The tragic face of the swine flu fight

THE swine flu epidemic almost brought the NSW hospital system to its knees, wiping out 5000 surgical procedures, taking up a third of intensive care beds and forcing up sick leave among hospital staff by more than 50 per cent.

You were saying...

I have very little trust of the government. Less every day.

Don't worry, the A/H1N1 flu virus doesn't pay attention to our government or any other government... :-)

And then you were asking...

Do I trust the government to look out for our parents and grandparents? When they say that seniors are not at risk, should I believe them?

Well, if you were to pay attention to several FReepers I see posting about the A/H1N1 flu pandemic (which they deny really exists) -- they would assure you that you should never get that vaccine as the vaccine itself is a ploy by the government to eliminate people... LOL...

I guess you can take it from FReepers or the government or whomever... :-)

I do have to admit that I find it amusing that FReepers are arguing that the government is trying to kill off people by giving them the vaccine and then have other FReepers arguing that the government is trying to kill off people by not giving them the vaccine... LOL...

You said — There is no pandemics, there is no epidemic. It is just hype of soemthing that ‘could be’

—

I guess you missed some recent news, then... :-)

Flu Pandemic Is Declared — First Time in 41 Years
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2293200/posts

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Friday, June 12, 2009 | Mike Esterl

The World Health Organization declared the first flu pandemic in 41 years, even as it stressed there are no signs the H1N1 virus has turned more lethal as it spreads across the globe.

The declaration Thursday by the United Nations agency requires countries not yet exposed to the new influenza strain to roll out pandemic-prevention plans and step up monitoring efforts. It also will likely accelerate efforts to develop a vaccine, expected to take several months.

WHO Director General Margaret Chan said the “overwhelming majority” of people diagnosed with the virus since it surfaced in Mexico in April experienced mild symptoms and recovered quickly without medical treatment.

But Dr. Chan warned that the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, is likely to continue to spread and that it could turn more virulent or affect populations differently. “This early, patchy picture can change very quickly,” she said.

Public-health authorities worry that the new flu strain could prove more dangerous in undeveloped countries with fewer health-care resources and higher rates of chronic diseases that weaken immune systems.

The Geneva-based agency had kept its global pandemic alert level at phase 5 since late April, one level below a full-blown pandemic. A pandemic is declared following significant outbreaks in at least two regions of the globe.

Study: Swine Flu Resembles 1918 Virus
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2291611/posts

The new H1N1 influenza virus bears a disturbing resemblance to the virus strain that caused the 1918 flu pandemic, with a greater ability to infect the lungs than common seasonal flu viruses, researchers reported on Monday.

Tests in several animals confirmed other studies that have shown the new swine flu strain can spread beyond the upper respiratory tract to go deep into the lungs — making it more likely to cause pneumonia, the international team said.

In addition, they found that people who survived the 1918 pandemic seem to have extra immune protection against the virus, again confirming the work of other researchers.

“When we conducted the experiments in ferrets and monkeys, the seasonal virus did not replicate in the lungs,” said Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin, who led the study.

The H1N1 virus replicates significantly better in the lungs.”

The new swine flu virus has caused the first pandemic of the 21st century, infecting more than a million people, according to estimates, and killing at least 500. The World Health Organization says it is causing mostly moderate disease but Kawaoka said that does not mean it is like seasonal flu.

“There is a misunderstanding about this virus,” he said in a statement. “There is clear evidence the virus is different than seasonal influenza.”

Writing in the journal Nature, Kawaoka and colleagues noted that the ability to infect the lungs is a characteristic of other pandemic viruses, especially the 1918 virus, which is estimated to have killed between 40 million and 100 million people.

World Health Organization (WHO) officials declared a pandemic of H1N1 influenza on Thursday, two months after the first cases of the new flu virus were reported in Mexico. It is the first flu pandemic in 41 years, since the 1968 Hong Kong flu.

The WHO’s decision to raise the pandemic alert to Phase 6, the highest level, was based on specific criteria, most significantly that the disease is now widespread, sustaining transmission in more than two regions around the world — including the Americas (Mexico and the U.S., which have so far borne the greatest brunt of the new flu) and Australia, where cases have risen sharply. The latest data show there are nearly 30,000 cases in 74 countries, with 144 confirmed deaths.

