Swine Flu Boo!!!

[Sinatra]

My God...we're all gonna die...


http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarchives2009-2010/WhoLab43.htm

 

[Sinatra]

Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza-Associated Hospitalizations and Deaths National Summary

 

[elvis]

The media is the largest terrorist organization in the world. I'm serious.

 

[Sinatra]

The media is the largest terrorist organization in the world. I'm serious.

You got that right.

Nice to see Sonny back!

 

[waltky]

Kinda like the shark in Jaws, it keeps comin' around...

H1N1 outbreak in Venezuelan state, official says
March 23, 2011 -- Venezuelan Health Minister Eugenia Sader said while an H1N1 outbreak was confirmed, there was no epidemic.

An outbreak of the H1N1 virus, known commonly as the swine flu, has hit the Venezuelan Andean state of Merida, the country's health minister said, the state-run AVN news agency reported. More than 100 cases of H1N1 have been recorded in Venezuela as of Tuesday, Eugenia Sader said.

In Merida alone there are 56 cases which have tested positive for the virus, and special precautions have been put in place in that state, AVN reported. Classes in Merida have been canceled for five days, and a ban has been placed on events at night clubs and other closed-in venues, the agency reported.

The health minister asked for calm Tuesday, saying that while the outbreak was confirmed, there was not an epidemic in the country. The most recent global pandemic was the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, in which the estimates of deaths ranged as high as 12,500 in the United States alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source

 

[waltky]

Yer gettin' sleepy, sleepy...

Swine flu jab 'narcolepsy risk'
21 July 2011 - More than 30 million doses of swine flu vaccine have been given in Europe

A swine flu jab has been linked to rare cases of a sleeping disorder and should be the last line of protection for young people, European regulators say. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Pandemrix should only be given to children and teenagers at risk of H1N1 flu if other jabs are unavailable. More than six million doses of the vaccine have been given in the UK. Ten suspected cases of narcolepsy linked to the vaccine have been reported to the UK's drug regulator. Pandemrix, made by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), was the most widely used in the UK during the 2009/10 flu pandemic.

However, the vaccine is no longer in use and the remaining stocks will be destroyed this autumn. The EMA's investigation followed reports, mainly from Finland and Sweden but also from Iceland and the UK, of children and adolescents suffering the sleep disorder narcolepsy, which causes people to fall asleep suddenly and unexpectedly. It said studies had shown a six to 13-fold increased risk of narcolepsy in children and adolescents vaccinated with Pandemrix compared with unvaccinated children. In a statement, the EMA said it had "noted that the vaccine is likely to have interacted with genetic or environmental factors which might raise the risk of narcolepsy, and that other factors may have contributed to the results."

Unknown factors

Overall, Pandemrix has been given to more than 31m people worldwide. In a statement, GSK said it had received reports of 335 cases of narcolepsy in people vaccinated with Pandemrix by the start of July. The company added: "GSK is committed to patient safety and will continue to work closely with the EMA and other national regulatory organisations in the best interest of patients." A spokesperson for the UK's drug regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said: "The annual seasonal flu vaccines have not been associated with the development of narcolepsy, and there are no new safety concerns associated with these vaccines. "These vaccines remain recommended for protection against seasonal influenza."

She added: "The MHRA has been fully involved in the European safety review of Pandemrix vaccine. "It is possible that other geographical factors in Sweden and Finland, at the time of the pandemic, have contributed to the cases of narcolepsy seen after vaccination with Pandemrix. "These factors remain unknown, and further studies are ongoing to explore this. "The regulatory action for Pandemrix vaccines recognises the potential seriousness of H1N1 infection and ensures that the vaccine remains a licensed alternative to protect children and adolescents in need of protection against H1N1, if seasonal vaccines are not available."

BBC News - Swine flu jab 'narcolepsy risk'

 

[selling1]

The media is the largest terrorist organization in the world. I'm serious.

Totally agree sometimes they pass news like a fire in the jungle..!! they didn't even think this news can lead to bad damage they just post there news and get away and then general people have a suffer from it.. Thanks

 

[waltky]

New defense against flu...

'Super antibody' fights off flu
29 July 2011 - A jab protecting against all flu viruses is considered a holy grails of vaccine research

The first antibody which can fight all types of the influenza A virus has been discovered, researchers claim. Experiments on flu-infected mice, published in Science Express, showed the antibody could be used as an "emergency treatment". It is hoped the development will lead to a "universal vaccine" - currently a new jab has to be made for each winter as viruses change. Virologists described the finding as a "good step forward". Many research groups around the world are trying to develop a universal vaccine. They need to attack something common to all influenza which does not change or mutate.

