Posted on 05/01/2009 10:16:31 AM PDT by PetroniusMaximus
Much more detailed Google map of the progress of the H1N1 virus in the US:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=109496610648025582911.0004686892fbefe515012&ll=33.72434,-51.679687&spn=94.133822,172.265625&z=2&source=embed
Original link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/147716.php
All Laredo primary and secondary schools will suspend classes for the next two weeks because of an increase in respiratory infections, none of which are confirmed cases of H1N1, the new strain of swine flu, city officials said Friday.
http://www.lmtonline.com/articles/2009/05/02/news/doc49fbf7fd2ea06786082058.txt
Must read flu virus ping :)
You're right; it is Orwellian. Seems to me that everything has become Orwellian since 11/5/08.
Could be that soon we'll sing about the Rio Grande: "Way down upon the Swiney River..."
Why Confirmed Cases Are So Low ...
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D97TR2582.html
Commissioner: Flu testing load a ‘challenge’
05/02/2009
By KELLEY SHANNON / Associated Press
Keeping up with lab testing of suspected swine flu samples from around the state has been difficult in dealing with the outbreak in Texas, where 28 cases are confirmed, Health Commissioner Dr. David Lakey said Friday.
“The challenge has been that a lot of samples have been sent,” Lakey told doctors at a Texas Medical Association meeting. He said he’s working to arrange for extra equipment and people to step up the pace of the testing in response to demand.
Lakey said he wants to get results out more quickly so local officials can make public health decisions.
[snip]
Lakey repeated that the state has 1.7 million antiviral courses in place at the moment, in addition to antiviral doses available in the private sector.
“I don’t want you to have to delay putting somebody on medicines waiting for our confirmation tests,” he said.
A spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services said in Friday’s online edition of the Austin American-Statesman that only 181 of 2,492 nasal swabs from around the state have been tested so far.
Spokesman Doug McBride said the agency’s one machine couldn’t keep up with the number of samples received. He said they are adding three more machines, training more staff, running two shifts and operating the lab seven days a week.
More than 1,500 samples were sent from Travis County, local officials said, adding that many weren’t believed to be possible swine flu cases but were sent as a precaution.
Dr. Edward Sherwood, chair of the TMA’s infectious diseases committee, said he did not know the precise turnaround time for testing samples, but estimated it at three to five days based on information he was given. He noted that often by the fifth day of an ordinary flu illness the patient is beginning to feel better.
Sherwood explained that rapid flu tests can be conducted in a doctor’s office, but those are not as precise as viral culture and polymerase chain reaction tests that are conducted in a laboratory and can pinpoint swine flu, technically called the H1N1 virus.
Guadalupe County leads the state with nine confirmed cases, and county judge Mike Wiggins said Thursday there are another 14 “highly probable” cases and about 100 suspected cases awaiting further testing. He said the backlog in testing has gone from getting confirmation as quickly as within 24 hours to potentially as long as a week.
[snip]
“What we’re doing now, we’re looking at cases of high probability more so than confirmation of cases because it’s taking so long,” Wiggins said.
One doctor asked Lakey on Friday what the threshold should be for sending in a sample for confirmation testing. Lakey said if there are no confirmed cases in an area, but there is a suspected case, that would be an important sample to test so that public health officials can make informed decisions. Other criteria include how sick a patient is and whether the patient is hospitalized, he said.
Sherwood said he thinks the government and public response to the new strain of flu is an “appropriate overreaction.”
“Better to close the schools and be criticized later than to not close the schools and have some dire consequences for the children,” he said.
sage and sane post....thanks
Ping (Thanks, DvdMom!)
Iowa has first confirmed case
http://www.kcci.com/news/19351349/detail.html
Snip
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Department of Public Health has confirmed Iowa’s first case of the H1N1 flu on Saturday morning.
The first confirmed case involves a southeast Iowa adult female who became ill last week after returning from Mexico. She traveled through Johnson, Des Moines and Muscatine counties.
Gov. Chet Culver declared a statewide public heath disaster.
“As I’ve have said all along, it was only a matter of time before Iowa saw its first case of this flu, and today (Saturday) the CDC has confirmed that an individual in eastern Iowa does in fact have an H1N1 infection,” Culver said in a news release.
The release said the results of a second case of suspected H1N1 came back negative.
There are seven outstanding tests of probable H1N1 flu cases; six are located in Marshall County and one in Tama County. The release did not say when those test results would come available.
Two ‘probable’ cases of Swine Flu reported at Stroger Hospital . One in stable condition ...
CHICAGO — Two patients at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County were discovered with “probable cases” of Swine Flu, officials announced.
According to a release from the hospital, a 37-year-old Chicago woman arrived at Stroger Wednesday night with a fever, cough and body aches. Like most flu patients, she was placed in isolation and given anti-viral medicine.
