Posted on 06/24/2009 8:04:24 AM PDT by metmom
Within minutes, six-year-old Rubjit Thindal went from happily chatting in the back seat of the car to collapsing and dying in her father's arms.
"If we had known it was so serious, we would have called 911,'' Kuldip Thindal, Rubjit's distraught mother, said in Punjabi yesterday. "She just had a stomach ache -- she wasn't even crying.''
Rubjit was pronounced dead at hospital barely 24 hours after showing signs of a fever. Later, doctors told her parents she had the H1N1 influenza virus. She is believed to be the youngest person in Canada with the virus to have died.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.guelphmercury.com ...
a new death in El Paso County, Texas...
75-year-old woman is county’s 8th H1N1-related fatality
Posted: Oct 26, 2009 02:25 PM EDT
EL PASO, Texas — The death of a 75-year-old woman is El Paso County’s 8th H1N1 flu-related death this year, the El Paso Department of Public Health reported Monday.
The woman, a Central El Paso resident, had underlying medical conditions and was hospitalized with a flu-like illness. Laboratory tests showed she had the H1N1 virus, officials said.
The Department of Public Health is preparing to distribute doses of the H1N1 vaccine in early November.
The five clinics where the vaccine will be offered are
Henderson Health Center @ 721 S. Mesa
Northeast Health Center @ 5587 Transmountain
Tigua Health Center @ 7862 San Jose Rd.
Westside Health Center @ 5195 Mace
Ysleta Health Center @ 110 Candelaria.
The vaccine will be offered on a first come, first served basis. The public may call 2-1-1 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) for more information about the H1N1 flu.
http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=11384739
france: automatic translation.
http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2009/10/26/grippe-a-deces-d-une-surveillante-de-maternelle-dans-l-oise
A canteen supervisor of a kindergarten of 38 years, hospitalized at the Hospital Laennec Creil (Oise) since Thursday, died Saturday from influenza H1N1, it was learned Monday, October 26 concordant sources. According to the deputy director of the hospital, Catherine Giesberger, the young woman, who had been placed in intensive care as early as Thursday, showed “aggravating factors”.
CDC Warns Against Swine Flu Parties
CDC: Exposure Doesn’t Build Up Immunity
POSTED: 11:44 am CDT October 26, 2009
UPDATED: 12:02 pm CDT October 26, 2009
http://www.koco.com/news/21427940/detail.html#
ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a warning about attending “swine flu parties,” where people expose themselves to the virus on purpose.
I jumped to the end of this thread.
My daughters school is vac this Fri for the virus. I think no. Not reading all 3000+ posts, what are your thoughts? She is 13 and in great health. My hubby and I both ere sick for days earlier this month, she was fine.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ki-lesnar102609&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Brock Lesnar, the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s massive heavyweight titleholder, was forced to withdraw Monday from his highly anticipated Nov. 21 title defense in Las Vegas against Shane Carwin.
UFC president Dana White confirmed the news to Yahoo! Sports. White said Lesnar has been ill for more than three-and-a-half weeks and unable to train. With the bout at UFC 106 less than a month away, Lesnar was forced to postpone the title defense.
“He said he’s never been this sick in his life,” White said. “He said it’s been going on for a long time and he just hasn’t been able to shake it.”
this website has a whole thread on vaccines .
This is IMO the best flu pandemic site:
http://www.singtomeohmuse.com/viewforum.php?f=1
OK
Family Believes Tulsa Woman Was Swine Flu Victim
10/26/09 3:19 pm | reporter: Yvonne Harris producer: Kevin King
Tulsa - Swine flu deaths have now topped one-thousand in the United States, including one hundred children. And a Tulsa family fears their loved one could be added to that list.
Twenty-eight-year-old Amanda Williams died over the weekend. Her family says it happened so fast. She complained of flu-like symptoms, recovered and then the symptoms returned. In two days, she was dead.
At this point, the health department can’t confirm it was swine flu, but the family is convinced.
Amanda Williams was developmentally disabled and had everything to live for. She had two young children and was engaged to be married. Thursday, she went to the hospital complaining of chest pains and Friday she took a turn for the worse.
“I held her hand, told her I loved her,” says Amanda’s brother, Jack Sloan. “No masks when got there Saturday the whole floor had masks doctors, nurses, visitors, everyone.”
