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.
Australia has now recorded it’s first confirmed death from H1N1 Swine Flu. The H1N1 Swine Flu appears to be on the increase in Australia as well as other countries in the Southern hemisphere, as it is now flu season. H1N1 Swine Flu experts are currently watching places like Australia carefully, as these places will be the breeding grounds for the second wave of H1N1 Swine Flu, which will strike America and Europe in the Fall of 2009.
AUSTRALIA’S first death of a person with swine flu has been confirmed in Adelaide, as the virus appears to be on the march in the nation’s most remote regions.
The 26-year-old man who died is believed to be from the remote West Australian community of Kiwikurra, more than 600km west of Alice Springs in the Gibson Desert, and close to the Northern Territory-South Australian border.
The now pandemic disease H1N1 Swine Flu continues to rage through the US, particularly in the Northeast, where it has been particularly virulent. New York was one of the first hotspots for H1N1 Swine Flu virus, when the Swine Flu first emerged from Mexico.
Nearly 5,000 new U.S. swine flu cases have been reported in the last week, due partly to its continuing spread in the Northeast.
The number of deaths rose from 27 to 45. That’s according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which released new figures Friday. There are nearly 18,000 probable and confirmed cases now, found in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
[...] cases continue to spread in New England, New York and New Jersey.
It’s official, the Swine Flu H1N1 Virus has been declared a global pandemic. The reach of the deadly H1N1 Swine flu now extends to over 70 countries, with over 27000 people infected worldwide. The H1N1 Swine Flu mortality rate is thankfully low, though experts are warning of much more severe cases of H1N1 Swine Flu during the second wave.
The second weave of H1N1 Swine Flu is expected in North America in the fall, especially as the CDC and WHO are not advocating travel restrictions or border crossings.
The World Health Organization says the spread of swine flu has created the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.
The announcement by WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan came Thursday as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere to near 30,000 cases.
Chan said she decided to raise the pandemic alert level from phase 5 to 6, meaning that a global outbreak of swine flu has begun, after an emergency meeting on swine flu with top experts.
Despite this bad news, WHO is cautioning countries that the response to the Pandemic threat level reaching 6 should not be overboard:
“At this early stage, the pandemic can be characterized globally as being moderate in severity,” WHO said in the statement, urging nations not to close borders or restrict travel and trade.
The H1N1 Swine Flu death toll rose to 91 deaths and 11,168 cases of infection, though the WHO data shows 86 deaths and 12022 cases. In brighter news, the US Governemtn has now decided it will indeed pay for the development of a Swine Flu H1N1 vaccine. Experts are concerned about a second wave of the H1N1 Swine flu virus thta may return to the hardest hit part of the world, North America, in the Fall.
Eighteen U.S. soldiers have been confirmed as the first cases in Kuwait with H1N1 flu, the undersecretary of the ministry of health said on Sunday.
“They are 18 U.S. soldiers that were confirmed with the virus upon their arrival from their country to the military base (in Kuwait),” Ibrahim al-Abdulhadi told Reuters.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday the U.S. will spend $1 billion to start the process of making an H1N1 influenza vaccine.
The money, which comes from funds already set aside for pandemic influenza, will fund new and existing contracts with influenza vaccine makers such as Sanofi Aventis SA, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis.
·The number of deaths caused by A/H1N1 virus has risen to 91, health officials said.
·More than 11,168 people in 44 countries and regions have reportedly contracted the virus.
New York city has reported it’s first serious case of the Swine Flu H1N1 Virus, but the number of infections in the laregst city in the US has been increaisng at an alarming rate. New school closures are causing residents to become more nervous, and the Mayor of New York admits that the stories of H1N1 swine flu infection are “troubling”, and says that H1N1 Swine flu infection rates in New York are at “unusually high levels”. New York is potentially a prime candidate as a starting point for a pandemic wave of the H1N1 Swine flu. The combination of high population density, ability of the residents to leave, thereby dispersing the infections outward, and areas of poverty with limited access to doctors or medical facilities make it a breeding ground of a pandemic-like spread of H1N1 Swine Flu.
New York City closed three public schools for at least five school days because of “unusually high levels” of flu-like illness, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
“I know that many will find this information troubling, but information I’ve always thought is the best antidote to anxiety and we will continue to provide New Yorkers with clear, accurate and timely information as we have it,” Bloomberg said last night at a City Hall news conference, where he was joined by Governor David Paterson and city schools Chancellor Joel Klein. “By taking common sense precautions and not by overreacting we will get through this together.”
The male assistant principal at Intermediate School 238 in Jamaica, in the city borough of Queens, where more than 50 students have been sent home ill, may have had a pre-existing condition that worsened his illness, Bloomberg said.
Peru confirmed its first case of H1N1 Swine Flu, a 27-year-old woman who traveled to her Lima home from New York, Health Minister Oscar Ugarte said yesterday. Measures such as total shutdown and Social Distancing may not be as viable for containing H1N1 Swine Flu infection in New York as they were in Mexico – and this has the New York school system acting quickly to close down schools immediately.
School Closures
In addition to IS 238, or the Susan B. Anthony School, the schools shut in New York yesterday are Public School 16Q in Corona, Queens, where 29 students were documented with flu-like symptoms, and IS 5Q, the Walter Crowley Intermediate School in Elmhurst, Queens, where 241 students were reported absent.
“We have been carefully monitoring the H1N1 virus, and we’re taking this action today because there are unusually high levels of flu-like illnesses at three public schools,” Bloomberg said yesterday.
A total of 4,500 students attend the three schools. The earliest date the schools may reopen is May 22 under the order put in place after health officials discovered the influenza symptoms. Bloomberg said swine flu has been documented in the assistant principal and four students.
Vice president Joe Biden said today he would tell his family members not to use subways in the U.S. and hinted that schools should/would be closed as the swine flu outbreak spreads to most US states.
As of 17:00 GMT, 30 April 2009, 11 countries have officially reported 257 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection.
As of 10:30 AM April 30, 2009, here is a full list of US states with cases of H1N1 Swine Flu infection:
Arizona 1
California 14
Indiana 1
Kansas 2
Massachusetts 2
Michigan 1
Nevada 1
New York 50
Ohio 1
South Carolina 10
Texas 26
