vaccine be effective?
In a typical year, the seasonal flu vaccine is about 70 to 90 percent effective, depending on how closely the vaccine matches the strains circulating and on the population the vaccine is used in. In other words, a vaccine is not going to be as effective in a person with a compromised immune system or someone who is considered at high risk for the virus.
Scientists typically spend months researching the strains of seasonal flu virus that are circulating the globe in order to pick out the three strains that it puts into the annual vaccine.
Because swine flu is new and mutating – for example, in Argentina the virus appears to have mutated to where it can now easily spread from humans to pigs – scientists have their work cut out for them when it comes to determining what strains of the H1N1 swine flu virus to include in the vaccine.
“Unfortunately, right now, we do not know how effective it will be in different populations,” Schuchat said. “We will be looking back at how well it worked, taking into account whether it worked as well as expected, better than expected or worse than expected. Unfortunately, that’s something we’re not able to do until after the fact.”
Virus Behavior
World and U.S. health officials have already determined that swine flu behaves differently than seasonal flu in a number of ways. First, it’s able to spread in hot and humid weather, which is not usually the case for the seasonal flu virus.
Second, the infection appears to be more severe in young people and less severe in the elderly than the typical seasonal flu. Schuchat said in some countries, elderly people, usually at high-risk for influenza, appear to be immune to swine flu – possibly because of the similarities between swine flu and the 1918 flu pandemic, which some of the world’s elderly survived and may be resistant to.
“We are particularly concerned about pregnant women; we’re seeing fatalities and life-threatening illnesses that have occurred in pregnant women in the Southern Hemisphere,” Schuchat said. “We are expecting pregnant women to get a recommendation to get the H1N1 vaccine to reduce the risk of complications from influenza. We know many pregnant women don’t like to take any drugs, but this is one instance where you need to be much more concerned about your health than the baby’s health.”
“We’re in a very active stage of preparing for the [coming months],” she continued. “We’re working with the private sector. We want individuals and families to be preparing. Influenza in general is unpredictable, and we don’t know what to expect in the weeks and months ahead.”
Baby of woman with swine flu dies at Wellington Regional Medical Center
WELLINGTON — The baby girl of a woman with swine flu died this morning at Wellington Regional Medical Center after doctors were forced to deliver the child prematurely.
The mother, Aubrey Opdyke, remained in critical condition. Doctors put Opdyke into a coma to give the baby, named Parker Christine, as much oxygen as possible while her mother fought the H1N1 swine flu virus. Doctors decided to deliver the baby today, about 14 weeks before its due date, but the child died, a hospital spokeswoman said. No other details were available.
Opdyke's husband, Bryan, named the baby after his wife was put in the coma. He chose the name Parker because his wife liked the sound of it before she fell ill. They had already picked the middle name Christine in honor of Bryan's mother.
Bryan Opdyke had said doctors might be forced to deliver the baby if his wife's oxygen levels crashed or if the baby began to struggle. They had hoped to wait until at least 28 weeks, if forced to deliver early.
The number of confirmed swine flu cases in South Florida is surging. It's a relatively mild illness for most people, but pregnant women, children, diabetics and people with heart and lung conditions are more likely to develop complications.
Health officials confirmed two weeks ago another pregnant woman was the first Palm Beach County swine flu victim. She died at age 25 on June 27. Doctors were able to save her baby.
Pregnant women represent about 1 percent of the U.S. population, but so far they've represented about 8 percent of those suffering from severe swine flu complications, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said.
The mother, Aubrey Opdyke, remained in critical condition. Doctors put Opdyke into a coma to give the baby, named Parker Christine, as much oxygen as possible while her mother fought the H1N1 swine flu virus. Doctors decided to deliver the baby today, about 14 weeks before its due date, but the child died, a hospital spokeswoman said. No other details were available.
Opdyke's husband, Bryan, named the baby after his wife was put in the coma. He chose the name Parker because his wife liked the sound of it before she fell ill. They had already picked the middle name Christine in honor of Bryan's mother.
