Swine Flu Expands to ‘Virtually All' US as Global Cases Grow

[Purveyor]

By Tom Randall

May 4 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu has spread to 30 U.S. states and the number of countries with confirmed cases jumped to 19 from two in little more than a week. The expansion comes amid signs of a waning epidemic in Mexico.

Officially called H1N1, the virus is probably circulating in “virtually all” U.S. states, said Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. First reported in the U.S. and Mexico, H1N1 also has been confirmed in Central America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and New Zealand.

The World Health Organization said this weekend it is on the verge of declaring a pandemic, which would mean the new virus is transmissible from person-to-person as it spreads among nations. Globally, officials say they’re bracing for the possibility of the disease worsening even as Mexico’s health minister yesterday said the outbreak there was declining. Mexico has 506 of 898 confirmed WHO cases and 19 of 20 deaths.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Schuchat, interim deputy of the CDC’s science and public health program, in a news conference yesterday. “I do expect more cases, more severe cases, and I do expect more deaths.”

Schuchat said she was “particularly concerned” about what will happen when the flu season starts for the Northern Hemisphere. That usually coincides with the fall, around late September, the CDC said on its Web site.

Hastening Vaccines

The U.S. is hastening production of its annual flu shots based on strains identified before the H1N1 outbreak, said Kathleen Sebelius, who was confirmed as the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary last week. That will make capacity available if vaccines are needed for swine flu, she said.

More...

BLOOMBERG: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a11JbSV5RlwI&refer=home

[babylonsister]

1. Such a 'scary' headline. It's not that bad. nt

[Purveyor]

2. That is what I hear. A lot of schools are being closed in Michigan over this.

Something still...just doesn't add up.

[BlooInBloo]

3. Dude - give it up. We're not all gonna die. Few are even that scared any more.

[BuyingThyme]

4. People must have devised a way to travel from state to state.

[kestrel91316]

5. It has officially come to Los Angeles County. And between the May Day protests and

Cinco de Mayo getting so many Mexicans in one place at one time, I think we probably will see a bunch more cases.

As long as the mortality stays low, it's no biggie.

[babylonsister]

6. You know what? YOU are feeding the frenzy with this post, and

you sound uninformed. It's "all" the Mexican's fault? :eyes:

[kestrel91316]

12. Don't try to put words in my mouth. The vast majority of American cases

are in people who have traveled from Mexico. So logic dictates that large gatherings of Mexicans might be a way for it to spread.

I am not feeding the frenzy, just stating the fact that it HAS been confirmed in LA Co, and speculating on how it might progress.

Last I heard, posting on the new flu had not been forbidden.

And particularly since I state explicitly that the low mortality makes this no biggie, how the hell does that constitute "feeding the frenzy"?? Seriously.

I am not going to stop posting about this serious public health issue just because SOME people don't like reading about it. Perhaps you should turn off your computer and TV.

[havocmom]

8. Nogales, AZ has confirmed case. 10 schools to be closed for a week

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/291354.php

Not a big scare, but glad officials are putting public health first in these decisions. Perhaps that will inspire individuals to be responsible about things and work to slow spread of illness in general

[RedCloud]

7. Meanwhile old age keeps decimating us.

I heard 30,000 or more die because of influenza each year. We are at one confirmed death so far?

[babylonsister]

9. Thanks for that-reality is inconvenient. nt

[neverforget]

10. I think the media has hyped this up way to far. However, I agree with

the aggressive response by the government. It's best to be cautious when dealing with the unknown.

From MSNBC

<snip>
Even if the swine virus doesn't prove as potent as authorities first feared, Besser said that doesn't mean the U.S. and World Health Organization overreacted in racing to prevent a pandemic, or worldwide spread, of a virus never before seen.

With a new infectious disease, "you basically get one shot, you get one chance to try to reduce the impact," Besser said. "You take a very aggressive approach and as you learn more information you can tailor your response."

Had this started as a small outbreak in a more distant land, stricter border measures might have bought the U.S. an extra two weeks to three weeks, Besser said. It was just over a week ago that authorities learned the new flu CDC had detected in a few people in California and Texas was causing a large outbreak and deaths in Mexico, triggering global alarm.

"We didn't know what its lethality was going to be. We had to move. Once you get behind flu, you can't catch up," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.

If the new flu proves no more lethal than regular winter flu, consider that those strains hospitalize 200,000 Americans and kill 36,000 every year. That is why Besser keeps warning that as swine flu spreads to enough people, more severe illness is likely to follow.

"This is a new strain of the flu virus, and because we haven't developed an immunity to it, it has more potential to cause us harm," Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address.
<snip>

[Name removed]

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