Nation-wide alert for swine flu epidemic

[Imran Khan]

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Nation-wide alert for swine flu epidemic
Updated at: 2109 PST, Wednesday, April 29, 2009
ISLAMABAD: The government has taken precautionary measures at airports and sea ports to monitor the swine flu virus, a health official said here Wednesday.

"No case has been reported in any part of the country," Director General of Health Ministry Abdur Rasheed Juma said at a news conference in Islamabad.

Juma said all airports have been asked to screen passengers entering Pakistan, and some 200 passengers, who arrived from Toronto in the eastern city of Lahore, were screened at the airport.

"The Health Ministry is cognizant of the risk posed to human health as a result of reported cases and fatalities associated with swine flu in Mexico, the United States, Canada and parts of Europe," Juma said.

[Imran Khan]

Flu stories traveling faster than flu itself
permalinke-mail story to a friendprint version29 April, 2009, 19:15

The swine flu virus is spreading across the globe. Even though experts say the world has never been better prepared for a pandemic there remains an underlying fear of hysteria.

Reddit At the epicenter of the outbreak in Mexico there are 2,500 suspected cases and 150 deaths attributed to the virus. Of those only 49 people were confirmed to have the virus and seven of those are confirmed to have died from it.

In the US, there are 65 people infected and one death of a child has been reported. Roughly two dozen people are diagnosed with swine flu in countries throughout the world including New Zealand, Canada, Germany, the UK, Spain and Israel.

Russia so far has no confirmed cases of swine flu infection. The authorities have imposed a ban on swine imports and are screening people at airports for influenza-like symptoms such as high temperatures

[sms]

All updates related to This global proble, follwoing are some of the Q&A pls. read and try to follow....

Q: What is swine flu?
A: Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses, it does not normally infect humans. But sporadic cases do occur, usually for people who have had close contact with pigs.

Q: Is there a new type of swine flu?
A: The World Health Organization has confirmed a new version of swine influenza A (H1N1) virus. This new virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. As of 26 April 2009, there has been 20 laboratory confirmed human cases of swine influenza A/H1N1 in U.S., and 18 in Mexico.

Q: What are the signs and symptoms of swine flu in people?
A: The symptoms are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some may have diarrhea and vomiting.

Q: How does swine flu spread?
A: Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

Q: How long can an infected person spread swine flu to others?
A: Infected people may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 7 or more days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.

Q: What can I do to protect myself from getting sick?
A: There is no vaccine available right now to protect against swine flu. But you can take the following everyday steps to protect your health:

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
Bring along surgical masks for use whenever appropriate,
Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
If you develop respiratory illness within 7 days after returning from the affected places, you should put on a surgical mask and seek medical consultation from public clinics and hospitals immediately.

Q: Can I get swine influenza from eating or preparing pork?
A: No. Swine influenza viruses are not spread by food. You cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.

[white_pawn]

WHO watching Spain for signs of flu transmission

GENEVA, Switzerland (CNN) -- The number of confirmed swine flu cases worldwide has risen to 154, with six additional cases reported in Spain, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

A passenger wears a face mask Thursday at Gatwick Airport in England on arrival from Mexico.
more photos » The WHO is troubled because in one of the 10 cases in Spain the virus was transmitted from person-to-person within the community.

The other nine infected people had returned from Mexico, where the crisis is most severe, according to WHO spokesman Dick Thompson.

If Spain sees more such cases of community transmission, the world body may have to elevate its pandemic alert to its highest level. Phase 6 is the pandemic phase and is characterized by a community-level outbreak in another country in a different WHO region.

Spain falls in a different region from the United States and Mexico -- the two countries that have until now shown human-to-human spread.

"The significance is that it's another phase," Thompson said. "The virus is becoming established in another area, another country."

But, Thompson added, the virus would have to show a sustained pattern of transmission in order for the level to be raised. Watch how Mexican authorities are dealing with the outbreak »

"We're looking for intergenerational spread. So, that means from a traveler to a spouse to the butcher to the kindergarten, something like that -- through generations of spread in one community."

