Mysterious U.S. Swine Flu Probe Widens as Mexico Finds Swine Flu *updated*

People shouldn't buy Tamiflu from the internet," he said. "We have got a massive stockpile in this country, and everybody can have access to it through the National Health Service."

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's director of policy, David Pruce, said most Tamiflu for sale online was probably fake because no legitimate online pharmacy would sell it.www.guardian.co.uk...

July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Australian authorities said as many as 70 prisoners in the northeastern state of Queensland may have contracted swine flu, after five inmates in two jails tested positive for the H1N1 virus in a week.

A 34-year-old inmate at the Lotus Glen Correctional Centre, about 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of the tourist hub of Cairns, tested positive for the virus yesterday, while another 69 inmates have flu-like symptoms, said Ross McSwain, director of the office of the commissioner of corrective services.

“All prisoners remain in quarantine in their accommodation and those identified with strong indications of having swine flu have been treated with Tamiflu,” he said today by telephone.

The case comes after an inmate at Capricornia Correctional Centre, about 600 kilometers north of the state capital, Brisbane, tested positive for swine flu on June 25, McSwain said. Three other prisoners and a staff member also tested positive for the virus, he added.

Inmates at Capricornia were treated with the Tamiflu anti- viral medication and are no longer in isolation after health authorities advised Queensland Corrective Services the prisoners were “no longer a threat”, McSwain said.

Queensland has 691 of the 4,568 confirmed cases of swine flu in Australia, according to the federal government.

reply to post by Kram09


hi kram09
off topic (my apologies) but your avatar was tatooed on my arm in 1984!

sorry people i had a tangent moment there. btw bbc news at one gave approx two minutes coverage to a 19 yr old male (uk) wednesday this week who succumbed to the flu. it also seems we are now in a position of dispensing with the confirmed cases tally and containment and focusing on treatments of sorts.
It seems there is also an emphasis on underlying or pre-existing medical conditions as a contributing factor.

Teenager is fourth Brit to die from swine flu

A 19-year-old man was confirmed today as the first person in London to die after contracting swine flu.

The teenager from south London, who suffered serious underlying health problems, tested positive for the virus following his death on Wednesday.

He is the fourth person with swine flu to die in the UK
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Tamiflu-Resistant Swine Flu Virus Found in Hong Kong

July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Tamiflu-resistant swine flu was found in a teenager who hadn’t taken Roche Holding AG’s best-selling antiviral medicine, Hong Kong’s health department said.

The city’s Public Health Laboratory Services Branch identified the drug-evading variant during routine surveillance of flu specimens, the department said in a statement today.

This marks the first known case of Tamiflu resistance in a swine flu patient not treated with the drug, which has been stockpiled by governments worldwide to fight pandemic influenza. The specimen was collected from a 16-year-old girl who flew from San Francisco and was intercepted by officials at Hong Kong International Airport on June 11, according to the statement.

Flu death toll in Thailand rises to 6

The Public Health Ministry on Friday afternoon revealed that a Thai man, aged 30, of Bangkok has died of H1N1 flu, adding up the death toll in Thailand to 6.

Earlier today, the ministry said another 154 Thai people were additionally listed as having had the H1N1 flu, bringing up the total to 1,710. As of Friday morning, the death toll was 5.

The World Health Organisation today disclosed that the global death toll stood at 337 while the number of people having contracted the flu in 121 countries was over 80,000.

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momento24.com...

7:16 pm – Swine Flu / Buenos Aires city: Jorge Lemus confirms 6 deaths.

momento24.com...

6:15 pm – Swine Flu: Senator Gerardo Morales has symptoms.

Argentine senator

momento24.com...

On Tuesday he was having strong symptoms during a press conference so he had to suspend his activities. Tomorrow the medical tests´results will be revealed, but he would be the second officer with swine flu.

This week other positive cases were detected within Macri´s cabinet, first it was the Urban Development minister, Daniel Chaín, who infected Buenos Aires´Chief Officer, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.

Both are being treated with Tamiflu
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[edit on 3-7-2009 by JBA2848]

33 Canadian deaths associated with swine flu

THE CANADIAN PRESS
Ontario is now reporting 12 deaths associated with the swine flu for a national total of 33.