Tests for H1N1 are inconclusive. But, her family is convinced.
“I believe it was and what doctor said no doubt in his mind he was pretty convincing.”
They could know this week whether Amanda had H1N1. Sloan says he is now concerned for the rest of his family.
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/1009/672279.html#
N.D. reports first swine flu death
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — State health officials say North Dakota’s first swine flu-related death was a man older than 60 with other health problems.
The death was reported Monday. North Dakota’s state health officer, Dr. Terry Dwelle, said the victim was from northwestern North Dakota. Dwelle said he had not been vaccinated against the illness.
President Barack Obama has declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency. Officials say more than 1,000 people in the United States have died from it.
North Dakota health officials say the state has more than 1,200 confirmed flu cases and they estimate about 1,100 are cases of swine flu.
State disease specialist Kirby Kruger says it will be several weeks before North Dakota gets enough swine flu vaccine to make it generally available.
http://www.jamestownsun.com/event/article/id/97031/group/home/
NH
Schools See Rise In Student Illness
Officials: Students Recover In 3 To 5 Days
POSTED: 5:11 pm EDT October 26, 2009
BOW, N.H. — Schools in New Hampshire are seeing a rise in absenteeism because of students suffering flu-like symptoms.
State health officials said more and more students are calling in sick each day. Hooksett, Bow, Hanover and Lincoln are among the school districts impacted most.
At Bow Memorial School, assistant principal Donna Girard said the school is encouraging students to stay home until they are well, and that seems to take about three to five days. On Thursday morning, 142 students were absent, with more going home in the middle of the day.
But Girard said things seem to be turning around.
“There’s only 60 out this morning,” she said. “We’re down from over 30 percent to about 13 percent.”
Absences have hit numerous schools across the state, and the staff at Bow Memorial said it does force them to make a few adjustments.
“They did continue with the classes and curriculum, maybe slowed it down a bit to accommodate absences,” Girard said. “Teachers put class information on the Internet, so they knew what was going on and what they were missing.”
State health officials said the large number of absences isn’t surprising. They expected it to increase after the first month or so of school.
They said they also believe schools like Bow Memorial are doing the right thing when it comes to keeping students up to speed on school work and teaching them about the H1N1 virus.
“At the same time, they’re pushing the standard messages — wash your hands, cover your cough — and hopefully we’ll have enough vaccine for high-risk people in the next three or four weeks,” said Dr. Jose Montero, director of public health services.
Montero said the most important message is to watch for signs of illness and stay home if you’re sick.
He said he also hopes to have organized H1N1 flu vaccine clinics for high-risk people by Thanksgiving weekend.
http://www.wmur.com/health/21430736/detail.html
Thanks, I have much reading to do!!!
ISU Sees Spike In Sick Students
POSTED: 4:31 pm CDT October 26, 2009
UPDATED: 5:01 pm CDT October 26, 2009
AMES, Iowa — Iowa State University officials said Monday that they’re seeing a spike in the number of sick students on campus.
Iowa State is not testing every case to confirm if its the H1N1 flu, but judging from the number of sick students visiting the student health center they said the flu is spreading fast.
“I think I have a pretty strong immune system so I just kind of keep washing my hands a lot and try to eat right,” said Greg Liechty, an ISU student.
Most students and staff have not been able to get an H1N1 vaccine because of the limited supply and the new guidelines that no longer include college-age students; the cut off is age 18.
“We wish everyone would have that availability to get H1N1 right now, but we know that we’re doing the tired approach sticking with the CDC guidelines and doing the best we can,” said Penni McKinley, with the Thielen Student Health Center at ISU.
Hand sanitizer has been placed in every building on campus and reminders have been sent to students about proper hygiene and staying healthy. Officials are also encouraging those students who are sick to isolate themselves.
“We’re doing the best we can to get the word out on prevention and containment,” said McKinley.
Student health officials said that about 15 percent of the students coming into the center have symptoms consistent with the H1N1 flu, but officials said the number is likely higher since many students are just opting to stay at home instead of visiting the doctor.
“The nurses are very busy on the phone. Our RNs are talking to students, giving home care advice,” said McKinley.
The flu is not only spreading through the dorms and off-campus housing, but after Saturday’s win in Lincoln Coach Paul Rhoades also indicated that the football team has been hit with illness.
