Category: swineflu

JGrimes
A few notable developments in the swine flu (aka H1N1 flu) pandemic:
The U.S. is planning a vaccination campaign that could start in October, with school-age children among the first to be offered a shot, Dow Jones Newswires reports. The new vaccine still has to be developed and tested. But if it works, the […]

JGrimes
The H1N1 flu (or, if you prefer, swine flu) continues to rattle around the globe. Here’s an update:
Buenos Aires has declared a health emergency. There have been 26 confirmed swine flu deaths in Argentina, though the actual toll may be higher, the WSJ reports. School vacations will be extended by two weeks in […]

JGrimes
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
An Eton courtyard with a statue of King Henry VI, who founded the school
A few flu news items from around the world:
Eton, the British boys’ school founded in 1410, will be closed until June 7 because a 13-year-old student was diagnosed with the H1N1 swine flu. The boy has mild symptoms […]

JGrimes
A few noteworthy developments today on the flu outbreak:
Researchers called for stepped up surveillance of flu in the world’s pigs. An analysis of the genes of the H1N1 flu, published today in the journal Science, suggested that the strain may have been circulating undetected for some time. It’s “likely” that other new strains […]

JGrimes
For now, companies should keep cranking out vaccine against seasonal flu, while research continues into the best way to make a vaccine against the new strain of H1N1 flu.
That was the conclusion of a group of WHO advisers, who wrote that it would be “premature to recommend that commercial-scale production of influenza A […]

JGrimes
The disease formerly known as swine flu infected several students at Harvard’s dental school, prompting officials to cancel classes and clinical work for both dental and medical students, who take some classes together. Things are getting back to normal now — the affected students have recovered, there is no evidence patients were infected […]

JGrimes
With the flu outbreak settling into a rather steady pattern of rising numbers of generally mild cases, the WHO’s Keiji Fukuda (pictured) today brandished a big number to warn against complacency.
He said a third of the people on the planet — some two billion people — could be infected by the new H1N1 […]

JGrimes
On today’s press call, acting CDC Director Richard Besser addressed a troubling question about the flu outbreak: Why are teenagers and young adults so hard hit?
Those hospitalized by the seasonal flu are typically the elderly and infants or very young children. But the median age for U.S. patients with confirmed cases of the […]

JGrimes
It’s not clear yet whether the WHO is going to recommend that manufacturers start cranking out a vaccine against the new strain of H1N1 flu. But if that recommendation does come down, the UN wants to be near the front of the line to buy vaccines for use in the developing world.
Several governments […]

JGrimes
Here are a few items of note on the flu outbreak:
The U.S. government may wind up recommending that Americans get three flu shots this fall: One for seasonal flu, and two for the new H1N1 flu. Here’s a report from the Washington Post. Vaccine plans are still up in the air, but because […]