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Two Newburgh women die from swine flu
July 1, 2009

NEWBURGH — Two Newburgh women have died from swine flu, the Orange County Department of Health announced Wednesday.

[b]The first death occurred on June 23 and involved a 32-year-old woman. The second death involved a 37-year-old woman who showed symptoms June 16 and was hospitalized on June 22.

These are the first deaths in Orange County that have been attributed to swine flu, which is also known as the H1N1 influenza virus, according to Dr. Jean M. Hudson, the Orange County health commissioner.

There have been 2,213 cases of swine confirmed in the state as of Wednesday, according to the state Department of Health. Of those cases, 41 have been reported in Dutchess County, 6 have been reported in Ulster County and 20 have been reported in Orange County.

People are reminded to wash their hands frequently. Residents should also remain at home and contact a physician if any symptoms are suspected.

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20090701/NEWS01/90701055

India’s first suspected swine flu death in Kerala

First Published : 02 Jul 2009 04:58:04 PM ISTLast Updated : 02 Jul 2009 05:06:39 PM IST
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Indias+first+suspected+swine+flu+death+in+Kerala&artid=lq0vc/F68Q4=

KOCHI: A 52-year-old NRI, who was suspected to have contracted swine flu, died shortly after he was admitted to a hospital in Kerala’s Kollam district on Wednesday night, a health official said.

The throat swabs of Stanley Pelis, who arrived in Kerala two weeks ago from UK, have been sent to the National Institute of Communicable diseases, New Delhi, this morning. If confirmed, he would be the first victim of the flu in the country.

Pelis, hailing from Kollam, was admitted to Holy Cross Hospital at Kottiyam in the district with high fever and breathlessness at around 7 p.m. last night and passed away at 9 p.m., Dr K Shylaja, Medical Director, said.

Meanwhile, two passengers who arrived at the Kochi airport from US and Ireland this morning have been quarantined with suspected symptoms of the flu.

The two passengers are - a 33-year-old man from Pathnamthitta, who arrived from Ireland and a 20-year-old Keralite woman from US.

They have been admitted to the Aluva taluk hospital, hospital sources said.

Till now, four persons have tested positive for the flu in Kerala, she said.

http://www.acep.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=45781
...Scenario
[This scenario is a national planning scenario based on available information, within which are certain assumptions that may change as information becomes more precise. It is meant to be challenging and realistic, but is not predictive.]
The first cases of novel H1N1 reappear in an unspecified area of the nation in late September.
Early cases are not recognized as influenza,” “and will be treated conservatively, affording the opportunity for transmission to schoolmates and family.
The vaccine for the novel H1N1 will not be ready for distribution in large volumes until late October. Vaccine for the novel H1N1 may require two injections, at least two weeks apart, to stimulate immunity. Immunity will not be sufficient to protect subjects from infection until two weeks after the second injection.

Local officials will be hesitant to implement community mitigation strategies early in an outbreak, especially school closure so close to the beginning of the school year.
The media will continue” “ to fuel the public sentiment that health officials over-reacted to the spring wave and are doing likewise to the fall cases.
( Oh I get it: the media are under orders to “fuel” that memo; “to prevent panic” )
There will be political pressure to keep schools open because of large numbers of workers without “time off” benefits to care for their children. “
(Because workplaces refused to, and govt refused to, despite over 3.5 years of warning, to make it so!)