“We had several players that we did not even have at practice yesterday, just sent them home for rest,” said Rhoades.
Rhoades said players have a mix of flu and cold-like symptoms.
http://www.kcci.com/health/21430912/detail.html
Toddler Tested Positive for Influenza A
Posted: Monday, October 26, 2009 - 5:59pm
The Athens County Coroner’s Office is conducting an autopsy on a three-year-old to see if the toddler died of complications from the H1N1 virus.
The toddler died Thursday at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital.Coroner Harold Thompson says post-mortum test confirmed that the toddler did test positive for Influenza A, but Thompson says his office is also looking into a number of other infections the toddler had.
He says autopsy results will be ready in about six to eight weeks
http://www.whiznews.com/content/news...or-influenza-a
TX:
Lawyer in Dallas County constable probe dies; swine flu blamed
04:01 PM CDT on Monday, October 26, 2009
By AVI SELK / The Dallas Morning News
aselk@dallasnews.com
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/102709dnmetdavis.255ae61c0.html
Dallas County officials confirmed this afternoon that Sidney H. Davis Jr., the attorney who was advising the Commissioners Court about an investigation into constables’ conduct, died of swine flu.
“It was a punch in the belly,” said Peggy Lundy, senior adviser to County Judge Jim Foster, whose office released a statement this afternoon confirming the death.
Davis, who was 54, fell ill and slipped into a coma last week, Lundy said. Dallas County health officials had previously confirmed that a 54-year-old person had died of swine flu but withheld further details, citing patient privacy.
Davis’ family could not be reached for comment.
Canadian medical experts to discuss worst case scenario as pandemic grows
By Sharon Kirkey, Canwest News Service
October 26, 2009 3:02 PM
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Canadian+medical+experts+discuss+worst+case+scenario+pandemic+grows/2147449/story.html
As Canada officially enters the second wave of human swine flu, leading medical experts gathering in Toronto on Tuesday will discuss the worst case scenario: in the remote event that the pandemic overwhelms intensive care units, who goes to the ICU, and who doesn’t?
Should scarce resources go to the people most likely to survive? Should triage occur on a first-come, first-served basis? If both have equal chances of survival, should the last available ventilator go to the 20-year-old over the 60-year-old, who has had 40 more years of life?
“I know this is an area that people just don’t like talking about, in part because I think we all want to say we don’t have to do triage in 2009 in one of the richest countries in the world, that we have resources for all,” said Dr. Robert Fowler, a critical care physician at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and member of the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group.
“That’s true to a degree, but it’s definitely not true to the nth degree.”
Fowler said Quebec, Ontario and B.C. are seeing increased H1N1 activity in the community. “That’s starting to result in increased cases in the ICUs.”
During an outbreak of swine flu in Winnipeg in June, intensive care beds at the Health Sciences Centre were filled with H1N1 patients suffering severe acute respiratory distress requiring prolonged mechanical ventilation. One critical care doctor described them as the sickest patients he had have ever seen. The hospital has since made plans to double the number of ICU beds, if needed.
Experts say that, unless there is a dramatic change in the H1N1 virus or how sick it makes people, the possibility of critically ill H1N1 patients swamping intensive care units is exceedingly remote. The vaccine is now being deployed; hospitals are preparing to increase their ICU “surge” capacity and share ventilators and other critical care resources if needed.
But still they say it is wise to prepare, “because if the unthinkable happens, you don’t want to make these decisions on an ad hoc basis, with incomplete consideration and information,” said Dr. Anand Kumar, an intensivist with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority who will help moderate a discussion Tuesday on the development of a triage framework for the pandemic at a national meeting of critical care doctors.
Doctors say there are no national guidelines in place to help with those life-and-death choices — deciding, for example, who goes on a ventilator if there aren’t enough to go around.
Without some federal-level guidance, “and because nobody knows what the legal liability is in doing so”, Kumar said, “people are going to be very reluctant to use triage.”
“The danger is, you might have a case that is hopeless on the ventilator, and say you have a young 35-year-old, or 40-year-old, or a mother of three kids who needs to go on and you don’t have a ventilator for them,” Kumar said. “All you can do is keep them comfortable.”
“The nature of triage is that you make difficult decisions. But better that those kinds of decisions are made, if they have to be made, in as open and transparent and universally-agreed approach as possible.