Bryan Opdyke had said doctors might be forced to deliver the baby if his wife's oxygen levels crashed or if the baby began to struggle. They had hoped to wait until at least 28 weeks, if forced to deliver early.
The number of confirmed swine flu cases in South Florida is surging. It's a relatively mild illness for most people, but pregnant women, children, diabetics and people with heart and lung conditions are more likely to develop complications.
Health officials confirmed two weeks ago another pregnant woman was the first Palm Beach County swine flu victim. She died at age 25 on June 27. Doctors were able to save her baby.
Pregnant women represent about 1 percent of the U.S. population, but so far they've represented about 8 percent of those suffering from severe swine flu complications, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
US swine flu cases now exceed 21,000; 87 deaths
The national count of swine flu cases has risen to 21,449 cases and the number of deaths have nearly doubled to 87.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the number of confirmed and probable cases Friday morning. The tally is up from the last week’s count of 18,000 cases and 44 deaths.
Wisconsin, Illinois and Texas have had the most reported illnesses, and the Illinois count rose more than 500 since the last report. But CDC officials say much of the most recent flu activity has been in the Northeast. A quarter of the new deaths were in New York.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the number of confirmed and probable cases Friday morning. The tally is up from the last week’s count of 18,000 cases and 44 deaths.
Wisconsin, Illinois and Texas have had the most reported illnesses, and the Illinois count rose more than 500 since the last report. But CDC officials say much of the most recent flu activity has been in the Northeast. A quarter of the new deaths were in New York.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
4 UK students sick with swine flu in China
Four students visiting China from the United Kingdom have been diagnosed with swine flu, and 52 of their classmates and teachers have been quarantined, the British Embassy said Saturday.
The sick students have been hospitalized while the others were under quarantine in a hotel, the embassy said in a statement. The group was in China for language and cultural immersion courses, it said.
It did not give any other details on the cases but said it was trying to establish contact with the students' schools.One student from another group of 362 students and teachers on a similar course organized by the British Council was quarantined for two days this week, the embassy said.
Screening on arrival showed that the student had a raised temperature-a key symptom of infection by the H1N1 virus-but the student from the second group was released when no illness developed, it said.
China's Health Ministry said Friday that 1,537 cases of swine flu had been reported. None has been fatal.
Beijing has been accused in the past of not acting quickly enough to combat the spread of diseases, especially the 2003 global outbreak of SARS. Chastened by that experience and subsequent threats from bird flu, the government this time has acted quickly and decisively to block an outbreak.
But some of its measures have been criticized as excessive, including bans on imports of pork from Mexico, some U.S. states and the province of Alberta in Canada.
At one point, Beijing also canceled the only direct flights between China and Mexico, where the new strain of swine flu was first detected in late April. The tough measures have drawn complaints from Mexico that their citizens were being quarantined based merely on their nationality.
China has defended the steps as necessary to slow the spread of the disease in the world's most populous nation.
The sick students have been hospitalized while the others were under quarantine in a hotel, the embassy said in a statement. The group was in China for language and cultural immersion courses, it said.
It did not give any other details on the cases but said it was trying to establish contact with the students' schools.One student from another group of 362 students and teachers on a similar course organized by the British Council was quarantined for two days this week, the embassy said.
Screening on arrival showed that the student had a raised temperature-a key symptom of infection by the H1N1 virus-but the student from the second group was released when no illness developed, it said.
China's Health Ministry said Friday that 1,537 cases of swine flu had been reported. None has been fatal.
Beijing has been accused in the past of not acting quickly enough to combat the spread of diseases, especially the 2003 global outbreak of SARS. Chastened by that experience and subsequent threats from bird flu, the government this time has acted quickly and decisively to block an outbreak.
But some of its measures have been criticized as excessive, including bans on imports of pork from Mexico, some U.S. states and the province of Alberta in Canada.
At one point, Beijing also canceled the only direct flights between China and Mexico, where the new strain of swine flu was first detected in late April. The tough measures have drawn complaints from Mexico that their citizens were being quarantined based merely on their nationality.
