Ilene’s Flu Watch:
AP: At least 7 hospitalized in US with swine flu
WSJ: Pandemic Risk Grows as New Cases Emerge
Zero Hedge: See Schwarzenneger Declares State Of Emergency Over Swine Flu
Flowing Data: Tracking Swine Flu Worldwide – Where and How, Plus Data (hat tip to Nathan)
At least 7 hospitalized in US with swine flu
NEW YORK – At least seven people were in U.S. hospitals with swine flu Tuesday as the number of cases nationwide rose to 64 and a federal health official warned that deaths were likely.
Most of the nation’s confirmed cases were in New York, where the city health commissioner said "many hundreds" of schoolchildren were ill at a school where several students had confirmed cases of swine flu.
Richard Besser, acting director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noted that although ordinary human flu accounts for 36,000 deaths every year, he was concerned by this strain.
More here.
Pandemic Risk Grows as New Cases Emerge
CDC Raises U.S. Count; WHO Says Virus Is Spreading Beyond Travelers to Mexico
WSJ: More evidence emerged Tuesday that a deadly new flu strain has spread widely, with cases reported on four continents.
Health authorities said they uncovered possible cases of the new strain of A/H1N1 swine flu in the Middle East and Asia, a day after the World Health Organization moved a step closer to declaring a pandemic.
In Mexico, the number of suspected swine flu deaths passed 150. In the U.S., the number of confirmed U.S. cases rose to 64, including five hospitalizations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The new data indicated the strain is causing more severe illness in the U.S. than originally seen; only one of the first 40 cases confirmed had to be hospitalized. The incubation period for the disease appeared to be from two to seven days, the CDC said.
Officials also got a better handle on the size of an outbreak at a school in the New York City borough of Queens after students returned from a trip to Mexico. Forty-five students and staff at the school have been sickened by the virus. In addition, new cases of what is believed to be the swine flu have been found in students of two other New York City schools, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday…
Confirmation that the disease is spreading among people in two countries would meet the WHO’s criteria for raising its pandemic alert level one more notch to a "phase 5," or one level short of a full-blown pandemic. On Monday the agency raised its global alert to phase 4 from phase 3. The change recognizes that the virus spreads from person to person, and signals that governments should prepare for outbreaks.
In trying to limit the further spread of the virus, officials are balancing two missions: prepare for the worst possible outcome, while avoiding an eruption of panic in the public. The tasks are complicated by the fact that they don’t know the lethality of the virus they are up against. Many people assume a pandemic is a deadly scourge, but two of the three flu pandemics that circled the globe in the 20th century were relatively mild. "Pandemics can range from being relatively mild to being extremely severe," Dr. Fukuda said. "My own sense right now is it too early to make a call."..
Full article here.