For now, the WHO's breakdown of confirmed cases is: United States, 91, including one death; Mexico, 26, seven deaths; Canada, 13; Spain, 10; United Kingdom, five; Germany, three; New Zealand, three; Israel, two; Austria, one.

Peru and Switzerland reported their first cases late Wednesday and early Thursday, respectively -- but they were not among the WHO's official tally.

The WHO is also investigating possible swine flu cases: 11 in New Zealand, 2 in France; 1 in South Korea, and 1 in Switzerland.

The world health body defines "possible" as cases where the patient tested positive for Influenza A -- the general category of strains that includes the H1N1 swine virus. But further tests are needed to verify whether they are positive for that specific virus.

Meanwhile, the family of a toddler who became the first confirmed U.S. death from swine flu was back in Mexico Thursday, awaiting the arrival of his cremated body.

Federal health officials warned the 22-month-old boy's death would not be the last in the United States as the swine flu cases continue to mount at home and abroad.

On Wednesday, the WHO raised its pandemic threat to its second-highest level, warning of widespread human infection from the outbreak that originated in Mexico and has been jumping from person to person with relative ease. Learn about swine flu »

It urged countries to ramp up efforts to produce a vaccine.

"It really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic," said Dr. Margaret Chan, the WHO's director-general. "We do not have all the answers right now, but we will get them."

Nowhere has been as hard hit as Mexico, where thousands stream into hospitals in Mexico City daily complaining of sore throats and aches.

Before it spread to four continents, the first cases of the virus were detected in Mexico -- including the earliest documented case, a 5-year-old boy in a small mountain village in the state of Veracruz.

On Wednesday, medics in Mexico City tended to patients in tents set up outside hospitals while clad head-to-toe in biohazard suits, goggles and two pairs of glasses.

The government has ordered a shutdown of about 35,000 public venues, mandated restaurants to serve takeout only and closed all nonessential government offices and private businesses.

The shutdown, beginning Friday and lasting until Tuesday, encompasses the long Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend, and may be extended, officials said.

"We're all very alarmed for ourselves and our families," said Cadina Navarro, who lives in eastern Mexico City. "We're going through difficult times."

Mexican President Felipe Calderon took to television late Wednesday night, telling an anxious nation the country has enough medicine to cure the sick.

"In times of difficulty, we've always come together," he said. "Together we will overcome this disease."

But his words did little to calm jittery nerves.

"With stories and statistics changing by the hour, it seems, we just don't know what to believe," said Melvin Francisquini, who is working as a volunteer in Mexico City after getting laid off from his job in the United States.

Mexican health officials suspect the swine flu may have killed more than 150 and infected roughly 2,500.

But even Mexico's number of confirmed cases differs from the WHO count: 99 infected versus WHO's 26; eight deaths versus WHO's seven.

In a city of 20 million, it has became impossible to find protective surgical masks, which the government had given to one out of every five residents.

"If everyone taking mass transit were wearing blue masks, I would feel safer," Francisquini said. "But they are not. This is why I continue to change the times I get into and leave work. Otherwise, as long as I'm not taking mass transit, I do feel safe."

Back in Texas, the funeral home director who carried out the cremation of the swine flu victim said the services "left an impression" on him.

"They were a very, very nice family," said the director, Gregory Compean, who has been in business for 25 years. "The mother was very distraught."

The boy, whose name CNN is withholding, arrived in the border town of Brownsville on April 4 with his architect father, his mother and five siblings, said Compean.

He fell ill with flu symptoms four days later, was airlifted to a Houston children's hospital, and died Monday night.

He had "several underlying health problems," and was likely infected in Mexico, state health officials said, without elaborating.

Swine flu is a contagious respiratory disease that affects pigs and can jump to humans. Symptoms include fever, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

But this virus, technically called 2009 H1N1, is a hybrid of swine, avian and human strains, and no vaccine has been developed for it.

In response, countries are scrambling to prevent its spread.

In the United States, where the cases are spread over 10 states, President Barack Obama called on schools with confirmed or possible swine flu cases to consider closing temporarily. At least 74 elementary, junior high and high schools have done so, the Department of Education said Wednesday. Watch Obama touch on swine flu during his press conference »

Ecuador joined Cuba and Argentina in banning travel to or from Mexico. Egypt is reportedly considering culling all pigs although there have been no reported cases of swine flu in that country.

Some, such as China and Russia, have banned pork imports from the United States and Mexico, though the WHO says the disease is not transmitted through eating or preparing pig meat.


Amidst the anxiety, health officials tried to tamp down concerns.

"When you think pandemic, people tend to reflect on the pandemics from years past," said Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent. "Lots have changed. We are better taking care of people in hospitals, we have anti-viral medications. It doesn't mean everyone's going to die."


WHO watching Spain for signs of flu transmission - CNN.com

[Neo]

Its starting to take pandemic proportion.
Check the map:

HealthMap | Global disease alert map

[Imran Khan]

why multy thread on same topic? i post yesterday a thread on it.sir neo please merge them both.

[jeypore]

This morning, here in Atlanta, GA. We have confirmed 1 case of swine-flu case. 30 year old lady travelled from cancun, mexico.

[Neo]

Threads merged.

[qsaark]

This is my 4th day, but I am recovering, albeit very slowly. I live in Atlanta, so you can count this as 2nd case. I guess I contracted it in Inman Park Festival, from some infected person. It is really laughable when a virologist gets knocked down by a virus.

Prayers needed.

Thanks.

[sms]

@qsaark - Get well soon...

It's interesting that regular seasonal flus kill about 36,000 people in the United States in an average year and send 200,000 to the hospital.

Swine flu may be less potent than first feared
By MIKE STOBBE and DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writers Mike Stobbe And David B. Caruso, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 11 mins ago
The swine flu outbreak that has alarmed the world for a week now appears less ominous, with the virus showing little staying power in the hardest-hit cities and scientists suggesting it lacks the genetic fortitude of past killer bugs.

President Barack Obama even voiced hope Friday that it may turn out to be no more harmful than the average seasonal flu. In New York City, which has the most confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S. with 49, swine flu has not spread far beyond cases linked to one Catholic school. In Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak, very few relatives of flu victims seem to have caught it.

A flu expert said he sees no reason to believe the virus is particularly lethal. And a federal scientist said the germ's genetic makeup lacks some traits seen in the deadly 1918 flu pandemic strain and the more recent killer bird flu.

Still, it was too soon to be certain what the swine flu virus will do. Experts say the only wise course is to prepare for the worst. But in a world that's been rattled by the specter of a global pandemic, glimmers of hope were more than welcome Friday.

"It may turn out that H1N1 runs its course like ordinary flus, in which case we will have prepared and we won't need all these preparations," Obama said, using the flu's scientific name. The president stressed the government was still taking the virus very seriously, adding that even if this round turns out to be mild, the bug could return in a deadlier form during the next flu season.

New York officials said after a week of monitoring the disease that the city's outbreak gives little sign of spreading beyond a few pockets or getting more dangerous. All but two of the city's confirmed cases so far involve people associated with the high school where the local outbreak began and where several students had recently returned from Mexico.

More than 1,000 students, parents and faculty there reported flu symptoms over just a few days last month. But since then, only a handful of new infections have been reported — only eight students since last Sunday. Almost everyone who became ill before then are either recovering or already well. The school, which was closed this past week, is scheduled to reopen Monday. No new confirmed cases were identified in the city on Friday, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the outbreak in New York had so far proved to be "a relatively minor annoyance."