China has defended the steps as necessary to slow the spread of the disease in the world's most populous nation.
More than 3,300 swine flu cases, 15 deaths tallied in Illinois
State health officials say the number of swine flu cases in Illinois has increased to more than 3,300.
There have been 15 deaths in the state from the virus, according to new numbers released Friday by the Illinois Public Health Department.
Three counties are reporting their first cases: Effingham and Fayette counties in south-central Illinois and Henry County in northwestern Illinois. Since April, Illinois has seen 3,357 probable and confirmed cases in 37 counties.
This week's tally rose from last week's by 98 cases. The state expects to receive $11.5 million in grants from the federal government to prepare for both seasonal and swine flu this fall. Chicago will get separate grants totaling nearly $3.3 million.
There have been 15 deaths in the state from the virus, according to new numbers released Friday by the Illinois Public Health Department.
Three counties are reporting their first cases: Effingham and Fayette counties in south-central Illinois and Henry County in northwestern Illinois. Since April, Illinois has seen 3,357 probable and confirmed cases in 37 counties.
This week's tally rose from last week's by 98 cases. The state expects to receive $11.5 million in grants from the federal government to prepare for both seasonal and swine flu this fall. Chicago will get separate grants totaling nearly $3.3 million.
Novartis Says Swine Flu Virus Gives Poor Harvest for Vaccine
Novartis AG said the virus it’s growing to make a vaccine against pandemic flu doesn’t yield much of the antigen needed to protect people.
Lab workers are harvesting one dose or less of the component they need from each egg in which the virus is grown, said Eric Althoff, a spokesman for the Swiss drugmaker. That’s between a third and half of the typical yield for a seasonal flu vaccine, he said.
The low yield may slow production of a pandemic vaccine because it means drugmakers like Novartis, Baxter International Inc., Sanofi-Aventis SA and GlaxoSmithKline Plc can extract less of the protective ingredient from each egg. Baxter’s Chief Executive Officer Robert Parkinson and a spokesman for Sanofi also said yesterday the amount of swine flu virus growing in each egg is lower than for seasonal flu.
The World Health Organization, whose labs supplied the virus to drugmakers, is trying to produce samples that yield more antigen.
“There is work ongoing to improve them,” Novartis Chief Operating Officer Joerg Reinhardt said yesterday on a conference call. “But it’s very difficult to predict what it will be at the end.”
The H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, is sweeping the southern hemisphere as tens of thousands of patients test positive for the virus in Australia, Argentina, Chile and other countries. It’s also spreading in the north outside of the usual flu season. The U.K.’s most senior doctor yesterday said the health service is planning for 65,000 deaths from the disease, which has claimed 429 lives worldwide.
‘Bad Yielder’
“The industry at large is challenged,” Baxter’s Parkinson said yesterday.
Most manufacturers make flu vaccines by injecting chicken eggs with an approved version of the virus to provide it with nutrients to grow and multiply. The amount of virus that grows in the egg and can be turned into shots is called its yield.
All government vaccine orders include a set yield assumption, Andrin Oswald, who heads Novartis’s vaccine unit, told reporters yesterday. One egg will usually produce enough antigen to make two doses of seasonal flu vaccine, according to Oswald.
“It is well known that some strains are good yielders, and some strains are bad yielders,” Marie-Paule Kieny, director of the WHO’s Initiative for Vaccine Research, said in a teleconference on July 13.
“Unfortunately we didn’t come up with a good yielder in the first series of strains,” she said. “To remedy that, the WHO laboratory network is again trying to generate new vaccine viruses” from patients who have been infected. “We hope that one of them will be giving higher yields, comparable to the ones obtained with seasonal vaccines.”
Kieny said the existing strain still allows drugmakers to make a vaccine, test it and submit it to regulators while the WHO hunts for a more promising seed virus.
