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 ...
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1769452
Swine flu virus unpredictable, scientists warn
Life Threatening; Starts like regular flu, then lungs stop functioning
Sharon Kirkey, Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Anyone who develops serious flu-like symptoms should seek immediate medical attention, because no one can predict when the H1N1 flu virus, or swine flu, will turn life-threatening in otherwise healthy people, infectious disease experts are warning.
Severe cases are occurring, in which the infection starts off like regular seasonal flu, with fever and cough, but then the lungs rapidly become inflamed and stop functioning.
“It looks to most of us like a primary viral pneumonia that deteriorates five or six days into therapy,” says Dr. Allison McGeer, director of infection control at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital. “It’s really severe illness.”
“If you’re young and healthy, you can recover from that severe lung injury. People do. But it takes a very long time,” Dr. McGeer said.
“Sometimes we’re talking about a month, five weeks on a ventilator before you are breathing on your own. Some people can be left with so much residual lung damage, they will have abnormal lungs for their lifetime.”
Scientists are scrambling to understand why otherwise healthy people are becoming seriously ill with swine flu.
But Dr. McGeer said attempting to identify whom this happens to “is the same as trying to pick out people who, faced with Group A [streptococcus], get necrotizing fasciitis — flesh-eating disease — when most of the rest of us get nothing, or minor illness,” she said. “The parallel is, I think, identical.
“If you have underlying illness, if you are pregnant, there are things we know are risk factors,” Dr. McGeer said.
“But I don’t think there’s anything that labels these people any more than there’s something that labels people who get necrotizing fasciitis.”
As of July 3, there had been 8,883 confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu virus across Canada, 663 of which have led to hospitalization, and 29 of which have ended in death.
And as the number of cases climb, H1N1 is showing signs that it can move outside the respiratory tract to other parts of the body, something regular flu viruses normally do not do.
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta found H1N1 virus in the small intestines of ferrets infected with HIN1 isolates taken from three people who developed mild, severe and fatal flu.
The finding could explain why swine flu is causing vomiting and diarrhea in about 40% of cases, symptoms that are not typical of garden-variety flu.
“That’s not normal. Influenza should just be in the lung,” said Earl Brown, an influenza expert at the University of Ottawa. “This is the first time a human flu has done this in a ferret. The question is: How does it get there? You don’t like to see a flu virus move outside the lung.”
The virus did not spread to other organs, such as the kidney or brain. But it suggests H1N1 influenza A is hardier and can survive in the environment longer than normal flu.
High amounts of the virus were also found in lung tissue, “which we don’t typically see with seasonal strains,” said Terrence Tumpey, a microbiologist at the Centers for Disease Control’s influenza division.
They also found significant weight loss in the ferrets infected with the new swine virus.
“It tells us that this virus has the capability of causing more illness in mammals, in comparison to the seasonal strain,” Dr. Tumpey said.
The ferret is considered the best model to study flu in humans. “Generally, the disease you get in the ferret mirrors the disease you get in humans,” Dr. Brown, of the University of Ottawa, said.
Meanwhile, new, non-pandemic influenza has been found in two hog-farm workers in Saskatchewan, and a third case is under investigation. The affected workers have fully recovered.
Yesterday, the World Health Organization said it has received more than 98,000 reports of laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic H1N1 from 120 countries, including more than 440 deaths.
Argentine businesses struck by swine flu
By Oliver Balch in Buenos Aires
Published: July 8 2009 04:18 | Last updated: July 8 2009 04:18
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/835fd8e8-6b01-11de-861d-00144feabdc0.html
An uncharacteristic quiet hangs over Buenos Aires’s usually bustling commercial districts as swine flu grips the Argentine capital.
Restaurants, shopping centres, hotels and theatres all report falling sales as deaths from H1N1 infection across the country reached 65.
“We are seeing a jump in telephone inquiries, but footfall in the shop is dead,” said Florencia Paulet, an assistant in the aptly named furniture store Me Quedo En Casa (I stay at home), located in the trendy Palermo district.
Local businesses fear that emergency health measures unveiled by the Buenos Aires health ministry last week could result in similar economic losses to those that occurred in Mexico City at the start of the swine flu outbreak.
Trade has halved over recent days, representing a weekly loss of around $150m, according to Luis María Peña, president of the association of hotels, restaurants, confectionary shops and cafés.
