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UPDATE 1-U.S. acts swiftly to contain swine flu outbreak
by jmjm530, Apr 26, 2009 04:52PM
* US to release 25 percent of anti-viral stockpile
* Health chief recommends planning for school closures
* Too early to determine impact on economy (Updates to add information from CDC briefing)
By Ross Colvin
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - The United States declared a public health emergency on Sunday because of an outbreak of swine flu that has been diagnosed in 20 people in this country -- the same strain suspected of killing 81 people in Mexico.
The outbreak is yet another distraction for President Barack Obama as he focuses on rescuing the economy from its worst crisis in decades. His administration will also be mindful of the damage to former President George W. Bush over his government's inept handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"At this point, a top priority is to ensure that communication is robust and that medical surveillance efforts are fully activated," John Brennan, assistant to the president for Homeland Security, told a White House briefing.
Dr Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a separate briefing she feared that some people would die in the United States as the virus spread.
Health and Homeland Security officials announced steps to release some of the U.S. stockpiles of the anti-flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. They recommended that local authorities plan for possible school closures and that anyone with symptoms stay at home to reduce the possibility of transmission.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said it was too early to say what impact the outbreak could have on efforts to get the economy back on its feet. Spiraling healthcare costs are already a huge drain on the economy.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the declaration of the public health emergency was necessary to free federal, state and local agencies' resources and authorize the release of funds to buy more antivirals.
"This is standard operating procedure," Napolitano stressed, adding that similar declarations had been issued in the past to help states cope with flooding or hurricanes.
CASES MILD
The CDC confirmed 20 cases of swine flu in the United States and said all the patients had recovered and only one person had to be hospitalized. Officials said they were not testing air travelers from Mexico for the virus.
UPDATE 1-U.S. acts swiftly to contain swine flu outbreak
The CDC is preparing a "yellow card" for travelers explaining the flu symptoms and what precautions to take, Schuchat said. U.S. health officials are stressing frequent hand washing as the first line of defense against the virus.
Tests so far show that the H1N1 component of the seasonal flu vaccine does not protect against the new H1N1 swine flu strain, Schuchat said. It could take several months to develop a vaccine for the new virus, she added. Continued...
The virus in the U.S. cases appeared to be the same strain as the one that has killed scores in Mexico, CDC acting Director Dr Richard Besser said, although it was not yet clear why it had not proven as deadly in the United States. Health officials from the United States and Canada were now in Mexico to try to answer this "critical question," he said.
"We expect to see more cases of swine flu. As we continue to look for cases, we expect that we will find them," Besser said.
Napolitano said the United States would release 25 percent of the 50 million anti-flu drugs from the strategic national stockpile. The Department of Defense has also bought 7 million courses of Tamiflu for defense personnel, she said.
Tamiflu, a pill made by Roche AG ROG.X and Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O), and GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK.L) (GSK.N) and Biota's (BTA.AX) Relenza, an inhaled drug, can treat influenza if given quickly. They have been shown to work against this new flu strain.
Gibbs said Obama, who recently returned from a trip to Mexico, had shown no symptoms of the virus and had therefore not been tested. (Additional reporting by Kim Dixon, Donna Smith and Maggie Fox; editing by Eric Beech)
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2649351120090426
* Health chief recommends planning for school closures
* Too early to determine impact on economy (Updates to add information from CDC briefing)
By Ross Colvin
WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - The United States declared a public health emergency on Sunday because of an outbreak of swine flu that has been diagnosed in 20 people in this country -- the same strain suspected of killing 81 people in Mexico.
The outbreak is yet another distraction for President Barack Obama as he focuses on rescuing the economy from its worst crisis in decades. His administration will also be mindful of the damage to former President George W. Bush over his government's inept handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
"At this point, a top priority is to ensure that communication is robust and that medical surveillance efforts are fully activated," John Brennan, assistant to the president for Homeland Security, told a White House briefing.
Dr Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a separate briefing she feared that some people would die in the United States as the virus spread.
Health and Homeland Security officials announced steps to release some of the U.S. stockpiles of the anti-flu drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. They recommended that local authorities plan for possible school closures and that anyone with symptoms stay at home to reduce the possibility of transmission.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said it was too early to say what impact the outbreak could have on efforts to get the economy back on its feet. Spiraling healthcare costs are already a huge drain on the economy.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the declaration of the public health emergency was necessary to free federal, state and local agencies' resources and authorize the release of funds to buy more antivirals.
