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Isn't she lovely!

It started with diarrhea, then fever and basic flu-like symptoms. It certainly could be swine flu. Read the rest of this entry →

WHO Flag

Dr. Margaret Chan of the World Heath Organization (WHO) has officially raised the status of H1N1 Swine Flu to six, the highest level.

Dr. Chan said there are two main concerns now: Read the rest of this entry →

Cases of Swine Flu have surged since the weekend in Japan forcing authorities to close schools and kindergardens as a precaution for the teenager-hit crowd.

Meanwhile the WHO (World Health Organization) says that making swine flu vaccine is harder than thought and will not be available until mid-July.

The WHO says 40 countries are now infected with H1N1 and have officially reported 8480 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Read the rest of this entry →

* Woohoo! just got my swine flu info package! How many trees died to tell me to wash my hands?

* 90 people get the Swine Flu and everybody wants to wear a mask. A million people have AIDS and no one wants to wear a condom.

* Anybody got their swine flu leaflet yet? Miine just came through the letterbox, and I am now completely reassured. ATCHOO!

* Is the swine flu fading away or getting worse, the news can’t make up their mind.

* Yo This Swine Flu Is Crazy. Its not the first in the US but they keep pushing it though the news. I wonder what’s really going on!!!!!!!!! Read the rest of this entry →

Q. Why would an influenza virus such as Swine Flu or H1N1 take a year or so to reach us?

Dr Smith: Each and every year, the flu spreads around the planet. It starts China and then travels, often not noticed in the Northern hemisphere (where most of the world’s population live) until Autumn or Spring.

Q: When and where do swine flu outbreaks occur?
Read the rest of this entry →

Back in 1976 there was a genuine concern that Swine Influenza would break out. In the USA 45 million Americans got flu shots. However, the campaign to vaccinate against Swine Flu was stopped after several hundred people came down with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare paralyzing disease. Some of those vaccinated died.

Here is some footage of the advertising to get people vaccinated in 1976:

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As we know, the 1976 scare was just that, the epidemic never came. However, it raises an interesting question about vaccination in 2009. Should health officials go ahead and call the public to vaccinate? If they do, the upcoming seasonal flu in the autumn will possibly require a second vaccination. While it may be possible to manufacture enough vaccine for one flu round, it probably is not possible to manufacture enough vaccine to cover both the Swine Flu and the normal, upcoming flu season ahead of us. And health officials do not want to try to concoct vaccines which are untested and which may result in the catastrophy of 1976.

In Other News:

Facebook is weighing in with its own Swine Flu discussion. See the photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=106392&id=20531316728

* Several countries are beginning to debate where and when schools may be closed down to halt a possible spread of Swine Flu. Since infection can happen between 1 and 5 days before any symptoms show up, it is a hard choice to make.

* Schweinegerippe in Deutschland bestätigt aber Erste Zweifel an Gefährlichkeit der Schweinegrippe: http://www.spiegel.de/

* CAIRO (AP) — Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precautionary measure against the spread of swine flu even though no cases have been reported here yet, the Health Ministry said.

* Virus’s Arrival Is Reported on Four Continents: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124090884691363061.html

* Lingo Watch: From Swine Flu to H1N1 Virus (so as not to disrupt the sale of pork)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_influenza
Swine influenza (also swine flu) refers to influenza caused by any virus of … In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and …

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/
Swine Flu website last updated April 28, 2009 6:00 AM ET … An investigation and response effort surrounding the outbreak of swine flu is ongoing. …

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103506962
Swine flu, a highly contagious respiratory disease in pigs, can infect humans who have close contact with the animals or a contaminated …

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http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html
WHO is coordinating the global response to human cases of swine influenza A (H1N1) and monitoring the corresponding threat of an influenza …

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/
One-stop access to US Government avian and pandemic flu information. … Flu terms defined — Seasonal flu, swine flu, avian flu, and pandemic flu are not …

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-41899.html
Photo Gallery: Fighting a Swine Flu Pandemic. 04/27/2009. Return to Homepage. 1 of 16. REUTERS. Virologists expect that the swine flu will soon reach …

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aWcd0Nbgc_R4&refer=home
The seasonal flu vaccine doesn’t appear effective against swine flu, … No decision has been made to order a vaccine against swine flu, …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rT2HWdPFqMg
Harry Smith spoke with a Texas family who contracted Swine flu but are recovering without difficulty. Dr. Jennifer Ashton outlined the …

http://twitter.com/cdcemergency
Tracking Swine flu on Twitter

http://coldflu.about.com/
A series of blog entries from About.com related to Swine Influenza

http://www.medicinenet.com/pneumonia/article.htm
Learn pneumonia symptoms, causes, treatment, signs, diagnosis and types: viral and bacterial (Pneumocystis carinii, Klebsiella, Mycoplasma, …

http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/lung/pneumonia.html
Kids Health: When this happens, symptoms of pneumonia begin after 2 or 3 days of a cold … Symptoms of pneumonia vary, depending on the age of the child and the cause …

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8020552.stm
BBC News, links, QandA, video, audio and more on Swine Flu

http://www.ecdc.europa.eu/Default.aspx
European Centre for disease prevention and control

http://www.google.org/flutrends/
Explore flu trends across the U.S. via Google

http://healthguide.howstuffworks.com/influenza-vaccine-dictionary.htm
How Stuff Works: Vaccine – influenza; Immunization – influenza; Flu shot; Flu vaccine …

http://bodyandhealth.canada.com/
Body and Health Canada: Pneumonia rarely causes serious complications for healthy people under 65 …

http://www.xodigo.com/h5n1/pandemic.htm
The history of influenza Pandemics in the last century and what we can learn from them …

http://www.xodigo.com/h5n1/links.htm
Health Links: Links to International health and information web sites …

http://www.xodigo.com/h5n1/facemask.htm
Face Masks: which ones work and which ones to avoid …