Businesses geared towards children are reporting the most severe impact. Cinemas reported a fall in ticket receipts of more than 33 per cent in a week. Internet cafés, sports centres, discotheques and theatres have seen a similar fall-off rate.
In the district of San Isidro, children under 18 have been banned from entering shopping centres until July 9. Nightclubs and gymnasiums have also closed their doors temporarily.
Provincial governments are now following suit. Mendoza, San Juan and Corrientes have ordered casinos and cinemas to remain shut for a fortnight. Argentina’s theatre association has also decided to close box offices for 10 days.
“I’ve had two children’s parties and a baptism cancelled at the last minute. The flu is terrible for business because parents are terrified and prefer to stay at home,” said Justina Maiz, a specialist children’s photographer.
Travel companies are also reporting widespread cancellations as an increasing number of countries issue health warnings against visiting Argentina.
Argentines themselves are holding off travelling as well. School graduates are being requested not to travel to the ski town of Bariloche, a popular end-of-term destination, for at least a fortnight.
Pharmacies are one of the few industries to see sales on the rise. Stocks of masks and alcohol gel are almost sold out across the country, leading some consumers to cross into neighbouring Chile and Uruguay to obtain them.
The antiviral Tamiflu medicine is the top seller. “Supplies are still available, but the problem is that we sell out in a flash,” said a pharmacist in Buenos Aires’s busy Palermo neighbourhood.
Business leaders have criticised the government for responding too slowly to the H1N1 outbreak. An estimated 100,000 people have contracted swine flu since the first cases appeared in Argentina in May, according to the national health ministry. Laboratory results put the figure at 2,485.
If the flu epidemic lasts for a month, the impact on the economy could amount to 0.5-0.6 per cent of GDP, equivalent to over 6.1bn pesos ($1.6bn, £990m), according to estimates by local analyst firm Orlando Ferreres. Other analysts put the figure at anywhere between 4bn and 10bn pesos.
Last week, health minister Graciela Ocana resigned, allegedly due to her frustration at not being able to introduce nationwide prevention measures earlier.
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the president, has so far preferred to leave provincial and municipal governments to determine their own responses to the outbreak. To date, 11 of the country’s 23 provinces have declared a state of emergency, in addition to Buenos Aires.
The health ministry finally unveiled a 1bn-peso package of measures at the end of last week, most of which was meant for the distribution of Tamiflu.
Other measures include the introduction of paid leaves for pregnant women. Civil servants with young children have also been granted time off as schools close their doors on Wednesday, a week ahead of scheduled holidays.
Around 45,000 civil servants are off work in Buenos Aires, while private companies are reporting absentee levels of up to 15 per cent.
Congress is due to debate on Wednesday whether or not to bring forward parliament’s winter recess.
CA:
Swine flu detected in kids at camps
Virus leads to death of 4th victim in county
By Keith Darcé
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. July 8, 2009
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jul/08/swine-flu-detected-kids-camps/?metro&zIndex=128421
Nyeree Bell (right), 9, felt ill while at camp in Julian but said she wasn’t allowed to call family, including her mother, Kenya Bell (left), and sister Ashanti Chadwick. (Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune)
With swine flu showing no sign of taking a summer vacation, the pandemic virus has claimed a fourth victim in the county and is surfacing at children’s camps across the country, including one in Julian.
Outbreaks at 52 camps in 20 states have been reported to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spokesman Joe Quimby said yesterday. Because the CDC and states don’t require such reporting, the true number of camp outbreaks is likely higher, Quimby said.
“When you congregate children together, you are going to see increased clusters of infections,” said Dr. Wilma Wooten, San Diego County’s public health officer.
At least 27 asthmatic children who attended a pair of American Lung Association camps in Julian and Livermore in Northern California came down with the flu, the organization told parents in a recent letter. Four campers were hospitalized. Two were treated at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, spokesman Carlos Delgado said.
In the past two weeks, 44 children who were taken to Rady Children’s Hospital with flu symptoms tested positive for swine flu, also known as H1N1 influenza A. The tally included two patients who had attended other camps in the county.
With normal strains of seasonal flu in hibernation, nearly all influenza cases now being detected are H1N1, Quimby said.