"This is standard operating procedure," Napolitano stressed, adding that similar declarations had been issued in the past to help states cope with flooding or hurricanes.
CASES MILD
The CDC confirmed 20 cases of swine flu in the United States and said all the patients had recovered and only one person had to be hospitalized. Officials said they were not testing air travelers from Mexico for the virus.
UPDATE 1-U.S. acts swiftly to contain swine flu outbreak
The CDC is preparing a "yellow card" for travelers explaining the flu symptoms and what precautions to take, Schuchat said. U.S. health officials are stressing frequent hand washing as the first line of defense against the virus.
Tests so far show that the H1N1 component of the seasonal flu vaccine does not protect against the new H1N1 swine flu strain, Schuchat said. It could take several months to develop a vaccine for the new virus, she added. Continued...
The virus in the U.S. cases appeared to be the same strain as the one that has killed scores in Mexico, CDC acting Director Dr Richard Besser said, although it was not yet clear why it had not proven as deadly in the United States. Health officials from the United States and Canada were now in Mexico to try to answer this "critical question," he said.
"We expect to see more cases of swine flu. As we continue to look for cases, we expect that we will find them," Besser said.
Napolitano said the United States would release 25 percent of the 50 million anti-flu drugs from the strategic national stockpile. The Department of Defense has also bought 7 million courses of Tamiflu for defense personnel, she said.
Tamiflu, a pill made by Roche AG ROG.X and Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O), and GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK.L) (GSK.N) and Biota's (BTA.AX) Relenza, an inhaled drug, can treat influenza if given quickly. They have been shown to work against this new flu strain.
Gibbs said Obama, who recently returned from a trip to Mexico, had shown no symptoms of the virus and had therefore not been tested. (Additional reporting by Kim Dixon, Donna Smith and Maggie Fox; editing by Eric Beech)
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2649351120090426
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Sad to say.
Many questions surround the current outbreak of swine flu, which caused the United States government on Sunday to declare a public health emergency after confirming 20 cases in this country. American officials stressed that the cases here were all mild, with only one person hospitalized.
But in Mexico, where the outbreak began, swine flu is believed to have killed at least 81 people and to have given about 1,300 serious breathing problems. The central question every flu expert in the world would like answered, Dr. Martin Cetron, director of global migration and quarantine for the Centers for Disease Control, said in an interview, is how many mild cases Mexico has had.
“We may just be looking at the tip of the iceberg, which would give you a skewed initial estimate of the case fatality rate,” he said, meaning that there may have been tens of thousands of mild infections, which would then make the number of deaths seemingly low. In that case, as the flu spreads, it would not be surprising if the number of people who become seriously ill remained relatively small.
Right now, the answer is unknowable. Only two laboratories the world, the C.D.C. in Atlanta and the Canadian national laboratory in Winnipeg, have developed the reagents needed to do a positive test for the new flu strain, so samples from any other country must be sent to them for confirmation.
Even in 1918, experts point out, the pandemic Spanish flu infected at least 500 million of the world’s 1.5 billion people, killing 50 million. Many of those lives would have been saved if anti-flu drugs, antibiotics and mechanical ventilators had existed.
In early April, Mexico had noticed that it had high numbers of serious respiratory illnesses and some deaths. It began sending samples to Canada and the United States, asking for help genotyping the new virus.
The ages of the victims in Mexico also concern health officials. Unlike typical flu seasons, when infants and the aged are usually the most vulnerable, none of the initial deaths in Mexico were in people older than 60 or younger than 3 years old, a spokeswoman with the World Health Organization said. Pandemic flus — like the 1918 flu and outbreaks in 1957 and 1968 — often strike young, healthy people the hardest. When a new virus emerges, deaths may occur in healthy adults who mount the strongest immune reactions. Their own defenses — inflammation and leaking fluid in lung cells — can essentially drown them from inside.
A second hypothesis, Dr. Cetron said, is that there is some other factor in Mexico that increased the lethality of the virus, such as co-infection with another microbe or an unwittingly dangerous form of treatment.
For example, a co-infection with the AIDS virus makes it much more likely that someone with tuberculosis will die of it. And Reyes syndrome emerged when infants with fevers were treated with aspirin.
However, Dr. Cetron emphasized that there is no evidence of any co-infection in Mexico or anything unusual about flu treatment there.
Flu experts would also like to know whether this year’s flu shots give any cross-protection against the new swine flu strains. There is an H1N1 human strain in this year’s flu shot, and all H1N1 flus are descendants of the 1918 pandemic strain. But flus pick up many mutations over the years, especially when they move back and forth between humans, pigs, birds and other hosts.
