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Texas teacher named Heather Holland, aged 38, died of complications from the flu after she decided to give up medical treatment because she considered the 116 dollar Tamiflu "too expensive." The complications from flu-like disease led a 38-year-old teacher to the hospital where she died after a septic shock. The cost of the medicine that was prescribed is $116. Heather Holland, of Weatherford, Texas, reportedly fell ill last Monday and two days later was diagnosed with the flu. According to Fox News, doctors prescribed Tamiflu, an antiviral drug that costs approximately $116. However, according to a statement by Holland's husband...

The flu arrived as a great war raged in Europe, a conflict that would leave about 20 million people dead over four years. In 1918, the flu would kill more than twice that number — and perhaps five times as many — in just 15 months. Though mostly forgotten, it has been called “the greatest medical holocaust in history.” Experts believe between 50 and 100 million people were killed. More than two-thirds of them died in a single 10-week period in the autumn of 1918. Never have so many died so swiftly from a single disease. In the United States...

We all know that this year’s flu season is bad. I have been pouring over numbers and reports over the past few days, and it’s actually even worse than we’re hearing about. Tens of thousands of Americans are dying. It’s now worse than the 2009 swine flu outbreak and is on track with the 2014-15 strain. And it’s not showing any signs of slowing down. Despite this, the media is downplaying the severity of the flu and the government makes the statistics pretty difficult to find. Are they trying to avoid a panic? Do they know something we don’t? Here’s...

(English translation) Given the alarming number of persons infected with the disease, Health Secretary Ana Rius declared yesterday that Puerto Rico is facing an influenza epidemic. The decree was released given the number of cases reported in January which totaled 3,124, a figure very close to the one reported for the last six months of 2014. Most of the hospitalized patients have been pregnant women, children under 19, and elderly, [which are] the highest-risk populations. In fact, an 85-year-old woman already died of the disease. Along with the declaration, the Secretary signed an administrative order for health-insurance companies to cover...

The CDC has today declared a national flu epidemic as virulent mutated versions of this years H3N2 virus sweep the country. Twenty-two states have reported a high number of flu cases, centered mainly around the Midwest and southeast of the country. Since the start of the flu season on October 1 and December 20, CDC figures show that 15 children have died from the virus and four in the week before Christmas. Six children in Tennessee have died this year from the flu according to the state's Department of Health and so far East Tennessee Children's hospital has seen 442...

Hospitals across the country are being stretched for service as this year’s flu season looks to be the most intense in nearly a decade, with facilities beginning to turn patients away because of the danger that it could spread through their staffs. Thirty-nine states and New York City have reported significant levels of influenza-like-illnesses as medical professionals are reminded of the 2003-2004 season when more than 40,000 people died because the predominant strain was so dissimilar from the vaccine that year, reported Fox News. Hospital officials have described the season so far as “chaotic.” Doctors are telling patients to begin...

Labs Urged to Destroy Pandemic Flu Strain Email this Story Apr 12, 6:17 PM (ET) By EMMA ROSS LONDON (AP) - Thousands of scientists were scrambling Tuesday at the urging of global health authorities to destroy vials of a pandemic flu strain sent to labs in 18 countries as part of routine testing. The rush, urged by the World Health Organization, was sparked by a slim, but real, risk that the samples, could spark a global flu epidemic. "The risk is relatively low that a lab worker will get sick, but a large number of labs got it and if...