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

FOUR men with swine flu have died in the past two days in NSW, taking the state's toll to 17 and the nation's to 41. www.theaustralian.news.com.au...

Speaking before the first human trials of a potential vaccine were due to take place in Australia today, Dr Sam Coulter Smith, master of the Rotunda Hospital, said women should not be unduly concerned by international calls for them to delay pregnancy until after the pandemic.

However, he added that it was not clear whether the upcoming swine flu vaccine – which is expected to become available in September – would be safe for pregnant women to use.

www.irishexaminer.com...

SANTIAGO — Chile announced that the country's death toll from swine flu has risen from 40 to 68, as the virus cuts deeper across Latin America where hundreds of deaths have been linked to the pandemic.

"There have been 68 deaths associated with the new human influenza A(H1N1) virus," Chile's Health Ministry said in a statement. www.google.com...

UP to 2,000 people a week could die and half the Lothians' workforce be off sick in an "absolutely worst case" swine flu scenario, health chiefs have revealed.
Contingency plans are being drawn up for GPs across the area being swamped with an additional 5,500 patients, operations being cancelled to free up bed space, and up to a third of the population suffering should a vaccine not be ready. news.scotsman.com...

Businesses across Northern Ireland are being urged to step up planning for how to stay open in the event of an escalation in swine flu. news.bbc.co.uk...

TORONTO — It may take substantially longer to make the full amounts of swine flu vaccine countries have contracted to buy because efforts to improve the yield of the vaccine seed strains aren't bearing fruit, experts say.

Three of the laboratories involved in the work are sounding increasingly pessimistic that the yield problem can be fixed in the short term. Vaccine manufacturers have reported they are getting between 50 per cent and 75 per cent less vaccine with the new H1N1 virus as they do when they make seasonal flu vaccine. www.google.com...

The number of people calling in sick with swine flu symptoms has tripled in a week, with 130,000 people staying away from work. www.telegraph.co.uk...

WINNIPEG — Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, the organization representing 30 northern First Nations, called for its members to be among the first vaccinated for H1N1, based on a high rate of infection and limited access to primary care.

Grand Chief Sydney Garrioch said that of 151 cases of H1N1 that were confirmed among First Nations in Canada as of July 15, 125 were from MKO First Nations communities.

"The Public health Agency of Canada and the federal and provincial departments of health must recognize the significance of these alarming figures within a small portion of the country’s population and provide assurances that our people will receive utmost priority for vaccines," Garrioch said in a statement.

Garrioch also pointed out that most of the province’s northern First Nations do not have a full-time doctor on site, but instead have nursing stations or health stations that frequently experience staff shortages. www.winnipegfreepress.com...

[edit on 22-7-2009 by wizardwars]

Swine flu claims first Hungarian life

Budapest - The swine flu pandemic has claimed its first victim in Hungary, Chief Medical Officer Ferenc Falus informed the government on Wednesday.

Post mortem tests on a 41-year-old man who died of pneumonia a week ago revealed that he had been infected with the H1N1 virus, the local news agency MTI reported.

'The patient, a Hungarian national, did not report to a doctor, and the illness was complicated by existing heart and lung conditions,' Falus said.

Government spokesman Domokos Szollar said the Hungarian health services are stockpiling flu vaccine and a nationwide vaccination programme will start in October.

There have been 36 confirmed cases of swine flu so far in Hungary.

Quebec finds first, Japan finds second cases of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu

TORONTO - Canada has recorded a case of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu virus, in a Quebec man who had been given the drug to prevent infection.

Meanwhile, Japan revealed Tuesday it had found a second such case of Tamiflu resistance, in a person who has no ties to the country's earlier reported case. The cases are the fourth and fifth globally since the new H1N1 virus was discovered in April.
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Thailand's H1N1 death toll jumps to 44

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Twenty people have died from contracting the H1N1 flu virus in Thailand in the past week, taking the death toll in the country to 44 since the epidemic broke out in April, the Public Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

That has prompted neighbouring Cambodia to advise its citizens not to travel to Thailand.

No one has died from the flu in Cambodia. It has reported 14 H1N1 cases, mostly Western travellers coming in from Thailand
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20 deaths in 1 week?

2 more H1N1 deaths

TWO more H1N1 patients with underlying conditions died on Wednesday, bringing the number of deaths in Singapore to three in less than a week.

One of them is a 13-year-old boy, who suffered from epilepsy. He died from prolonged seizures in which H1N1 was a contributing factor, said a Ministry of Health statement.

He was admitted to National University Hospital on Sunday after coming down with a fever and cough. His heart and respiratory functions stopped at the hospital's emergency department and he was later transferred to the paediatric intensive care unit.

The other victim is a 55-year-old who suffered from motor neuron disease and had been in the intensive care unit since last Saturday. He died from severe pneumonia with advanced motor neuron disease and H1N1.

The man sought medical treatment at CGH's Emergency Department last Saturday after two days of fever and breathlessness. He suffered cardiac arrest at the Emergency Department on Saturday and was admitted to the hospital's ICU. Laboratory tests confirmed that he was infected with H1N1.