The long-anticipated announcement by the WHO, which followed an emergency meeting of flu experts in Geneva, signals to health officials around the globe that the new influenza strain will continue spreading quickly to more countries. It also adds urgency to their preparedness plans, which include acquiring and distributing antiviral medications and a vaccine, if and when one becomes available. The WHO has dispatched antivirals to 121 nations and asked vaccine makers, who are now completing their production of seasonal flu shots, to begin testing and production of a vaccine for H1N1.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1904198,00.html

June 11, 2009 — The World Health Organization (WHO) has increased the pandemic level to phase 6, the final alert phase, indicating that a global pandemic of influenza A (H1N1) is under way.

According to the WHO, pandemic alert level phase 6 is characterized by “community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5.” Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human transmission of the virus into at least 2 countries in 1 WHO region.

After holding an emergency meeting with its influenza experts, the WHO said it has raised the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6, according to a statement sent to health officials. WHO Director Dr. Margaret Chan made the announcement during a press conference today.

Scientific Criteria Met

“The world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic,” she said. “The scientific criteria for a pandemic has been met.”

According to Dr. Chan, further spread is considered inevitable, “but no previous pandemic has been detected so early or watched real time right at the very beginning.”

“The virus is stable” and it looks very similar among countries, Dr. Chan said. “We need to continue to check this virus and monitor it. We should never forget...we still have H5N1 in phase 3 pandemic alert status, and this is the first time we have 2 viruses coexisting...it is an extremely unusual situation.”

She added that the virus can change the rules without rhyme or reason at any time, and it will be important to see how the virus changes as it returns to the Northern hemisphere in the fall.

The H1N1 virus is of “moderate severity” with most people making a rapid and full recovery often in the absence of treatment, and the number of deaths is small.

She pointed out that pregnant women are at increased risk for complications, and the virus preferentially infects younger age groups, under age 25 years. She added that it is unknown how this virus will behave under conditions in the developing world. The WHO says that it continues to put no restrictions on travel.

Because of the susceptibility of the population, “influenza pandemics are remarkable events,” she said, “but we are all in this together.”

As of today, the WHO is reporting nearly 30,000 confirmed cases from 74 countries.

Pandemic Level Increase “Not a Surprise”

At a press briefing immediately after the WHO announcement, Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, who assumed the role of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director on Monday, commented on the WHO’s decision, stating that the increase to pandemic level phase 6 was “not a surprise” and that it was “expected based on the data.”

According to Dr. Frieden, the WHO waited until they were certain that they had documentation that on multiple continents that the virus was being transmitted from person to person in a sustained way and this “basically meets our definition of a pandemic.”

The key goals are to determine where the virus is spreading and to reduce its impact, “particularly on those who are most vulnerable — people with underlying health conditions and infants as well in this case,” he said.

Also at the briefing, Anne Schuchat, MD, the interim deputy director for science and public health program and director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, noted that there are more than 13,000 confirmed cases reported in the United States.

“There are over 1000 people who have been hospitalized that have been reported to us, and our last update on the counts of death are 27, but we’ll be updating that soon and I do, unfortunately, expect that number to rise,” she said.

According to Dr. Schuchat, increases in influenza cases above normal levels for this time of year are still being observed in region 1 (New England) and region 2 (New York and New Jersey).

CDC Was Responding as if to Pandemic Already

“People think it is over, but we need to remain vigilant,” she said. However, she pointed out that the CDC has been “reacting as though we were in a pandemic already in terms of our intensive efforts to prepare individuals and respond as a nation.”

According to Dr. Schuchat, 57% of the cases have occurred in people aged 5 to 24 years, and 41% of hospitalizations were also within that age range. The highest rates of hospitalizations are in children younger than 5 years. Of the hospitalizations, 71% have occurred in people with an underlying condition.

“As we have noted, there’s been a disproportionate amount of pregnant women among those who have had infection,” she said.