There will be no evidence for several days as to whether the shots are protective, until the C.D.C. can get stored blood samples with antibodies to the flu shot and test them against the new virus. Those tests are under way now, according to a flu expert who sent the C.D.C. his blood samples.
In several countries, students reported they were ill upon returning from spring break in Mexico. For example, three teachers and 22 students at Rangitoto College, a New Zealand high school near Auckland, were reported to be ill after arriving after a three-week trip to Mexico on a flight via Los Angeles.
Mexico’s annual flu season was trailing off in March, when there was a new spike in cases. That usually happens when B strain flus peak late in the season, but B strains are usually mild. Mexico sent samples to the United States and Canada after its officials realized the country was having an unusual outbreak with severe cases.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/health/27questions.html
just got home from a dance recital and was nervous the entire time of the people sitting around me! there was a little boy who kept coughing and a woman behind me who kept sneezing and blowing her nose. ahh! definitely taking my Neupogen tonight, should have had it earlier last night!
http://allscrubbedup.blogspot.com/2007/12/designer-surgical-masks.html
But seriously, you probably want to call your doctor and the school on Monday to see if any precautions are warranted.
Yes, Lal, I agree with Jim. Call and find out what your doc recommends especially since you are in a school setting with close contact with large numbers of people.
Nothing here in Florida yet........
Stay out of airports and hospitals if at all possible........
Geez.....how sad is this.
Geez.....how sad is this.
---------------------------------------
In particular avoid "How I spent my Spring Break in Mexico" parties
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-flu-box25-2009apr25,0,5114253.story
This is horrible....and the media is just reporting constantly.......and people are really starting to panic...and yet some arent paying it any mind at all..............
http://twitter.com/CDCemergency
Im not happy about this for my sake or anyone else's.
What a wedding this will be depending upon what happens by then.
Then the bride and groom are flying to Nappa Valley with their 5 month old son???????
I sure hope they change their mind about Nappa Valley.
But I doubt they will!!
Great I will be surrounded by at least 100 people coming from the airport!
Seriously, I feel for you.
Im not a paranoid person however under the circumstances who would want to be around a hundred people who just got off the plane...Everyone will be kissy huggy!!
YIKES!!!
If I could get out of this I would but I cant.
Thanks Meakea
No kidding, eh? :) Just back in Canada after 8 months gone (except for Christmas) and first thing he's going to want to do is go see all his friends. He's pretty level-headed so we'll see. I just remember that guy who flew with TB and *knew* about it and didn't quarantine himself.
Charm - I know he'll be okay, just will be nice to have him home and thanks for the good words. As for your wedding, could be that *everyone* will be wearing masks at the wedding. I'd bring your sequined one just in case. Pictures though please! :)
Seriously, I hope this gets contained quickly. The comforting thing, albeit not for Mexico, is that there don't seem to be any deaths outside of Mexico so far, the subsequent infections seem relatively mild.
Yikes. Just thought....maybe should bring a mask myself. Will have to watch the board and see if there are flights coming back from Mexico. They say it's not airborne, it's personal contact. Okay, getting a grip. I'm off to the airport.
Influenza viruses can be directly transmitted from pigs to people and from people to pigs. Human infection with swine flu viruses are most likely to occur when people are in close proximity to infected pigs, such as in pig barns and livestock exhibits at fairs.
Human-to-human transmission of swine flu can also occur. This is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people, which is mainly person-to-person transmission through coughing or sneezing of people infected with the flu virus. People may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090426/hl_nm/us_flu_drugs
"Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir, and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Relenza, or zanamivir, are both recommended drugs for seasonal flu and have been shown to work against viral samples of the new disease.
Tamiflu is expected to be in greatest demand should swine flu develop into a pandemic, as experts fear it may, since it is given as a tablet. Relenza must be inhaled.
Roche said it has a stockpile of 3 million packages of Tamiflu ready for use by the World Health Organization (WHO), half held in the United States and half in Switzerland."
http://tinyurl.com/cosuzr
Moving the world to pandemic phase 4 would be the signal for serious containment actions to be taken on the national and international level. Given that these actions would have major implications for the global economy, not to mention the effects of the public fear that would ensue, there is concern that the WHO may be considering politics along with science. "What the WHO did makes no sense," says Osterholm. "In a potential pandemic, you need to have the WHO be beyond question, and (April 25) was not a good day for them."