Swine flu has been mild overall, but it continues to claim victims. Yesterday, San Diego County’s health officials said the disease contributed to the death of a 50-year-old woman on June 29, six days after she was admitted to Paradise Valley Hospital in National City with severe flu symptoms.
The woman, whom the county declined to name, had underlying respiratory and immune-system problems that played a role in her death, Wooten said. She was the fourth swine flu victim in the region.
In general, people with other serious health problems have been hit harder by swine flu. Asthma, diabetes, chronic heart disease and a weakened immune system are some conditions commonly associated with swine flu hospitalizations, the CDC said.
That pattern prompted the Muscular Dystrophy Association to cancel its summer camps nationwide, including one at Camp Cuyamaca in Descanso.
Other camps have delayed opening to guard against the virus, but most have kept their normal schedules. That was the case with Camp Marston in Julian, which hosted about 180 children over six days for the asthma camp that started June 21.
Camp Marston is operated by YMCA of San Diego. For 10 weeks each summer, the site runs camps for various groups of sick youngsters.
Nyeree Bell, 9, of San Diego’s Encanto neighborhood, attended the program sponsored by the American Lung Association. By the second day of camp, she felt ill and threw up twice, said her mother, Kenya Bell.
After being checked by the camp’s doctor, Nyeree said, she was allowed to continue sleeping in a cabin with other girls and participate in regular camp activities. Nyeree said she asked several times to go home but wasn’t permitted to call her parents.
“I didn’t find out she was ill until I picked her up” on June 26, Kenya Bell said. “When I got her home, she had a temperature over 100.” The sickness developed into bronchitis and triggered repeated asthma attacks, forcing Nyeree to take antibiotics and a steroid-based medication, Bell said.
“I thought this would be a good thing for her to experience — going away, meeting new people, having fun doing outdoor things,” Bell said. “She never wants to go to camp again.”
Darin Borgstadter, associate executive director of Camp Marston, said staff members follow CDC and county health guidelines, which include screening campers for illness when they arrive. The standards also call for segregating sick children until their parents can be notified to take them home or until they have been symptom-free for seven days.
“That’s not our practice,” Borgstadter said of Kenya Bell’s description of her daughter’s experience. “I would be surprised if that’s what happened.”
Seven children tested positive for swine flu in the first three weeks of the summer season at Camp Marston, he said.
“Just like running a school, kids get sick” at camp, Borgstadter said. “The camp is sanitized regularly. The beds are wiped down. The kids are required to wash their hands before meals.”
Parents play a critical role in preventing swine flu outbreaks from occurring at camps, Quimby of the CDC said.
“If your children have influenza, they need to stay home,” he said. “Young people are very susceptible to this new flu, and there is no vaccine.”
Union-Tribune
Keith Darcé: (619) 293-1020
Commentary
Novel H1N1 in Saskatchewan Raises Pandemic Concerns
Recombinomics Commentary 13:46
July 8, 2009
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/07080901/H1N1_SK.html
A new strain of H1N1 flu sickened at least two workers at a pig farm in Saskatchewan, Canadian health officials said. Tests found the strain is different from the pandemic swine flu circulating the globe.
The two people recovered from mild illness, and a third case is under investigation, according to a government statement. Pigs from the farm tested positive for a common version of swine flu and didn’t carry the new human version found in the workers.
The above comments raise serious concerns about the novel H1N1 virus in Saskatchewan, Canada. Media reports remain sketchy, but the new virus appears to have human H1 and N1, although it remains unclear if these are acquisitions from contemporary season flu (Brisbane/59 clade 2B with H274Y tamiflu resistance on N1), or earlier versions circa 2007 or 2003, which have been described previously in H1N1 swine isolates.
Similarly, the constellation of the other six gene segments remains murky. The pandemic H1N1 has a human PB1, avian PA and PB2, and a swine origin for the remaining three gene segments. This combination has also been seen in other swine isolates, so the relatedness of the remaining six gene segments remain unclear. However, above constellation is likely, since the remain genes have been described as swine triple reassortants.
The release of full sequences from isolates of the workers would address the uncertainties noted above.
