WHO: Swine flu originating in Mexico could develop into a pandemic

FYI, US hospitals have started giving the H1N1 vaccine to healthcare workers.

They offer the injectable and the flu mist varieties...but you have to answer a questionnaire first to see if you qualify.  One of the questions asks if you take care of immunocompromised patients--you cannot get the flu mist.  Thus I got one sore arm.

That shot really stung.

H1N1 update

Canada has just started their own mass vaccination campaign.  

So far, the countries that has started their mass vaccination campaigns in order are:

China:  Sept. 15, 2009
Australia: Sept. 30, 2009
US (Tennesse and Indiana as first States): Oct. 5, 2009
Japan:  Oct. 19, 2009
UK:  Oct. 21, 2009
Canada: Oct. 26, 2009
South Korea:  Oct. 26, 2009

Lines long as Canadians swamp H1N1 clinics

Excerpts:

OTTAWA -- On Day 1 of the largest mass-vaccination program in history, thousands of at-risk Canadians waited patiently in long queues Monday, to be among the first to receive the H1N1 shot.

Lines containing hundreds of people snaked through shopping malls, local arenas and community centres, as mothers and fathers pushing strollers, seniors, pregnant women, and other Canadians believed to be most at risk of serious flu complications lined up before clinics opened.

An Ottawa clinic had to turn away prospective patients after it became clear by mid-afternoon that the wait time was about four hours, and nurses would not be able to immunize everyone by closing time.

H1N1 update

H1N1 flu 'pushing hospitals to their limit'

Excerpts:

BALTIMORE — To Mitchell Goldstein, the flood of sick children seemed endless. Day after day, nearly three times as many kids as usual streamed into the rainbow-colored pediatric emergency room at Johns Hopkins Hospital, sniffling and feverish, worried parents hovering.

The press of children with swine flu was so relentless that doctors opened an annex in a hospital dining room to handle the overflow. "Our worst day" was Sunday, Oct. 11, says Goldstein, one of the ER doctors. "We had 15 to 20 patients an hour. It was 24/7. There wasn't a lull."

The scenes at Johns Hopkins are being repeated at hospitals in Denver and Duluth, Seattle and San Diego, as waves of flu patients arrive at their doors, doubling their emergency room volume. Just as significant is the effect on intensive care units: A relatively small number of flu patients are requiring intensive care, but some are so ill they will need round-the-clock care for weeks.

Doctors at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere expect the number of patients needing hospitalization and intensive care to rise. Such an influx of intensive care patients eventually could force some hospitals to cancel services such as elective surgery, they say.

"Why did President Obama declare a national emergency? Because what's going on at Hopkins is happening across the country," Perl says. "An infection that generally doesn't appear to be severe is pushing hospitals to their limit."

The White House declaration, announced Saturday, was designed to give hospitals the flexibility to move patients to satellite facilities if they are overwhelmed in dealing with an outbreak that is now widespread in 46 states and afflicting millions of people, says Reid Cherlin, an administration spokesman.

"H1N1 is moving rapidly, as expected," Cherlin says. "By the time regions or health care systems recognize they are becoming overburdened, they need to implement disaster plans quickly."

*Read full article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-10-26-swine-flu-hospitals_N.htm?imw=y

H1N1 update

Swine Flu Prompts Hundreds of Schools to Close

Excerpts:

The number of students staying home sick with the flu is multiplying nationwide and normally quiet school nurses' offices suddenly look like big city emergency rooms, packed with students too ill to finish the day.

At least 351 schools were closed last week alone — affecting 126,000 students in 19 states, according to the U.S. Education Department. So far this school year, about 600 schools have temporarily shut their doors.

H1N1 update

NY declares H1N1 flu state of emergency

New York became the first State to declare an H1N1 flu state of emergency.  Expect more individual States to declare a state of emergency in the near future, specially those States projected to be over-whelmed by the H1N1 flu epidemic. 

The declaration also paves the way to temporarily allow dentists, podiatrists, pharmacists, midwives, and med techs to administer H1N1 vaccines w/c ordinarily are not allowed to after undergoing training by the the NY Health Department because there is a shortage of health care workers in NY State.