A 37-year-old Toronto man who had underlying medical conditions tested positive for the virus.

Ontario now has more than 3,150 confirmed cases of H1N1.

Quebec is also reporting another death related to swine flu today, although that province's health department gave no information about its 14th victim.

Twenty-one new cases of swine flu have been confirmed by the department in Quebec, bringing the provincial total to 2,129.

There have been 12 deaths in Ontario, four in Manitoba, two in Saskatchewan and one in Alberta.

Across Canada, there have been nearly 8,000 cases of the H1N1 since the outbreak began, and most have been mild.

Ontario reports an average of 9,000 cases of seasonal flu each year, and approximately 500 deaths.

Nationwide, the common flu sends about 20,000 Canadians to hospital each year. The Public Health Agency's website says between 4,000 and 8,000 Canadians can die of influenza and its complications annually, depending on the severity of the season.

The number of deaths in Ontario jumped to 12 even though the province's weekly bulletin lists 10 fatalities. A spokesman said that's because information on the latest deaths had not yet been officially submitted through the public health information system.

Swine flu patient dies of electrocution in China

HANGZHOU - A patient suffering from influenza A (H1N1), better known as swine flu, died of electrocution when she was taking a shower in a hospital here, the police said Friday.

“The patient died of electrocution caused by leakage of electricity from electrical circuits in her ward, when she was taking a shower,” said an official statement.

Lou Yihong was admitted June 23 and she died Wednesday.

She had been recovering and her temperature had measured normal for a week before her death, according to the Hangzhou municipal health bureau.
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Sounds like they had Haliburton or KBR doing repairs.

El Salvador has confirmed its first swine flu death.

A federal health department statement released Friday says a 9-year-old boy died of respiratory problems from the virus in a private hospital in the capital of San Salvador.

He died Wednesday and the cause of death was later confirmed.

Universities and schools in the capital are closed to combat swine flu, which has quickly spread south after an initial outbreak in Mexico in April.

Salvadoran health officials have reported 51 new swine flu cases in the past week. The country has confirmed 277 the cases to date.

STOCKHOLM, July 3 (Xinhua) -- A European health agency said on Friday that 641 new A/H1N1 flu cases were reported in European countries within the last 24 hours.

Of the new cases, 518 were confirmed in Britain, 20 in Spain, 7in France and Switzerland, 35 in Germany, 25 in Cyprus, six in Denmark, five each in Portugal and Romania, three in Slovenia, two each in Sweden, Luxembourg and Ireland, and one each in Austria, Portugal, the Netherlands and Poland, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in its daily situation report.

The total number of confirmed cases of the A/H1N1 flu virus in the EU (European Union) and EFTA (European Free Trade Association)countries rose to 10,094, with 776 cases in Spain and 7,447 in Britain, 318 in France and 505 in Germany, the ECDC said.

The ECDC publishes a daily situation report about A/H1N1 flu cases in the EU and EFTA countries based on official information from these countries.

A World Health Organisation update on Thursday indicated that Kenya now has 12 laboratory confirmed cases of swine flu but a Public Health ministry statement denied there were any new cases.www.nation.co.ke...

Possible case of “resistant” A (H1N1) virus

CHENNAI: The Indian Council of Medical Research will investigate what seems to be a case of “resistant” A (H1N1) virus in Chennai, its Director-General V. M. Katoch said. This is the first such case reported in the country.

The State health authorities have been asked to send a blood sample of the infected person to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.

The patient, a man who had flown in from the U.S. in the third week of June, had tested positive along with his wife.

They were quarantined at the Communicable Diseases Hospital (CDH) here and started on a course of Tamiflu. “This was through the Directly Observed Treatment Short-course method, which means we know he took every tablet and did not miss out on even a single dose. Missing on doses can lead to resistance, but that is not the case with this patient,” Director of Public Health S. Elango said.

While his wife recovered and tested negative for A (H1N1) after about 10 days, the husband continued to test positive even after the treatment was completed.