Vaccine Revenue
The yield also determines the shot’s potential revenue. Novartis swine flu vaccine sales could be worth between $1 billion and $1.5 billion if a single dose is sold for $10, Karl Heinz Koch, an analyst at Helvea SA in Zurich said in a note to clients today. Novartis has not added this revenue to the current sales outlook, Chief Financial Officer Raymund Breu said on a conference call yesterday.
Lab workers are harvesting one dose or less of the component they need from each egg in which the virus is grown, said Eric Althoff, a spokesman for the Swiss drugmaker. That’s between a third and half of the typical yield for a seasonal flu vaccine, he said.
The low yield may slow production of a pandemic vaccine because it means drugmakers like Novartis, Baxter International Inc., Sanofi-Aventis SA and GlaxoSmithKline Plc can extract less of the protective ingredient from each egg. Baxter’s Chief Executive Officer Robert Parkinson and a spokesman for Sanofi also said yesterday the amount of swine flu virus growing in each egg is lower than for seasonal flu.
The World Health Organization, whose labs supplied the virus to drugmakers, is trying to produce samples that yield more antigen.
“There is work ongoing to improve them,” Novartis Chief Operating Officer Joerg Reinhardt said yesterday on a conference call. “But it’s very difficult to predict what it will be at the end.”
The H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, is sweeping the southern hemisphere as tens of thousands of patients test positive for the virus in Australia, Argentina, Chile and other countries. It’s also spreading in the north outside of the usual flu season. The U.K.’s most senior doctor yesterday said the health service is planning for 65,000 deaths from the disease, which has claimed 429 lives worldwide.
‘Bad Yielder’
“The industry at large is challenged,” Baxter’s Parkinson said yesterday.
Most manufacturers make flu vaccines by injecting chicken eggs with an approved version of the virus to provide it with nutrients to grow and multiply. The amount of virus that grows in the egg and can be turned into shots is called its yield.
All government vaccine orders include a set yield assumption, Andrin Oswald, who heads Novartis’s vaccine unit, told reporters yesterday. One egg will usually produce enough antigen to make two doses of seasonal flu vaccine, according to Oswald.
“It is well known that some strains are good yielders, and some strains are bad yielders,” Marie-Paule Kieny, director of the WHO’s Initiative for Vaccine Research, said in a teleconference on July 13.
“Unfortunately we didn’t come up with a good yielder in the first series of strains,” she said. “To remedy that, the WHO laboratory network is again trying to generate new vaccine viruses” from patients who have been infected. “We hope that one of them will be giving higher yields, comparable to the ones obtained with seasonal vaccines.”
Kieny said the existing strain still allows drugmakers to make a vaccine, test it and submit it to regulators while the WHO hunts for a more promising seed virus.
Vaccine Revenue
The yield also determines the shot’s potential revenue. Novartis swine flu vaccine sales could be worth between $1 billion and $1.5 billion if a single dose is sold for $10, Karl Heinz Koch, an analyst at Helvea SA in Zurich said in a note to clients today. Novartis has not added this revenue to the current sales outlook, Chief Financial Officer Raymund Breu said on a conference call yesterday.
Four more London swine flu deaths
The other casualties are a 70-year-old man, a 39-year-old woman and another adult. All of the victims had underlying health problems.
Three other possible swine flu deaths are also being investigated.
NHS London said the latest fatalities, which happened in the past two weeks, bring the total number of swine flu-related deaths in the capital to 10.
The baby died at Royal Free Hospital last week.
Dr Simon Tanner, regional director of public health at NHS London, said: "We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to each of the families affected at this very difficult time. "It is also important that these deaths be kept in perspective.
"All four had underlying health conditions and these upsetting cases should be kept in context with the many people who have had swine flu and recovered just a few days after experiencing a mild illness."
Andy Wapling, head of emergency preparedness at NHS London, said: "We would like to reassure people that NHS London is well-prepared - all NHS organisations have plans which have been practised and checked regularly.
"NHS London has put in place recently audited plans on how to prepare for flu pandemic and ensure that anyone who needs help will receive it."
