Swine Flu

At least 1 million Americans have contracted the novel H1N1 influenza, according to mathematical models prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while data from the field indicate that the virus continues to spread even though the normal flu season is over, and that an increasing proportion of victims are being hospitalized. Meanwhile, the virus is continuing its rapid spread through the Southern Hemisphere. Nearly 28,000 laboratory-confirmed U.S.

Flu was in the news Tuesday, with updates on seasonal influenza in the U.S. and on the debate over bird flu research that is raging around the world. In general, Americans have had a mild flu season this year.  But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in its weekly FluView Surveillance Report that, for the first time this season, more than 10% of respiratory specimens collected in the U.S. tested positive for the flu -- 10.5%, versus 7.6% the prior week.  According to the CDC, surpassing 10% is considered an indication that "flu season is beginning.

Warren D. Ward, 48, was in high school when the swine flu threat of 1976 swept the U.S. The Whittier man remembers the episode vividly because a relative died in the 1918 flu pandemic, and the 1976 illness was feared to be a direct descendant of the deadly virus. "The government wanted everyone to get vaccinated," Ward said. "But the epidemic never really broke out. It was a threat that never materialized." What did materialize were cases of a rare side effect thought to be linked to the shot.

In recent weeks I've had occasion to wonder whether Talmudic scholars of yore ever debated the question of what to do when a nice Jewish boy came down with swine flu. Less shameful than a diagnosis of trichinosis, perhaps, in which the subject would surely be harshly judged for his complicity in having partaken of undercooked pork. Yet hasn't a swine flu victim also ingested (or at least inhaled) the virus one way or another? Admittedly, this was not foremost on my mind when, in 2006, my wife and I purchased a drug called Tamiflu.

The novel H1N1 flu virus, commonly called swine flu, appears to be no more dangerous than many seasonal flu strains -- but it spreads more easily than many viruses. Most at risk for infection : Children and young adults under the age of 25 have been the most likely to contract the virus in the United States. For seasonal flu, the elderly, the very young and the chronically ill are usually most susceptible. The toll: In the U.S., as of Sept. 10, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was reporting 9,079 hospitalizations and 593 deaths related to H1N1.

A plan to keep dozens of domestic-violence shelters from closing sailed out of the state Assembly late Friday night with nary a no vote. Yet hours later, the bill lay in the legislative trash heap, one of many lost to politics as lawmakers reached the deadline for completing their work this year. Republicans in the Senate blocked more than 20 bills -- all needing GOP votes to pass, many approved by the lower house with bipartisan or near-unanimous support -- to leverage a trio of unrelated demands.

Given the demographics and highly contagious nature of swine flu, it would be natural to think that when the county Department of Public Health begins vaccinations Friday, its efforts would be concentrated in the public schools, likely to be the most common incubators of the disease and a daily gathering spot for the most vulnerable population. Instead, the clinics will be held just about anywhere but schools: at community centers, parks and the like. These are traditional and valid locations for vaccination efforts.

Whether the swine flu turns into a serious epidemic or never fulfills its initial global threat, the federal government rightly went into high alert and launched a search for a vaccine. Just as in 1976, this new emergence of swine flu could come to nothing -- which all of us can hope for -- but better to attack it with vigor than to understate the risk.

Japanese health officials confirmed dozens of new cases of swine flu in a series of announcements Sunday, as the government shut down schools and canceled community activities in affected cities. Japan now has at least 92 cases, most of them teenagers. The country had just four confirmed H1N1 cases as of Friday, all of whom were believed to have caught the flu outside the country.

After months of causing trouble for the stock market, consumers gave Wall Street a break Tuesday. A closely watched measure of consumer sentiment soared in April, prompting investors to hope that an improved outlook would translate into bigger cash register receipts. Stocks ended with modest declines after the reading pulled the market off an early slide prompted by worries about the health of some large banks and the spread of swine flu.

