CT:
Health officials hold H1N1 informational session
By David Hennessey
Updated: 10/16/2009 12:20:05 PM EDT
http://www.connpost.com/brooks/ci_13576067
NORWALK - Jack Kleis, 84, of Norwalk, made his way with his wife Jean to an informational meeting at Norwalk City Hall last Wednesday night to try and separate fact from fiction in regard to the so-dubbed swine flu or H1N1 virus.
Kleis said after the meeting he found much of the information useful, as he was able to glean important facts about swine flu vaccines and risk factors. State Sen. Bob Duff headed the session, alongside Terry Rabatsky-Ehr, field epidemiologist for the State Department of Public Health, Tim Callahan, director of Norwalk’s Health Department, David Knauf, director of health for Darien, and Dr. Eliot Husarsky, Internist and Infectious Diseases physician at Norwalk Hospital.
Both Kleis and his wife have health problems - he suffers from diabetes and she has health difficulties that compromise her immune system - that can heighten the severity of swine flu in some patients. They were relieved, however, when they saw that, according to recent statistics from the Center for Disease Control, the 2009 H1N1 virus has largely avoided the elderly since its first appearance in California early this spring.
H1N1 so far has attacked young children most frequently, according to Callahan.
The Kleises and two dozen other people who attended the session learned vaccines will be arriving in Connecticut before the end of the month.According to information from Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s office, 20,000 doses of intranasal swine flu vaccine will arrive in the state sometime over the next week.
“It’s one of those things where, if you want, you’ll be able to get it,” Jack Kleis said. “But no one is forcing you to get it.”
Both Kleises said they would probably get vaccinated when it becomes available.
Swine flu vaccines were a hot topic last Wednesday evening, as some members of the public questioned the safety of such precautions - particularly since some of the forthcoming vaccines contain traces of the live virus - but Callahan and Rabatsky-Ehr were adamant any vaccines administered through licensed health clinics and doctors would be safe.
Tamiflu and Zanamivir, they said, are still the preferred methods of treatment once a patient has contracted the virus.
“As a dad and someone in the community, I hear a lot about H1N1,” Duff said. “Maybe it’s an information overload, but maybe we do need to learn a little bit more about it.”
Symptoms of the virus can be similar to the seasonal flu and can include fever, cough, weakness and difficulty breathing, Rabatsky-Ehr said. “If you’ve ever had the flu, you probably felt like you had been run over by a truck,” she said.
The virus is spread through respiratory droplets, she said.
People infected with seasonal and the 2009 H1N1 flu virus may be able to infect others from one day before getting sick to five to seven days after, according to the CDC. This time period can be longer in some people, especially in children and people with weakened immune systems and in people infected with the new H1N1 virus.
The CDC recommends covering your nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing and throwing the tissue in the trash after you use it.
You should also wash your hands often with soap and water and use an alcohol-based hand rub if soap is not available. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Try to avoid close contact with sick people. If you are sick with a flu-like illness, the CDC recommends you stay home - except to get medical care or for other necessities - for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone. Your fever should dissipate without the use of a fever-reducing medicine. Keep away from others as much as possible, the CDC says.
“I don’t want to say it’s not a big deal - and we are planning for the worst, but we haven’t had many hospitalizations in the state,” Knauf said.
Using the metaphor of a smoking kitchen to describe H1N1, he said: “The house is not on fire.” { give it five minutes...}
Canada:
Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 in Hamilton
Young man is first in Ontario with swine flu that doesn’t respond to drug
October 16, 2009
Joanna Frketich
The Hamilton Spectator
(Oct 16, 2009)
A young Hamilton man was infected with Ontario’s first case of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1.
Only a few dozen people worldwide have been reported to have pandemic influenza resistant to the antiviral treatment. They include a 60-year-old Quebec man and an Alberta woman. Both recovered without being hospitalized.
The Hamilton man is in his 20s. Public health officials don’t believe he spread it because no one he had contact with has become sick.
“People should take this seriously, but not panic,” said Dr. Chris Mackie, Hamilton’s associate medical officer of health.
The emergence of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 comes at the same time local doctors have reported to the public health department that at least one company tried to pay for its staff to get prescriptions for the antiviral to prevent the flu.
“It sent a letter with all of their employees out to doctors saying we’ll pay you $60 to give a 60-day prescription to prophylactics,” Mackie said.
“This is exactly the sort of thing that generates resistance.”
Tamiflu is only to be used as a treatment for high-risk patients with symptoms and not for prevention.
The H1N1 flu shot is the best way to protect against the pandemic and Mackie says he’s hoping to announce today when it will be available and where.
He refused to provide any details about the young man who caught the Tamiflu-resistant strain. He wouldn’t even say whether the man is dead or alive.
Normally, public health provides details about whether the person is in hospital or at home and how ill.
“For reasons of confidentiality, I’m afraid we can’t say anything more about this individual case and I really apologize about that,” said Mackie.
The Ministry of Health is confident it’s an isolated case.
“At the moment there is no evidence of widespread resistance to Tamiflu anywhere,” said ministry spokesperson David Jensen.
There are other antiviral treatments available when H1N1 is resistant to Tamiflu. However, it can take weeks to determine the strain is resistant. Often, the patient’s illness gets worse and that’s what prompts doctors to try other antiviral treatments.
So far, it hasn’t been a big concern because there have been so few cases.
“This virus has been remarkably stable,” said Dr. Michael Gardam, director of infectious disease prevention and control at Ontario’s Agency for Health Protection and Promotion. “It hasn’t shown any propensity at this point to easily develop resistance and then for those resistant strains to spread.”
http://www.thespec.com/article/654504
It has hit young children because they were put in schools and schools are a hyper breeding area for disease. Health Officials and parents know they are placing kids in danger by continuing classes with this high level of disease exposure.
The children who have died have been essentially sacrificed to serve the collective good. Just like some people will be harmed by the vaccine for the collective good. Since the numbers who have died are low (see below) in comparison to the target popluation, health officials and parents are taking the bet that it won’t be their children or that the disease won’t mutate and become more deadly.
The truth is - no one knows the true death rate nor the true infection rate of this disease because statistics are not being uniformly collected as science requires for valid claims. For example, when someone with the flu dies, if they had any “underlying condition” it is not reported as a death caused by the flu even though the person would have survived with the underlying condition had they not gotten the flu. The CDC is controlling the media reporting on this disease.