“The Federal government will not have solutions in place, such as emergency wage replacement, to mitigate
that pressure.” [Because the feds gave it all to the banksters/China]
“Because of economic pressures and high value placed on jobs in a weakened economy, workers will continue to work when sick, exacerbating transmission in the most contagious stage of their illness.
After a few weeks of the fall wave, the prevalence in affected parts of the country will increase. The first few deaths will be reported, some in young individuals.
Emergency departments will begin to see large volumes of people who are not ill with the flu but are concerned that they or their children “might have it.”
They are requesting screening and prescriptions for antivirals. Emergency departments will experience a 150% increase in chief
complaints with respiratory symptoms.
By mid-October, 15,000 cases will be reported across the country, with hot spots in urban areas that have not employed community mitigation strategies.
The highest prevalence will be among children and young adults, but during this wave, there will be a 5-fold increase in mortality,
with 250 deaths by late-October, mostly in school-age children and those in late teens.”
[”Planning scenario still refusing to deal with an 80% to 100% fatal H5N1-wave for preparedness purposes?]
“The CDC will document the increased virulence, and communities will begin to close schools.
Health guidance will be provided encouraging those with fever, cold symptoms, sore throat or respiratory symptoms to remain at home and wear masks in public, and to go to their doctor or the emergency department if acutely ill. This will be concurrent with fall allergy season, when a large proportion of people report nasal symptoms in a normal year, and many of those will normally have sore throat
and cough. The highest concentration of people who have no doctor or health coverage is the same population at greatest risk for becoming ill with novel H1N1: children and young adults.
Even though the prevalence of illness is less than 2%, some public officials may discourage the use of public transportation or participating in other close gatherings.
There will be increased demand on emergency medical services for transport of patients to the hospital who would normally see a doctor via public transportation.
As the prevalence of disease increases, deaths of children will be in the news regardless of the case fatality rate, and concerned parents will want their children checked if they have any related symptoms. Primary care providers who may have the capacity to see only a few extra people per day, will be overbooked and will be referring patients to the emergency department.”..
Planning Assumptions see pdf p 6

Hong Kong:

Swine flu strikes three more at public pools

Mary Ann Benitez
Thursday, August 13, 2009
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=86304&sid=24930900&con_type=1&d_str=20090813&fc=7

Two lifeguards and a security guard at public swimming pools have been struck by human swine flu (H1N1), three weeks after two other lifeguards came down with the virus.

Common areas where the affected staff could have caught the virus are being cleaned and disinfected, and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department said it is business as usual at the pools.

The latest cases involve a security guard at Tseung Kwan O swimming pool, a lifeguard at Hin Tin swimming pool, Sha Tin, and another at Kowloon Park in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The security guard and the Kowloon Park lifeguard were confirmed with H1N1 yesterday, while the Hin Tin lifeguard’s test came back positive on Tuesday. They had been on sick leave days before the tests came back, a spokeswoman for the department said, adding that cleaning and disinfection of the pool’s public areas, first-aid room and lifeguard rest room have been stepped up.

On July 20 and 23, two lifeguards at Tsuen King Circuit Wu Chung swimming pool in Tsuen Wan were confirmed to have swine flu.

[snip]

Meanwhile, a professor of infectious diseases has called for automatic testing for swine flu of people with “exacerbated” chronic bronchitis and emphysema or chronic obstructive airway disease, on admission to public hospitals to avoid another tragedy like that of a 54-year-old man who died on Monday. H1N1 was only confirmed after he died.

David Hui Shu-cheong, head of infectious diseases at Chinese University, said: “We are now in the peak season for H1N1, so such patients should be tested on admission.”

Meanwhile, a 58-year-old man was critically ill with swine flu last night.

Flu symptoms send many students home
Posted: Aug 14, 2009 4:49 PM EDT
Updated: Aug 14, 2009 6:05 PM EDT
Video Gallery

Students go home with flu-like symptoms
3:08

Thomasville, GA (WALB) - With school back in session, hundreds of students and staff in Southwest Georgia are forced leave school in the middle of the day with flu-like symptoms.

Public heath departments are treating the cases as pandemic H1N1 flu clusters. Even though every person who goes home sick has not received positive test results for H1N1, they are being treated that way.

In Thomas County schools, more than 100 kids were sent home Friday. School officials were warned by health officials to expect a wave of swine flu among students, likely during the third week of classes.

[snip]

http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=10932811&nav=menu37_8_1_3

Denham Springs Woman Latest Swine Flu Victim
POSTED: 7:44 am CDT September 8, 2009

http://www.wdsu.com/news/20789339/detail.html

DENHAM SPRINGS, La. — The fourth person to die as the result of swine flu has been identified as a 19-year-old Denham Springs woman.

Taylor Whitney Brian’s mother said her daughter died Saturday at a Baton Rouge hospital after testing negative three times for the swine flu virus. Ruthie Brian said her daughter first became sick on Aug. 20 and was diagnosed with strep throat.

Taylor Brian was a senior at Denham Springs High School.

The death was announced Sunday by the state health department,which did not identify the victim.

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.