Of course, declaring a pandemic isn't a decision that should be taken lightly. For the WHO, phase 4 might trigger an attempt to keep the virus from spreading by instituting strict quarantines and blanketing infected areas with antivirals. But we appear to have missed the opportunity to contain the disease at its source since the virus is already crossing borders with ease. "We cannot stop this at the border," said Anne Schuchat, the CDC's interim director for science and public health. "We don't think that we can quench this in Mexico if it's in many communities now."
That would leave the WHO and individual countries to fall back on damage control, using antivirals and old-fashioned infection control - like closing schools, limiting public gatherings and even restricting travel - to slow the spread of the virus. But such efforts would likely inflict serious damage on an already faltering global economy - and the truth is, we don't know how well those methods will work.
YIKES!!!
Stop bathing now - by the weekend you should be good to go....
I recommend the following helpful article just published in the on-line magazine Salon entitled "Swine Flu: Don't Panic:
http://www.salon.com/env/vital_signs/2009/04/27/swine_flu/
you wouldn't say that if the swine flu was in the same state as you
or.....
It is real and we are all going to die..............YIKES!
------------------------
Ribavirin restraining judgement? I think you've got the pills mixed up. LOL. But seriously, as President O. said, it's nothing to be alarmed about but it is something to be *concerned* about, especially if you're walking around a deck short of WBCs and on a college campus like Lalapple where they probably pack the classrooms like sardines in a can.
-- Jim
People on TX are pumped so full of anti virals no virus would find you a hospitable host.
In Mexico they use to use ribavirin in inhaler form, to help with the flu and common cold.
apache
---------------------------------------------------
This is just a ploy to get everybody on IFN before the new drugs get released.
hahahhahahaha.
Seriously, I look at it a little bit like Gauf. I'm surprised after all; weren't we all supposed to be dead from the avian flu 3 years back?
As rosanna rossanandanna used to say; it's always something. I hope this turns out to be benign and usually it is.
Well; I've got to go fill the tub in my fallout shelter with drinking water and buy all the ramen and oatmeal at the grocery store, and get fresh gas for my Y2K gas generator.......and some tang for the rickets and some masking tape to seal my doors.
(Walks out whistling)..... "Good Bye It's Been Good To Know You",
Willy
http://www.medhelp.org/health_chats/list_upcoming
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090427/national/swine_flu_canada
and really about the people on treatment? hope the swine flu virus or any virus for that fact stand a chance against INF/Riba.
No. Public-health officials say the swine flu that's killing people in Mexico probably won't hit the U.S. as hard."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/195302?from=rss
Folks, we are all victims of this sort of hysteria and rush to judgment in another context. Remember? We have HCV. There are all sorts of rumors floating out there about HCV – that it is the sign of a sinful life, that it is sexually transmitted, etc. etc. All of us spend time trying to combat these misunderstandings and promote a more balanced and accurate understanding of the illness.
So let's take our experience and apply it to this case. Let's be patient and wait to hear what the experts come up with rather than rushing to judgement. I am sure that hysterical calls for extreme measures are not constructive. As I said before, I'm really surprised that folks who are combatting HCV and the negative social stereotypes that come with it, would be alarmist. Seems to me to be the last group of people who would respond in this way.
I just spent three days working our biggest trade show of the year - at the Jacob Javits Center by the river in New York City and let me tell you, people are wearing MASKS. Not a lot of them (and most looked like immigrants) but it was VERY unnerving and when you think about the thousands of people that passed by us in that old stale recycled air.................
It reminded me of the Steven King book/movie THE STAND
And yes it was scary - my two kids were working a booth and they wanted to leave.
BUT this is not the plague so we just stayed and kept our heads like every other rational person there. Living in a metropolitan area you have to get used to the concept of threats (whether bio or bombs or whatever) because seriously you have to live your life and to ponder and worry about it all the time well - not going to work.
And yes, I watched the Bird Flu movie of the week a few years back and nobody died of that that I knew personally and the world is still here and I still eat chicken ;) Of course come 2012 when the world blows up I'll be shocked then - but to worry about this stuff is just ridiculous unless you have the ability to move to a deserted island for the rest of your life.
Although there are less than 70 confirmed cases, at this time, I can assure you that many businesses are ducks on ponds. That is, it's business as usual on the surface but beneath the surface there is a lot of frantic activity which is mostly already planned well in advance.
The best thing to do is to chill, stay hygienic and keep informed.