However, there are additional issues raised but not fully answered in initial media reports. If the influenza from the swine do not match the human isolates, the origin remains open, and of course other humans would represent a likely source. Isolation of swine H1N1 from humans is not uncommon, but usually a matching sequence is found in swine linked to the patients. Similarly, initial reports do not give disease onset dates, raising concerns that one or both of the confirmed cases infected the suspect case.
These unanswered questions raise concerns of yet another swine H1N1 that has jumped to humans and is transmitting H2H.
More details on the cases, as well as publication of the sequences of all eight gene segments would be useful.
Stanislaus County’s first swine flu victim mourned by her family
H1N1 claims big sister helping to raise 4 siblings
By Ken Carlson
kcarlson@modbee.com
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/774011.html
After her mother’s death five years ago, Rosario Rivera took on the burden of watching her four younger siblings, making sure they ate breakfast and got to school.
The 21-year-old Ceres resident was attending school to become a medical assistant and better her life, proudly wearing the uniform the school gave her.
Argentina’s Banks To Shut Friday As Swine Flu Measure -Report
BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- Argentina’s private-sector banks will shut down Friday as part of a nationwide effort to contain the spread of the A/H1N1 swine flu, local press reported Friday.
That is some SCARY stuff. Obamessiah et al REFUSED to close the borders and quarintine those infected as did all of the Western powers and now we have the makings of 1918 all over agian. The only thing that will prevent this is if God has mercy upon us and does not allow this virus to mutate. If it does... we will once again be stacking the dead like cordwood because people will be dying like flys all over the world AMERICA included!
Absenteeism at record levels in Australia due to flu
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,25759149-462,00.html
HEALTH authorities have lost the battle against swine flu, conceding it now makes up about 60 per cent of all influenza cases.
And it is only going to get worse as businesses already feeling the impact brace for bigger numbers in staff absenteeism.
Just this week 1000 people have already been diagnosed with the flu in NSW, The Daily Telegraph reports.
It is expected to be the worst flu season on record with numbers expected to skyrocket in coming weeks.
Health experts yesterday warned workplaces will be hard hit with every worker off at least twice this winter with flu symptoms.
Currently 100 out of every 1000 workers are off sick - an increase of 20 per cent from last year with predictions the number could spike to as much as 60 per cent.
Here is a site with an interesting interactive map with the latest h1n1 articles.
http://outbreaks.globalincidentmap.com/home.php
Attached Images outbreaks.jpg (63.9 KB, 42 views)
This looks really bad in BUENOS AIRES
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47584
HEALTH-ARGENTINA: H1N1 Flu Puts Cheek Kiss Greeting on Hold
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, Jul 8 (IPS) - These days, people in the Argentine capital are largely avoiding the traditional greeting: a peck on the cheek. Doctor’s orders, amidst the fast spread of the H1N1 influenza virus, otherwise known as swine flu.
The pace of life in this bustling city of 12 million has slowed down as schools have closed and other activities have been put on hold in the face of an epidemic that has so far claimed 60 lives.
Above all, the health authorities have recommended isolation to curb the spread of the flu, and people in the capital are trying to stay home as much as possible, unless influenza symptoms drive them to join the crowds flocking to hospitals and health clinics.
All public and private schools in Buenos Aires province have been closed for the rest of the month, basically extending the two week winter vacation.
Pregnant women working in both the public and private sectors have been given two weeks leave; public employees of the province of Buenos Aires with children under the age of 14 were allowed to take leave – 45,000, or 10 percent of the payroll, have done so; the winter judicial recess was moved forward and expanded by two weeks, to a full month; Congress has taken a prolonged recess; and theatres were closed for 10 days starting Monday.
Factory workers and people working in the service sector are demanding that their work hours be shortened.
“Demand is always much greater than normal at this time of year,” Dr. Juan Rodríguez del Sel told IPS. The Durand public hospital where he works in Buenos Aires is on the front-line of the battle against the swine flu epidemic, which first broke out in Mexico in late April and has now coincided with the southern hemisphere winter flu season.
“Most of the cases are not serious, but now we are getting cases that are not commonly seen: young people with severe acute respiratory problems who end up on artificial respirators within 48 hours of the appearance of symptoms,” said the doctor.
“These are people under 30, without prior health problems,” he said.
The Argentine Health Ministry estimates that 97 percent of people with flu symptoms today have the H1N1 virus, which would put the total number at around 105,000. Of that total, 90 percent are asymptomatic or mild cases, and only a small minority of cases are complicated by pneumonia.
