swine flu

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Mexico Official: 'We're On the Right Track'

(Newser) - Mexico's top medical official told the AP that he's hopeful swine flu has begun to wane in his nation. "The fact that we have a stabilization in the daily numbers, even a drop, makes us optimistic," said Jose Angel Cordova. "We think we're on the right track....

Biden's Flu Advice Gives White House a Headache

(Newser) - Oh, Joe. The vice president's impromptu advice this morning to avoid airplanes and subways has resulted in a daylong series of rebuttals and backtracking, reports the Christian Science Monitor. “To suggest that people not fly at this stage of things is a broad brush stroke bordering on fear mongering,...

White House Staffer Caught Flu in Mexico

(Newser) - An administration staffer who worked at a dinner President Obama attended during his trip to Mexico likely contracted the H1N1 virus there, the Washington Post reports. The unnamed Energy Department security worker has since transmitted the flu to his wife, son, and nephew, though he has been cleared of the...

WHO Drops 'Swine Flu,' Now Calls It H1N1

(Newser) - The World Health Organization will stop using the term "swine flu" and instead call the virus by its technical name, H1N1 influenza A, reports the Times of London. The UN agency made the move after nations began slaughtering pigs and banning pork products in a misguided effort to stem...

Rumors as Virulent as Swine Flu Itself

Theories implicate everyone from Smithfield Foods to al-Qaeda as responsible

(Newser) - Rumors about the origins of the swine flu outbreak are spreading faster than the virus itself, with theories ranging from a group of slaughtered pigs in China to an al-Qaeda conspiracy, Reuters reports. China’s government was actually prompted into making a formal statement by international media reports suggesting that...

Flu Carries Lessons for Bioterror Fight
 Flu Carries Lessons 
 for Bioterror Fight 

OPINION
Apr 30, 2009 1:11 PM CDT

Flu Carries Lessons for Bioterror Fight

(Newser) - The H1N1 flu outbreak spotlights a public-health infrastructure ill suited to respond to a pandemic or its close cousin, a bioterror attack, D.A. Henderson writes for Newsweek. We must “sharpen our health-care response. Rapid diagnosis and response are critical,” he writes. The “interconnected world we live...

Traders Sneeze, Peso Catches Cold—or Flu

Mexico City brokerages suffer under swine flu

(Newser) - Peso trading is taking a hit as Mexico City brokerages, wary of spreading the flu, send home anyone who so much as sneezes, Bloomberg reports. Face masks litter the floor at one brokerage, whose daily trading volume is down 30%, as traders furiously scrub their desks in an attempt to...

Mexico's First Flu Death Exposes Containment Trouble

Response quick, but follow-up efforts weak

(Newser) - After a 39-year-old woman became Mexico’s first person to die of swine flu, authorities quickly responded—but efforts were mixed, the AP finds. Medical teams interviewed 472 people who possibly had contact with the woman, a tax collector whose family runs a convenience store; they temporarily closed the ICU...

Avoid Planes, Trains, Closed Spaces: Biden

It's too late to close Mexico border, he says

(Newser) - Joe Biden is advising his family to avoid confined places where swine flu could spread easily, including airplanes, subways, classrooms, and malls, the VP told the Today Show today. A single sneeze "goes all the way through the aircraft," he noted. Biden also said it's too late to...

Swine Flu Not So Tough: Scientists
Swine Flu Not So Tough: Scientists
Apr 30, 2009 8:09 AM CDT

Swine Flu Not So Tough: Scientists

Strain could be less lethal than seasonal flu, analysis shows

(Newser) - Scientists are gradually downgrading their worst-case scenarios for the swine flu outbreak, the Los Angeles Times report. The H1N1 strain initially appeared to have disturbing similarities to the 1918 flu virus, but researchers analyzing genetic data released this week say the strain is less lethal than feared—and may in...