In Mexico, where swine flu has killed at least 16 people and the confirmed case count has surpassed 300, the health secretary said few of the relatives of 86 suspected swine flu patients had caught the virus. Only four of the 219 relatives surveyed turned up as probable cases. As recently as Wednesday, Mexican authorities said there were 168 suspected swine flu deaths in the country and almost 2,500 suspected cases. The officials have stopped updating that number and say those totals may have even been inflated.

Worldwide, the total confirmed cases neared 600, although that number is also believed to be much larger. Besides the U.S. and Mexico, the virus has been detected in Canada, New Zealand, China, Israel and eight European nations. here were still plenty of signs Friday of worldwide concern.

China decided to suspend flights from Mexico to Shanghai because of a case of swine flu confirmed in a flight from Mexico, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. And in Hong Kong, hundreds of hotel guests and workers were quarantined after a tourist from Mexico tested positive for swine flu, Asia's first confirmed case.

Evoking the 2003 SARS outbreak, workers in protective suits and masks wiped down tables, floors and windows. Guests at the hotel waved to photographers from their windows. Scientists looking closely at the H1N1 virus itself have found some encouraging news, said Nancy Cox, flu chief at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its genetic makeup doesn't show specific traits that showed up in the 1918 pandemic virus, which killed about 40 million to 50 million people worldwide.

"However, we know that there is a great deal that we do not understand about the virulence of the 1918 virus or other influenza viruses" that caused serious illnesses, Cox said. "So we are continuing to learn."

She told The Associated Press that the swine flu virus also lacked genetic traits associated with the virulence of the bird flu virus, which grabbed headlines a few years ago and has killed 250 people, mostly in Asia.

complete artical..... Swine flu may be less potent than first feared

[sms]

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Swine Influenza (swine flu – H1N1) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs.* People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen.* Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people. However, in March 2009, some people in Mexico and America were found infected H1N1 flu virus which could spread among people. Till the end of April, H1N1 flu virus infection cases were found in more than 10 countries covering four continents, consequently, WHO announced the alarm of Phase 5

In order to help you know more about H1N1 flu virus and protect yourselves from it, I've collected following information for your reference

How is it spread?
Humans with direct exposure to pigs are those most commonly infected with H1N1 flu virus. Human-to-human spread of H1N1 flu virus viruses have been documented; however, it's not known how easily the spread occurs. Just as the common flu is passed along, swine flu is thought to be spread by coughing, sneezing, or touching something that has the live virus on it.
If infected, a person may be able to infect another person one day before symptoms develop; therefore, a person is able to pass the flu on before they know they are sick. Infected individuals may spread the virus for seven or more days after becoming sick.
Those with H1N1 flu virus should be considered potentially contagious as long as they are showing symptoms, and up to seven days or longer from the onset of their illness. Children might be contagious for longer periods of time.

What are the signs and symptoms of H1N1 flu virus in people?
The symptoms of H1N1 flu virus in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with H1N1 flu virus. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with H1N1 flu virus infection in people. Like seasonal flu, H1N1 flu virus may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.

What are some of the best ways for prevention?

- Avoid close contact with people who appear unwell and who have fever and cough
- Avoid shaking hands, be polite and explain the current circumstances.
- Keep hands away from eyes, nose, and mouth unless they have been washed and are clean.
- Wash your hands with soap and water frequently and thoroughly.
- Practice good health habits, eat nutritious food, and keep physically active.
- Seek immediate medical attention if you develop any symptoms of influenza-like illness.

Are there medicines to treat H1N1 flu virus?
Research indicates that there are some medicines to treat this flu. We suggest you go to the World Health Organization (WHO) web site www.who.int for more information on this topic and/or consult with your local doctor.

Would a recent vaccination for the seasonal flu help protect against H1N1 flu virus?
The WHO reports that those individuals who received the seasonal flu vaccine do not have added protection against the H1N1 flu virus. The human H1N1 viruses are very different from the H1N1 viruses responsible for the recent outbreaks of H1N1 flu virus. Therefore, a seasonal flu vaccine would not protect against the H1N1 flu virus.

Pls. take good care of yourself, your family and friends.