Human source

It has already been suggested that some people who had swine flu may develop 'super immunity' to other infections. Scientists from the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill and colleagues in Switzerland looked at more than 100,000 samples of immune cells from patients who had flu or a flu vaccine. They isolated an antibody - called FI6 - which targeted a protein found on the surface of all influenza A viruses called haemagglutinin.

Sir John Skehel, MRC scientist at Mill Hill, said: "We've tried every subtype of influenza A and it interacts with them all. "We eventually hope it can be used as a therapy by injecting the antibody to stop the infection." Professor Antonio Lanzavecchia, director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Switzerland, said: "As the first and only antibody which targets all known subtypes of the influenza A virus, FI6 represents an important new treatment option." When mice were given FI6, the antibody was "fully protective" against a later lethal doses of H1N1 virus. Mice injected with the antibody up to two days after being given a lethal dose of the virus recovered and survived.

This is only the antibody, however, not the vaccine. A vaccine would need to trigger the human body's immune system to produce the antibody itself. Sir John said the structure of the antibody and how it interacted with haemagglutinin had been worked out, which would help in the search for a vaccine, but that was "definitely years away". Professor John Oxford, a virologist at Queen Mary, University of London, said: "It's pretty good if you've got one against the whole shebang, that's a good step forward."

BBC News - 'Super antibody' fights off flu

 

[waltky]

Same vaccine as last year...

CDC: Don't skip this year's flu shot
19 Aug.`11 - This year's flu shot will be a duplicate of last year's because the same flu strains are still circulating.

The 2011-12 flu vaccine protects against seasonal flu and H1N1, just like last year's, but that doesn't mean it's OK to skip your yearly flu shot, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn. "All people aged 6 months and older should be vaccinated," said Dr. Carolyn Bridges, an associate director for adult immunization at the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Protection wanes over the course of a year, so "even people who got a flu vaccine last year should get one again to make sure they are optimally protected," she said.

The new recommendations are published in the Aug. 18 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The fact that the vaccines are identical does change things slightly for children aged 6 months to 8 years. In general, children in this age range should get two doses of the flu shot administered at least four weeks apart, but they will only need one dose of the 2011-2012 vaccine if they received at least one dose in 2010-2011. Children in that age range who did not get the flu vaccine last year need two doses this season. The vaccine formulation was recommended by the World Health Organization, and six manufacturers have been chosen to produce and distribute the vaccines for the United States.

The brand names and manufacturers of the vaccines are: Afluria, CSL Limited; Fluarix, GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals; FluLaval, ID Biomedical Corporation; FluMist, MedImmune Vaccines Inc.; Fluvirin, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics Limited; and Fluzone, Fluzone High-Dose and Fluzone Intradermal, Sanofi Pasteur Inc. New this year is an intradermal flu vaccine, Fluzone Intradermal, which will be available for adults aged 18 through 64 years. This vaccine is delivered into the skin, rather than the muscle, using a very small needle, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which approved it in May.

MORE

 

[percysunshine]

Since I am a super secret CIA pig, I am not allowed to divulge the bio-warfare aspects of this Pentagon project.

 

[waltky]

Granny always gets her flu shot - she says ever'body oughta get theirs too...

Flu Causes 132 Million Sick Days a Year
9/23/11 - The flu caused Americans to miss 100 million workdays and $6.8 billion in wages last year, according to a survey from Walgreens.

The survey also found that influenza led to 32 million missed school days last year. Walgreens says between missed workdays, child care costs, doctor visits and other related costs, the flu cost nearly one-third of respondents between $251 and $1,000 last year.

Results are based on interviews with 1,200 Americans age 18 or over nationwide conducted between Sept. 1-8. Projections incorporate data available for average compensation and hours worked from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and population data and projections from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The illness also cost companies $10 billion in lost productivity related to employer-paid sick days. While this number pales in comparison with the cost of insomnia ($63.2 billion) and long-term care obligations ($33.6 billion), Walgreens discovered it could actually be much worse; 80% of respondents said they went to work anyway despite doctors' recommendations.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13% of the U.S. population gets the flu every year, with active flu seasons affecting more than 62 million Americans. To minimize exposure, the CDC recommends anyone six months or older get their annual flu shot. It also advises pregnant women to get vaccinated.