Dr. Eduardo López, head of medicine at the Gutiérrez Hospital and a member of the government’s Crisis Committee, estimated Tuesday that there are currently 107,000 cases in this country of nearly 40 million, according to projections based on the way the disease has spread.
On Monday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported 60 deaths in Argentina and 16 in Chile, the two South American countries hit hardest by the pandemic.
The authorities decided Monday to expand supplies of anti-flu medication to all patients who show even mild symptoms. To that end, the state distributed more than 300,000 doses and expects to distribute another 500,000 – an indication of the extent to which health experts expect the flu to keep spreading.
This week, the health authorities of the centre-left government of Cristina Fernández received 270 million dollars in additional budget funds to purchase more respirators and medicine, in order to provide free treatment to at least half a million patients. There will also be extra money to hire additional medical staff and purchase other materials.
Juan Carr, a spokesman for the non-governmental Red Solidaria (Solidarity Network), which is working closely with the authorities in the current public health emergency, cited projections that four million people will catch the H1N1 virus in Argentina.
He said that in half of the cases, people will have no symptoms but will be contagious nonetheless. Of the rest, just 18 percent will be seen by a doctor or visit a health clinic or hospital, and only a tiny minority will develop severe complications.
But what people are worried about is the fact that it is not yet clear what kind of patients are at risk of severe problems. The only specific warning issued so far has targeted pregnant women as an at-risk group.
Experts in the Health Ministry point out that seasonal flu viruses normally kill between 3,000 and 4,000 people a year in Argentina, mainly among vulnerable groups: newborns, the elderly, and people with depressed immune systems or chronic respiratory problems, diabetes or cardiac conditions.
The current epidemic has caused alarm because most of the serious cases have involved healthy people who within two days of getting a fever and a cough end up in the intensive care unit fighting for their lives.
The decision to distribute anti-flu medication to everyone who has symptoms is aimed at preventing such cases.
Fear of the pandemic has slowed down the busy pace of life in Greater Buenos Aires. People are staying home as much as possible, and the city’s hospitals are only keeping up with demand thanks to an extraordinary effort by their staff.
Night and day, long lines of patients await their turn. “He has a fever, a cold and a cough,” Ada Martínez told IPS after waiting two hours for her three-year-old to be seen by a doctor at the Children’s Hospital in the northern Buenos Aires neighbourhood of San Isidro. Both she and her son were wearing face masks.
In the capital, where the service for pediatric home health visits tends to be efficient, delays of up to 48 hours have become common in the last few weeks, and health professionals have received training on how to determine which cases are most urgent, based on the description of symptoms over the phone.
Some schools closed last week and others did so on Monday, with parents going in to pick up homework assignments. Public and private secondary school students have received assignments and recommended reading by email or online.
The main haunts of teenagers – gyms and health clubs, discotheques, cybercafés and swimming pools – have been closed in many neighbourhoods. And although shopping centres, with their movie theatres and eateries, are still open, city officials in some districts have recommended that children under 18 stay away from such places, for their own safety.
Theatres in Buenos Aires, which had experienced a sharp decline in visitors, shut their doors for 10 days as of Monday. The owners of movie theatres, meanwhile, promised to sell fewer tickets to keep down the size of the crowds, and are offering alcohol-based hand disinfectants. But not many people are venturing out to the movies anyway.
Train and subway stations, which are normally packed at rush hour, are as empty as they are during holidays.
Because the public administration is short-staffed, authorities have recommended people to postpone anything but the most urgent business. Anyone whose driver’s license has expired is now eligible for an automatic 30-day extension.
Shopping centres have seen business decline by half, although in some sectors the drop was much bigger, such as recreational areas for children, which are considering closing their doors.
On the other hand, pharmacies, bookstores and video and DVD centres are doing brisk business, seeing a 30 to 40 increase in rentals and sales.
In pharmacies, not only flu medicine is flying off the shelves, but also face masks, tissues and alcohol-based hand rubs.
People are keeping social visits to a minimum, and instead of new reservations, party rooms are receiving cancellations.
The Asociación de Meretrices de la Argentina (Argentine Prostitutes Association), estimates the drop in demand at 80 percent and the owners of pay-by-the-hour hotels say business has plunged.