The flu season is still young in the U.S. and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, but Australia wrapped up its flu season months ago, and public health officials there have some disturbing news to report: The version of so-called swine flu that is resistant to the drug Tamiflu is spreading more easily in the land Down Under. For those in need of a refresher course, swine flu refers to the H1N1 flu virus that caused a pandemic in 2009. It emerged in April in Mexico and spread swiftly around the globe, traveling to 214 countries and territories and killing more than 18,000 people, according to the World Health Organization.

A new villain has taken over at the multiplex. It doesn't wear a trench coat and speak with a menacing-sounding foreign accent. Nor does it have razor-sharp fangs or a home address in outer space. It can, however, lurk in the shadows, reproduce at astronomical rates — and it loves to mutate. Microscopic viruses are the biggest bad guys in Hollywood, multiplying with abandon in films such as "Contagion" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," as well as factoring in AMC's zombie-centric TV show "The Walking Dead.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has unveiled its analysis of the just-ended flu season, plus its likely strategy for the upcoming flu season. In short: Expect the same plan as last year, folks. The Food and Drug Administration has recommended that the upcoming vaccine against seasonal flu protect against the same three strains as last season's formulation: H1N1 (a type of influenza A), H3N2 (another type of influenza A) and an influenza B, the CDC said in its annual flu season summary and look ahead.

Dr. Edwin D. Kilbourne, a virologist who figured out how to manufacture a new influenza vaccine each year and was a principal advisor to the U.S. government on flu, died Feb. 21 in Branford, Conn. He was 90. No cause of death was released. Kilbourne was involved in every aspect of preparing vaccines for the influenza season, understanding the genetics of the virus, manipulating it to create a version that would grow in eggs, and helping make the recommendation of what the vaccine formulation should be each year, Food and Drug Administration officials said on his formal retirement in 2002.

In another sign of an improving worldwide economy, international travel grew nearly 7% in 2010 compared with the previous year, the U.N. World Tourism Organization reported Monday. But the growth was mixed. Travel to Asia and the Middle East rebounded much faster, while the pace of growth in visitors to Europe remained sluggish and international travel to North America grew only modestly. In 2010, 935 million people traveled for business and leisure internationally, up 6.7% over 2009, but only 2% above the pre-recession levels of 2008, according to the report.

Flu may be making headlines in the United Kingdom, but folks in the U.S. -- almost hysterical at the specter of influenza a couple of seasons ago -- seem more concerned about anything and everything else. That's not the same thing, however, as saying there's no flu activity in this country. The UK's Health Protection Agency announced earlier this week that flu cases are on the upswing across that portion of Europe. And of course, as has been the case with the predominant H1N1 strain (formerly known as "swine flu" -- it seems so long ago now doesn't it?

The feds were on the phone explaining that a 10-year-old boy had a strain of swine flu no one had ever seen before. As Dr. Michele Ginsberg listened, her mind flashed back to the days before the AIDS virus had been identified, when people were showing up at emergency rooms in California with a mysterious pneumonia. Ginsberg, community epidemiology chief for San Diego County, where the boy was from, picked through her reports of unusual deaths, looking for similar cases.

When tragedy strikes, people are supposed to band together and find strength in numbers, right? When the well-being of your community is threatened, it's important to look out for your neighbors and lend a hand to those in need, no? Well, that's what many of us may have thought before all the hysteria about the looming swine flu pandemic.

It was only a year ago when Americans were scurrying to find flu shots to protect against the H1N1 pandemic flu, or swine flu. A record number of Americans were vaccinated in the last part of 2009 and first few months of this year. And since H1N1 is thought to be a predominant flu threat again this year, people might naturally wonder: Do I need a flu shot this season? The answer is yes. The vaccine you received last year protects against flu for about six to eight months. The immunity from your last shot last winter has already worn off, according to an official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More children and young adults were hospitalized as a result of pandemic H1N1 influenza than is normal for seasonal flu, but that was simply because those groups were disproportionately infected, not because the symptoms were worse, researchers said Tuesday. The pandemic flu, commonly known as swine flu, did cause more pneumonia than seasonal flu, but overall the symptoms were about the same, researchers from the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation in Marshfield, Wisc. reported in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.