Flu Pandemic

Re "Dr. Bush's flu flim-flam," Current, Jan. 8 Is a flu pandemic a real danger? Absolutely. Is it inevitable and overdue? Not at all. This is the twisted logic of the ill-informed all-night gambler perched on a stool at the roulette wheel. He tells himself that because double-zero hasn't materialized in the last eight hours, its appearance is now "inevitable and overdue," and he bets accordingly. Nuclear war hasn't occurred since the first atomic bomb went off in 1945. Is it overdue?

Against the backdrop of the H1N1 flu pandemic, congressional Democrats are pushing for emergency sick-leave legislation and using the crisis to garner support for a wider-ranging bill -- both of which, they say, would help prevent a more rapid spread of the virus by mandating that employers provide workers with paid time off. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairing a health subcommittee hearing Tuesday, said that requiring businesses with 15 or more employees to offer seven paid days off a year would end a dangerous choice "between staying healthy and making ends meet."

The U.S. is unprepared for the next flu pandemic, lacking the manufacturing capacity to provide 300 million doses of a vaccine for three to five more years, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said. "We're not as prepared as we need to be," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We will not have enough for everyone." A strain of a bird flu that has killed 67 people in Asia has sparked concerns of a super-flu that could kill millions worldwide, and U.S.

Even with the government reducing its estimates for upcoming vaccine supplies and some researchers predicting that pandemic H1N1 influenza infections are peaking this week, federal health authorities have been emphasizing the unpredictability of flu viruses in general. If their warning about the danger of a second, larger wave of infections after the first of the year proves true, even a delayed vaccine could have an impact. The U.S. is now expected to have only about 50 million doses of vaccine available by the middle of next month and 150 million by year's end, said Dr. Nicole Lurie, the Health and Human Services assistant secretary for preparedness and response.

The Bush administration's $7.1-billion flu pandemic plan cannot succeed without the cooperation of many players, from local health departments to foreign governments in remote corners of the world. And in most cases, they are already spread thin. "You have to have public health people available to identify the cases, put them on antivirals and track down their contacts" with other people, said Dr. Warner Hudson, a flu expert at UC Davis Medical Center.

No one knows whether the bird flu now migrating across the globe will cause a human pandemic, but researchers say it is inevitable that some flu virus eventually will. "It's like predicting the Big One in California," said Dr. Arnold S. Monto, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan and a former president of the American Epidemiological Society. "We are overdue for another pandemic. But we don't know when it will hit."

Somewhere on Long Island, in an undisclosed location, sits a replica of the trading floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Except that this one is eerily silent. Here, in this 46,000-square-foot site in Nassau County, with tiered trading pits for crude oil, natural gas, gold, silver and other commodities, the engines of capitalism will continue thrumming if a catastrophe should shutter lower Manhattan.

Against the backdrop of the H1N1 flu pandemic, congressional Democrats are pushing for emergency sick-leave legislation and using the crisis to garner support for a wider-ranging bill -- both of which, they say, would help prevent a more rapid spread of the virus by mandating that employers provide workers with paid time off. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairing a health subcommittee hearing Tuesday, said that requiring businesses with 15 or more employees to offer seven paid days off a year would end a dangerous choice "between staying healthy and making ends meet."

I enjoyed Vani Rangachar's description of Pescadero ["A Beacon for Fans of Small-Town Life," Western Travel, Aug. 20]. She mentions visiting the cemetery set on a hillside overlooking the village. Yes, you can sense the town's history by reading the worn and sometimes heart-wrenching tombstones. Many bear the same September 1918 date of death. Evidently the town was hit with the flu pandemic of that year. I remember one poignant epitaph, which stated, "Here lies Baby Jane.

The United Nations is considering using "flu-casters," modeled on television weather forecasters, to publicize vital information if a global flu pandemic strikes. They could broadcast the latest developments from emergency-response facilities at the U.N.'s World Health Organization in Geneva, said David Nabarro, the U.N.'s top influenza coordinator. "The flu-casters would draw out the maps and keep people engaged at regular intervals ...

The visible symbol of the H1N1 flu outbreak last spring seemed to be face masks. Suddenly, they were everywhere -- in airports and waiting rooms, on buses and trains. Many drugstores sold out of masks. As the nation girds itself for a renewed fall outbreak, however, masks may make a reappearance. Should I wear a mask? In general, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend use of face masks or respirators in non-healthcare settings. But there are exceptions.

The federal government and vaccine makers are seeking thousands of volunteers, from babies to the elderly, to test whether a new swine flu vaccine works. The National Institutes of Health tapped a network of medical centers around the country to begin a series of studies on a vaccine for the H1N1 flu pandemic. The first shots will go into the arms of healthy adults, of any age, in early August. If there are no immediate safety concerns, such as allergic reactions, testing would begin in children as young as 6 months.

How bizarre! The World Health Organization has declared swine flu a "pandemic," signaling governments worldwide to launch emergency response plans. The mildest pandemics of the 20th century killed at least a million people worldwide, according to the WHO's data, while old-fashioned seasonal flu strikes every nation yearly and kills an estimated 250,000 to 500,000.

Millions of students in Mexico returned to class Thursday as the country reopened universities and high schools after a two-week closure aimed at containing the H1N1 flu virus. Elementary and kindergarten classes are scheduled to resume Monday. Museums also reopened across the country, and in Mexico City patrons again filled restaurants, bars and other public places -- although authorities required people in such venues to maintain a distance from one another.

On Long Island, N.Y., hospitals are scrambling to bring extra workers in to handle a 50% surge in visitors to emergency rooms. In Galveston, Texas, the local hospital ran out of flu testing kits after being overwhelmed with patients worried about having contracted swine flu. At Loma Linda University Medical Center near San Bernardino, emergency room workers have set up a tent in the parking lot to handle a crush of similar patients.

Somewhere on Long Island, in an undisclosed location, sits a replica of the trading floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Except that this one is eerily silent. Here, in this 46,000-square-foot site in Nassau County, with tiered trading pits for crude oil, natural gas, gold, silver and other commodities, the engines of capitalism will continue thrumming if a catastrophe should shutter lower Manhattan.

A super-flu could kill up to 1.9 million Americans, according to a draft of the government's plan to fight a worldwide epidemic. Officials are rewriting that plan to designate not just who cares for the sick but who will keep the country running amid the chaos, said an influenza specialist who was advising the government on those decisions. The Bush administration has spent the last year updating its plan for how to fight the next flu pandemic.

Re "Risk of Bird Flu Worries Experts," Oct. 9 Well, it should. The nation now has more than 40 million uninsured, and a similar number of underinsured. The numbers grow every day as more employers cut back on medical insurance. What will happen when some of these people become early flu victims? They will avoid seeking medical help because they cannot afford it. Finally, their symptoms will become so serious they will desperately seek help in crowded emergency facilities. How many others will they have infected in the meantime?

washington -- Don't be alarmed if your local bank teller is looking a bit sickly over the next three weeks. It is only a cyber-illness. Hundreds of banks and other financial institutions are participating in the largest test of its kind ever conducted to ensure the nation's financial system can keep functioning in case of an outbreak of pandemic flu. The test began Monday and is scheduled to run for three weeks.

"THE threat of an influenza pandemic is, at present, one of the most significant public health issues our nation and world faces." -- Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenback, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, April 2007 "We know that a pandemic will eventually occur. We always say it's not a question of if; it's a question of when." -- Dr.