“If you’re not open and transparent, if you don’t plan in advance, fundamentally what happens is, first-come, first-served.”
That leads to even greater conflict and stress for front-line staff, Fowler
said.
“If there are 20 beds in the intensive care unit and they’re all full, maybe there are two or three that get to the point where we say we know that we can’t save them but they’re still on a breathing machine, and decision-makers for the family say we understand what you think but we think you should go until the very last minute and do chest compressions and shocks to the heart until the last breath.”
During the SARS outbreak, “we had patients that were so sick in the ICU that they almost certainly were not going to live, their lungs were that damaged,” Fowler said.
“Yet some, like we will see with influenza, were young, and there’s a sense that there’s a lot of life left for a young person, irrespective of how ill they are.”
The first protocol for triage of critical care resources — the Ontario protocol — was published in 2006. Developed for use in a flu pandemic, it uses a colour-coded tool that determines which patients are sick enough to get into the ICU, which patients are most likely to survive and which ones are too sick to recover, despite care.
“It’s something that should only be used as an absolute, last resort,” after expanding ICUs into recovery rooms and other areas of the hospital and postponing all but essential surgery, said Dr. Michael Christian, a critical care and infectious disease doctor at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto who led the development of the Ontario protocol.
But what happens if there aren’t enough beds and ventilators to every patient deemed a priority according to the Ontario scoring system?
Hamilton Health Sciences has developed a protocol for its hospitals that goes further and adds “supplementary criteria.” Those criteria give treatment priority to “multipliers” — those are front-line health-care workers, public health workers, firefighters, police and others with the skills to save others in a pandemic — essential service workers who contracted flu while on the job, and “caregivers” such as pregnant women and parents of young children. It also invokes the so-called “fair innings” principle, giving treatment priority to people with more years of life ahead of them.
“These are tragic choices,” said Andrea Frolic, the ethicist for Hamilton Health Sciences.
“But in a truly overwhelming pandemic — which is not what we’re expecting to see with H1N1 — ultimately there are going to be some people who could benefit from critical care who we just won’t have enough resources to provide that care to them.”
skirkey@canwest.com
_________________
Omnium rerum principia parva sunt. - Cicero
“If it goes to Egypt, Indonesia..it could turn into a very powerful H5N1 that is very transmissible
among people,” said Guan Yi..”Then we will be in trouble, it will be a tragedy.”
I read an article months ago about the engineered virus finding. The guy who made the claim after studying the virus was no slouch. He discovered tamiflu and is an Australian virologist.
Immediately when his findings got out, the CDC, WHO and the EU went rabid against him and named his findings false (with no time to really study them). I saw him interviewed once and an aggressive interviewer was rude to him. He summed it up and said something like, these are my findings from studying the virus and others will review it and may come to different conclusions. After that, silence.
High School Freshman Dies From H1N1
A South Barber High School Freshman died Sunday from H1N1 and other complications.
October 26, 2009
A small Kansas community is mourning the sudden loss of a high school student, who died far from home after coming down with the H1N1 flu virus.
Fourteen-year-old Lauren Merklein died Sunday in an Indianapolis, Indiana hospital. The South Barber High School freshman was there for a school trip when she collapsed in her hotel room Friday. She was taken to the hospital where she remained in critical condition the rest of the weekend.
“It just kind of came on all the sudden. She showed no symptoms of it,” said School Superintendent Brad Morris.
While Merklein did have an existing heart condition, her sudden death is tragic for for her fellow classmates. With only 70 students in the school, everyone is really close. She was a cheerleader, member of the Future Farmers of America, in the band and vocals and was also on the Principal’s honor roll. “She loved life. She had a very strong faith. She was just the leader and people just loved to be around her because she makes you feel just wonderful,” said Morris.
Morris says this is the first reported case of H1N1 in this school system. Grief counselors were at the school Monday morning to help students.
http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/65986567.html
Freeper Battle Axe job is to drive Amish people . One family was very sick with swine flu . She posted that more Amish are coming down with swine flu .
Please pray for the Amish Children who are VERY VERY sick now .
Also please pray for freeper petitfour friend child who is sick with Pneumonia from the swine flu for 5 days ........