Source

 

[Douger]

The media is the largest terrorist organization in the world. I'm serious.

Second largest. Their handlers, the US govt, is #1

 

[Skull Pilot]

I thought we were all supposed to be dead of swine flu a few years ago....or was that bird flu?

 

[waltky]

New flu strains appear...

New swine, drug-resistant flu strains arise
Monday, January 16, 2012 : The flu season hasn't kicked in yet, but infectious disease experts are on the alert for new strains.

The flu season hasn't kicked in yet, but infectious disease experts are on the alert for new strains of the virus, including another swine flu that's popped up in parts of the United States and a drug-resistant flu circulating in the Southern Hemisphere. Since the 2009 swine flu pandemic, public health and infectious disease experts have upped their surveillance of new flu strains, and they're paying close attention to what's happening worldwide in hopes of being better prepared for the type of flu season that will hit here. "It's better that we know what's happening earlier rather than be surprised like we were with the 2009 pandemic, which came out of the blue,"said Dr. Charles Chiu, head of the viral diagnostics laboratory at University of California, San Francisco. "We haven't seen the emergence of, say, a new pandemic strain of influenza," Chiu said. "But we've been getting these worrisome trickles of reports,"which "are all reminders that influenza still poses a big threat."

Most people who get the flu suffer from fever, joint and muscle pain, coughing and fatigue before recovering without medical attention. But the flu can be deadly in older people, babies and people with weak immune systems. New strains of flu could infect larger groups of people if humans have no natural resistance. A new, more virulent strain could be devastating — more people could be infected and with a deadlier disease. The focus in recent years has been on the avian flu, which has shown up primarily in Asia. Avian flu is virulent — more than half of the people who have become infected have died — but people can only get it from direct contact with an infected bird, and it doesn't spread from person to person. The concern is that it will mutate and become easily transmissible. While avian flu remains a hypothetical fear, other new, if less worrisome, strains of influenza are drawing researchers' attention. "We're not in another epidemic, but these reports give us a little warning of the (influenza) virus' capacity to mutate," said Dr. Larry Drew, head of the UCSF virology lab.

U.S. public health officials have recorded 12 cases of a new type of swine flu — this one a form of the subtype H3N2, instead of the H1N1 subtype that made up the 2009 pandemic. Federal authorities are already preparing a vaccine to prevent the new virus' spread. After the 2009 pandemic, influenza surveillance increased dramatically in the United States. Hundreds of labs all over the country can detect new strains that previously would have only been discovered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or a handful of large state labs. "The 2009 pandemic sort of woke everyone up," Chiu said. " ... It's pretty clear that we will see another global pandemic. Whether that will be this year or next year or 10 or 20 years from now doesn't matter. It's going to happen." To find a location for a flu shot, go to Home | Flu.gov.

Source

 

[waltky]

Wanna avoid the flu? Get drunk as a monkey...

Kazakhstan zoo monkeys given wine 'to ward off flu'
3 February 2012 - A zoo in central Kazakhstan, where overnight temperatures have dipped to nearly -40C, is giving monkeys a wine concoction as a remedy against flu.

Karaganda Zoo chief animal specialist Svetlana Pilyuk told local media it was not a matter of making the animals drunk but of "relaxing" them. The red wine is diluted with hot water and mixed with sugar and fruit. Ms Pilyuk said it was "normal practice" in zoos but London Zoo told the BBC this was "absolutely not" the case. Karaganda is one of the oldest zoos in Kazakhstan, an ex-Soviet republic with extreme winters. Despite the current freezing weather, the temperature in the monkey enclosure is kept at 27C, Ms Pilyuk said.

'Just like people'

In video released by local newspaper Novy Vestnik, a member of staff at Karaganda Zoo was shown mixing the drink in a kettle. It consisted of wine, lemon, apple, sugar and "a little" hot water. Monkeys were then filmed drinking the "grog" from the spout of the kettle, as a keeper coaxed them, saying "Drink, drink, drink". The keeper told the paper that the norm per animal was between 50 and 100 grams. Pregnant monkeys and babies are not allowed to have the drink, Ms Pilyuk told AFP news agency. "We give the monkeys wine because in the winter it protects them from respiratory infections," she said. "After all, primates are just like people - they enjoy drinking an alcoholic drink. "Some of them even abuse it, coming up to the drinking trough several times."

'Completely wrong'

Speaking to Novy Vestnik, the chief animal specialist said: "We by no means make them drunk. "It's normal practice. Zoos do this all over the world." In nature, she pointed out, primates eat plants containing alcohol, "which relaxes their nervous system". Emma Edwards, a spokesperson for the Zoological Society of London, told the BBC News website the zoo was not familiar with the facility at Karaganda. "It's absolutely not the norm to give any animals alcohol, diluted or otherwise," she said. "Alcohol lowers the blood temperature so it would be completely the wrong thing to do."

It is not unknown for wild monkeys to take alcohol. Researchers in the Caribbean, for instance, have studied the drinking habits of vervet monkeys, which raid the tables of unsuspecting tourists for drink. Karaganda's zoo, which dates back to the 1930s, reportedly boasts 160 species of animals, including several that are endangered. It has long suffered funding problems. In recent years, its efforts to raise money have included an animal "beauty contest", following the example of cash-strapped zoos in neighbouring Russia.

BBC News - Kazakhstan zoo monkeys given wine 'to ward off flu'

 

[blastoff]

Well it is the cold and flu season.

 

[violet]

Got my flu shot so I should be good.

 

[waltky]

Guillain–Barré syndrome may result from swine flu vaccine on rare occasion...

H1N1 vaccine may be linked to rare nerve disorder
July 10, 2012 - The H1N1 (swine) flu vaccine was associated with a small but significant risk for developing a rare nervous disorder called Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS), say doctors in a report detailed in the July 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

The study, conducted in Quebec, rekindles the still-controversial connection between Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) and the 1976 swine flu outbreak, which halted that year's flu vaccination program in the United States. It also raises questions about vaccines for flu strains originating in swine.

This latest analysis, led by Philippe De Wals of Laval University, Quebec City, Canada, followed 4.4 million residents vaccinated against the H1N1 "swine flu" in late 2009. Over the next six months, 25 people who received the vaccine developed GBS. Across the Quebec province, however, another 58 people who were not vaccinated also developed GBS. De Wals said that, regarding the entire population, the number of GBS cases attributed to the swine flu vaccine was about 2 per 1 million doses, but that the benefits of immunization outweigh the risks.

Vaccine risks and benefits

Health experts have long been nervous to speak about risks associated with vaccines. This is because the vaccine benefits are great and the risks are small, with adverse reactions usually occurring in vulnerable populations, such as those with certain allergies or pre-existing nervous system disorders. Flu vaccines, in particular, save millions of lives. Influenza will kill on average about a half-million people worldwide annually, including up to 40,000 in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Flu pandemics will kill millions.

Sometimes vaccine risks are real and high because of a bad batch of drugs. A prime example is the Cutter Incident in 1955, in which the polio vaccine accidentally contained a live virus that infected 40,000 children, leading to 55 cases of paralysis and five deaths. This nearly destroyed the public's confidence in vaccines at the dawn of polio eradication.

Sometimes, however, reports of vaccine risks turn out to be false and based on fabricated science, such as the link between the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. Measles and also whooping cough have had resurgences as a result of low vaccination rates brought on by this scare. Thus, many health experts do not readily concede to vaccine risks when confronted with them. And Guillain–Barré syndrome haunts many like a specter.

Tale of two swine

 

[waltky]

State Fair here isn't letting public near pigs...

CDC warns, "Don't pet the pigs," after spike in swine flu cases
8/10/2012 — Don't pet the pigs.

That's the message state and county fair visitors got Thursday from health officials who reported a five-fold increase of cases of a new strain of swine flu that spreads from pigs to people. Most of the cases are linked to the fairs.

This flu has mild symptoms, and it's not really spreading from person to person. "This is not a pandemic situation," said Dr. Joseph Bresee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But any flu can be a risk for some people, and people should be cautious, he added.

The case count jumped from 29 a week ago to 158 this week, thanks to a wave of cases in Indiana and Ohio, said Bresee, the agency's chief of influenza epidemiology. Most of the infected patients are children — probably because many were working closely with raising, displaying and visiting pigs at the agricultural fairs, Bresee said.

The CDC has been tracking cases since last summer. A concern: The new strain has a gene from the 2009 pandemic strain that might let it spread more easily than pig viruses normally do.

Read more: CDC warns, "Don't pet the pigs," after spike in swine flu cases - The Denver Post CDC warns, "Don't pet the pigs," after spike in swine flu cases - The Denver Post

 

[saveliberty]

I just gave all the pigs some chicken soup. They are feeling much better.