New York's Gov. Paterson declares H1N1 state of emergency

Excerpts:

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Broadening the number of health care professionals who can administer vaccine, New York Gov. David Paterson issued a sweeping executive order Thursday officially declaring a state of emergency due to the increase in H1N1 cases, including 75 H1N1-related deaths in New York state.

The announcement, which comes on the heels of President Obama's declaration of H1N1 flu as a national emergency, expands the categories of health care professionals who can give the vaccine to include dentists, pharmacists, podiatrists, midwives and emergency medical technicians, the executive order said.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Paterson stressed that his order is not intended to incite panic but rather allocates the necessary resources to effectively combat H1N1 flu, also known as swine flu.

*Read full article:  http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/29/new.york.h1n1/

H1N1 update

Lots of breaking news lately regarding the spread of H1N1 in the US and from around the world.  Stay tuned on this thread for the more relevant news we've screened out for you. 

Latest news from around the world is the situation in Ukraine where at least 30 or so people had sudden 'unexplained' deaths causing panic in the country.  H1N1 was the primary suspect.  Word just came out that 11 of these 'unexplained deaths' were already confirmed to be indeed caused by H1N1. Likelihood that the rest are probably due to H1N1 is quite high since they more or less presented with the same medical history.

The Ukranian Gov't has reportedly also had imposed quarantine on 9 western regions and considering closing the border across the country to stop the spread to other regions.

Meanwhile, in the US, NY State recently declared a state of emergency (see above post) and more news coming out about ERs really getting swamped.

Quarantine ordered

Ukraine suffered its first death from swine flu, as the government declared a massive quarantine and control effort to head off a possible epidemic, the Interfax news agency reported. The victim was a man living in Ukraine's western Lviv region, said Health Ministry spokesman Roman Pavliv.

The government announcement one week after reports surfaced of as many as 30 deaths potentially caused by swine flu, all in Ukraine's western provinces.

A "full quarantine" will be imposed in nine of Ukraine's western provinces, with police monitoring the entrance and exit of all persons, she said. It will block those lacking justification for travel.

*Full article: http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/51527/

ERs hustling to keep up with H1N1 cases

Excerpts:

(CNN) -- Nate Wordell, 7, just feels lousy: swollen eyes, cough, high fever, stomach ache and he's dehydrated. Nate has H1N1.

After toughing it out for three days at home, Nate's parents brought him to the emergency room at Children's Hospital Boston, Massachusetts. "The hardest thing for us was that we couldn't stay ahead of the medication or get him to keep any water down," says Nate's father, Michael Wordell of Auburndale, Massachusetts.

Hospitals from coast to coast are bracing for the influx of patients, just like Nate. Children's Hospital Boston has seen a 40 percent increase in patients this week alone.

"This could get pretty bad," says Dr. Anne Stack, clinical chief of emergency medicine at Children's Hospital Boston. "So we are trying to do as much as we can to prepare. But no one knows when it will end."

*Full article: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/30/h1n1.swine.flu.er.kids/index.html

H1N1 update

Sask health union calls for more respiratory therapists to cope with H1N1 flu

Excerpts:

SASKATOON - The Health Sciences Association of Saskatchewan is urging the province to act quickly to ensure there are enough health-care workers to deal with H1N1 flu.
The association is concerned there won't be enough respiratory therapists if severely ill H1N1 patients need to be placed on ventilators.

*Read full article: http://www.mjtimes.sk.ca/News/Canada_-_World/2009-10-27/article-153028/Sask_health_union_calls_for_more_respiratory_therapists_to_cope_with_H1N1_flu/1

FYI...hospitals are having difficulty keeping the N95 masks in stock.

I think a hospital in Bakersfield CA are not allowing patients with flu-like symptoms to enter the hospital buildings--they are diverted to and treated in tents.

H1N1 update

Philadelphia declares a public health emergency

Excerpts:

Philadelphia declared a public health emergency yesterday, an administrative action that mainly gives hospital emergency rooms more flexibility in dealing with increasing numbers of swine flu patients, most of whom are not seriously ill.

Visits to ERs in the city are up about 25 percent over this time last year, officials said, a statistic that combines far greater increases at pediatric hospitals with lesser increases at acute-care facilities.

