H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu) Information

Here’s some of the latest government posts for information on the H1N1 influenza (swine flu):

Families

Schools, Colleges, Child Care

Employers & Employees

Communities

Health Professionals

Travelers

More documents from the World Health Organization are available here.

8 Comments

  1. 1
    bruno says:

    wow   Pretty impressive list compilation and the time it took to assemble it.
    Personally I don’t worry about the swine flu all that much.  There are 5000+ people dying every single year of the ‘ordinary flu’ here in America.  Nobody seems to be all that alarmed by it.
    I have to admit that swine flu makes for awesome scaremongering and drama on MSM.
    More people are killed every single day in Iraq and Afghanistan than have been killed so far with swine flu.  Yet the latter gets all the attention to the point of ridiculousness, while the former is merely an ‘as-a-matter-of-fact’ mention.

    People dying in war situations is old news and boring.  Anthrax scares were fun for the media, as was the ‘bird flue’ and now the ‘swine flu’.  What’s new?

  2. 2
    Ron Chusid says:

    It’s well above 5000 dying every year of conventional flu strains–some years over 50,000. The difference is that this is a new strain meaning 1) we don’t know for sure will happen and2) we don’t have lots of immunized people. While more might die from other causes, this is still something we need to be prepared to deal with.

  3. 3
    Christopher Skyi says:

    No Signs of Sustained Global Spread of Swine Flu New York Times. and First genetic analysis of swine flu reveals potency New Scientist. Good news for now, but epidemiologists warn that next fall/winter, influenza season in the Northern Hemisphere, is the time to watch. The disease is likely to stay active at a low level in the southern hemisphere in its winter. The open question is whether it takes the mild form exhibited most places, or the more deadly type that struck in Mexico. If it just turns out to be a new version of winter flu, we can all relax.

  4. 4
    Ron Chusid says:

    Fortunately this hit late in the flu season and there is hope the first wave might end soon. In the 1918 pandemic the second wave was far more deadly than the first wave. The difference is that we should be able to have a vaccine before a second wave begins next fall.

  5. 5
    Ktd says:

    I’d agree with Ron Chusid–while I do think the media has blown the current H1N1 virus slightly out of proportion (especially in contrast to the numbers of people dying from less “interesting” things everyday), there is some concern from professionals in the field over a potential second wave.  I would like to see the government as well as the scientists, etc. working on a vaccine in case it ends up happening.  I watched an interesting video on some of the recent issues the H1N1 virus has been causing–tensions between China and Mexico, economic concerns and (of course) deaths/illness.  I watched an excellent summary video on the virus at newsy.com earlier today.  Take a look:

    http://www.newsy.com/videos/viral_confusion/

  6. 6
    Ron Chusid says:

    Work has begun on a vaccine. Unfortunately it is probably too late to incorporate H1N1 into the regular seasonal influenza vaccine and a separate injection will be needed. (It is also possible that two injections will be needed for this). Hopefully people don’t get lulled into a false sense of security if this season’s outbreak ends soon and fail to get the vaccine.

    I don’t really think it is relevant whether people are dying of other things. The fact is that we have a new flu virus and that if appropriate action is taken we can prevent people from getting sick and possibly dying from this. That’s independent of how we respond to anything else people are dying of.

  7. 7
    Christopher Skyi says:

    What happen in 1976?  If remember, there was some kind of  fiasco involving the swine flu vaccination program of 1976, which killed more people than swine flu did.

  8. 8
    Ron Chusid says:

    The swine flu vaccine in 1976 (which is a different virus than the current one) caused cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, including 25 related deaths. The vaccinations were stopped after these side effects, especially as that flu showed very limited spread.

    Vaccines have improved tremendously since 1976, but that is being kept in mind in the response to the current episode.

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