Twenty-nine people have now died in the UK after contracting swine flu and the number of new cases hit 55,000 last week.
The NHS has seen a surge in calls and consultations.
Ministers in England have responded by promising the National Flu Service will go live at the end of next week to relieve pressure on hospitals and GPs.
The government has also warned that deaths from swine flu this winter could be between 19,000 and 65,000 in the UK.
Three other possible swine flu deaths are also being investigated.
NHS London said the latest fatalities, which happened in the past two weeks, bring the total number of swine flu-related deaths in the capital to 10.
The baby died at Royal Free Hospital last week.
Dr Simon Tanner, regional director of public health at NHS London, said: "We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to each of the families affected at this very difficult time. "It is also important that these deaths be kept in perspective.
"All four had underlying health conditions and these upsetting cases should be kept in context with the many people who have had swine flu and recovered just a few days after experiencing a mild illness."
Andy Wapling, head of emergency preparedness at NHS London, said: "We would like to reassure people that NHS London is well-prepared - all NHS organisations have plans which have been practised and checked regularly.
"NHS London has put in place recently audited plans on how to prepare for flu pandemic and ensure that anyone who needs help will receive it."
Twenty-nine people have now died in the UK after contracting swine flu and the number of new cases hit 55,000 last week.
The NHS has seen a surge in calls and consultations.
Ministers in England have responded by promising the National Flu Service will go live at the end of next week to relieve pressure on hospitals and GPs.
The government has also warned that deaths from swine flu this winter could be between 19,000 and 65,000 in the UK.
Swine Flu Vaccines Being Tested: Vaccine Expected To Be Available In November
Researchers at the University of Antwerp are currently comparing 4 potential vaccines for H1N1v, also known as swine flu or Mexican flu. 300 to 400 volunteers will be recruited for the tests. “There is a good chance that a Mexican flu vaccine is available early November”, expects vaccine expert prof. dr. Pierre van Damme, director of the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination (CEV), a department of the Vaccine & Infectious Disease Institute (VAXINFECTIO) at the University of Antwerp.“We were contacted by a number of vaccine producers to test their vaccines as soon as they had a test version”, explains Van Damme. “The CEV can look back on more than 20 years of experience in the scientific evaluation of test vaccines for different producers. We have been cooperating with some of these vaccine companies for many years. Obviously, they do not want to lose time now. That is why the number of test centres has been limited.” Together with the University of Antwerp, the University of Ghent and some centres in Finland, France and Germany are involved in the testing.
“Most producers will have their test vaccines ready by the middle or end of August” says Van Damme. “But a vaccine can only be launched on the market when is has been tested on healthy volunteers. This procedure is also followed for other test vaccines. The vaccination of volunteers will take place in the course of August and September, because all test vaccines come with a vaccination scheme of 2 doses.”
Vaccine probably available from beginning of November
Van Damme expects the final test results in October. "Then the test reports will be delivered to the proper authorities (e.g. EMEA) and it is up to them to give the go-ahead to the vaccine. Consequently, the mass production can start and a few weeks later the vaccine can be launched. This means that a vaccine will probably be available by the beginning of November.”
Van Damme points out that the production will not immediately be sufficient to vaccinate everyone. “That’s way most countries are now identifying target groups to be vaccinated first. It concerns people with crucial professions during a pandemic (e.g. health workers), standard high-risk groups (e.g. people aged over 65 with underlying disorders or people who are chronically ill) and potentially also young children because they can play an important role in the spreading of the flu.”
Time pressure
Van Damme confirms that there is time pressure, but emphasises the need to follow the standard evaluation procedure. “Luckily, this procedure is very similar to the one we use with the winter flu, for which we also use a killed or inactivated vaccine. So we know what side effects we can expect, and we can be certain that the test vaccine will not cause flu symptoms.”
