H1N1 is still here and spreading!

[Jingles]

I have never been so disgusted about my state until this week. The state decided to only post the updated confirmed cases once a week on Tuesday. At first I thought it was because they were just being lazy and trying to save money on a person to post the info. NOW I know they are trying to hide the confirmed cases! Why else would they update once a week when it is spreading so fast in our state!!! I think they are trying to slow down a panic. Here is an article I just read:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_85159.html

 

WEDNESDAY, June 3 (HealthDay News) -- With more cases of the H1N1 swine flu surfacing in the Southern Hemisphere and outside North America, the World Health Organization is weighing whether to declare a global pandemic.

 

While the vast majority of infections and deaths have occurred in Mexico (the source of the outbreak) and the United States, person-to-person transmission in now being reported in countries such as Australia (501 cases) and Chile (313 cases), as well as Great Britain, Spain and Japan, according to published reports.

 

"We still are waiting for evidence of really widespread community activity in these countries, and so it's fair to say that they are in transition and are not quite there yet, which is why we are not in phase 6 yet," WHO flu chief Dr. Keiji Fukuda said during a Tuesday press conference at the agency's headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

 

Phase 6 is the highest alert on WHO's scale, representing a global epidemic. In terms of the geographic spread of swine flu, the world is "at phase 5 but getting closer to phase 6," Fukuda said, the Associated Press reported.

 

The WHO is debating whether to add a second measure that indicates how dangerous the H1N1 swine flu virus is -- rather than just how widespread -- after several countries expressed concerns that declaring a global pandemic could cause mass confusion and panic even though it's still not clear how dangerous the virus will be, the news service said.

 

To date, the virus has caused 19,273 cases of infection in 66 countries, but just 117 deaths, 97 of them in Mexico, the WHO reported Wednesday.

 

Since the outbreak started in April, health officials in the United States have said that infections have been mild for the most part, and most patients recover fairly quickly. Testing has found that the H1N1 virus remains susceptible to two common antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza.

 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was reporting Wednesday a total of 11,054 cases in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, including 17 deaths. The agency said that confirmed cases of H1N1 swine flu represent about one in 20 of actual cases, bringing the total probable number of cases in the United States to about 200,000.

 

During the next few months, CDC scientists will be looking to see if the swine flu virus mutates or becomes resistant to antiviral medications, or is more easily spread among people. The flu season is winding down in the Northern Hemisphere but is just beginning in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

U.S. health officials have said there's no way to tell now if the H1N1 virus will be more virulent when -- and if -- it returns to the Northern Hemisphere with the approach of winter.

 

What has been different about the swine flu outbreak in the United States so far is that activity picked up late in the typical flu season, Tom Skinner, a CDC spokesman, said during a Monday press conference. "What was unusual was that in late March into April and late May we saw activity at a higher-than-expected level," he said.

 

Some older people may have partial immunity to the H1N1 swine flu virus because of possible exposure to another H1N1 flu strain that circulated prior to 1957, according to the CDC.

 

A vaccine for the swine flu virus could be ready by October, if research and testing proceed on pace this summer. Candidate viruses have been shipped to vaccine manufacturers, agency officials said.

 

It's still not clear whether a swine flu vaccine is needed. Any decision to move forward would be based on several factors, including the severity and spread of the virus and whether there's a safe and effective vaccine, the CDC has said.

 

Cases of H1N1 swine flu infection have not been spread evenly across the country. For instance, the flu has shut many schools in New York City, but the virology lab at the University of California, San Francisco, has not found a positive flu sample in the Bay Area in weeks, The New York Times reported.

 

 

[Shoshana]

I think I had H1N1. THere is no way to know for sure because I did not go to the doctor. I was very sick for 6 days and it took days after that to feel fully recovered. I ran a fever for 4 days. I had all the symptoms listed at the CDC except vomiting although my Dh did and I was nauseated.

 

 

[Jayceef]

I think there is something going on still with this flu. I went grocery shopping tonight at HyVee and when I got home and put things away I found a flyer in one of the bags for the flu. It was more of a booklet with a guide for how to tell if you have the flu or H1N1 and what you should do to prevent it. Maybe some sheeple will wake up and stock up on some things. Hope you feel better Shoshana and Jingles that would be frustrating with the state not posting all the cases right away.

 

Take care.

[Purdy Bear]

There is 557 cases now in the UK.

 

One was a Doctor, who returning from the US with flu symptoms went back to work. Oh Duh!

[TurtleMama]

(((Shoshana)))

 

I'm glad you're feeling better now. Sounds pretty serious...did you have any respiratory symptoms???

 

 

[farmgirlwannabe]

Just thought I would drop in quick and tell you guys what's going on up here in Wisconsin.....

 

Good thing we only have 2 more days of school here and the kids will be away from all of it.

 

From the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services:

 

 

Wisconsin’s First Novel H1N1 Flu Death

Patient was Milwaukee Resident with H1N1 Flu and Underlying Health Condition

 

 

Wisconsin currently has 2,071 confirmed and 3 probable H1N1 flu cases.

[Shoshana]

(((Shoshana)))

...did you have any respiratory symptoms???

 

Yes.

My symptoms were: fever, body ache, chills, headache, cough, sore throat, diarrhea and nausea. My Dh had all of the above plus also vomited.

[Jingles]

Today I checked the Michigan H1N1 confirmed site, we went from 298 to 418 in a week. Be nice if I could check it everyday and see where the new cases are! But they think we don't need to know more than once a week.

[Ambergris]

Australian swine flu spike could force WHO pandemic declaration

updated 7:56 a.m. EDT, Wed June 10, 2009Next Article in Health »

 

(CNN) -- A sharp increase in the number of reported cases of the H1N1 virus in Australia may prompt the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the first global pandemic in over forty years.

 

 

Australian rugby league star Karmichael Hunt is one of several players being tested for the H1N1 virus.

 

The number of Australian cases of the virus, commonly known as swine flu, has reached more than 1,200, with state and federal medical officers set to hold an emergency meeting in Sydney to review the country's swine flu protection measures.

 

"We will take each decision along the way in response to the expert medical advice," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

 

On Wednesday it was announced that the entire Brisbane Broncos rugby league squad had been placed into quarantine after one of their players was suspected of having the virus.

 

The Queensland club confirmed on its Web site that full-back Karmichael Hunt was being tested for the virus, while the sport's governing body, the National Rugby League (NRL), said Hunt had tested positive for the common flu, influenza A.

 

With over 26,000 H1N1 cases worldwide, the WHO could move to Phase 6, the highest on its pandemic alert system.

 

[Jingles]

Yish! I can't imagine what someone in the outback would do if they came into town for supplies and came home with swine flu! How would they hike (or drive) back to town to see a doctor if they got as sick as they say it is.

 

I'm still keeping the kids home and avoiding closed public places (like restaurants and movie theaters). We do have an huge increased chance of getting this thing now, cause I'm watching my nephew and his Mom and Dad both work in public indoor places and my nephew is going to music camp next week in a county that has a higher amount of cases. I can only hope that who ever gets it (if one of us gets it) will find out before they get around the kids OR that we find out in time to get the kids on tamaflu and stomach settling meds. Or it'll be a long stay in the pediatric ward!

[ROSARYCHAPLET]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090610/hl_nm/us_flu_who_10

 

they're getting ready to declare a pandemic!