Swine Flu News and Research

RSS

Swine Flu or influenza A (H1N1) is a new flu virus of swine origin that first caused illness in Mexico and the United States in March and April, 2009. It’s thought that novel influenza A (H1N1) flu spreads in the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread, mainly through the coughs and sneezes of people who are sick with the virus, but it may also be spread by touching infected objects and then touching your nose or mouth. Novel H1N1 infection has been reported to cause a wide range of flu-like symptoms, including fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. In addition, many people also have reported nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea.

To flu experts, 'pandemic' confirms the obvious

"It came as no surprise on Thursday when the World Health Organization declared that the swine flu outbreak had become a pandemic," The New York Times reports.

13 Jun 2009

Declaration of H1N1 pandemic to accelerate H1N1 vaccine production

The WHO's decision Thursday to declare H1N1 (swine) flu a pandemic will "speed the production of a vaccine against the new virus," however scientists continue to caution that "it will be fall at the earliest before the first doses are available," the Los Angeles Times reports.

13 Jun 2009

90 per cent of the world's population won't have access to antivirals in pandemic - generic drugs may help though

Almost 90 per cent of the world's population will not have timely access to affordable supplies of vaccines and antiviral agents in the current influenza pandemic, but it is possible that inexpensive generic drugs that are readily available, even in developing countries, could save millions of lives.

13 Jun 2009

UK tops the list of countries at extreme risk to the spread of swine flu

A Warwick Business School professor and one of the founders of global risks specialist, Maplecroft, has released three new maps and indices revealing the countries most at risk from an influenza pandemic.

12 Jun 2009

Don't panic because there's a pandemic!

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially raised the level of the swine flu alert to 6 - the highest level - and declared the outbreak a pandemic following an emergency meeting.

12 Jun 2009

How prepared are we? New study to investigate Australia’s pandemic preparedness

Public health experts have warned that a severe pandemic has the potential to cripple essential infrastructure and cause a catastrophic collapse of systems. A new study, to be undertaken by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), will assess how prepared Australia really is for a pandemic and identify 'weakest links'.

11 Jun 2009

WHO declares H1N1 virus spread a pandemic

WHO has declared that the spread of the H1N1 (swine) flu virus has reached pandemic level, the AP/Google.com reports (AP/Google.com, 6/11). The Phase 6 pandemic alert indicates that two regions of the world are experiencing significant outbreaks, according to the Wall Street Journal.

11 Jun 2009

Spike in Australian H1N1 cases could lead WHO to declare pandemic

The H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak could soon be declared the first flu pandemic in 41 years after a recent jump in the number of confirmed cases in Australia, WHO officials said Tuesday, the AP/Google.com reports (Jordans, AP/Google.com, 6/9).

10 Jun 2009

Disease control expert urges health workers to clean hands and save lives

Australia's World Health Organization infectious disease expert and Director of Hand Hygiene Australia has urged all health professionals to improve infection control and save lives by adopting the new National Hand Hygiene Initiative.

9 Jun 2009

New York Times examines varying definitions of 'pandemic'

"The new swine influenza virus [H1N1], which appeared suddenly after years of warning about a potential pandemic of avian influenza, upset the WHO's assumptions that most people have the same understanding of the word pandemic," says the New York Times in a report that examines the difficultly health experts have had when attempting to agree upon what constitutes a pandemic.

9 Jun 2009

Sinovac begins production of H1N1 vaccine

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. announced today that it begins the production of a vaccine against influenza A (H1N1) virus. The virus seed was received from U.S. CDC and was delivered to the company on June 8, 2009.

9 Jun 2009

Australia's swine flu alert level may be raised a notch

As Australia's number of confirmed cases of influenza A H1N1 (swine flu) continues to soar - the toll is now 1,211 - there is now the very real possibility that the swine flu alert level will be raised a notch.

9 Jun 2009

WHO to incorporate disease severity into pandemic alert scale

A meeting of the WHO's emergency committee held Friday to discuss the H1N1 (swine) flu ended without a pandemic declaration, but experts concluded that declarations would now be based upon the severity and transmission pattern of a virus, Reuters reports (Nebehay, Reuters, 6/5). "The Emergency Committee is composed of international experts and its task is to give advice to the WHO chief on influenza outbreak responses," according to Xinhua writes (Xinhua, 6/6).

9 Jun 2009

Officials worry about swine flu preparedness amid budget cuts

In light of two reports released this week, public health officials examine preparation plans for a second strain of swine flu amid troubling budget cuts.

5 Jun 2009

With shrinking budgets, states cutting health services

As state revenues continue their downturn due to the recession, 16 states are trying to find ways to deal with increased health care costs, The New York Times reports: "The carnage in state budgets is getting worse, a report said Thursday, with places like Arizona being hurt by falling revenue on multiple fronts, like personal income and sales taxes. Other states are having mixed experiences, with some tax categories stable, or even rising, even as others fall off the map."

5 Jun 2009

Australia's swine flu toll soars to almost 900

As the number of swine flu cases now confirmed in Australia edges close to 900, neighbour Singapore has issued advice warning its residents not to travel to Victoria the state worst-hit by the outbreak of influenza A H1N1 with 752 cases.

4 Jun 2009

Australia in top five countries worse hit by swine flu

The latest update from the World Health Organization, #43, says as of 3rd June, 66 countries have officially reported 19,273 cases of influenza A H1N1 infection (swine flu), including 117 deaths.

4 Jun 2009

White House seeks more money in case of a H1N1 pandemic emergency

The White House requested new funding for swine flu from Congress late Tuesday and also sought an additional $3.1 billion from the unspent stimulus funds in case of a pandemic emergency, according to various news sources.

4 Jun 2009

Congress unlikely to approve Obama's request for additional flu money, majority leader says

U.S House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Wednesday expressed skepticism that Congress would approve President Obama's recent request for an additional $2 billion to help fight the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, Reuters/Washington Post reports.

4 Jun 2009

WHO closer to declaring H1N1 flu outbreak a pandemic

The WHO on Tuesday said it was "getting closer" to declaring the H1N1 (swine) flu outbreak to be a pandemic, as the virus continues to spread to people outside of North America, and in populations "as far apart as Britain, Spain, Japan, Chile and Australia," the AP/Washington Post reports (Jordans, AP/Washington Post, 6/2).

3 Jun 2009