On Jun. 29, health minister Graciela Ocaña resigned over differences with the Fernández administration in the handling of the swine flue epidemic and a previous dengue fever outbreak. (END/2009)
While there could be such which were undiscovered prior to flu infection, note also the difference in governmental response to the outbreak.
(Thanks, DvdMom, for the ping!)
Thanks. Maps are always fun.
Here’s a recent snippit from Twitter:
“GetReadyCDC Director: H1N1 has proved to have a 2% fatality rate thus far”
Most Deaths In 1918 Influenza Pandemic Caused By Bacterial Pneumonia
8/20/2008
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/118727.php
Quote:
The majority of deaths during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 were not caused by the influenza virus acting alone, report researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. Instead, most victims succumbed to bacterial pneumonia following influenza virus infection. The pneumonia was caused when bacteria that normally inhabit the nose and throat invaded the lungs along a pathway created when the virus destroyed the cells that line the bronchial tubes and lungs
Plus CDC seems to think there is some importance to the connection:
Interim guidance for use of 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine during novel influenza A (H1N1) outbreak
June 9, 2009 2:15 PM ET
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance/ppsv_h1n1.htm
Quote:
Background
Influenza predisposes individuals to bacterial community-acquired pneumonia. During the 20th century influenza pandemics, secondary bacterial pneumonia was an important cause of illness and death and Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) was reported as the most common etiology. Severe pneumococcal pneumonia associated with inter-pandemic influenza also has been reported, and S. pneumoniae remains a leading cause of vaccine-preventable illness and death in the United States. The current novel influenza A (H1N1) outbreak is evolving rapidly, and CDC continues to compile key information regarding risk of influenza, severity of illness and attack rate of secondary bacterial pneumonia among influenza patients. At this time, however, the role of pneumococcal infections among severe cases of novel influenza A (H1N1), such as those requiring hospitalization, is unclear.
Pneumococcal vaccines
During influenza outbreaks, pneumococcal vaccines may be useful in preventing secondary pneumococcal infections and reducing illness and death. Currently, two vaccines are available for prevention of pneumococcal disease, a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23) and a 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7).
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Contact: HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343
Obama Administration Calls on Nation to Begin Planning and Preparing for Fall Flu Season & the New H1N1 Virus
Administration Leaders Say that Flu Preparedness is a “Shared Responsibility” Announce New Funding for States and New Nation-Wide Flu Prevention Campaign at flu.gov
The Obama Administration sent a strong message to the nation today that it is time to start planning and preparing for the fall flu season and the ongoing H1N1 flu outbreak and that the federal government is prepared to commit resources, training, and new tools to help state and local governments and America’s families get ready.
White House Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined with delegations from 54 states, tribes and territories today at the H1N1 Influenza Preparedness Summit at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., to kick-off the government’s nation-wide fall flu preparedness efforts.
[snip]
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/07/20090709a.html
#3 Contra Costa County, Concord 9 year old girl, Karen Perez died 5/29/09 reported 6/4/09 *secondary bacterial infection, previously healthy
#37 Erie County, Buffalo, 15 year old boy Matthew Davis died 6/20/09 reported 6/20/09 *healthy, complained of a headache 6/12, conditioned worsened over the weekend, hospitalized 6/15 given antibiotic and released, 6/16 vomiting/dizziness/leg condition, hospitalized again 6/17, toward the end placed on life support, died 6/20 from complications of swine flu including pneumonia and MRSA
#150 New York - Erie County, Buffalo 9 year old girl Maya Harden died 6/27/09 reported 6/27/09 *healthy, contracted MRSA and pneumonia, on life support for 11 days
Severe case of A/H1N1 in Poland IAR | Today 13:12, updated: 2009-07-06 The first symptoms of the disease occurred in 3 days after her arrival. Later, her condition to deteriorate systematically. Probably there was also to bacterial infection and pneumonia. The girl is in serious condition. Persons who had contact with her have been placed under the supervision of sanitary-epidemiological.