Making Swine Flu Vaccine Now Could Backfire
Making Swine Flu Vaccine Now Could Backfire
ANALYSIS
Apr 30, 2009 7:34 AM CDT

Making Swine Flu Vaccine Now Could Backfire

Move could cause global shortage of seasonal flu vaccines

(Newser) - The world's leading flu vaccine maker is on standby, ready to start cranking out a swine flu vaccine—but doing so might not be the smartest move, Carol Matlack writes in BusinessWeek. Vaccine makers can't shift or expand production easily, Matlack notes, meaning that a switch now could lead to...

Mexico Shuts Down to Stem Outbreak

Calderón orders citizens to stay home for 5 days

(Newser) - The Mexican president told citizens to stay home tomorrow through May 5 for a five-day partial shutdown of the country's economy to reduce the risk of spreading swine flu, Reuters reports. In his first televised address since the outbreak, Felipe Calderón said that "there is no safer place...

WHO Raises Pandemic Alert to Second-Highest Level

(Newser) - The World Health Organization today raised the pandemic alert level for swine flu to its second-highest level and asked all nations to ramp up emergency measures, MSNBC reports. The agency says human-to-human transmission of the disease is spreading and believes the world could be on the brink of a global...

Texas Schools Cancel Sports as Flu Spreads

Some schools shut entirely

(Newser) - All Texas high schools are canceling sports and academic competitions until May 11 to prevent swine flu from spreading, and five school districts have canceled classes altogether, the Houston Chronicle reports. "Altering the schedule of our events is a way to keep our participants safe," said a state...

Those Masks Won't Save You
 Those Masks Won't Save You 
OPINION
Apr 29, 2009 2:01 PM CDT

Those Masks Won't Save You

Apocalyptic fashion accessory isn't effective against viruses

(Newser) - Chicago has swine flu fever—not the actual flu, mind you, but the pandemic of fear that has swept the US, Mary Schmich writes for the Tribune. Photos abound of Americans donning face masks to go out in public, and Schmich, calling around to pharmacists, found most fresh out. A...

Obama: Consider Closing Flu-Case Schools

(Newser) - President Obama said today that US schools with confirmed cases of swine flu should consider closing. "This is obviously a serious situation," Obama said, that "we are closely and continuously monitoring." He said it is the recommendation of public-health officials that authorities at schools with confirmed...

Virus-Wary Egypt to Destroy All 300K Pigs

USDA says American pork is safe; Russia, China ban imports

(Newser) - The Egyptian government says it will immediately slaughter the country’s entire population of 300,000 pigs to protect against the swine flu, the AP reports. Egypt has stressed that it has no reported cases of the virus, though two infections have been confirmed in neighboring Israel. The move comes...

Forget the Flu: Guns Cause Far More Deaths
Forget the Flu: Guns Cause Far More Deaths
OPINION
Apr 29, 2009 8:56 AM CDT

Forget the Flu: Guns Cause Far More Deaths

As Americans load up on Tamiflu, shootings draw little notice

(Newser) - In the US and Mexico, a plague much more widespread than swine flu continues to pick off its victims, regardless of age, health, or hometown. "While federal and state authorities are preoccupied with preventing a swine flu pandemic from overwhelming the United States, the epidemic of gun violence rages...

Mexico Fears 1st Fatality Spread Flu Widely

Census-taker visited hundreds of homes before falling ill

(Newser) - Mexican authorities fear that the first person known to have died from swine flu may have been a modern-day Typhoid Mary, the Independent reports. The woman, a government census-taker whose door-to-door home visits in late March and early April put her in contact with some 300 people when the flu...

Child in Texas Is 1st US Swine Flu Death

Fatality is first outside Mexico since outbreak began

(Newser) - A 23-month-old child in Texas has become the first person in the US to die of swine flu, a government official said today. The death of the boy, who traveled from Mexico to seek medical treatment, is the first to take place outside Mexico, where the outbreak began, Reuters reports....

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