Flu ( incl Swine, Bird etc ) 01 (Apr 09 - Sep 12)

[winston]

CBS reporter blows the lid off Swine Flu hype By Dr. Joseph Mercola:

Sharyl Attkisson is the investigative reporter behind the groundbreaking CBS News study that found H1N1 flu cases are NOT as prevalent as feared.

In fact, they’re barely on the radar screen.

How did this startling information come about, and why is the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) painting a different picture entirely?

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... teria.aspx

[millionairemind]

This was in the news just now. Be careful. The children are hallucinating and some even jumped out of the 2nd floor window, resulting in broken legs. I hope its not the case of I AM LEGEND where the new cancer drug cos' man to turn into zombies

151 young flu patients showed signs of abnormal behavior in Sept-Nov

Tuesday 01st December, 05:54 AM JST

TOKYO —

A total of 151 flu patients up to 17 years of age showed signs of abnormal behavior during the period from late September to mid-November, such as acting violently or uttering nonsensical words, the health ministry said Monday.

Most of the cases are believed to have involved those who had the new H1N1 strain of influenza and the strange behavior is thought to have happened regardless of whether they were given the drug Tamiflu, according to a report submitted to a research group at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.

[kennynah]

maybe soon.... japan will have to cordon off tokyo, surrounding the entire city with barricaded walls...with no one allowed to get in or out....

[winston]

China Swine Flu Death Toll Triples In Two Weeks


BEIJING (AFP)--China's official swine flu death toll has tripled in the past two weeks after the government ordered more accurate reporting of fatalities a mid suspicions of a cover-up.

A statement posted on the health ministry's Web site late Tuesday said the number of people reported killed by the influenza Type A/H1N1 virus had jumped to 178 at the weekend, up from a previously reported nationwide tally of 53.

The statement gave no reason for the sharp increase but it comes after the ministry on Nov. 19 ordered more transparent reporting following comments by a renowned medical whistleblower who questioned official tallies.

The statement noted that 'the number of severe cases and deaths continues to rise.'

'The epidemic situation in our nation remains grim,' it said.

Despite reporting tens of thousands of confirmed Type A/H1N1 cases in China since the virus first emerged this spring in North America, the reported death rate here has remained far below that of other countries.

Cover-up suspicions were fuelled last month when medical expert Zhong Nanshan was quoted by a Chinese newspaper saying he suspected authorities in some areas were under-reporting fatalities to convince superiors they were containing the virus.

Zhong's opinion carries weight after he earned wide respect in 2003 for defying the official line on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, outbreak to help reveal the true extent of the illness.

The government had initially tried to hide the SARS outbreak and only owned up after it began to spill over into other countries.

The health ministry order for better reporting came shortly after Zhong's comments were published.

Chinese officials including health minister Chen Zhu have warned repeatedly in recent months that China was likely to see a sharp increase in overall cases of swine flu and deaths during the winter, when flu is most virulent.

Tuesday's health ministry statistical statement said more than 91,000 people had been confirmed to have contracted the virus in China, the vast majority of whom had already recovered.

Source: AFP

[winston]

Swine flu has killed 10,000 Americans since April by Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Swine flu has killed nearly 10,000 Americans, including 1,100 children and 7,500 younger adults, and infected one in six people in the United States since arriving last April, health officials said on Thursday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5 ... health1100

[millionairemind]

Swine Flu Infection Rates Continue to Fall
Just 14 states reporting widespread H1N1 activity, down from 25 states last week, CDC says
Posted December 11, 2009

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Dec. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Swine flu infection rates continue to drop, U.S. health officials said Friday, with only 14 states reporting widespread H1N1 activity, down from 25 states last week and 48 states at the height of the outbreak in October.

Virtually all of the influenza viruses identified so far continue to be H1N1 swine flu virus. And the H1N1 vaccine continues to be a good match for the virus, as do the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on its Web site.
http://health.usnews.com/articles/healt ... -fall.html

[winston]

World H1N1 deaths now at least 11,516: WHO

GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 11,516 people around the globe have died from the H1N1 flu virus since the pandemic emerged in April, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported on Wednesday.

Health

But in its weekly update, which showed an increase in officially reported deaths of nearly 1,000 since its last report, it said the disease appeared to have peaked or plateaued in Western Europe and North America while transmission was declining in parts of Asia.

In the United States and Canada, the virus remained geographically widespread but overall levels of flu-like illnesses had declined substantially and hospitalizations and deaths were dropping, the WHO said.

In Europe, active transmission of the virus was still widespread across the continent but in a majority of countries its activity appeared to have peaked -- although it was increasing in central and eastern parts of the continent.

In an earlier report on Tuesday, the United Nations agency said the pandemic remained moderate but continued to infect and sometimes kill much younger people than traditional seasonal flu.

But although it gives figures of confirmed deaths from H1N1, sometimes known as swine flu, officials at the WHO say comparing mortality numbers from the two types of flu is complicated and can be misleading.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5 ... health1100

[winston]

More swine flu vaccine recalled: FDA by Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit is voluntarily recalling some of its H1N1 swine flu vaccine because it was not as potent as it should be.

