San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco officials confirm first H1N1 case

photo Koen de Koning

"San Francisco has its first confirmed case of swine flu, a child who recently traveled to Mexico, the city's public health director announced today.

Dr. Mitchell Katz offered few details about the case but said the child is not in school. Mayor Gavin Newsom said the child is recovering."

San Francisco officials confirm first H1N1 case

Swine Flu, A Manufactured Crisis

The H1N1 crisis from an agricultural point of view:

"Let me preface what I’m about to say by telling you that my comments are in no way meant to diminish the grief and suffering of those folks in Mexico who’ve lost loved ones through the influenza situation affecting our continent this week, nor to whitewash the dozens of Americans sickened with the illness.

That being said, “swine flu” is as manufactured a crisis is you can possibly imagine."

ABN Radio, Ohio's Voice for Agriculture: Swine Flu, A Manufactured Crisis

Do You Have Swine Flu?

Indepth survey to test if you have symptoms of H1N1...

Do You Have Swine Flu?

The Latest in the Fight Against H1N1 Flu

As the number of cases continues to grow, federal, state and local public health agencies are adapting their response to the outbreak of H1N1 flu with both on-the-ground and online resources. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has put together a list of what agencies around the country are doing to address the needs of the public and keep them informed.

Public Health Update: The Latest in the Fight Against H1N1 Flu

Audio:
Listen to Jeffrey Levi comments to reporters about swine flu on April 27, 2009.
Listen to the full conference call with reporters on April 27, 2009.

General Instructions for Disposable Respirators

This podcast, by the CDC intended for the general public, demonstrates how to put on and take off disposable respirators that are to be used in areas affected by the influenza outbreak.

The Etymology of A/H1N1

Wikipedia: Influenza A virus strains are categorized according to two viral proteins, hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). All influenza A viruses contain hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, but the structure of these proteins differs from strain to strain due to rapid genetic mutation in the viral genome. Influenza A virus strains are assigned an H number and an N number based on which forms of these two proteins the strain contains.

Dutch confirm swine flu case in three year-old

First case of H1N1 in the Netherlands:

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch health authorities have confirmed a first case of swine flu in the Netherlands in a three year-old who had recently returned from Mexico, the health ministry said on Thursday.

The swine flu virus has killed up to 176 people in Mexico, the epicentre of the outbreak, and the World Health Organisation has raised the official alert level to phase 5, the last step before a pandemic.

Including the Netherlands, 12 countries have now reported cases of the H1N1 strain.

The Dutch case was in a child who had returned from a trip to Mexico on April 27, officials said. The parents, who were not infected with the flu, are to be given preventative medicine.

Spain on Wednesday reported the first case in Europe of swine flu in a person who had not been to Mexico, illustrating the danger of person-to-person transmission.

Both U.S. and European officials have said they expect to see swine flu deaths.

Twitterpanic

ashleyvirus

Ashley
shit the swine flu cases in michigan are now CONFIRMED!!!!! ugh fml i'm going to die!!! #swineflu #h1n1

Reuters: WHO confirms pandemic threat raised to 5

GENEVA (Reuters) - World Health Organization director-general Dr. Margaret Chan raised the pandemic threat awareness level to 5 out of 6 on Wednesday, meaning the world is at imminent risk of a pandemic from H1N1 swine flu.

"I have decided to raise the level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 4 to phase 5," Chan told a news briefing.

WHO confirms pandemic threat raised to 5 out of 6 | Reuters

Ready for phase 5

Reuters: Sources say WHO likely to increase flu alert to level 5 because "things moving fast" Press briefing in a little over an hour.

BBC: France urges Mexican flight ban

France says it will request an EU-wide ban on all flights to Mexico, source of the swine flu outbreak.

The move follows confirmation of new cases in Germany, Austria, Britain and Spain. Many, if not all, of those infected have recently been to Mexico.

French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said France would push for the flight ban at a meeting of EU health ministers on Thursday.

However World Health Organization (WHO) officials say a ban may be pointless.

BBC NEWS | Europe | France urges Mexican flight ban

BBC: Girl aged 12 contracts swine flu

A 12-year-old Devon girl who recently returned from Mexico is suffering from swine flu, tests have confirmed.

Her school, Paignton Community College in Torbay, is being closed for seven days and pupils in her year are being offered anti-viral treatment.

