Swine Flu news and updates thread

Originally posted by johnb
Woman tests negative for H1N1 but dies within 2 weeks of H1N1, so if this is true then how accurate are the tests and how many more people have tested negative who have it?

www.kutv.com...

This isn't the first time this has happened. The tests don't appear to be very accurate. Particularly the nasal swab ones.

From some of the stuff that happened in the begining of May, I would suggest that the tests have about a 30-50% failure rate for false negatives.

If my assumption is correct, the flu tests test not for the virus itself but for the ANTIBODIES you make to it. The fact that this flu is novel, new, you have no previous antibodies to react.

People become symptomatic. But they aren't producing any or enough antibodies that could be found on a test.

The slower your system is at responding and creating new antibodies, the more likely you are to turn up falsely negative on a test. You don't have enough of antibodies in your system yet for the test to tag you as having H1N1.

Rapid test or no - if you aren't producing enough antibodies then you'll test negative. No antibodies, no virus. Which is the logic used for the tests, but isn't necessarily a logical conclusion particularly with a brand new virus.

OK, we have confirmed mutation in South America. I'm sure the first of many but it is a sign that things will get worst. Read these qliped quotes.

Read full story here

South America H1N1 pandemic

BUENOS AIRES (AFP) – The swine flu deaths of two people in Argentina and a mutation of the H1N1 virus detected in Brazil have added to fears that South America is entering a harsh winter beset by the flu pandemic.

"The number of infected cases is outstripping figures put out regularly by the World Health Organization."

Those fears heightened a little Tuesday, when a Brazil's Adolfo Lutz Bacteriological Institute said its researchers had identified and isolated a new strain of the A(H1N1) virus in a Sao Paulo patient.

It was not yet known whether that variant, called A/Sao Paulo/1454/H1N1, was more aggressive than the more common type.

The institute said in a statement the mutation comprised of alterations in the Hemagglutinin protein which allows the virus to infect new hosts.

[mod edit: added required EX tags]
Mod Edit: Quoting External Sources – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 16-6-2009 by 12m8keall2c]

A new strain of the H1N1 virus has been identified in Brazil.


Brazil finds new strain of H1N1 virus

For those not following Peter Osborn's site here are the brow raising items I saw today:

Peter Osborn Graphs

"Cases in Australia have risen x100 in 21days, in Chile in 31days, in UK & USA in 44days, overall in 46days"

"Death rates are Mexico 1.7%, USA has risen to 0.33%, Canada still 0.17%, Chile 0.09% "

"So WHO reported 35,928 & 163 dead yesterday, but gathering directly from states & countries shows it's now 40,424 & 186 dead."

"Some GPs may refuse to work if the swine flu pandemic spreads throughout the UK, union leaders have warned."


Of interest is the death rate figures for the US that, well, are climbing faster than any other country. Check out his graphs.

War/Flu funding passed.

"Hoyer also hailed the funds to combat swine flu "at a time when the World Health Organization has declared the first worldwide flu epidemic in 41 years."

"If anyone intends to vote against flu preparedness today, I hope that they will come to the floor and explain the gamble that they are prepared to make with our nation's health," he said shortly before the vote."
ow.ly...

City 'cannot contain swine flu'

Health officials in Birmingham say the spread of swine flu in the city can no longer be contained.

Fifty-five new cases have been confirmed in the West Midlands region taking the total to 567 - more than half of the total cases in England.

BBC News

Swine flu cases soar after death www.google.com...

More than 220 new cases of swine flu across the UK were confirmed by health officials as a family faced the double loss of a mother and her premature baby.

Jacqui Fleming, 38, of Glasgow, became the country's first swine flu victim to die on Sunday, two weeks after giving birth.

Her baby, named Jack, died in hospital in Paisley, Renfrewshire, on Monday night.

An NHS Greater Glasgow spokesman said the baby did not die from swine flu. Health officials said a further 142 cases of swine flu were confirmed through laboratory testing. Of those, one patient was in Northern Ireland and the remaining 141 in England.

