Swine Flu news and updates thread

Originally posted by winotka
Updated: 03 June 2009

Apologies that I don't have any insider perspective.

That's okay. Most of what is presented as "insider" information is just reguritated information that is already available - just changed to be more sensational and more lay-person sounding. He told me what it means, and I'll tell you. I'd prefer to see "insider" DATA instead of insider STORY. That we don't get it seems.

Please don't apologize for being honest, interested, and cooperative.

Another death in Chicago..

www.wgntv.com

CHICAGO - A pregnant Chicago woman became the fourth person in the state to die of the H1N1 swine flu a day after she gave birth, officials said Wednesday.

The latest death was a 20-year old woman from Chicago who died May 30 at a the University of Illinois Medical Center, said Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez, a hospital spokeswoman.

The total number of swine flu cases in the UK has risen to 459 after another 55 cases were confirmed on Thursday.

Of the new cases, 31 were in Scotland, 23 in England and one in Wales.

And so it spreads, When will the who raise thier levels from 5 to 6.

BBC NEWS

Well, all of the countrys, continents and nations that are in the Southern Hemisphere have been awfully quiet.
Winter is beginning there, a time when everybody expects this flu to "explode" and pretty much nothing has happened.
A few cases pop up here and there in Australia and a few different S. American Nations but I wouldnt really call it a major event.
I have no doubt that this virus is very contagious and Im sure there are many more people infected with it than whats being reported.
That doesnt make it worse though, if anything it is positive news since the more people that are infected by it the less the mortality rate is, percentage wise.

Originally posted by Kr0n0s
Well, all of the countrys, continents and nations that are in the Southern Hemisphere have been awfully quiet.
Winter is beginning there, a time when everybody expects this flu to "explode" and pretty much nothing has happened.
A few cases pop up here and there in Australia and a few different S. American Nations but I wouldnt really call it a major event.
I have no doubt that this virus is very contagious and Im sure there are many more people infected with it than whats being reported.
That doesnt make it worse though, if anything it is positive news since the more people that are infected by it the less the mortality rate is, percentage wise.

Actually I'm an Aussie and it's been more than a few:

au.news.yahoo.com...
Health Minister Nicola Roxon has confirmed there are now 878 confirmed cases of swine flu in Australia, as Singapore advises its residents not to travel to the worst-hit state, Victoria.

Aussie news is generally ignored by the rest of the world.. I think they will report it less and less as the alert level has now been raised to "sustained" (no large crowds). Thats going to hit tourism and ratings hard as they might have to cancel (televised) footy games or play to empty stadiums.

[edit on 4-6-2009 by riley]

From our brothers and sisters in SA-

Swine Flu Emerging In South America
Posted by Staff on June 4, 2009 | ShareThis

By Aaron Richardson-Talk Radio News Service

With the flu season just beginning in the southern hemisphere, the H1N1 virus, better known as the swine flu, is showing no signs of going away. Dr. Jon Andrus of the Pan American Health Organization said earlier today that the spread of the virus is increasing and that its future impact remains uncertain.

From tn.gov-

Total cases confirmed in state: 108

They didn't post how many samples aren't confirmed yet. There were about 1350.

Australia-would love to travel there sometime, after I make it to Scotland. Keep being careful. I hope the aborigines don't get lost in the shuffle.

I haven't seen many ambulances this week, finally. I still want to ask my nurse sil questions, but she's going through a lot of stuff right now.

Just a idea for finding news...

Set up a Google Home page for RSS feeds, unless you have a mail reader that will handle it...

Enter H1N1 in news search for one feed and H1N1 deaths in news search for another...

Watch the list of found articles come in on the feeds...never stops here

[edit on 6/4/2009 by Hx3_1963]

Thanks for the leaked CDC report. I read it and found this item of great interest;

Page 23 - emerging themes

Models' Projections for Flu Miss Mark by Wide Margin; computer models estimated the number of probable flu cases by this time at about 2500; CDC estimates there are more than 100,000

It shows how backward they really were/are.

So their model predicted 2,500 or roughly .025% of what the CDC says we have right now. With their model all we need to do is multiply their numbers by 40 times and we have a more realistic number.

Who says we have 17,410 cases . . . lets multiply by 40 and we have 696,800 cases, which sounds more like the reality when you read what the ER's are seeing. No wonder they are confused about what to do, their models are flawed and they have no clue what is going to happen.

CDC Source Leaked For Internal Use Only

Last night, my local news reported a Milwaukee death from H1N1. 'Underlying medical condition' has been blamed. This famous quote must be included in CDC's positive H1N1 death reports, faxed over to submitting doctors.

Journal Sentinal

A Milwaukee adult has died from swine flu. It's the first reported death from the H1N1 virus in Wisconsin. City of Milwaukee Health Commissioner Bevan Baker announced the death at a noon news conference. Twenty-one people in the U.S. had died from the H1N1 virus as of Wednesday, including four in the Chicago area, according to news reports. Baker said the person died at a Milwaukee-area hospital but would not provide additional identifying information, including the name of the hospital, the age and the sex of the person. Baker said the person had a common underlying medical condition that contributed to the person's illness.

Details on Japan-

Authorities have revealed that a student from Kobe, who was ill on May 5, prior to the first official confirmed case of the disease in Japan, was later tested and found to be positive for influenza H1N1. Prior to May 16, testing had focused on people with overseas travel. After the outbreak in Kobe was detected, doctors tested stored samples from the student for the disease.

Oh Canada(couldn't resist the punniness)-

www.cbc.ca...

I have to pay extra attention when I keep seeing avian flu news from Egypt when searching for swine flu. It's interesting how those get published together.

reply to post by SourGrapes


I spoke to a hospital emergency room nurse regarding the term "underlying conditions." I complained because it wasn't descriptive enough, and she told me that people with the "underlying conditions" usually have some sort of pre-existing respiratory problem, like asthma or a heart defect. Considering that there has been a rise in the number of people with asthma over the last decade, it is possible that this flu can cause many death to people with "underlying conditions."

I wonder what we can expect when/if this happens?
Its not the actual flu that concerns me but the consequences resulting from raising the level.
Can we expect more quarantines, more regulations and less personal freedoms as a result of this action?
Not really sure how reliable this source is however but I guess well see in the next ten days.

source

World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan is wrestling with a thorny dilemma: How do you declare a phase 6 pandemic--the first warning in 41 years that a flu virus is entrenched in different continents and spreading from person to person--without causing a global panic? Citing sources, Bloomberg reports that Chan will make the announcement in the next 10 days, but is trying to find a way to soften the blow by reassuring people that the new flu usually causes nothing more than mild symptoms. Over the past few years, fears of a deadly bird flu pandemic caused countries to adopt a variety of plans in the event the WHO declared a level 6 pandemic--including shutting borders, banning events and curtailing travel. Now the health organization wants to factor in the level of severity in its pandemic alert system.

TB drug resistent type, could be one of the underlying conditions. There is close to an epidemic of TB all by itself. This could explain why there were more deaths in Mexico where there is more TB than the US.

reply to post by Kr0n0s
Yes....

More restrictive movement...less of freedoms...

Hence the "Failure" to impose it...

TPTB...can't even prop-up the economy now... :shk:

Originally posted by Kr0n0s
I wonder what we can expect when/if this happens?
Its not the actual flu that concerns me but the consequences resulting from raising the level.
Can we expect more quarantines, more regulations and less personal freedoms as a result of this action?
Not really sure how reliable this source is however but I guess well see in the next ten days.

source

World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan is wrestling with a thorny dilemma: How do you declare a phase 6 pandemic--the first warning in 41 years that a flu virus is entrenched in different continents and spreading from person to person--without causing a global panic? Citing sources, Bloomberg reports that Chan will make the announcement in the next 10 days, but is trying to find a way to soften the blow by reassuring people that the new flu usually causes nothing more than mild symptoms. Over the past few years, fears of a deadly bird flu pandemic caused countries to adopt a variety of plans in the event the WHO declared a level 6 pandemic--including shutting borders, banning events and curtailing travel. Now the health organization wants to factor in the level of severity in its pandemic alert system.

in my opinion she should have done this a month ago

I don't know if this has been posted, so I will do so just in case...

This is a page from china which is dedicated to following the developments on the H1N1 pandemic..

Link

Flu facts in Chinese mainland - June 6

Malaysia confirms 7th case of A/H1N1 flu

Japan's tally of new flu patients rises to 415

69 new cases of A/H1N1 flu confirmed in Massachusetts

Two more deaths, 142 new cases confirmed in U.S. state of Texas

A/H1N1 flu cases rises to 18 in Nicaragua

Two Ecuadorian nurses infected with A/H1N1 flu

Brazil reports three more A/H1N1 flu cases

Costa Rica reports 15 new cases of A/H1N1 flu

Confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases rise to 2,115 in Canada

Uruguay's confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases rise to 21

Dominican Republic confirms first A/H1N1 flu death

Confirmed A/H1N1 flu cases rise to 163 in Argentina

another resource to check as this situation develops

FYI - There seems to be a resurgence of flu cases here in Southern New Hampshire. We got a call advising us that there is a new confirmed case in our town's high school and I'm hearing from friends in surrounding towns that there are many new cases in at least 3 other towns.

As far as I know, all cases have been mild...

Quarantine and Migration Health: Legal Authorities for Isolation Quarantine CDC:

Federal quarantine rarely used
Large-scale isolation and quarantine was last enforced during the influenza (“Spanish Flu”) pandemic in 1918–1919.
In recent history, only a few public health events have prompted federal isolation or quarantine orders:
• In 1963, a passenger arriving into the United States was placed under a federal quarantine order as a suspected case of smallpox.
• In 2007, a traveler with drug-resistant TB was placed in isolation.
During the 2003 outbreak of SARS, CDC did not issue isolation or quarantine orders. However, CDC did conduct active surveillance, visual screening of passengers, and handed out Travel Health Alert Notices..

Originally posted by Hx3_1963
reply to post by Kr0n0s

 

Yes....

More restrictive movement...less of freedoms...

Hence the "Failure" to impose it...

TPTB...can't even prop-up the economy now... :shk:

Soo.. what, you dont think theyll do it then?
Actually, i dont see the point in doing it at this point, unless they want to do it as a dry run for future dangers.
However, like you say, i dont think they can afford to do it, with the economy in shambles.

I have just returned from China, they are taking it very serious!

On arrival all air passengers have to remain in their seats and wait for the officials to come on board for testing.

Two guys enter the plane wearing full protective suits, masks etc (like a scene from the movie Outbreak) they then test each passenger by holding a kind of gun to your forehead to test your temperature.

You fill in the medical form and can then leave the plane once everyone has been tested.

On TV there are commercials/adverts warning about the dangers of the disease and how to prevent it. These are shown several times a day.