Whether the vaccine will be available on time, is an open question. “On the basis of recent epidemiological data, we estimate the chance that the Mexican flu will quietly fade away (as SARS did a few years ago) to be nearly zero. The data from Spain and the United Kingdom clearly show an increasing spread of the Mexican flu. It is still not clear what the course of the disease will be, but currently the disease symptoms and complications seem to be in the order of the annual winter flu. This situation can continue, but there is also a chance that the flu becomes more serious, for instance when the virus mutates or exchanges genetic material with other winter flu viruses that start circulating. We need to be prepared for these scenarios as well.”
“Most producers will have their test vaccines ready by the middle or end of August” says Van Damme. “But a vaccine can only be launched on the market when is has been tested on healthy volunteers. This procedure is also followed for other test vaccines. The vaccination of volunteers will take place in the course of August and September, because all test vaccines come with a vaccination scheme of 2 doses.”
Vaccine probably available from beginning of November
Van Damme expects the final test results in October. "Then the test reports will be delivered to the proper authorities (e.g. EMEA) and it is up to them to give the go-ahead to the vaccine. Consequently, the mass production can start and a few weeks later the vaccine can be launched. This means that a vaccine will probably be available by the beginning of November.”
Van Damme points out that the production will not immediately be sufficient to vaccinate everyone. “That’s way most countries are now identifying target groups to be vaccinated first. It concerns people with crucial professions during a pandemic (e.g. health workers), standard high-risk groups (e.g. people aged over 65 with underlying disorders or people who are chronically ill) and potentially also young children because they can play an important role in the spreading of the flu.”
Time pressure
Van Damme confirms that there is time pressure, but emphasises the need to follow the standard evaluation procedure. “Luckily, this procedure is very similar to the one we use with the winter flu, for which we also use a killed or inactivated vaccine. So we know what side effects we can expect, and we can be certain that the test vaccine will not cause flu symptoms.”
Whether the vaccine will be available on time, is an open question. “On the basis of recent epidemiological data, we estimate the chance that the Mexican flu will quietly fade away (as SARS did a few years ago) to be nearly zero. The data from Spain and the United Kingdom clearly show an increasing spread of the Mexican flu. It is still not clear what the course of the disease will be, but currently the disease symptoms and complications seem to be in the order of the annual winter flu. This situation can continue, but there is also a chance that the flu becomes more serious, for instance when the virus mutates or exchanges genetic material with other winter flu viruses that start circulating. We need to be prepared for these scenarios as well.”
Five students at MICA diagnosed with probable swine flu
Five students in a Maryland Institute College of Art summer program have been diagnosed with probable H1NI influenza infections, commonly known as swine flu, a college spokeswoman said Friday.
Three of the students enrolled in MICA's pre-college program who were showing symptoms have gone home, said Kathleen Murray, the spokeswoman. One student has been isolated, as recommended by the Baltimore City Health Department, and another is asymptomatic, beyond the seven-day period of infection, Murray said.
The Health Department notified MICA of the probable infections Thursday afternoon, and an e-mail was sent to parents, faculty, staff and students that night, Murray said. As of Friday morning, no new cases had been reported, and the five students were recovering, Murray said.
Pre-college program attendees, typically high school students, stay together in a MICA residence hall, but Health Department officials said there was no need to close any buildings or shut down the program, Murray said.
"The only recommendation was to isolate the five students," she said.
MICA's building services staff was instructed to sanitize surfaces such as elevator buttons more frequently. Sanitizer was also available at guard desks, college offices and in dining facilities.
Maryland health officials have confirmed 732 cases of swine flu. Three of those infected have died from the virus.
Summer camps are feeling the impact. Two children were sent home from a Harford County camp after testing positive for swine flu, health officials said this week. Sandy Hill Camp in Cecil County sent campers home midway through a two-week session last week after 19 children came down with flulike symptoms in 48 hours.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association canceled more than half of its weeklong camp sessions - including two scheduled for Camp Maria in Leonardtown - amid fears that children with already compromised immune systems could become critically ill if they came down with flu, something that is more likely in a setting of shared cabins and meals in close quarters.
Baltimore Sun reporter Mary Gail Hare contributed to this article.