The Health Protection Agency said the cases included 124 in the West Midlands, where 512 people have now been affected with the virus. In addition, there were 351 new clinically diagnosed cases in Scotland and 10 further confirmed by lab test, producing an overall UK total of 1,472.

The latest victims bring the total number in Scotland who have caught the H1N1 virus to 508. Ms Fleming's death is the first death to be reported outside the Americas where at least 145 people have died from swine flu.

Professor Hugh Pennington, a bacteriologist at Aberdeen University, said the first swine flu death was not unexpected. He said: "It does not point to the virus getting nastier. All the evidence to date suggests the virus is not changing at all."

An independent boys' school in north London announced three cases of swine flu among its Year Seven pupils, but said it would stay open.

Philip Lough, headmaster of The Hall School, Hampstead, said: "We are following closely the advice of the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and their recommendation is for the school to remain open at present."

The school remains in touch with the HPA for further information and advice and continues to monitor the situation, he said. The school has around 450 pupils, aged four to 13 years old.

Check this out news.bbc.co.uk...

Israeli president swine flu scare ...

Israeli president swine flu scare
Shimon Peres
Mr Peres thought the likelihood of H1N1 infecting him was low

Israeli President Shimon Peres has been tested for swine flu, after receiving a group of young Jews from abroad who were later found to be infected.

Mr Peres shook hands and hugged 120 youngsters from a 5,000-strong party visiting the country as guests of the Birthright Israel organisation.

The alarm was raised when 20 of them, along with 18 soldiers accompanying the group, tested positive for the virus.

Mr Peres and staff at his official home were cleared of H1N1 virus infection.

President Peres said he did not regret meeting the young people last week:





"It is not their fault they got sick and I believe everybody will be okay."

Birthright Israel provides expenses-paid 10-day trips to Israel for Jewish adults aged 18-26 who have not visited the country before.

There have been 117 confirmed cases of the swine flu virus in Israel, according to the World Health Organization.

Last week the WHO declared the virus a global pandemic that has spread to 74 countries. There have been some 30,000 cases diagnosed globally and more than 140 deaths.

[edit on 17-6-2009 by tarifa37]

[edit on 17-6-2009 by tarifa37]

Last Canadian H1N1 status:

As of June 17, 2009, a total of 4,906 laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 flu virus have been reported in all provinces and territories in Canada (see Table 1 below). To date, 284 hospitalizations and twelve deaths have been reported among laboratory-confirmed cases.

www.phac-aspc.gc.ca...

Audio press conference about Quebec:
www.msss.gouv.qc.ca...,150,0,0,1,0&PHPSESSID=f32cd70f383a4bb293f2966bb93a9d46

1st swine flu death in San Diego, California:

www.cbs8.com...

Authorities released the name today of the first person to die from swine flu-related complications in the San Diego area.

Adela Chevalier, 20, succumbed to the illness in an emergency room at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido on Monday afternoon, a day after she began feeling sick, according to the county Medical Examiner's Office.

Chevalier, who lived in a San Marcos apartment with her brother, apparently had been healthy prior to contracting the virus and had not traveled recently, officials said. She worked at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in San Marcos.

Her death was the seventh swine flu-related fatality in California, according to the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency.

County Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten called the young woman's lethal illness "a tragic reminder that the H1N1 virus is still very much active in our community."

"Residents of San Diego County still need to be vigilant about H1N1 and take the necessary precautions of covering their mouth when they cough, sneeze or blow their nose, and wash their hands frequently," Wooten said.

"We are still monitoring this virus and working with local, state and national health officials, but it will be several months before a vaccine is developed for H1N1."

There have been 275 confirmed cases of the disease in the San Diego region. Twenty-five of them have necessitated hospitalization.

People who had been in close contact with Chevalier recently have received post-exposure treatment, authorities said.

Good grief, look how fast it killed her!

[edit on 17-6-2009 by apacheman]

Don't medical professionals understand better-

www.wsmv.com...

As vulnerable as they are, my sil has to stay home more often because of the usual things that she gets exposed to from her kids.