“What this declaration does do is remind the world that flu viruses like H1N1 need to be taken seriously,” Health and Human Services Secretary Katherine Sebelius said in a news release today.

“Although we have not seen large numbers of severe cases in this country so far, things could possibly be very different in the fall, especially if things change in the Southern hemisphere, and we need to start preparing now in order to be ready for a possible H1N1 immunization campaign starting in late September,” she noted.

Australia’s swine flu cases have topped 10,000 with officials in the worst-hit Asia-Pacific country reporting two deaths and warned the virus “preferred young people.”

Health Minister Nicola Roxon said the national tally was now 10,387, more than 10 percent of the global total confirmed by the World Health Organization with 123 people in hospital.

South Australia and Queensland states reported two deaths of people with the disease, taking the national flu-linked toll to 22. A(H1N1) however has not yet been confirmed as the cause of any of the deaths.

Roxon said the number of cases would climb as the southern hemisphere winter progresses. She said the real caseload was likely much higher as mild infections were not being tested.

“The numbers are expected to peak in August ... the pandemic strain of flu is becoming the predominant flu strain in Australia this winter,” the minister told reporters.

She said those hit hardest mostly had pre-existing medical conditions, but warned that health authorities were now worried about a growing number of serious cases in young people.

“We do see that there are some people who are young and otherwise healthy who have the rapidly deteriorating disease ... it’s obviously concerning,” she said.

Roxon said patients’ average age was 19, adding that doctors and health workers had been told to watch for young people with trouble breathing because their condition could quickly become life-threatening.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.5eef86ae79464179681179084700cbde.be1&show_article=1

This from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...

STAGES OF A PANDEMIC

Interpandemic period

Phase 1 : No new influenza virus subtypes have been detected in humans. An influenza virus subtype that has caused human infection may be present in animals. If present in animals, the risk of human infection or disease is considered to be low.

Phase 2: No new influenza virus subtypes have been detected in humans. However, a circulating animal influenza virus subtype poses a substantial risk of human disease.

Pandemic alert period

Phase 3: Human infection(s) with a new subtype but no human-to-human spread, or at most rare instances of spread to a close contact.

Phase 4: Small cluster(s) with limited human-to-human transmission but spread is highly localized, suggesting that the virus is not well adapted to humans.

Phase 5: Larger cluster(s) but human-to-human spread still localized, suggesting that the virus is becoming increasingly better adapted to humans but may not yet be fully transmissible (substantial pandemic risk).

Pandemic period

Phase 6: Pandemic: increased and sustained transmission in general population.

Notes: The distinction between phases 1 and 2 is based on the risk of human infection or disease resulting from circulating strains in animals. The distinction is based on various factors and their relative importance according to current scientific knowledge. Factors may include pathogenicity in animals and humans, occurrence in domesticated animals and livestock or only in wildlife, whether the virus is enzootic or epizootic, geographically localized or widespread, and other scientific parameters.

The distinction among phases 3, 4, and 5 is based on an assessment of the risk of a pandemic. Various factors and their relative importance according to current scientific knowledge may be considered. Factors may include rate of transmission, geographical location and spread, severity of illness, presence of genes from human strains (if derived from an animal strain), and other scientific parameters.

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We’re currently at the *highest level* that they have for designating flu pandemics..., and as has been pointed out, the first for over 41 years...

From the CDC...

Summary of Situation

Updated July 10, 2009, 11:00 AM ET

A Pandemic Is Declared

On June 11, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) signaled that a global pandemic of novel influenza A (H1N1) was underway by raising the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 6. This action was a reflection of the spread of the new H1N1 virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus. At the time, more than 70 countries had reported cases of novel influenza A (H1N1) infection and there were ongoing community level outbreaks of novel H1N1 in multiple parts of the world.

Since the WHO declaration of a pandemic, the new H1N1 virus has continued to spread, with the number of countries reporting cases of novel H1N1 nearly doubling. The Southern Hemisphere’s regular influenza season has begun and countries there are reporting that the new H1N1 virus is spreading and causing illness along with regular seasonal influenza viruses. In the United States, significant novel H1N1 illness has continued into the summer, with localized and in some cases intense outbreaks occurring. The United States continues to report the largest number of novel H1N1 cases of any country worldwide, however, most people who have become ill have recovered without requiring medical treatment.