Since her symptoms were “not severe,” she was released and advised to wear a mask, complete flu medication and limit contact with others, the release said.
“During her triage and registration, hospital staff learned that she had a relative who recently returned from Mexico,” hospital spokesman Marcel Bright said in a statement.
The woman’s family was being interviewed Friday night to determine whether they should be treated.
Also on Wednesday, a 53-year-old Chicago man went to Stroger with pneumonia and chronic lung disease. He is listed in “stable” condition at the hospital with a “probable” swine flu case.
The hospital sent the information to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for analysis.
Three cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Illinois and the number of probable cases of the virus has risen to at least 51 Friday morning. Officials could not confirm Friday night whether the Stroger cases were included in that number.
As of 10 a.m. Friday, there were three confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus in the state, two in the city of Chicago and one in DuPage County, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
“The confirmation of these cases was expected and we do anticipate more. There is no need to be alarmed,” said Dr. Damon T. Arnold, Illinois Department of Public Health Director said in a release.
“We have pre-positioned antiviral medications and medical supplies at hospitals and local health departments across the state so if and when they are needed, they will be readily available.”
Of the 51 probable cases reported in Illinois as of Friday morning, 17 were in Chicago and 11 were in suburban Cook County, according to IDPH. DuPage County has 12 suspected cases, Kane County eight, and Will County three, while Lake, Kendall and McHenry counties have one each.
IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said Thursday that information on the number of cases of the virus is changing quickly.
A “probable” case means lab testing done by the state has found a 99 percent certainty that a person has swine flu, Arnold said. All cases are sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation.
According to the CDC, 109 human cases of swine flu have been confirmed nationwide, with one of those resulting in death.
As of Friday, at least 16 schools in the Chicago area have closed as a preventative measure after probable cases of the flu were detected.
In Chicago, Chicago Public Schools officials announced that Joyce Kilmer School in Rogers Park will remain closed until further notice. The school was closed Wednesday when a 12-year-old student was determined to be a probable case of swine flu, and officials noticed lower than normal attendance.
CPS is monitoring attendance at all schools to determine whether more will close.
A hotline allowing Illinois residents to access information about the swine flu will be open starting Saturday morning, according to a release from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. The line will operate from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, and will be staffed by volunteers.
The operators will answer basic, non-medical questions released to the outbreak.. The number, (866) 848-2094, will be operating as of 6 a.m. Saturday. The IEMA also has an updated website residents can check at Ready.Illinois.gov.
Please read :)
It has hit Israel, or at least they think so. Not many others from the region would visit Mexico. It'll get to them.
Here’s a story of a Canadian woman who became ‘ill’ in Cancun, had asthma complications, taken back to Canada, told no ICU beds available, made it in another hospital, then died. Two things going on here - still no mention of flu (which probably made her ill to begin with) and the lack of medical treatment she received in Canada. The Dems cry ‘universal health care!’ is the way to go, well, here is universal health care at its finest.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090430.wflustranded30art2241/BNStory/Front
News about 2 israel confirmed flu
(IsraelNN.com) The number of swine flu cases has officially risen to two in Israel, with three more suspected as of Wednesday afternoon. Tomer Vagim, a 25-year-old resident of ...
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131100 · Cached page
However in this instance there could be harm in getting antiviral drugs (which my oldest granddaughter has been taking for a couple of months, but unrelated to the flu) when you do not have the virus. If there were enough courses of them for everyone, then there would be no harm. But there are not enough courses. If you have a course tied up, someone who does have the flu might not get it. They will then spread it to others.
Right now it looks to me like they are trying desperately to "isolate" those who have it or could have it because of potential exposure. Since it can be spread *before* symptoms appear, isolating those merely exposed is required to "short stop" the spread. Thus we see whole schools, whole districts and even whole counties' schools, shut down for 10 days or so, about the time it takes for the virus to take hold and at least get to the symptomatic stage. After that, those who come down with it would know it, and presumably be kept home even after the schools reopen.
Thanks, SJ.
Ping.
Local Texas news reported last night that CDC is 48+ hours behind on completing tests/cannot keep up.
I’m willing to bet it’s way beyond that.
If this were a killer disease we would be in big trouble.
Well I’m not real big on these drugs either. I broke down one year and received the flu shot and my arm hurt for a year. It was very painful and every now and again, the pain would resurface at the injection site. Weird, I know, but I never had the pain before and when it erupted repeatedly it was the same identical pain only on a lesser scale.
I’m a little skittish to get another one now.
Ping to RR
Also wondering how one convinces a Dr to write a prescription for Tamiflu if you aren’t sick?
Swine flu shot may soon be available: Americans might have to line up twice next winter for flu shots — once fo.. http://tinyurl.com/cm6zef
I’m just saying considering the last swine flu vaccine they made, I won’t be first in line for that.
interesting thread ping :)
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