Updated Tue. Apr. 28 2009 2:29 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Swine flu has officially arrived in Alberta. Alberta's chief medical officer confirms the province has two mild cases of the new flu: one in Calgary and the other in the northern part of the province.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090428/Cda_Mex_warning_090428/20090428?hub=TopStories
kerchoo!!!
Leave Porky alone!
----------------------------
LOL i think i'll go to school and sneeze and cough so they can shut done and i won't have to take finals and can sleep all day until i finish treatment. wait until my reds and whites grow back up, then i probably won't be as worried. but i've always been a worry bug.
NY: "the world is still here and I still eat chicken"
-----------------------------
i can live without pork (not that it matters) but thank goodness we still have chicken in this world!
JMJM: yay CONFUCIUS!
but i'm still a little scared :(
*no arguments please*
Pigs (Three Different Ones) lyrics
Big man, pig man, ha ha, charade you are
You well heeled big wheel, ha ha, charade you are
And when your hand is on your heart
You're nearly a good laugh
Almost a joker
With your head down in the pig bin
Saying "keep on digging"
Pig stain on your fat chin
What do you hope to find?
When you're down in the pig mine
You're nearly a laugh
You're nearly a laugh
But you're really a cry.
Bus stop rat bag, ha ha, charade you are
You ****** up old hag, ha ha, charade you are
You radiate cold shafts of broken glass
You're nearly a good laugh
Almost worth a quick grin
You like the feel of steel
You're hot stuff with a hat pin
And good fun with a hand gun
You're nearly a laugh
You're nearly a laugh
But you're really a cry.
Hey you Whitehouse, ha ha, charade you are
You house proud town mouse, ha ha, charade you are
You're trying to keep our feelings off the street
You're nearly a real treat
All tight lips and cold feet
And do you feel abused?
.....!.....!.....!.....!
You gotta stem the evil tide
And keep it all on the inside
Mary you're nearly a treat
Mary you're nearly a treat
But you're really a cry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMEPV-NTeZs&feature=channel_page
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A shot of Interferon and a couple of Riba pills will knock those flu virions on their a**
-----------------
Neupogen increases neutrophils....and neutrophils protect you against BACTERIAL infections, NOT viral. And swine flu is a virus.
Plus, you're already taking a great antiviral...Riba. Riba was initially used for respiratory infections.
"should i start carrying masks around with me? "
-----------------
If you wear one, make sure you change it often. Breathing can make it moist (as well as spitting when you talk)....and having something moist in front of your nose and mouth would make it easier for a virus to infect you if let's say, somebody with swine coughs right in front of you.
Co
-----------
This is correct and hopefully the antivirals offer some protection but not sure we can count on that. That said, the flu can open the door to invasive bacterial infections per the below citation. One could also argue (as I have per study data) that low ANC is not associated with more bacterial infections on tx but not sure if the study backup on this took into account the swine flu. Of course we shouldn't panic, but all in all, I don't think erring on the side of caution is overdoing it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The potential for exacerbation of underlying chronic medical conditions or invasive bacterial infection with swine influenza virus infection should be considered.
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/guidelines_infection_control.htm
Denise
I got a PB&J.
They didn't have any chicken.
Denise
1) proceed as normal, attending classes and writing your finals
2) get a deferral if possible on the basis of your medical condition (maybe ask Dr. Choi about this on the chat starting now)
3) check into Tamiflu pills, which some students are being offered on a school-wide basis, even if they don't have symptoms (I don't know anything about them)
Your healthy apprehension can serve you well to take extra precautions. Bring lots of that alcoholic wash with you and keep your hands away from your eyes, nose and mouth. We have to be prepared but so far the cases in the U.S. have been mainly mild.
The little 23 month old who died so tragically in Texas already had underlying health problems and had very recently arrived from his home in Mexico City.
I myself would probably go ahead and write my exams, given that I have so much ribavirin in my system. I'd hate not to get my exams behind me, which would keep me from celebrating spring. And in your case, celebrate the near-end of your tx!
am i going to school today? HECK NO
but i have 2 final exams tomorrow, 1 on the 4th, 1 on the 8th, 1 on the 11th, and 1 on the 12th. some exams are assigned seats, a lot of students in small classrooms. most finals are mandatory, and i am a premedical student so failing is not an option.
i have to stay full time student to stay on insurance for treatment
They didn't have any chicken.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
hahahahahahahahahaha!
Seriously, have done tons of reading on our HCV and ifn therapy. Not sure its all true, but it has lead my to believe a couple things. IFN and Riba are very strong anti virals. IIRR, HR even said something about ifn and many other virus being susceptible to ifn.