Given ongoing novel H1N1 activity to date, CDC anticipates that there will be more cases, more hospitalizations and more deaths associated with this pandemic in the United States over the summer and into the fall and winter. The novel H1N1 virus, in conjunction with regular seasonal influenza viruses, poses the potential to cause significant illness with associated hospitalizations and deaths during the U.S. influenza season.

Background

Novel influenza A (H1N1) is a new flu virus of swine origin that first caused illness in Mexico and the United States in March and April, 2009. It’s thought that novel influenza A (H1N1) flu spreads in the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread, mainly through the coughs and sneezes of people who are sick with the virus, but it may also be spread by touching infected objects and then touching your nose or mouth. Novel H1N1 infection has been reported to cause a wide range of flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. In addition, many people also have reported nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea.

The first novel H1N1 patient in the United States was confirmed by laboratory testing at CDC on April 15, 2009. The second patient was confirmed on April 17, 2009. It was quickly determined that the virus was spreading from person-to-person. On April 22, CDC activated its Emergency Operations Center to better coordinate the public health response. On April 26, 2009, the United States Government declared a public health emergency and has been actively and aggressively implementing the nation’s pandemic response plan

By June 19, 2009, all 50 states in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have reported novel H1N1 infection. While nationwide U.S. influenza surveillance systems indicate that overall influenza activity is decreasing in the country at this time, novel H1N1 outbreaks are ongoing in parts of the U.S., in some cases with intense activity.

CDC is continuing to watch the situation carefully, to support the public health response and to gather information about this virus and its characteristics. The Southern Hemisphere is just beginning its influenza season and the experience there may provide valuable clues about what may occur in the Northern Hemisphere this fall and winter.

CDC Response

CDC continues to take aggressive action to respond to the outbreak. CDC’s response goals are to reduce the spread and severity of illness, and to provide information to help health care providers, public health officials and the public address the challenges posed by this new public health threat.

CDC is issuing updated interim guidance in response to the rapidly evolving situation.

Note this paragraph from the CDC...

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Note that this flu pandemic (H1N1) is operating *in conjunction with* the “normal” flu viruses at the same time...

Study Suggests H1N1 Virus More Dangerous Than Suspected
Article Date: 15 Jul 2009 - 1:00 PDT

A new, highly detailed study of the H1N1 flu virus shows that the pathogen is more virulent than previously thought.

Writing in a fast-tracked report published in the journal Nature, an international team of researchers led by University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka provides a detailed portrait of the pandemic virus and its pathogenic qualities.

In contrast with run-of-the-mill seasonal flu viruses, the H1N1 virus exhibits an ability to infect cells deep in the lungs, where it can cause pneumonia and, in severe cases, death. Seasonal viruses typically infect only cells in the upper respiratory system.

“There is a misunderstanding about this virus,” says Kawaoka, a professor of pathobiological sciences at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and a leading authority on influenza. “People think this pathogen may be similar to seasonal influenza. This study shows that is not the case. There is clear evidence the virus is different than seasonal influenza.”

The ability to infect the lungs, notes Kawaoka, is a quality frighteningly similar to those of other pandemic viruses, notably the 1918 virus, which killed tens of millions of people at the tail end of World War I. There are likely other similarities to the 1918 virus, says Kawaoka, as the study also showed that people born before 1918 harbor antibodies that protect against the new H1N1 virus.

And it is possible, he adds, that the virus could become even more pathogenic as the current pandemic runs its course and the virus evolves to acquire new features. It is now flu season in the world’s southern hemisphere, and the virus is expected to return in force to the northern hemisphere during the fall and winter flu season.

To assess the pathogenic nature of the H1N1 virus, Kawaoka and his colleagues infected different groups of mice, ferrets and non-human primates - all widely accepted models for studies of influenza - with the pandemic virus and a seasonal flu virus. They found that the H1N1 virus replicates much more efficiently in the respiratory system than seasonal flu and causes severe lesions in the lungs similar to those caused by other more virulent types of pandemic flu.