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First H1N1 death in Lee County

FORT MYERS: A Lee County resident has died from the H1N1 'swine' flu virus - the first death related to the disease in the county, according to the Lee County Health Department.

The victim is described as a 51-year-old man who had no known pre-existing conditions or chronic illness, according to health officials.

The health department says there have been a total of 43 swine flu cases in the county, with one death.

They say those statistics mirror state and national trends for the disease, in which the majority of cases are found in children.

Health officials continue to urge people to wash their hands frequently, stay home from school or work when they feel sick and cover their mouth with a tissue or a sleeve as the best ways to prevent transmission of the disease.
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Swine flu death toll rises to 31

The Prime Minister sought to reassure the public over swine flu today as it emerged at least 31 people in the UK have now died after contracting the virus.

Gordon Brown said the Government was making an "enormous effort" to ensure the UK was prepared for dealing with the flu pandemic.

He insisted "robust plans" were in place to fight the virus, and measures were being taken in a "calm and organised and ordered way".

Swine flu kills second person in Palm Beach County

Palm Beach County has had a second Swine flu death after a 42-year-old man succumbed to the disease, health officials said today.

The county has had a total of 247 cases of the H1N1 virus, with 49 confirmed in the last week alone, said Tim O'Connor, spokesman for the Palm Beach County Health Department. He said the World Health Organization also elevated the virus to a "level 6", declaring it a pandemic. Pandemic means it had spread quickly into a global outbreak.

The department did not identify the man who died.
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Government Calls for Volunteers to Test H1N1 Shots

WASHINGTON (AP)- The government called Wednesday for several thousand volunteers to start rolling up their sleeves for the first H1N1 flu shots, in a race to test whether a new vaccine really will protect against the virus before its expected rebound in the fall.


The first shots should go into volunteers' arms by the second week of August. A network of medical centers around the country is enrolling for the series of studies directed by the National Institutes of Health.

First, doctors will test different doses of the swine flu vaccine in healthy adults, including the elderly- two shots, given 21 days apart. If there are no immediate safety concerns, such as allergic reactions, the same testing quickly will begin in babies and children, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Will the results come in time to guide the government's debate on whether to roll out a mass vaccination campaign starting in mid-October, one expected to target mostly school-age children and young adults?

"It's going to be very, very close," Fauci told The Associated Press.

So who wants to play Russian Roulette any takers the mad scientist need you for experiments.

San Diego marks 10th swine flu death

SAN DIEGO—Health authorities say a 46-year-old Georgia woman visiting the San Diego area has died from the swine flu.

County Health and Human Services Agency spokesman Jose Alvarez says the woman is the 10th person to die of swine flu in the county, but her death will be added to Georgia's tally and not San Diego's.

Alvarez says officials say they don't believe the woman, who had an underlying health condition, contracted the virus in San Diego.

There have been 680 cases of swine flu confirmed in San Diego County.

Death will be added to Georgia's tally and not San Diego's?

There are 10 more deaths from influenza A in two days

Reiterating that the influenza A (H1N1) is a disease that is curable is serving time, the Health Secretariat (SSA) reported that as of last Tuesday are 14 thousand 861 confirmed cases and 138 deaths.

In a statement the agency said that of the 138 deaths, 51.4 percent were women and 48.6 percent men, of whom 71 percent were between 20 and 54 years of age.

In the previous report released on July 20 was 14 thousand 229 were cases of the virus, including 128 deaths.

Indicated that all the states reported confirmed cases of the disease and most are concentrated in Chiapas, followed by Mexico City, Yucatan, Jalisco, Tabasco, Veracruz, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi and Nuevo Leon.

H1N1 Deaths Double in Three Weeks

((AP) Students across Europe may have their summer holidays extended, some Muslim nations are warning pregnant women not to attend the hajj and China is quarantining hundreds of foreign students.

It's all part of a global effort to slow the spread of swine flu until a vaccine becomes widely available - but experts and governments are divided on how well the measures will really work.

The World Health Organization said Tuesday that deaths from the new H1N1 virus have doubled in the past three weeks, rising to over 700 from about 330 at the start of July.

"We expect to see more cases and deaths in the future," WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi told The Associated Press in Geneva.

WHO gave no breakdown of the deaths, but as of last week, the United States reported 263 deaths, Canada had 45 deaths and Britain had 29. According to WHO's last update on July 6, Mexico reported 119 deaths.

Yet even Tuesday's figure of 700 deaths may seriously underestimate the true toll because not all swine flu cases are being picked up due to testing limitations.
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Ten more swine flu-related deaths confirmed statewide

Ten more Swine Flu-related deaths were confirmed by state health officials today, including a 31-year-old Polk County man.

The recent deaths were also reported in Sarasota, Broward, Dade, Monroe, Palm Beach and Lee counties. Florida currently has listed 2915 confirmed cases of H1N1 Swine Flu, according to the state Department of Health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists 12 deaths statewide. Today's deaths would bring the number of deaths in Florida to 22.

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It feels like its a 100 degrees outside here in Florida and people are dieing of the freakin flu.