The girl was described as having mild symptoms and was responding well to treatment.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Devon | Girl aged 12 contracts swine flu

Reuters: UN agency slams Egypt order to cull all pigs

ROME (Reuters) - Egypt's order on Wednesday to cull all the country's pigs is 'a real mistake' and another reason why the world needs to rethink using 'swine flu' to describe a virus affecting humans, a U.N. agency official said.

Egypt, where pigs are mainly raised by the country's Christian minority, described the order to slaughter the animals as a precautionary measure in a country hard hit by bird flu. Up to 400,000 pigs could be culled, a cabinet spokesman said.

Joseph Domenech, the chief veterinary officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation, told Reuters his staff were trying to reach Egyptian authorities to correct any confusion about a virus that has killed humans but not been found in pigs.

Reuters AlertNet - UN agency slams Egypt order to cull all pigs

The Associated Press: WHO says swine flu moving toward pandemic level 5

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says the swine flu outbreak is moving closer to becoming a pandemic.

WHO flu chief Dr. Keiji Fukuda told reporters on Wednesday that developments in the disease are moving the agency closer to raising its pandemic alert to phase 5, indicating widespread human-to-human transmission.

He said the health body was monitoring the situation but was not yet ready to move the pandemic alert level up from its current level of 4, which means it is being passed among people.

Phase 6 is the highest in the scale and is for a full-scale pandemic.

Fukuda said there was no evidence the virus was slowing down.

Associated Press: WHO says H1N1 moving toward pandemic level 5

U.S. Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection

U.S. Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection
(As of April 29, 2009, 11:00 AM ET)

States	# of laboratory confirmed cases	Deaths
Arizona	1
California	14
Indiana	1
Kansas	2
Massachusetts	2
Michigan	2
Nevada	1
New York City	51
Ohio	1
Texas	16	1
TOTAL COUNTS	91 cases	1 death
International Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection See: World Health Organization

Hamish McRae: The worst time to suffer a pandemic

"We know a lot about the impact on economies of health emergencies"

The threat of a global pandemic quite properly instils fear. We know sadly that people in Mexico have died from the present outbreak of swine flu. We know inevitably that the flu will spread, indeed is already spreading, around the world. And we have that folk memory of past pandemics, from the Spanish flu after the First World War back through time to the plagues, the Black Death and beyond. Why do we still say "bless you" when someone sneezes? Because a sneeze was a first sign that someone had caught the plague.

Hamish McRae: The worst time to suffer a pandemic

Egyptians seek 'immediate death' for nation's pigs

CAIRO - Egypt's lower house of parliament called on Tuesday for the nation's 250,000 pigs to be killed immediately because of fears over the spread of swine flu, state news agency MENA reported.

"The People's Assembly urged the government to immediately start culling pigs and not to relocate pig-breeding farms away from residential areas for fear of the spread of swine flu," MENA said.

Egypt's 80-million population consists mainly of Muslims, whose religion forbids them from eating pork, as well as an estimated six to 10 per cent Christian Copts who may eat pig meat.

Egyptians seek 'immediate death' for nation's pigs

WHO called another emergency meeting

According to BNONews, the World Health Organization has called an emergency meeting to discuss the alert status, which could raise it to a pandemic level. There will be a telephone news conference at 4 p.m. GMT, officials tell BNO News.

CNN.Com: First U.S. swine flu death confirmed

Five-year-old Edgar Hernandez, known as 'patient zero' survived the earliest documented case of swine flu.

A two-year-old child in Texas has become the first fatality from swine flu in the United States, officials said Wednesday.

'A child has died from the H1N1 virus,' the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control Dr. Richard Besser told CNN's 'American Morning' on Wednesday. 'As a parent and a pediatrician, my heart goes out to the family.'

The child is the first person to die of swine flu outside of Mexico where the virus has caused more than 159 deaths and roughly 2,500 illnesses."

First U.S. swine flu death confirmed - CNN.com

Pandemic Flu Portal — Integrative Center for Homeland Security

The Integrative Centre for Homeland Security at the Texas A&M University just launched a portal on the pandemic flu.
Here you will find access to news and information from across the nation and around the world
concerning the current swine flu outbreak as well as general information about pandemic flu.

Pandemic Flu Portal — Integrative Center for Homeland Security