2 More Deaths Linked To H1N1 Flu In Minnesota MINNEAPOLIS ― Two more deaths linked with the swine flu virus are reported in Minnesota, raising the total to three. The state Department of Health said Wednesday that an elderly individual and a child, both from the Twin Cities area, were the latest victims. Officials said the elderly patient had underlying medical problems and was hospitalized, while the child had an extensive bacterial infection in addition to the virus
QUEBEC - A woman from the Quebec City region, over the age of 65, is the first person in the province to die from the A H1N1 flu virus. Citing privacy concerns, Quebec’s public health director Alain Poirier would not further identify the woman.But he said she also had bacterial pneumonia, a respiratory ailment, which contributed to her death. The woman died last Friday, three days after she was admitted to hospital, Poirier said.
Thanks DvdMom.
Strange how this flu is hitting those under 30 y/o. You would think it would be really bad for the elderly.
I had a short discussion with a friend yesterday about the flu and how it’s still out there, even though it’s summer. She thought it was over with because the MSM isn’t reporting on it anymore. Told her to look it up on FR. More info here than I’ve seen elsewhere.
CDC: 37 is the median age of H1N1 fatalities.
Beyond the Call of Duty: Compelling Health Care
Professionals to Work During an Influenza Pandemic
Carl H. Coleman
Seton Hall University School of Law - Iowa Law Review
In anticipation of pandemics and other mass disasters, several states have enacted little-known laws that authorize government officials to order health care professionals to work during declared public health emergencies, even when doing so would pose life-threatening risks.
Health care professionals who violate these orders could face substantial penalties, ranging from license revocations to fines and imprisonment.
The penalties would apply even to individuals whose jobs do not normally involve clinical responsibilities, as well as to health care professionals who are retired or taking time off from work to care for their families.
This Article argues that these laws impose burdens that exceed the ethical commitments individuals make when they accept a professional license. In so doing, they compel health care professionals to engage in what is normally considered supererogatory behavior, i.e., acts that are commendable if done voluntarily, but that go beyond what is expected.
In making this argument, the Article rejects commonly-made assertions about health care professionals’ ethical obligations, including the claim that health care professionals assumed the risk of infection; that a social contract requires health care professionals to work despite potential health risks; and that individuals who have urgently-needed skills have an obligation to use them.
It concludes that, while health care professionals can legitimately be sanctioned for violating voluntarily-assumed employment or contractual agreements, they should not be compelled to assume life-threatening risks based solely on their status as licensed professionals. In place of singling out health care professionals for punitive measures, the Article argues that policy-makers should institute mechanisms to promote volunteerism.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1121421
So the word ‘voluntary’ means nothing when the gov’t can order you back to work after you’ve retired.
Not too far off topic.
A Window on the Unworkable Settings in Which Physicians Practice (Excerpted)
The Annals of Internal Medicine just published an important problem that helps explain why our health care crisis is so intractable.
[snip]
The article arose from the MEMO (Minimizing Error, Maximizing Outcome) study. The study included an initial cross-sectional survey and then longitudinal follow-up of 422 physicians, roughly equal numbers of family practitioners and general internists, in 119 different ambulatory settings in New York City, NY, Chicago, IL, Milwaukee, WI, Madison WI, and smaller towns in WI.
The surveys asked physicians about their work-flow and time pressure, the pace of their practice (from calm to chaotic), their ability to control their own work activities, and five aspects of organizational culture (emphasis on quality, emphasis on information and communication, trust, cohesiveness, and alignment of values between physicians and leaders.)
The results showed how bad the practice environment in primary care/ generalist practice has become. Some important points were:
- More than half of the physicians (53.1%) said they needed more time to do physical examinations, and nearly half (47.6%) for follow-up visits.
- Almost half (48.1%) described the pace of their offices as chaotic.
- Substantial majorities of physicians thought their workplaces’ organizational cultures were deficient, if not hostile.
- Only 23.7% thought there was a high emphasis on quality.
- Only 28.2% thought there was a high emphasis on communication and information.
- Only 30.6% thought there was a great amount of trust.
- Only 33.9% thought there was high work place cohesiveness
- Only 14.2% thought there was great alignment between the values of leadership and physicians.
So, to summarize, many physicians thought they did not have enough time to take care of each individual patient. Most thought their workplaces were nowhere near calm, and nearly half thought they were chaotic.
Few thought that their workplaces emphasized quality or communication and information, or inspired trust or cohesiveness. Very few thought that their leaders’ values were aligned with their professional values.
More:
http://tinyurl.com/lvnmww
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