As the federal government launches the most ambitious inoculation campaign in U.S. history, several surveys indicate the public is decidedly ambivalent. A nationally representative poll of 1,042 adults released Friday by the Harvard School of Public Health found that only 40 percent were sure they would receive the vaccine and that about half were certain their children would. Recent research by the University of Michigan and by Consumer Reports yielded similar results.

The federal government is teaming up with a medical software maker to help keep tabs on the spread of swine flu.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says the government is getting together with Cerner Corporation to keep track on how the strain of flu is spreading.

Sebelius says the information provided by the company is more current than the data federal officials have.

The first thing you see on this website is a map of the swine flu outbreak nationwide and what is stunning is the fact that they have the map broken down into regions...FEMA regions! The map is from the CDC. There's a little bar under the map where you can move an arrow back & forth & see how the flu has progressed. Scroll down and look at all of the propaganda stories on the vaccines.

The H1N1, or swine, flu virus first appeared in April in Mexico before arriving in the USA. In anticipation of the fall flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reset the swine flu numbers and now tracks cases on a regional level.

A group of New York doctors and health-care workers who are to be among the first inoculated against swine flu asked a federal judge to void U.S. approval of the vaccine until more safety tests are done.

Rima Laibow, a physician, nurse Suzanne Field and four other New York residents filed the suit in federal court in Washington today. They claim a state law requires them to get the vaccine, putting their health at risk from an unproven treatment and their livelihoods at risk if they refuse.

“This is an emergency action in a matter of significant public importance,” Leslie Fourton, an attorney for the health workers, said in the lawsuit. The Food and Drug Administration “has approved or licensed the vaccines without definitive prerequisite safety testing, in clear violation of federal law.”

The workers asked Judge Reggie Walton to issue an immediate order barring approvals of A/H1N1 vaccines until all legally required testing is conducted and an order preventing New York from firing them if they refuse to take it.

The new pandemic H1N1 flu may cause blood clots and other unusual damage in the lungs and doctors need to be on the lookout, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

Two studies published in the American Journal of Roentgenology show the need to check X-rays and CT scans for unusual features, and also point out swine flu can be tricky to diagnose in some of the sickest patients.

One middle-aged man who died was not diagnosed until after death, but unusual findings on his X-rays may be able to help doctors save other, similar patients.

Mollura's team found irregularities called ground-glass opacities in the patient's lungs using a CT scan. Although the patient was severely ill and had a fever, he tested negative for flu and doctors did not treat him for it.

In another study in the same journal, CT scans of patients with severe cases of swine flu showed many had pulmonary emboli, which block the arteries in the lungs, a team at the University of Michigan found.

Anticoagulant drugs can break up these clots and save lives.

"Our study suggests that patients who are severely ill with H1N1 are also at risk for developing pulmonary emboli, which should be carefully sought for on contrast-enhanced CT scans, " Agarwal said in a statement

"The majority of patients undergoing chest X-rays with H1N1 have normal radiographs (X-rays)," she added. Pulmonary emboli are also not normally seen in flu, she said.

"CT scans proved valuable in identifying those patients at risk of developing more serious complications as a possible result of the H1N1 virus, and for identifying a greater extent of disease than is appreciated on chest radiographs."

A state Supreme Court judge issued a restraining order Friday against the state from enforcing the controversial mandatory vaccination.

A court hearing is scheduled for October 30.

President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency and empowered his health secretary to suspend federal requirements and speed treatment for thousands of infected people.

The declaration that Obama signed late Friday authorized Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to bypass federal rules so health officials can respond more quickly to the outbreak, which has killed more than 1,000 people in the United States.

The goal is to remove bureaucratic roadblocks and make it easier for sick people to seek treatment and medical providers to provide it immediately

A statement from Gov. David Paterson announced the policy change on behalf of State Health Commissioner Richard F. Daines.

Daines had originally said that public health workers must be vaccinated for the seasonal flu and the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, by November 30 or risk discipline.

The Public Employees Federation, New York's second-largest state employees union, sued over the requirement and was awaiting a state Supreme Court hearing scheduled for October 30.

The vaccine shortage has defused the conflict

An Iowa cat has become the first of its species to come done with a confirmed case of H1N1 flu, officials said today.

The cat, which was not identified, was brought to Iowa State University’s veterinary college, where tests confirmed that it had the new flu virus, the state health department said.