http://http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/swine-flu-news.php/ News on Human Swine Flu from around the world http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24528Poland has avoided accumulating unused swine flu vaccine, unlike other EU countries, but the vaccine controversy has not gone away, says the BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24528Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:02:24 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24536When compared to a typical flu, the H1N1 virus resulted in a higher proportion of patients requiring specialized hospital services - and affected younger people more - according to a new study released today by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24536Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:01:15 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24527These questions and answers summarize the current understanding of the impact of 2009 H1N1 and seasonal influenza virus on Hispanics/Latinos, describe some of the barriers to uptake of 2009 H1N1 and seasonal influenza vaccines, and outline potential strategies for improving health and increasing vaccine coverage in Hispanic/Latino communities. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24527Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:30:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24489BRITAIN'S swine flu hotline, launched seven months ago amid fears of a global pandemic of the virus, was switched off today after a steady fall in the number of cases reported. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24489Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:22:38 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24517Since April 2009, the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus has been spreading from person-to-person worldwide, affecting all racial and ethnic groups. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24517Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:00:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24506Social interaction between neighbours, work colleagues and other communities and social groups makes voluntary vaccination programs for epidemics such as Swine Flu, SARS or Bird Flu a surprisingly effective method of disease control... http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24506Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:00:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24470The National Pandemic Flu Service, set up to dispense drugs to patients in England without the need to see doctors, closes. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24470Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:00:17 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24458The National Pandemic Flu Service in England is to close because of the sharp decline in cases of the H1N1 swine flu virus. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24458Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:44:09 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24437Ask any health professional who cares for children and they will tell you: When H1N1 flu hits, it can be very severe. In the last four months of 2009, nearly 240 children died in the United States from H1N1 flu—more than three times as many child deaths as in a typical non-H1N1 flu season. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24437Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:15:52 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24415The Department of Health in NI still has half a million swine flu vaccines it stockpiled to combat the virus. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24415Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:03:03 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24405As the number of new H1N1 (swine flu) infections worldwide drops, U.S. health officials on Friday cautioned the virus continues to circulate and can still be deadly, Reuters reports. According to the WHO, H1N1 remains the dominant strain worldwide, but there are reports of the recent emergence of the seasonal flu in Africa and China, according to the news agency. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24405Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:14:58 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24323NOW is the ideal time to vaccinate young children against influenza, the New South Wales Government says, ahead of a possible epidemic this winter. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24323Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:46:57 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24285DOCTORS have been told to issue the swine flu vaccine throughout summer in order to deplete the Government's stockpile before millions of doses expire. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24285Sat, 06 Feb 2010 20:00:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24263SWINE flu is expected to be the dominant strain of influenza in 2010 and Australians should consider early vaccinations to be prepared, Australia's Chief Medical Officer says. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24263Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:30:09 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24238Why are some of the doses of H1N1 vaccine manufactured in pre-filled syringes being recalled from the market? http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24238Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:30:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24234Four more people with swine flu have died in the West Midlands region, the NHS says. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24234Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:21:10 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24235As of 31 January 2010, worldwide more than 209 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including at least 15174 deaths. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24235Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:00:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24194Shortened Expiration Period For Sanofi Pasteur 2009 H1N1 Vaccine In Pre-filled Syringes Questions & Answers http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24194Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:30:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24162Providing preventive Tamiflu and educating and emphasizing the need for repeated hand sanitizer use and disinfectant spray helped stop the spread of H1N1 influenza at a boys' summer camp in northern Alabama, according the co-director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24162Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:54:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24135All lots of monovalent 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine in pre-filled syringes manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur, not included in the two earlier recalls, should now be administered by February 15, 2010 regardless of the expiration imprinted on the package. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24135Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:36:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24134In recent testing of its influenza A (H1N1) monovalent vaccine, Sanofi Pasteur found five distributed lots of single-dose, pre-filled syringe pediatric (0.25 mL) vaccine and one distributed lot of single-dose pre-filled syringe for older children and adults (0.5 mL) vaccine had potency below pre-specified limits. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24134Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:32:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24119DOCTORS may soon have better treatments for people critically ill with swine flu, after a discovery by Australian clinicians that most of the sickest patients lack a crucial antibody that helps other people fight off infections. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24119Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:00:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24086CZECH chief public health officer Michael Vit said today he had caught swine flu, only a day after the government put him in charge of deciding on mandatory vaccinations against the disease. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24086Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:44:52 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24058Current research suggests that pandemic H1N1 influenza of swine origin has distinct means of transmission from the seasonal flu, yet does not result in the pathogenic severity of avian flu viruses. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24058Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:38:31 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24051 With one scientist alleging a WHO 'conspiracy', Mark Honigsbaum asks if H1N1 could have been handled differently. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24051Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:08:29 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24023As of January 7, 2010, the cumulative pro rata allocation is approximately 136 million doses of 2009 H1N1 vaccine. As of January 5, 2010, approximately 111 million doses have been shipped, so supplies of 2009 H1N1 vaccine available to be administered are ample. Although the 2009 H1N1 vaccine was initially prioritized to certain target groups, due to the increase in supply most jurisdictions are now making vaccine available for everyone who wishes to receive it. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=24023Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:45:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=23968We were right to prepare for a swine flu pandemic – and it must not stop us anticipating future global health risksSwine flu is no longer sickening very many people but that does not mean it is no longer newsworthy. On the contrary, in recent weeks a succession of critics have rounded on "happy-go-lucky" virologists, "headline-hungry" journalists and the World Health Organisation, accusing them of being variously dupes of the pharmaceutical industry or willing accomplices to pointless hysteria. Their crime? Hyping the pandemic that never was and thereby helping Big Pharma to a billion-dollar vaccine bonanza.Leading the told-you-so's is Dr Wolfgang Wodarg, the former head of the Council of Europe's health committee, who this week tabled a motion in Strasbourg accusing the WHO of having "faked" the pandemic. Another is the Guardian's Simon Jenkins. In characteristically acerbic prose he rails against government scientists for peddling "drivel" about the tens of thousands of Britons who might have died this winter. That they didn't and that you and I are still alive shows that H1N1 is not the "Andromeda strain" long- predicted by scientists. "It was pure, systematic, government-induced panic," he writes. "Swine flu was a textbook case of a scare," concurs Christopher Booker in the Daily Telegraph.Jenkins is a sharp and entertaining writer and when he accuses the media of playing "its joyful part" in propagating panic I have to admit the dart hits home: as a medical historian and expert on the 1918 "Spanish" influenza pandemic I was continually asked to comment on the parallels with swine flu last summer and no doubt added to the hype. But as all good schoolboys know, post hoc doesn't make propter hoc. Just because 65,000 Britons didn't die this winter does not mean that the computer models were wrong or that the Department of Health shouldn't have ordered 50m doses of Tamiflu, only that prognostications about pandemics, like prognostications about earthquakes, are not an exact science.Writing in this paper last week, Tom Sheldon eloquently makes the point that predicting pandemics is a species of risk analysis and thus, by definition, subject to error. With better virological and epidemiological data perhaps the government wouldn't have stockpiled so much Tamiflu or ordered 90m doses of vaccine. But if it hadn't and armageddon had occurred, Jenkins would have been the first to call for the guillotining of the Chief Medical Officer.I do not wish to labour the point but it seems to me that the backlash against swine flu is a species of conspiracy-thinking, one that wilfully misconstrues the role of science in the regulation of technologies of health which have brought so many benefits to society. In the same way that 9/11 denialists point to the collapse of World Trade Centre 7 to support their wacko theories about "controlled demolitions", swine flu denialists point to Donald Rumsfeld's position on the board of Gilead, the company that developed Tamiflu, to argue that the "panic" was got up by similar shadowy neo-conservative corporate interests. It is then a short step to seeing all such panics as conspiracies. Thus, according to the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, the vaccine is really a tool for culling inner-city black populations because of military leaders' concerns about pressures on the global food supply.Similar conspiracy-thinking infects health advice websites that advise mothers not to give their children the swine flu jab because of the risk of rare side-effects, such as Guillain-Barré syndrome. In fact, according to the Institute of Medicine, the chances of contracting GBS from influenza vaccination is one or two per million. By comparison, a recent French study found that the risk of contracting GBS from naturally occurring influenza is four to seven out of every 100,000 cases. But that hasn't stopped NHS staff, who should know better, from shunning the swine flu vaccine. Nor, I am sorry to say, are such peer-reviewed studies likely to persuade the sort of people who continue to refuse to give their children the MMR vaccine because they once read somewhere that it might be linked to autism.Twenty years ago, writing in the context of a very different epidemic, one that to date has claimed two million lives worldwide, Susan Sontag warned that the modern ability to anticipate and estimate the scale of future disasters had resulted in two very different visions of apocalypse: "There is what is happening now. And there is what it portends: the imminent, but not yet actual, and not really graspable, disaster." The result was what Sontag called a "permanent modern scenario: apocalypse looms… and it doesn't occur."Sontag, of course, was writing in the context of Aids and Jenkins is quite right to point out that in the response to swine flu there has been a similar inflation of apocalyptic rhetoric. But just because swine flu turned out to be a non-event, that doesn't mean that we should conclude that our technology is at fault and that it is a mistake to try to anticipate future disasters. As Margaret Chan, the director of the World Health Organisation, acknowledged in June when she issued a "phase six" alert, triggering the drawdown on the government's stockpile of Tamiflu, "the virus writes the rules and this one, like all influenza viruses, can change the rules, without rhyme or reason, at any time".Swine fluHealthWorld Health OrganisationMark Honigsbaumguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=23968Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:00:00 GMThttp://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=23967As of 24 January 2010, worldwide more than 209 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including at least 14711 deaths. http://www.swine-flu-news.com/News/article.php?itemid=23967Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:00:00 GMT