And yet Australian Health Officials yesterday admitted officially that Swine Flu is NOT as severe as originally believed and that they are relaxing their attitude towards it.

"Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the premise of protect is that the strain of new influenza H1N1 is not as severe as previously thought."

"Doctors now only will test high-risk cases to reduce pressure on facilities."

"Health Minister John Hill said it was time to shift the focus from tracing the contacts of confirmed cases to protecting the old, the young and the sick."

www.breitbart.com...

both me and my daughter have the Flu. tuesday night she threw up three or 4 times . our fevers have not be above 101. but it still leaves me wondering which flu is it? .........

reply to post by alysha.angel


I'm also sick with some kind of flu at the moment, and I hope it's not the flu. I guess it's just some "normal" flu, but in these days you never know...



A cruiseship with more than 1650 people onboard has been quarantined in Venezuela. Several people on the "Ocean Dream" has the swine flu.

Cruise ship quarantined for swine flu in Venezuela

The Ocean Dream is not quarantined after all. 342 Venezuelans were allowed to leave the ship. The rest of the passengers and crew are now apparently heading for Aruba.


BBC: Swine flu cruise ship Aruba-bound

Sick like never before

www.canoe.com...

Google translation:

translate.google.com... ory_state0=

"I've never been sick like that. It is as if one-wheeled me past it. I bouillonnant fever. I thought, My God, is it going to stop? "

laudine Pinel has received in recent days a diagnosis of influenza A (H1N1).

"To the earth," the young woman of 29 years, just Lachenaie, is physically fit and healthy. Yet it has not been spared by the flu which is so glossed, which killed seven Quebecers and that forced the hospitalization of 160 others.

Thursday of last week, Ms. Pinel began to feel the devastating effects of influenza. Aches appeared, then a fever. A very high fever with peaks of 101.8 ° F. Then the cough and congestion.

"I was completely exhausted, I felt extreme fatigue," she describes.

Then diarrhea melee ensued, followed by heart ailments. The appetite was more appointments, which was of no help in the recovery of energy.

Check out the attitude of the Spanish Health Minister! Swine flu is global anyway, so there's no need to quarantine the passengers...


Cruise ship with swine flu patients on its way to Aruba (Roundup)

From South Africa-

news.bbc.co.uk...

They claim their facilities are prepared.

I was talking with my Chemist yesturday about her views on the swine flu. I raised the topic of a conspiriacy, she said something very interesting and it is that apparently the expirey date on the tami flu drug is near due. Perhaps TPTB aka people like Rumsfield who are alledged to have invested heavily in this drug, needed to create a percieved pandemic in order to make some return on investment.

My view in the flu is the flu is the flu, and if the media decided to make an issue of telling the world how many people where getting the flu in the past, the numbers would be similar. Also people have been dieing from Flu related illness for ever.



[edit on 18-6-2009 by Imago Dei]

This was just breaking on the 1 o'clock radio news - New Zealand has their first critically ill swine flu case.

A 30 year old woman is critically ill in a Wellington hospital with swine flu. The amount of suspected cases in New Zealand seem to be jumping every day. It was 153 yesterday. Today it is 216. Maybe even more, by the time the 6 o'clock news comes on tonight.

It is pretty cold here at the moment, and a lot of us are getting our usual winter colds and sniffles, myself included.

From the latest CDC transcript see www.cdc.gov...
for all info

As we have been saying all along, these numbers are likely an underestimate of the number of cases that are out there.

From a global perspective, the W.H.O. is now reporting nearly 40,000 laboratory confirmed cases of novel H1N1 in 88 countries, and reporting 167 deaths

And so clearly there are hundreds of thousands of cases that have occurred in the U.S.

The fact that we're seeing ongoing transmission now indicates there is something different. And we believe that that may have to do with the complete lack of immunity to this particular virus among those that are most likely affected

I'll also throw out there that we're beginning to see a pattern of health care personnel-to-health care personnel transmission in some of the clusters, which is also concerning,