“When we conducted the experiments in ferrets and monkeys, the seasonal virus did not replicate in the lungs,” Kawaoka explains. “The H1N1 virus replicates significantly better in the lungs.”

The new study was conducted with samples of the virus obtained from patients in California, Wisconsin, the Netherlands and Japan.

The new Nature report also assessed the immune response of different groups to the new virus. The most intriguing finding, according to Kawaoka, is that those people exposed to the 1918 virus, all of whom are now in advanced old age, have antibodies that neutralize the H1N1 virus. “The people who have high antibody titers are the people born before 1918,” he notes.

Kawaoka says that while finding the H1N1 virus to be a more serious pathogen than previously reported is worrisome, the new study also indicates that existing and experimental antiviral drugs can form an effective first line of defense against the virus and slow its spread.

There are currently three approved antiviral compounds, according to Kawaoka, whose team tested the efficacy of two of those compounds and the two experimental antiviral drugs in mice. “The existing and experimental drugs work well in animal models, suggesting they will work in humans,” Kawaoka says.

Antiviral drugs are viewed as a first line of defense, as the development and production of mass quantities of vaccines take months at best.

In addition to his appointment at UW-Madison, Kawaoka also is a professor at the University of Tokyo. The new study was funded by grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Source
University of Wisconsin-Madison

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/157485.php

NEW FLU “UNSTOPPABLE”, WHO SAYS, CALLS FOR VACCINE

Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:48pm EDT
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saying the new H1N1 virus is “unstoppable”, the World Health Organization gave drug makers a full go-ahead to manufacture vaccines against the pandemic influenza strain on Monday and said healthcare workers should be the first to get one.

Every country will need to vaccinate citizens against the swine flu virus and must choose who else would get priority after nurses, doctors and technicians, said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research.

Several reports showed the new virus attacks people differently than seasonal flu — affecting younger people, the severely obese and seemingly healthy adults, and causing disease deep in the lungs.

Kieny briefed reporters on the findings of the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, or SAGE. “The committee recognized that the H1N1 pandemic ... is unstoppable and therefore that all countries need access to vaccine,” Kieney said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE56C60820090713

A/H1N1 pandemic spreads at unprecedented speed, says WHO
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2296007/posts

Xinhua News Agency ^ | Friday, July 17, 2009 | Chinaview Staff

A/H1N1 pandemic spreads at unprecedented speed, says WHO
2009-07-17 06:10:40

GENEVA, July 16 (Xinhua) — The A/H1N1 influenza pandemic has been spreading at an unprecedented speed, much faster than other pandemics in history, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

“In past pandemics, influenza viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks,” the UN agency said in a briefing posted on its website.

The new flu virus has caused more than 94,500 laboratory-confirmed infections in more than 130 countries and regions, with more than 400 deaths, according to figures released by the WHO on July 6. Since that date no updated figures have been released.

The agency will no longer issue the global tables showing the numbers of confirmed cases for all countries, because the number of infections is increasing so fast in many countries that it has become almost impossible for them to follow through laboratory tests, said the WHO briefing.

A strategy that concentrates on laboratory confirmation and investigation of all cases is extremely resource-intensive. And in some countries, this strategy is absorbing most national laboratory and response capacity, leaving little capacity for the monitoring and investigation of severe cases and other exceptional events, it said.

However, there is still an ongoing need in all countries to closely monitor unusual events, such as clusters of cases of severe or fatal virus infection, clusters of respiratory illness requiring hospitalization, or unexplained or unusual clinical patterns associated with serious or fatal cases, the WHO said.

As part of continued efforts to document the global spread of the A/H1N1 pandemic, the WHO will still provide regular updates describing the situation in newly-affected countries, according to the briefing.

The WHO will continue to request that newly-affected countries report the first confirmed cases and, as far as feasible, provide weekly aggregated case numbers and descriptive epidemiology of the early cases, it said.

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