Though he showed no symptoms, his tests kept coming back positive, Dr. Elango said.

“This is a case to be studied, definitely. The virus should not remain in his blood after the treatment. It is possible that it is a mutation of the virus. I have instructed the officials at the NIV to sequence the strain [from the samples] as soon as possible. Once we have that, we can have the alternative drugs to treat the patient,” Dr. Katoch explained.

He said the patient at the CDH could be treated on recommended doses of the drug ‘Relenza’ available in India.

When told that the patient was anxious to go home, Dr. Katoch categorically said that he could not be discharged as long as he continued to test positive, even if he was not symptomatic.

“He is certainly a carrier and can spread the virus to members of his family, and thereby take it into the community. That should not be allowed to happen. Indigenous transmission of the virus from this person will lead to a huge public health problem,” Dr. Katoch said.

The issue would be sorted out as soon as the sequence was drawn up. “That way we will also be ready for any future occurrences.”

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CAIRO, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Egypt reported on Friday another case of influenza A/H1N1, bringing the total number of the flu in the populous country to 72, according to the Ministry of Health.

The new case is a 16-year-old girl who just came to Egypt with her family from London, Health Ministry said in a statement.

The statement said that the health condition of the new case is stable after proper treatment, adding that 51 of the country's total 72 cases have recovered.

Egypt reported its first A/H1N1 flu case on June 2, a 12-year-old Egyptian-American girl coming from the United States via the Netherlands.

Egypt, the most populous Arab country that was hit hard by the fatal bird flu in 2006, decided in late April to cull all pigs in the country to stem the highly infectious flu A/H1N1.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the new disease has killed 337 people in 121 nations and regions and the number of the total infected exceeded 80,000 worldwide.

SANTIAGO, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Chilean health authorities on Friday reported two newly-confirmed A/H1N1 flu deaths, which brought the country's overall flu-related deaths to 19, out of a total of 7,342 infections.

One of the victims, a 36-year-old student paramedical technician, was viewed as an unusual case, because he did not have any pre-existing conditions. He died of pneumonia after being hospitalized on June 28 in the Conception Regional Hospital, where he had been doing his medical practice.

The other victim, a 38-year-old truck drier named Anselmo Urrutia, had suffered complications relating to obesity. He died of multiple organ failure in Santiago's Chest Hospital in the early hours of Friday.

Urrutia was transferred to the hospital on June 20 from the southern city of Puerto Montt. He had been breathing with the help of a respirator since June 17, when he was diagnosed with pneumonia.

MONTEVIDEO, July 3 (Xinhua) -- A 56-year-old woman has died of A/H1N1 flu, raising Uruguay's total death toll in the new flu outbreak to four, hospital authorities said on Friday.

The patient had suffered from diabetes and severe obesity, and was a smoker. Both factors were believed to have helped worsen the situation, said Guido Manini, director of the Military Hospital in Uruguay's capital, Montevideo.

Two other patients, one 54-year-old in Montevideo and the other60-year-old in Maldonado, 140 km from the capital, died of A/H1N1 flu on Thursday. Both had suffered health problems before contracting the flu, Uruguay's Public Health Ministry said earlier.

Uruguay's first confirmed death from the flu occurred on Monday, said the ministry, adding that the country now has a total of 132 confirmed infections.

Uruguay's first confirmed flu cases were detected on May 27, in two young people who had traveled to Argentina.

HONG KONG, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Thailand and Brunei each reported a death related to flu A/H1N1 on Friday, and at least seven countries reported more than 400 infections in the Asia-Pacific region on the same day.

Meanwhile, Japan and China's Hong Kong have also detected genetic mutations of the new strain of flu A/H1N1 virus, which are found resistant to anti-flu drug Tamiflu.

FLU-RELATED DEATHS RISE

Thailand's Public Heath Ministry late Friday announced the country's sixth death in connection with flu A/H1N1.

The victim was a 30-year-old man weighing 123 kilograms, according to Thai news agency INN.

The ministry announced 154 more patients have been confirmed toe infected with the A/H1N1 flu virus, bringing the country's total number to 1,710.