Mayor Nutter's declaration, a week after President Obama made a similar announcement for the nation, allows city hospitals to use alternative spaces, permits easier transfer of patients between facilities, and waives certain requirements on bed limits and length of stay.

*Read full article: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20091031_Phila__declares_swine_flu_emergency.html

H1N1 update

Panic in Ukraine continues, Presidential decree states it is threatening national security !!
Stay tuned in this thread for more breaking news on what's happening in Ukraine and other parts of the world.

Epidemic situation in Ukraine threatens national security, 53 people die of cold and flu

Excerpts:

KIEV, November 1 (Itar-Tass) - The epidemic situation in Ukraine “has assumed a threatening and unpredictable nature and is a threat to national security”, says a decree of October 31 by President Viktor Yushchenko, published on Sunday. The decree enacts a decision of the National Security and Defence Council on measures to fight the new flu (A/N1N1).

Incidentally, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine to fight the flu epidemic, reported the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Sunday.

Fifty-three people, including a child and two pregnant women, have died of cold and flu in Ukraine, the Health Ministry said.

In all, the country’s cold and flu rate amounts to 185,000, including 9,400 cases of flu. The number of A/H1N1 flu cases is unknown.

The situation is the worst in the Lvov region, where about 70,000 people have cold and flu. The cold and flu rate is also high in the Ternopol, Ivano-Frankovsk and Chernovtsy regions.

Four doctors died of flu in Ukraine’s Ternopol and Lvov regions, Health Minister Vasily Knyazevich said at the Sunday meeting of the operative headquarters for the prevention and treatment of A/H1N1 flu.

H1N1 update

Video from Ukraine about the current epidemic flu situation (tentatively attributed to the H1N1 virus): http://www.euronews.net/2009/11/01/ukraine-urged-to-stay-calm-as-swine-flu-fear-spreads/

H1N1 update

Breaking news from Germany !

Germany confirms that the 2nd wave is actively underway in their country as expected to come in autumn/fall.

New German swine flu cases double in two days

Excerpts:

The number of new swine flu cases has doubled in the last two days, national disease control and prevention agency the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported on Monday.

More than 3,000 new cases of the H1N1 virus have been confirmed in the last week, President of the national disease control and prevention agency, Jörg Hacker, said on Monday in Berlin, confirming fears that a wave of infections would arrive in the country this autumn.

*Read full article: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091102-22975.html
*Related article from reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-SwineFlu/idUSTRE5A12SE20091102

H1N1 update

Saudi Arabia starts mass flu vaccinations

Saudi Arabia is to begin a wide-ranging vaccination campaign against the Mexican flu. It has received an initial batch of 11 million flu vaccines.

In the run-up to the haj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, hundreds of thousands of people are to be compulsorily vaccinated against the A(H1N1) virus. These will be mainly pilgrims and those helping with the pilgrimage. Residents of Mecca and Medina – respectively, the birth and burial place of the prophet Muhammad - can also choose to be vaccinated.

H1N1 update

Swine flu not just a threat to young: study

Excerpts:

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Swine flu can cause severe disease in people of all ages and appears to pose a special threat to those who are obese, according to an analysis of H1N1 cases in California released on Tuesday.

"What our study shows was that once you were hospitalized, if you were elderly you have a higher risk of dying," Dr. Janice Louie of the California Department of Public Health in Richmond, whose study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the study matches the CDC's own observations -- that H1N1 affects all age groups, including people over 65.

"One of the perceptions we've been trying to dispel is that this is a mild disease," she said in a telephone interview.

"This can be very severe. In this paper, 30 percent of patients required intensive care." Overall, 11 percent of people who were hospitalized died, but among people 50 and older, 18 to 20 percent died.

*Read full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091103/hl_nm/us_flu_risk

H1N1 update

A long day and long lines at Glendale swine flu clinic
About 2,500 waited for vaccinations, with some having lined up in the early morning hours. The crowds at county clinics are common as the insured have been unable to get shots from private doctors.

Excerpts:

By 3 a.m. Tuesday, the line for H1N1 flu vaccines was forming outside the Glendale Civic Auditorium. By the time the doors opened 6 1/2 hours later, city officials said about 2,500 were waiting.

