Officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have approved vaccines for the 2010-2011 influenza season. This yearâs flu vaccine will protect against three strains of flu, including the H1N1 Swine Flu.
âThe best way to protect yourself and your family against influenza is to get vaccinated every year,â said Dr. Karen Midthun, acting director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a statement. âThe availability of a new seasonal influenza vaccine each year is an important tool in the prevention of influenza related illnesses and death.â
Also, remember the best non-medical treatment is prevention – wash your hands often and thoroughly!
Despite the 2010 recent developments in the H1N1 sphere, a new specter has emerged that could prove more virulent and deadly than even H1N1 – The MRSA Epidemic. (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus).
From USNewsWire:
More Americans die annually from invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections than from HIV/AIDS, H1N1 influenza and Parkinson’s disease, yet the United States and many other countries’ health officials continue to ignore the global crisis.
Due to MRSA’s most recent development, it’s move from hospital/acute-care environments to outside areas, most notably beaches, MRSA has come to the forefront for those concerned about their family’s exposure to potentially deadly epidemics, such as MRSA or H1N1.
USAToday reports:
A study by researchers at the University of Washington has for the first time identified methicillin-resistant Staph aureus (MRSA) in marine water and beach sand from seven public beaches
As of June 2010, the H1N1 Swine Flu virus has moved from humans, back into pigs, where it began originally. Now prominent virologists are concerned that the strain that again emerges from the swine population will be so different from the 2009 strain, that we may again be faced with the dramatic, deadly pandemic level threat of last year.
A new strain of swine flu shows that the pandemic version has jumped from humans back to pigs, where it’s evolving in new and unpredictable ways.[...]
“Hoping for the best while preparing for the worst seems a sensible strategy,” said University of Hong Kong virologist Malik Peiris. The strain is described June 18 in Science.
Yi Guan, a scientist who as instrumental in limiting the SARS oiutbreak as well as an outspoken critic of WHO’s handling of the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, has clamied that further mutation, plus a reassortment with other strins, like the H5N1, which he claims is widespread everywhere but North America, would be “super nightmare for the whole world.”
When pressed further by sciencemag.org, Yi Guan is quoted as saying:
If that happens, I will retire immediately and lock myself in the P3 lab. H5N1 kills half the people it infects. Even if you inject yourself with a vaccine, it may be too late. Maybe in just a couple hours it takes your life.
U.S. health officials caution that a new outbreak of H1N1 Swinr Flu is not only possible, but likely. Busienss Week is reporting that U.S Officials are more concerned than ever about the second wave of H1N1 Swine Flu, which is poied to hit the continental USA in early 2010.
People should get vaccinated against the H1N1 flu while there is a lull in flu activity and vaccine supplies are plentiful, Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said at a Thursday afternoon press conference.
As we come to the end of 2009, many people will remember the health scare of H1N1 Swine Flu – however, the news is good for the future and humanity’s brush with the danger of H1N1 Swine Flu:
A new study from Harvard University has found that swine flu isn’t nearly as dangerous as we first thought it was. Here’s why:
In order to be labeled a pandemic, a disease has to have a fatality ratio of 0.1%. That means it has to result in at least one death for every 1,000 symptomatic infections.
H1N1 swine flu fatality ratio is only about 0.048%, which is LESS than one death for every 2,000 symptomatic infections.
Researcher Marc Lipsitch led the study. He says, quote, “As more detailed data have become available, we have been able to improve our estimates of how severe this disease is . . .
“The good news is that, along with previous work by the CDC and others, our work shows that the severity of the H1N1 flu may be less than initially feared.”
High risk individuals should be vaccinated as soon as possible against H1N1 Swine Flu.
Risk Groups still in danger from H1N1 Swine Flu:
Young children . . . pregnant women . . . the elderly . . . people with asthma . . . and people with compromised immune systems.
Stories of children getting sicker or women becoming deformed after receiving a shot, are frightening people about how âunsafeâ the H1N1 Swine Flu Vcaaine could be. These rumors are completely untrue, as is the popular online urban legend about the US Government using the H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccination Centers as a clever cover up of a secret census, or of some larger plot by the liberal left to frighten people into supporting Obama’s health care schemes.
Public health officials have noted five priority risk groups: pregnant women, healthcare employees, people aged 2 to 24, those aged 25 to 64 with chronic illnesses, and Blacks and Latinos.
Because of the widespread vaccine shortages for both the H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine, and the normal seasonal flu vaccine, Google has launched an H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Find tool designed to help users find the nearest location to get the seasonal and/or H1N1 flu vaccines.
After users enter a ZIP code or town, the tool displays color-coded syringes on a map. Pink syringes indicate the availability of seasonal flu vaccinations, blue syringes represent the availability of swine Flu H1N1 flu vaccinations – pink and blue syringes mean both vaccinations are available.
The American Lung Association and HHS’s flu.gov collaborators also worked on the project.
The flu shot finder includes data for about 20 states so far, and Google says they are curretly updating the map with all US states. No word on if the map will be updated to North America or worldwide.
Discovery Channel, via youtube, has posted a very informative video on a lot of known and little-known H1N1 Swine Flu facts. For those looking to really keep track of H1N1 Swine Flu News, this is invaluable information to make sure your H1N1 Swine Flu News is correct and timely!
Some people are saying that the government is the one who is showing concern for the side-effects of the controversial H1N1 Swine Flu vaccine. The United States government has created an H1N1 Swine Flu Vaccine Side Effects strike force to monitor the side effects oth e H1N1 Swine flu vaccine. More on this:
