NEW YORK — Health officials on Tuesday reported seven more deaths from swine flu, bringing the city's total to 23, the most in the nation.
The Department of Health didn't identify the victims or say when they died in an update posted on its Web site. It said the victims were between the ages of 25 and 64 and most had been hospitalized late last month.
The health department's last update was just four days ago, when it added one more death to make the total 16. That death involved a person in his or her 40s.
Nassau County, on Long Island, also reported one death from swine flu on Tuesday, a woman in her 20s who had given birth 10 days earlier.
New York City health officials say at least 16 of the people who have died had other health conditions. The city also said more than 1,000 cases of swine flu have been confirmed, but that doesn't reflect the overall incidence of swine flu. City health officials estimate 253,000 people had the swine flu in Queens and Brooklyn alone during May.
The city leads the country in swine flu deaths, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The outbreak began in April in Queens.
from foxnews
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Flu pandemic deaths linked to poor public health
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The swine flu pandemic will demonstrate "in extremely tragic ways" the consequences of the failure to promote public health and ensure basic care during pregnancy and childbirth in developing countries, the head of the World Health Organization warned.
Dr. Margaret Chan told a U.N. Forum on Advancing Global Health in the Face of Crises on Monday that developing countries are most vulnerable to the global H1N1 flu epidemic, the financial crisis, food shortages and climate change — and much more must be done to urgently strengthen their health care systems.
"Because of the economic downturn, people in affluent societies are losing their jobs, their homes, and their savings, and this is tragic," she said. "In developing countries, they will lose their lives."
Chan said present evidence indicates that "the main risk factors for severe or fatal H1N1 infection are two-fold: pregnancy, and underlying medical conditions, like asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity."
The WHO director-general said 99 percent of maternal deaths and 85 percent of the burden of chronic diseases are concentrated in low- and middle-income countries.
"I firmly believe that this pandemic will reveal, in a highly visible, measurable and tragic way, exactly what it means, in life-and-death terms, when health needs and health systems have been neglected, for decades, in large parts of the world," Chan told ministers and health officials at the day-long forum.
"We will see, in extremely tragic ways, the consequences of our longstanding failure to ensure basic care during pregnancy and childbirth," she said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who organized the forum, said he is "most troubled by the costs of failed maternal and child health."
"The global impact of maternal and newborn deaths has been estimated at US$15 billion a year in lost productivity," he said.
A woman dies every minute in childbirth, Ban said, which adds up to over half a million deaths a year, "nearly all of them preventable."
According to the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, 3.7 million babies under one month old die every year.
"Experts warn that an additional 200,000 to 400,000 more babies could die annually if the (economic) crisis continues," Ban said.
The secretary-general said the problems of poor maternal health, weak health care systems, and the flu pandemic demand stepped up global action to give priority to health issues "that remain relatively orphaned."
"One billion people continue to suffer on a daily basis — and often die — of easy-to-control diseases that we continue to call `neglected tropical diseases.' These are in fact diseases of the world's poor," he said.
As a result of the economic crisis, Ban said, "an additional 50 to 90 million people in developing countries will be plunged into absolute poverty this year ... (and) inequities between rich and poor countries in access to health care are likely to increase."
A report by the Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals said recent actions from governments, international agencies and civil society have given hope for accelerating progress toward the goals of reducing child mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015. But it said progress is now threatened by the economic crisis and new and innovative financing is needed.
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Dr. Margaret Chan told a U.N. Forum on Advancing Global Health in the Face of Crises on Monday that developing countries are most vulnerable to the global H1N1 flu epidemic, the financial crisis, food shortages and climate change — and much more must be done to urgently strengthen their health care systems.
"Because of the economic downturn, people in affluent societies are losing their jobs, their homes, and their savings, and this is tragic," she said. "In developing countries, they will lose their lives."
Chan said present evidence indicates that "the main risk factors for severe or fatal H1N1 infection are two-fold: pregnancy, and underlying medical conditions, like asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity."
The WHO director-general said 99 percent of maternal deaths and 85 percent of the burden of chronic diseases are concentrated in low- and middle-income countries.
"I firmly believe that this pandemic will reveal, in a highly visible, measurable and tragic way, exactly what it means, in life-and-death terms, when health needs and health systems have been neglected, for decades, in large parts of the world," Chan told ministers and health officials at the day-long forum.
"We will see, in extremely tragic ways, the consequences of our longstanding failure to ensure basic care during pregnancy and childbirth," she said.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who organized the forum, said he is "most troubled by the costs of failed maternal and child health."
"The global impact of maternal and newborn deaths has been estimated at US$15 billion a year in lost productivity," he said.
A woman dies every minute in childbirth, Ban said, which adds up to over half a million deaths a year, "nearly all of them preventable."
According to the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, 3.7 million babies under one month old die every year.
"Experts warn that an additional 200,000 to 400,000 more babies could die annually if the (economic) crisis continues," Ban said.
The secretary-general said the problems of poor maternal health, weak health care systems, and the flu pandemic demand stepped up global action to give priority to health issues "that remain relatively orphaned."
"One billion people continue to suffer on a daily basis — and often die — of easy-to-control diseases that we continue to call `neglected tropical diseases.' These are in fact diseases of the world's poor," he said.
As a result of the economic crisis, Ban said, "an additional 50 to 90 million people in developing countries will be plunged into absolute poverty this year ... (and) inequities between rich and poor countries in access to health care are likely to increase."
A report by the Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals said recent actions from governments, international agencies and civil society have given hope for accelerating progress toward the goals of reducing child mortality by two-thirds and maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015. But it said progress is now threatened by the economic crisis and new and innovative financing is needed.
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Flu vaccine developed as pandemic declared
GENEVA – Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG said yesterday it has successfully produced a first batch of swine flu vaccine weeks ahead of expectations.
The vaccine was made in cells, rather than grown in eggs as is usually the case with vaccines, the company said.
The announcement comes a day after the World Health Organization declared swine flu a pandemic. WHO says drugmakers will likely have vaccines approved and ready for sale after September.
Swine flu, also known as Influenza A(H1N1), is now formally a pandemic – a declaration by UN health officials that is expected to speed vaccine production and spur government spending to combat the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.
Last Thursday’s announcement by the WHO doesn’t mean the virus is any more lethal – only that its spread is considered unstoppable. The move indicates that a global outbreak is under way.
Novartis said it would use the first batch of vaccine for pre-clinical evaluation and testing. It is also being considered for clinical trials, the company said.
The vaccine was produced at a Novartis plant in Marburg, Germany. Novartis said the facility could potentially produce millions of doses of vaccine a week.
A second plant is being built in Holly Springs, North Carolina, the company said.
Novartis said more than 30 governments have requested vaccine supplies, including the US Department of Health and Human Services, which placed a $289-million order in May.
Since it was first detected in late April in Mexico and the US, swine flu has reached 74 countries, infecting nearly 29,000 people. Most who catch the bug have only mild symptoms and don’t need medical treatment.
WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan made the long-awaited declaration after the UN agency held an emergency meeting with flu experts and said she was moving to phase 6 – the agency’s highest alert level – which means a pandemic is under way.
“The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century,” Chan said in Geneva.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, the new head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in Atlanta that he does not expect widespread public anxiety in the United States as a result of the declaration, noting it came nearly two months after the virus was identified.
For many weeks, US health officials have been treating it as a pandemic, increasing the availability of anti-viral flu medicine and pouring money into a possible vaccination program. And scientists have grown to understand that the virus is generally not much more severe than the seasonal flu.
“That helps to tamp down any fears that may be excessive,” Frieden said at a news conference – his first as CDC director.
But the virus can still be deadly and may change into a more frightening form in the near future, and so people should not be complacent, he added.
So far, swine flu has caused 144 deaths, compared with ordinary flu that kills up to 500,000 people a year.
The pandemic decision might have been made much earlier if WHO had more accurate information about swine flu’s rising sweep through Europe. Chan said she called the emergency meeting with flu experts after concerns were raised that some countries, such as Britain, were not accurately reporting their cases.
Chan said the experts unanimously agreed there was a wider spread of swine flu than was being reported.
She would not say which country tipped the world into the pandemic, but WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda said the situation from Australia seemed to indicate the virus was spreading rapidly there – more than 1,300 cases were reported by Thursday.
In Chile, authorities have identified almost 1,700 cases to WHO.
Many health experts said the world has been in a pandemic for weeks but WHO became too bogged down by politics to declare one.
WHO will now recommend that pharmaceutical companies make swine flu vaccine. The agency typically recommends which flu strains drug companies should use in the vaccines. In a global outbreak, WHO also advises whether companies should make pandemic vaccine.
The pandemic vaccine gamble
The decision to make pandemic vaccine is a gamble. Most flu vaccine makers cannot make both regular seasonal flu vaccine and pandemic vaccine at the same time. That means they must decide which one the world will need more.
Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC said it could start commercial production of pandemic vaccine in July but that it would take months before large quantities are available.
Glaxo spokesman Stephen Rea said the company’s first doses of vaccine would be reserved for countries that had ordered it in advance, including Belgium, Britain and France. He said Glaxo would also donate 50 million doses to WHO for poor countries.
Pascal Barollier, a spokesman for Sanofi-Aventis, said they were also working on a pandemic vaccine but WHO had not yet asked them to start making mass quantities of it.
WHO described the pandemic as “moderate.” Fukuda said people should not get overly anxious about the virus. “Understand it, put it in context, and then you get on with things,” he said.
Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy – people who are not usually susceptible to flu. Swine flu is also crowding out regular flu viruses. Both features are typical of pandemic flu viruses.
Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.
“What this declaration does do is remind the world that flu viruses like H1N1 need to be taken seriously,” said US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, warning that more cases could crop up in the fall.
Now that a pandemic has been declared, some countries might be prompted to devote more money to containing the virus. Many developed countries have pandemic preparedness plans that link spending to a WHO declaration.
The UN is keen to avoid panic. “We must guard against rash and discriminatory action, such as travel bans or trade restrictions,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Fear has already gripped Argentina, where thousands have flooded hospitals this week, bringing emergency health services in Buenos Aires to the brink of collapse during winter weather. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger had swine flu.
China has quarantined travelers, including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, on the slightest suspicion of contact with an infected person.
The US government has already increased the availability of flu-fighting medicine and authorized $1 billion for developing a new swine flu vaccine. In addition, new cases seem to be declining in many parts of the country, US health officials say, as North America moves out of its traditional winter flu season.
Still, New York City reported three more swine flu deaths Thursday, including a child under 2, a teenager and a person in their 30s.
“Countries where outbreaks appear to have peaked should prepare for a second wave of infection,” Chan warned. – AP - (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Swine flu death toll reaches 16 in NYC
Another New Yorker has died of swine flu, bringing the city's total to 16 deaths linked to the viral strain, the city Health Department reported Friday.
The latest death occurred in a person between the age of 40 and 49, the city health department said. The agency declined further comment and has not identified those who have died, citing patient privacy concerns.
Of the 16 deaths linked to swine flu, 14 have been in people younger than 65, and 12 had an established underlying condition, the department said.
News of the latest victim comes a day after the health department reported three deaths related to the virus. The World Health Organization declared a swine flu pandemic Thursday, the fist global flu pandemic in 41 years.
Among the deaths reported Thursday was an 11-year-old Brooklyn girl who was a student at the Urban Assembly School for Criminal Justice in Borough Park, school officials said.
A school official who declined to give her name Friday said a note was sent home with students about the death. She also said Principal Mariela Graham is meeting with parents.
The school's Parent-Teacher Association declined to comment.
The city recorded its first swine flu death May 16. Since the initial outbreak in April in Queens, the city has spent $10 million in its swine flu response, which continues to invade communities across the city.
Scientists don't know how long the virus will persist or how far it will spread. Despite the deaths, health officials said most of the swine flu cases in the city have been mild and those sickened recovered within a few days.
City Council members questioned the city's response to the virus and its communicable-disease preparedness plan in a committee hearing Thursday.
Recently appointed Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said the city would be hard pressed to respond to the virus if it mutates into a more severe strain.
He was joined by other city officials who acknowledged that city hospitals and other city agencies would need assistance from the federal government and perhaps other states.
BY MICHAEL FRAZIER | michael.frazier@newsday.com
The latest death occurred in a person between the age of 40 and 49, the city health department said. The agency declined further comment and has not identified those who have died, citing patient privacy concerns.
Of the 16 deaths linked to swine flu, 14 have been in people younger than 65, and 12 had an established underlying condition, the department said.
News of the latest victim comes a day after the health department reported three deaths related to the virus. The World Health Organization declared a swine flu pandemic Thursday, the fist global flu pandemic in 41 years.
Among the deaths reported Thursday was an 11-year-old Brooklyn girl who was a student at the Urban Assembly School for Criminal Justice in Borough Park, school officials said.
A school official who declined to give her name Friday said a note was sent home with students about the death. She also said Principal Mariela Graham is meeting with parents.
The school's Parent-Teacher Association declined to comment.
The city recorded its first swine flu death May 16. Since the initial outbreak in April in Queens, the city has spent $10 million in its swine flu response, which continues to invade communities across the city.
Scientists don't know how long the virus will persist or how far it will spread. Despite the deaths, health officials said most of the swine flu cases in the city have been mild and those sickened recovered within a few days.
City Council members questioned the city's response to the virus and its communicable-disease preparedness plan in a committee hearing Thursday.
Recently appointed Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said the city would be hard pressed to respond to the virus if it mutates into a more severe strain.
He was joined by other city officials who acknowledged that city hospitals and other city agencies would need assistance from the federal government and perhaps other states.
BY MICHAEL FRAZIER | michael.frazier@newsday.com
Monday, June 8, 2009
Swine Flu Signs and Symptons
Swine Flu
What is Swine Influenza?
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs. Swine flu viruses cause high levels of illness and low death rates in pigs. Swine influenza viruses may circulate among swine throughout the year, but most outbreaks occur during the late fall and winter months similar to outbreaks in humans. The classical swine flu virus (an influenza type A H1N1 virus) was first isolated from a pig in 1930.
How many swine flu viruses are there?
Like all influenza viruses, swine flu viruses change constantly. Pigs can be infected by avian influenza and human influenza viruses as well as swine influenza viruses. When influenza viruses from different species infect pigs, the viruses can reassort (i.e. swap genes) and new viruses that are a mix of swine, human and/or avian influenza viruses can emerge. Over the years, different variations of swine flu viruses have emerged. At this time, there are four main influenza type A virus subtypes that have been isolated in pigs: H1N1, H1N2, H3N2, and H3N1. However, most of the recently isolated influenza viruses from pigs have been H1N1 viruses.
Swine Flu in Humans
Can humans catch swine flu?
Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans. However, sporadic human infections with swine flu have occurred. Most commonly, these cases occur in persons with direct exposure to pigs (e.g. children near pigs at a fair or workers in the swine industry). In addition, there have been documented cases of one person spreading swine flu to others. For example, an outbreak of apparent swine flu infection in pigs in Wisconsin in 1988 resulted in multiple human infections, and, although no community outbreak resulted, there was antibody evidence of virus transmission from the patient to health care workers who had close contact with the patient.
How common is swine flu infection in humans?
In the past, CDC received reports of approximately one human swine influenza virus infection every one to two years in the U.S., but from December 2005 through February 2009, 12 cases of human infection with swine influenza have been reported. For information on the number of probable and confirmed cases of novel H1N1 flu in humans see Novel H1N1 Flu Situation Update.
What are the symptoms of swine flu in humans?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Can people catch swine flu from eating pork?
No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.
How does swine flu spread?
Influenza viruses can be directly transmitted from pigs to people and from people to pigs. Human infection with flu viruses from pigs are most likely to occur when people are in close proximity to infected pigs, such as in pig barns and livestock exhibits housing pigs at fairs. Human-to-human transmission of swine flu can also occur. This is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people, which is mainly person-to-person transmission through coughing or sneezing of people infected with the influenza virus. People may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.
What do we know about human-to-human spread of swine flu?
In September 1988, a previously healthy 32-year-old pregnant woman was hospitalized for pneumonia and died 8 days later. A swine H1N1 flu virus was detected. Four days before getting sick, the patient visited a county fair swine exhibition where there was widespread influenza-like illness among the swine.
In follow-up studies, 76% of swine exhibitors tested had antibody evidence of swine flu infection but no serious illnesses were detected among this group. Additional studies suggest that one to three health care personnel who had contact with the patient developed mild influenza-like illnesses with antibody evidence of swine flu infection.
How can human infections with swine influenza be diagnosed?
To diagnose swine influenza A infection, a respiratory specimen would generally need to be collected within the first 4 to 5 days of illness (when an infected person is most likely to be shedding virus). However, some persons, especially children, may shed virus for 7 days or longer. Identification as a swine flu influenza A virus requires sending the specimen to CDC for laboratory testing.
What medications are available to treat swine flu infections in humans?
There are four different antiviral drugs that are licensed for use in the US for the treatment of influenza: amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir. While most swine influenza viruses have been susceptible to all four drugs, the most recent H1N1 influenza viruses isolated from humans are resistant to amantadine and rimantadine.
What other examples of swine flu outbreaks are there?
Probably the most well known is an outbreak of swine flu among soldiers in Fort Dix, New Jersey in 1976. The virus caused disease with x-ray evidence of pneumonia in at least 4 soldiers and 1 death; all of these patients had previously been healthy. The virus was transmitted to close contacts in a basic training environment, with limited transmission outside the basic training group. The virus is thought to have circulated for a month and disappeared. The source of the virus, the exact time of its introduction into Fort Dix, and factors limiting its spread and duration are unknown. The Fort Dix outbreak may have been caused by introduction of an animal virus into a stressed human population in close contact in crowded facilities during the winter. The swine influenza A virus collected from a Fort Dix soldier was named A/New Jersey/76 (Hsw1N1).
Swine Flu in Pigs
How does swine flu spread among pigs?
Swine flu viruses are thought to be spread mostly through close contact among pigs and possibly from contaminated objects moving between infected and uninfected pigs. Herds with continuous swine flu infections and herds that are vaccinated against swine flu may have sporadic disease, or may show only mild or no symptoms of infection.
What are signs of swine flu in pigs?
Signs of swine flu in pigs can include sudden onset of fever, depression, coughing (barking), discharge from the nose or eyes, sneezing, breathing difficulties, eye redness or inflammation, and going off feed.
How common is swine flu among pigs?
H1N1 and H3N2 swine flu viruses are endemic among pig populations in the United States and something that the industry deals with routinely. Outbreaks among pigs normally occur in colder weather months (late fall and winter) and sometimes with the introduction of new pigs into susceptible herds. Studies have shown that the swine flu H1N1 is common throughout pig populations worldwide, with 25 percent of animals showing antibody evidence of infection. In the U.S. studies have shown that 30 percent of the pig population has antibody evidence of having had H1N1 infection. More specifically, 51 percent of pigs in the north-central U.S. have been shown to have antibody evidence of infection with swine H1N1. Human infections with swine flu H1N1 viruses are rare. There is currently no way to differentiate antibody produced in response to flu vaccination in pigs from antibody made in response to pig infections with swine H1N1 influenza.
While H1N1 swine viruses have been known to circulate among pig populations since at least 1930, H3N2 influenza viruses did not begin circulating among US pigs until 1998. The H3N2 viruses initially were introduced into the pig population from humans. The current swine flu H3N2 viruses are closely related to human H3N2 viruses.
Is there a vaccine for swine flu?
Vaccines are available to be given to pigs to prevent swine influenza. There is no vaccine to protect humans from swine flu. The seasonal influenza vaccine will likely help provide partial protection against swine H3N2, but not swine H1N1 viruses.
By: CDC(Centers for Disease Control and Preventions)
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/key_facts.htm
What is Swine Influenza?
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs. Swine flu viruses cause high levels of illness and low death rates in pigs. Swine influenza viruses may circulate among swine throughout the year, but most outbreaks occur during the late fall and winter months similar to outbreaks in humans. The classical swine flu virus (an influenza type A H1N1 virus) was first isolated from a pig in 1930.
How many swine flu viruses are there?
Like all influenza viruses, swine flu viruses change constantly. Pigs can be infected by avian influenza and human influenza viruses as well as swine influenza viruses. When influenza viruses from different species infect pigs, the viruses can reassort (i.e. swap genes) and new viruses that are a mix of swine, human and/or avian influenza viruses can emerge. Over the years, different variations of swine flu viruses have emerged. At this time, there are four main influenza type A virus subtypes that have been isolated in pigs: H1N1, H1N2, H3N2, and H3N1. However, most of the recently isolated influenza viruses from pigs have been H1N1 viruses.
Swine Flu in Humans
Can humans catch swine flu?
Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans. However, sporadic human infections with swine flu have occurred. Most commonly, these cases occur in persons with direct exposure to pigs (e.g. children near pigs at a fair or workers in the swine industry). In addition, there have been documented cases of one person spreading swine flu to others. For example, an outbreak of apparent swine flu infection in pigs in Wisconsin in 1988 resulted in multiple human infections, and, although no community outbreak resulted, there was antibody evidence of virus transmission from the patient to health care workers who had close contact with the patient.
How common is swine flu infection in humans?
In the past, CDC received reports of approximately one human swine influenza virus infection every one to two years in the U.S., but from December 2005 through February 2009, 12 cases of human infection with swine influenza have been reported. For information on the number of probable and confirmed cases of novel H1N1 flu in humans see Novel H1N1 Flu Situation Update.
What are the symptoms of swine flu in humans?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Can people catch swine flu from eating pork?
No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You can not get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.
How does swine flu spread?
Influenza viruses can be directly transmitted from pigs to people and from people to pigs. Human infection with flu viruses from pigs are most likely to occur when people are in close proximity to infected pigs, such as in pig barns and livestock exhibits housing pigs at fairs. Human-to-human transmission of swine flu can also occur. This is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people, which is mainly person-to-person transmission through coughing or sneezing of people infected with the influenza virus. People may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.
What do we know about human-to-human spread of swine flu?
In September 1988, a previously healthy 32-year-old pregnant woman was hospitalized for pneumonia and died 8 days later. A swine H1N1 flu virus was detected. Four days before getting sick, the patient visited a county fair swine exhibition where there was widespread influenza-like illness among the swine.
In follow-up studies, 76% of swine exhibitors tested had antibody evidence of swine flu infection but no serious illnesses were detected among this group. Additional studies suggest that one to three health care personnel who had contact with the patient developed mild influenza-like illnesses with antibody evidence of swine flu infection.
How can human infections with swine influenza be diagnosed?
To diagnose swine influenza A infection, a respiratory specimen would generally need to be collected within the first 4 to 5 days of illness (when an infected person is most likely to be shedding virus). However, some persons, especially children, may shed virus for 7 days or longer. Identification as a swine flu influenza A virus requires sending the specimen to CDC for laboratory testing.
What medications are available to treat swine flu infections in humans?
There are four different antiviral drugs that are licensed for use in the US for the treatment of influenza: amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir. While most swine influenza viruses have been susceptible to all four drugs, the most recent H1N1 influenza viruses isolated from humans are resistant to amantadine and rimantadine.
What other examples of swine flu outbreaks are there?
Probably the most well known is an outbreak of swine flu among soldiers in Fort Dix, New Jersey in 1976. The virus caused disease with x-ray evidence of pneumonia in at least 4 soldiers and 1 death; all of these patients had previously been healthy. The virus was transmitted to close contacts in a basic training environment, with limited transmission outside the basic training group. The virus is thought to have circulated for a month and disappeared. The source of the virus, the exact time of its introduction into Fort Dix, and factors limiting its spread and duration are unknown. The Fort Dix outbreak may have been caused by introduction of an animal virus into a stressed human population in close contact in crowded facilities during the winter. The swine influenza A virus collected from a Fort Dix soldier was named A/New Jersey/76 (Hsw1N1).
Swine Flu in Pigs
How does swine flu spread among pigs?
Swine flu viruses are thought to be spread mostly through close contact among pigs and possibly from contaminated objects moving between infected and uninfected pigs. Herds with continuous swine flu infections and herds that are vaccinated against swine flu may have sporadic disease, or may show only mild or no symptoms of infection.
What are signs of swine flu in pigs?
Signs of swine flu in pigs can include sudden onset of fever, depression, coughing (barking), discharge from the nose or eyes, sneezing, breathing difficulties, eye redness or inflammation, and going off feed.
How common is swine flu among pigs?
H1N1 and H3N2 swine flu viruses are endemic among pig populations in the United States and something that the industry deals with routinely. Outbreaks among pigs normally occur in colder weather months (late fall and winter) and sometimes with the introduction of new pigs into susceptible herds. Studies have shown that the swine flu H1N1 is common throughout pig populations worldwide, with 25 percent of animals showing antibody evidence of infection. In the U.S. studies have shown that 30 percent of the pig population has antibody evidence of having had H1N1 infection. More specifically, 51 percent of pigs in the north-central U.S. have been shown to have antibody evidence of infection with swine H1N1. Human infections with swine flu H1N1 viruses are rare. There is currently no way to differentiate antibody produced in response to flu vaccination in pigs from antibody made in response to pig infections with swine H1N1 influenza.
While H1N1 swine viruses have been known to circulate among pig populations since at least 1930, H3N2 influenza viruses did not begin circulating among US pigs until 1998. The H3N2 viruses initially were introduced into the pig population from humans. The current swine flu H3N2 viruses are closely related to human H3N2 viruses.
Is there a vaccine for swine flu?
Vaccines are available to be given to pigs to prevent swine influenza. There is no vaccine to protect humans from swine flu. The seasonal influenza vaccine will likely help provide partial protection against swine H3N2, but not swine H1N1 viruses.
By: CDC(Centers for Disease Control and Preventions)
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/key_facts.htm
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