Norman Baylor, director of the office of vaccines research and review at the FDA, said the recall involves a total of 4.7 million doses of the company's nasal spray vaccine, but only about 3,000 of those doses are left in warehouses.

The rest of the doses were given out in October and November, when the vaccine was still at full potency, Baylor told reporters on a conference call.

The FDA said people who had already received the vaccine do not need another dose.

The company is the second to recall H1N1 swine flu vaccine in the past month. Sanofi-Aventis SA on December 15 recalled 800,000 doses of its pediatric H1N1 swine flu vaccine because it is not as potent as it should be.

MedImmune said in a statement the recall involves unused doses of 13 specific lots of 2009 H1N1 nasal spray vaccine, because of a slight decrease in potency that was detected during regular checks.

"The doses were well within potency specifications at the time of distribution," said Tor Constantino, a spokesman for the unit of AstraZeneca.

He said the recall was not for safety issues, but was intended to notify any healthcare providers who may still have some of the recalled vaccine in their refrigerators.

"The cause of the loss of potency is being investigated," Constantino said by telephone, adding that this has not been an issue in the past with the company's seasonal flu vaccine.

MedImmune is recommending that all lots marked with an expiration date of between January 19 and January 26, 2010 not be used.

Constantino said the company has delivered 23 million of the total 40 million doses on its contract with the U.S. government. He said the recalled doses were some of the earliest the company made, and most have already been given to people.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department has contracts with five companies to make 251 million doses of H1N1 vaccine as well as seasonal flu vaccine -- Sanofi Aventis, CSL of Australia, AstraZeneca unit MedImmune and GlaxoSmithKline.

The CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat said on Tuesday 111 million doses of H1N1 vaccine have been made available so far.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5 ... health1100

[winston]

WHO chief: swine flu pandemic continues

WHO chief says too early to say if swine flu pandemic has peaked everywhere

The head of the World Health Organization says it is too early to declare that the swine flu pandemic has peaked worldwide.

Dr. Margaret Chan says the outbreak of the H1N1 virus has peaked in the U.S., Canada and some other countries in the northern hemisphere. But not all countries have seen the peak and winter is still long.

She tells the Geneva daily Le Temps that Africa has not seen a surge in the number of swine flu cases. That could be due to weak reporting or because the full outbreak there may be yet to come.

She was scheduled to brief reporters Tuesday.

Source: AP News

[winston]

May take a year to conquer H1N1 flu pandemic: WHO by Stephanie Nebehay

* World H1N1 deaths now at least 11,516: WHO
* Pandemic flu remains moderate but strikes young: WHO
* H1N1 might have peaked in Canada

GENEVA (Reuters) - The H1N1 flu pandemic may not be conquered until 2011 and continued vigilance is required against the virus which can still mutate, the head of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan also warned that although countries have shored up their defenses against the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, they remain ill-prepared for mass outbreaks of the deadlier bird flu virus.

"It is still premature and too early for us to say we have come to an end of the pandemic influenza worldwide. It would be prudent and appropriate ... to continue to monitor the evolution of this pandemic for the next six to 12 months," Chan told a year-end news conference.

"The one thing we need to guard against is a sense of complacency," she added.

Countries including Britain, Canada and the United States have passed peaks of a second wave of H1N1, but outbreaks are intensifying in India, Egypt and elsewhere, according to Chan.

H1N1 has now spread to more than 200 countries, with nearly 12,000 deaths confirmed in laboratory, but it will probably take two years to establish the true death toll, she said.

Millions of people have been infected with the virus which emerged in April, most recovering without special treatment.

But young people, pregnant women and people with underlying health conditions such as heart or lung disease are more vulnerable and often require intensive care in hospital.

Influenza viruses are notoriously unpredictable and can mutate into more severe forms, according to the WHO chief.

Chan, who admitted she had not received her own H1N1 flu shot yet but would have it soon, said: "I am a bit more relaxed, but I will never let down my guard."

VACCINES FOR POOR COUNTRIES

Rich countries and drug companies have pledged to donate 190 million doses of H1N1 vaccine for use in some 90 developing countries, she said.

Her United Nations agency plans to start distributing the first doses in Azerbaijan and Mongolia in early January, to be followed by Afghanistan, she added.

On recalls of some H1N1 vaccine -- by AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit and Sanofi-Aventis SA -- she said they were because they were not as potent as they should be but posed no risk.

"The recalls are not related to safety of vaccines," she said, saying the issue had been dealt with in an "ethical way."

Chan, noting the world's financial crisis and weak health systems in some countries, said: "The fact that the long overdue influenza pandemic is so moderate in its impact is probably the best health news of the decade."

But Chan, who fought avian flu and SARS while serving as health director in her native Hong Kong, said the world was still not ready to combat a pandemic of the H5N1 bird flu virus, noting it was "more toxic and deadly."

"No, the world is not ready for a pandemic to be caused by H5N1," she said.