Long lines at public flu clinics -- initially intended to primarily serve the uninsured -- are now commonplace nationwide as doses of the vaccine remain scarce. Many clinics report seeing large numbers of people who have insurance but have been unable to get H1N1 vaccines from private doctors, who say they have either already run out or have yet to get any.

The line at the Glendale clinic, the first to be held in that city since Los Angeles County received doses late last month, was the longest yet, county Department of Public Health officials said. And the stakes were high, with just 2,400 doses on site when the doors opened.

"I never expected this," said Anne Benavides, 63, of La Crescenta, who has asthma and came to get the vaccine for herself and her 4-year-old twin granddaughters. "People are scared -- just look."

Three people in line suffered dizziness and fatigue and had to be taken to a hospital, police said. A few became irate when they reached the front of the line only to be told that they did not qualify, but no one was arrested.

Gossip made its way through the crowd: reports of people cutting in line, that the clinic had run out of vaccine and that those waiting had come from as far as Tijuana. As the line grew, some people took it upon themselves to challenge whether others were eligible. Fire officials dubbed the inquisitors "line lawyers."

H1N1 update

Countries around Ukraine are tightening their borders as a pre-caution until WHO finishes their investigations but one thing is for sure already and that is majority of flu cases are already being presumed to be caused by H1N1 by WHO.

Swine Flu Scare Tightens Borders Around Ukraine

Russia and Slovakia tightened their borders with Ukraine on Tuesday as the World Health Organization began investigating a suspected swine flu outbreak.

The death toll from flu has climbed to 71 since the outbreak struck last week in the western city of Ternopil, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said.

Blood tests have yet to determine how many of these deaths were from the new and aggressive H1N1 strain. But the WHO said in a statement on Tuesday that most flu cases in Ukraine can be assumed to be H1N1, "as the pandemic virus has rapidly become the dominant influenza strain worldwide."

As a precaution, schools and universities across the country will remain closed this week, and officials urged people in western Ukraine to travel only when necessary and stay away from public places.

*Read full article: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=8983984

H1N1 update

Seasonal flu may hit Europe after H1N1: experts

Excerpts:

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – The H1N1 pandemic flu virus could kill up to 40,000 people across Europe and be followed by seasonal flu waves that could kill the same number, European health experts said on Friday.

The Sweden-based European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said epidemics of H1N1, known as swine flu, were now affecting almost all countries in the European Union but it could not predict how intense the peaks would be.

What was certain, it said, was that the pandemic would continue to kill thousands and put many patients into intensive care as the northern hemisphere's winter sets in.

*Read full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091106/hl_nm/us_flu_europe_1

H1N1 update

Saudi Won't Bar Hajj Pilgrims Over Swine Flu Fears

Excerpts:

(AP)  RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - The Saudi health minister said Saturday that the kingdom will not bar anyone considered high-risk for swine flu from performing the hajj pilgrimage this year, though he urged countries where pilgrims set out from to take precautions.

The hajj, required of all able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime, has become a concern for world health officials because the density of pilgrims - with shoulder-to-shoulder contact as they pray - has raised fears of a massive spread of swine flu.

The pilgrimage attracts about 3 million people from 160 countries annually and begins this year on Nov. 25, as the winter flu season approaches in the Northern Hemisphere.

The H1N1 flu has killed 66 people in Saudi Arabia, and the government invited international experts, including from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, in June to a conference to examine Saudi measures to prevent the spread of the disease during the Muslim pilgrimage.

The conference recommended that the elderly, pregnant women, people with chronic diseases and children skip hajj this year.

Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabeeah said it is the responsibility of individual countries to enforce those recommendations.

"Saudi Arabia does not ban anyone because hajj is a religious event," al-Rabeeah told reporters. "Saudi Arabia has put in place strong recommendations that we hope individual countries will abide by."

*Read full article: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/07/ap/middleeast/main5562703.shtml

H1N1 update

San Bernardino County declares swine flu emergency
Local officials hope that by declaring an emergency, they will be first in line for vaccines and other resources when available. But other counties and the state long ago made the same declarations.

Excerpts:

San Bernardino County public health officials have declared a state of emergency due to H1N1 flu, one in a series of federal, state and local declarations intended to position authorities to deal with people sickened by the new flu strain.