Three of the students enrolled in MICA's pre-college program who were showing symptoms have gone home, said Kathleen Murray, the spokeswoman. One student has been isolated, as recommended by the Baltimore City Health Department, and another is asymptomatic, beyond the seven-day period of infection, Murray said.
The Health Department notified MICA of the probable infections Thursday afternoon, and an e-mail was sent to parents, faculty, staff and students that night, Murray said. As of Friday morning, no new cases had been reported, and the five students were recovering, Murray said.
Pre-college program attendees, typically high school students, stay together in a MICA residence hall, but Health Department officials said there was no need to close any buildings or shut down the program, Murray said.
"The only recommendation was to isolate the five students," she said.
MICA's building services staff was instructed to sanitize surfaces such as elevator buttons more frequently. Sanitizer was also available at guard desks, college offices and in dining facilities.
Maryland health officials have confirmed 732 cases of swine flu. Three of those infected have died from the virus.
Summer camps are feeling the impact. Two children were sent home from a Harford County camp after testing positive for swine flu, health officials said this week. Sandy Hill Camp in Cecil County sent campers home midway through a two-week session last week after 19 children came down with flulike symptoms in 48 hours.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association canceled more than half of its weeklong camp sessions - including two scheduled for Camp Maria in Leonardtown - amid fears that children with already compromised immune systems could become critically ill if they came down with flu, something that is more likely in a setting of shared cabins and meals in close quarters.
Baltimore Sun reporter Mary Gail Hare contributed to this article.
Swine flu cancels camp for children with HIV/AIDS
MILWAUKEE - A camp session in Minnesota for children with HIV or AIDS has been canceled after two volunteers tested positive for swine flu.
One Heartland, a Milwaukee-based charity, had planned to start the weeklong camp session in Willow River in eastern Minnesota on Friday.
One Heartland founder and CEO Neil Willenson says there are no known cases of swine flu among children who already attended the camp this summer. But he says the camp session was canceled out of concern for campers and volunteers.
One Heartland offers the summer camps for homeless children and children with HIV or AIDS.
One Heartland, a Milwaukee-based charity, had planned to start the weeklong camp session in Willow River in eastern Minnesota on Friday.
One Heartland founder and CEO Neil Willenson says there are no known cases of swine flu among children who already attended the camp this summer. But he says the camp session was canceled out of concern for campers and volunteers.
One Heartland offers the summer camps for homeless children and children with HIV or AIDS.
Good News - Cherie Blair Gets Swine Flu - Pigs Strike
There will be no more bacon until Cherie Blair reveals where she got her swine flu.
The probability exists that Ms Blair has used undue influence to obtain a better virus than that available to the man in the street. Parliamentary Expenses investigators are pursuing several lines of enquiry.Swine are concerned that they will be blammed if a more virulent virus mutates during Ms Blair's illness.
The combination of Grinning Gibbon Flu with Swine flu is awful to contemplate.
Ugly, greedy, frogmouthed people with legal training would however be the most likely victims and the almost certain prospect of the death of most lawyers is some comfort.
The British Pig Herd has withdrawn its support of the manufacture of Swine Flu vaccine and has set up picket lines at plasma collection centres.
Mr Tony Blair, Centre of the Universe was advised by the Dark Lord Mangelson, not to comment.
The probability exists that Ms Blair has used undue influence to obtain a better virus than that available to the man in the street. Parliamentary Expenses investigators are pursuing several lines of enquiry.Swine are concerned that they will be blammed if a more virulent virus mutates during Ms Blair's illness.
The combination of Grinning Gibbon Flu with Swine flu is awful to contemplate.
Ugly, greedy, frogmouthed people with legal training would however be the most likely victims and the almost certain prospect of the death of most lawyers is some comfort.
The British Pig Herd has withdrawn its support of the manufacture of Swine Flu vaccine and has set up picket lines at plasma collection centres.
Mr Tony Blair, Centre of the Universe was advised by the Dark Lord Mangelson, not to comment.
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