The public health offices nationwide were instructed to control the expanding flu outbreak within the next three months, otherwise the outbreak might prolong until the end of the year, the ministry said.

Brunei confirmed its first A/H1N1 flu fatality as a 12-year-oldgirl suffering from chronic complications died on Thursday after she had been infected with the flu virus.

Health Minister Suyoi bin Osman said the girl was admitted to a clinic on June 14 for chronic complications of auto-immune hepatitis, end-stage liver failure and pneumonia.

The minister said the flu might have accelerated her death.

Meanwhile, the ministry has confirmed 27 new infections on Thursday, bringing the country's tally to 93.

TWO-DIGIT RISE CONTINUES

Singapore on Friday confirmed 91 new flu cases, bringing the cumulative total to 969 in the city state. At the same time, investigations are underway for 97 possible cases.

The number of confirmed flu cases in New Zealand rose to 912 on Friday, up 87 from that of Thursday, the Health of Ministry said.

But the actual figure was certain to be much higher given that every person suspected to have the virus was no longer being swabbed, Director of Public Health Mark Jacobs said on Friday.

China's Hong Kong region reported 44 new cases on Friday, with the total number rising to 901, the health authorities said in the evening.

The new cases involve 26 males and 18 females, aged between 2 and 81, according to a spokesman for the region's health department.

The Chinese mainland also confirmed 45 new cases, raising the recorded number to 960, of whom, 660 patients have been discharged from hospital and 293 others are under medical treatment.

The Malaysian Health Ministry said on Friday that the country detected 47 new flu cases and has recorded a total of 291 cases so far.

Of the total number of such cases, locally transmitted ones account to 44 and 175 patients have been discharged from hospital.

In south Korea, 15 people were confirmed to have been infected with the flu virus on Friday, raising the nation's total number to253, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Vietnam's Ministry of Health confirmed 15 more cases on Friday, bringing the country's total number to 181.

With an increasing number of flu A/H1N1 infections and the current existence of the bird flu of H5N1 in northern province Quang Ninh, the ministry warned of possible danger posed by a combination of these two strains of flu virus.

Meanwhile, the first batch of the self-developed flu A/H1N1 vaccine is expected to be available in six months, said Nguyen ThuVan, Director of the Vaccine and Bio-Technology No.1 Company, one of the country's producers of bird flu vaccine.

DRUG-RESISTANT MUTATIONS FOUND

Japan's health ministry said it detected the first genetic mutation of the H1N1 strain of influenza A that develops resistance to the anti-flu drug Tamiflu.

The resistant virus was detected in an infected woman in her 40s, who is recovering after being treated with Relenza, another anti-flu drug.

In Hong Kong, a strain of influenza A/H1N1 virus was found resistant to Tamiflu, according to local health authorities on Friday.

The virus was identified during a routine sensitivity test of the new flu virus to Tamiflu and Relenza, a spokesman with the health department said.

He said this is the first time Tamiflu resistance in flu A/H1N1virus found in Hong Kong.

The virus was isolated from the specimen taken from a 16-year-old girl coming from San Francisco. She was intercepted by Port Health Office at the Hong Kong International Airport on June 11 upon arrival. She had mild symptoms and was discharged upon recovery on June 18.

According to WHO's latest update on its website Friday, more than 89,921 confirmed flu A/H1N1 cases and 382 deaths have been reported worldwide since the virus was first detected in April. The figure issued by the organization is believed to be more secure though it lags behind the situation.

SEOUL, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Another 15 people in South Korea were found to have been infected with the flu A/H1N1 on Friday, raising the nation's total number to 253, health officials said.

The 15 cases include a 10-year-old South Korean boy who had traveled to Australia late last month, and a 27-year-old Philippine woman who lived here and had recently traveled to her homeland, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The school where the infected boy attended was closed on Thursday as a precautionary measure.

Health authorities were also tracking down the other passengers and crew members on the same flight of the confirmed patients.

According to the latest tally by the WHO, more than 89,921 confirmed cases of A/H1N1 flu infections and 382 deaths have been reported worldwide since it was first detected in April.

No A/H1N1-related deaths have been reported in South Korea so far.