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 26, 2009
Contact: HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343
HHS and Sesame Workshop Release 13 New Flu Prevention Radio PSAs Featuring Governors and Elmo
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the availability of thirteen new 30-second flu radio public service announcements (PSA). These new radio messages feature 13 of America’s governors and Elmo from Sesame Street. The messages, which will be promoted to radio stations across the country, promote key flu prevention messages to parents and children.
Children and young adults continue to be disproportionately effected by H1N1. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than half of the hospitalizations from 2009 H1N1 flu reported recently were people age 24 and younger. That’s why HHS has teamed up with Sesame Workshop and other partners to promote flu prevention PSAs aimed at educating children and their parents about the importance of getting vaccinated.
“Elmo has emerged as one of our best partners in fighting the flu this year,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “That’s why we are excited for Elmo to join some of the nation’s governors in promoting important flu prevention tips. We know that kids are especially vulnerable against H1N1, and we hope that hearing flu prevention tips from Elmo will help them stay healthy and flu free.”
These new 30-second radio ads are designed for broadcast in states around the country. All of the new ads are available for download at http://www.flu.gov/psa/psacongress.html.
All of the latest flu PSAs are available on www.flu.gov/psa/. The new radio PSAs include recordings from:
Gov. M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut, Gov. Chet Culver of Iowa, Gov. Mark Parkinson of Kansas, Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri, Gov. Bev Perdue of North Carolina, Gov. John Hoeven of North Dakota, Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio, Gov. Brad Henry of Oklahoma, Gov. Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, Gov. Jim Douglas of Vermont, Gov. Chris Gregoire of Washington, and Gov. Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming.
Dad Protests School’s Swine Flu Information Policy
POSTED: 2:29 pm PDT October 26, 2009
UPDATED: 3:11 pm PDT October 26, 2009
SAN DIEGO — Swine flu outbreaks around San Diego County have prompted a change in school policies, 10News reported.
A concerned father told 10News he is protesting against Hancock Elementary School because his daughter is at home being treated for a suspected case of swine flu. He said he is angry because the school does not inform parents if other students have the virus.
“I’m very concerned about this; my daughter has asthma. They send a letter home when a child has head lice but for this they don’t say anything. We need to know about stuff like this,” said the father.
The San Diego County Health Department said principals are only required to notify parents of a swine flu outbreak. In the event of an outbreak, 20 percent of a class and the minimum has to be five students. Symptoms include a fever over 100 degrees and a cough or sore throat. The onset is within seven days.
Parent Christine Graham said, “I’ve been wondering myself because I keep hearing on the news all the different schools in the county saying that they’ve had cases and everything, but there’s been nothing in our area.”
The San Diego Unified School District said Hancock Elementary does not have an outbreak, but with a sick child at home, that doesn’t make the protesting father feel any better.
“For the kids who are sick or who have gotten sick that’s a little too late. It’s like they’re trying to put the fire out rather than prevent it,” the father said.
The San Diego Unified School District said two elementary schools have confirmed outbreaks: Ross Elementary and Dingman Elementary schools. The parents with students at these schools will either be getting a phone call, e-mail or letter from the principal.
The county said even if there is an outbreak at your school, healthy kids should still come to class.
Health officials said students and staff members who have been ill can return to school when they are fever-free without medication for 24 hours.
For more on the SDUSD’s policy changes regarding the H1N1 virus, click here. http://www.10news.com/news/21430901/detail.html
Typically in epidemics there are entire populations that are not reported, even kept semi-secret, for different reasons. Both military posts and prisons keep their disease statistics out of sight, but both have unusual demographics that can be instructive about a disease.
Military posts have high concentrations of young adults in good physical shape and with few unrelated conditions. And since epidemics wiped out thousands of soldier trainees in the great training camps of WWII, the military has been both proactive in preparing for epidemics, and responsive to the epidemic itself.
Likewise, military posts often have civilian family communities that both interact with the public at large, and the military personnel, so there is no great protective isolation.
Prisons, on the other hand, are often not responsive to epidemics, other than limited basic hygiene, and so they are frequently affected by any number of epidemics. Prison hospitals are not equipped to handle either outbreaks or intensive care, and prisoners seldom are transferred to public hospitals until their condition is critical and failing.
Knowing what is going on with both military posts and prisons, however, should be important information for the health authorities if delivered in a timely manner. If the disease is slow moving, they could both act as reservoirs for disease reemergence, or if they are not seriously hit by the disease, they act as a control group against other measures meant to mitigate the disease.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.