As my above post said, being on TX, is not virally immune compromised...just the opposite.
While no one would recommend ifn therapy to ward of the swiney flu, once on tx you are probably protected from many virus infections. Don't misunderstand this to mean tx will 'cure' all virus.
lalapple, The swine flu is a virus, not bacteria. On tx our bacterial immunity is compromised since our anc count goes south from ifn.
This might leave us open to possible bacterial infections, not viral infections. Ask your Hepatologist, he will tell you. IMO it would be a mistake to use this swine flu thing as an excuse to miss your finals.
If there is any real risk to our general population at all, in my laymen opinion, ones here most risk, are those that just finished tx.
Without ifn and riba, we now lack viral protection. And we are still bacterial immune compromised till the white cells build back up, and adjust back to normal. This took a couple months for me to get back to normal blood counts.
Also at risk are tp patients from their immune suppressant drugs, and maybe those of us with advanced liver disease.
jmo
apache
for more information go to: www.cdc.gov/swineflu/general_info.htm
so yes, a weak immune system and low whites is a very bad thing, don't you just love how one thing leads to another?
portann:
"Does taking 1000 mg daily of ribavirin as part of HCV therapy for the last 45 weeks afford any protection against the swine flu?"
This was his reply:
Dr. Enoch Choi:
"not that i understand"
What do your parents think you should do about your two finals tomorrow? Given how mild it's been so far for the vast majority of people in North America, I'd advise my own kids to take hand sanitizer (knowing them, they wouldn't use it) and write their exams. Your school may already have put precautions in place.
Most important is handwashing and not touching your face.
Good luck. Exams will be over soon and then you can relax.
jd
if worse comes to worse, i'll take every final with a mask on my face and gloves on hand if i have to.
Anyway, I bet you'll be fine and will ace those two exams tomorrow. The added stress will give you an adrenalin surge and the right answers will pop right into your head. And then make a quick exit, hand sanitizer held close.
Your school probably bought out all the masks in town and will be handing them out tomorrow at the door. :)
Best of luck. I remember once having three exams in one day. That was a killer but I did fine.
INF is a very potent anti viral.
Did you also mention to Dr Choi, weekly injections of peg INF,
or just the 1000 mg of riba ?
Viruses and the type I interferon antiviral system: induction and evasion.
Basler CF, García-Sastre A.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, New York, NY, USA.
The type I interferon (IFN) system responds to viral infection and induces an "antiviral state" in cells, providing an important first line of defense against virus infection.
http://www.ask.com/bar?q=interferon+anti+viral&page=1&qsrc=145&ab=4&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov%2Fpubmed%2F12486817
On a side note Ann, knowing you just finished tx, as I have recently also, here is my anecdotal report...lol
There might be something to what HR said about IFN abrupt stopping leaves our viral immune systems in a weakened state till systems get back up to normal. And that this could take some time.
About 4 weeks after I stopped tx, was in plane from pbi to phx, 5 hours of a women right behind me, non stop coughing.
I have not been sick in years and I travel constantly.
I can't remember the last time I had a cold or the flu, maybe 20years?
Well had a 100* fever, non stop cough, bad bad congestion, whizzing, etc, for 8-10 days. Thank God its gone. Hey maybe stopping TX has nothing to do with me getting that cold, flu or whatever it was, don't know, just saying.
apache
But don't get too excited-
In Mexico City, the epicenter of the epidemic, the mayor said Wednesday the outbreak seemed to be stabilizing and he was considering easing the citywide shutdown that closed schools, restaurants, concert halls and sports arenas.
The regular flu kills people every year so don't get carried away - really. It's not The Stand quite yet.
-------------------------
The way things are going, I'm even starting to suspect Aaron, the secret service guy. I always read those pained glances one way, but now, who knows. Must say though, the show has great casting.
I JUST said the same thing to JD Jim - I am SO upset by this and if it turns out to be "evil twin" tony or "deep undercover and everyone was in the dark and Larry is alive Tony" either way it will still have me pissed off cause he s the one who would NEVER do something like this = shoot I'd believe Chloe first! But in order for it to be deep undercover Tony Bill would have to be not dead too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The President's daughter is a rat - I bet she is getting revenge on her family for not getting enough attention or cookies when she was ten or something.........remember the year it was the blonde one and the sister had to help bring her down?
Jack get your act together there are only a few weeks left and it had BETTER have a good conclusion and everybody better not just pop back alive and go ooops sorry we were alive all along!
PS I started so suspect the secret service guy too they made him make some pretty odd faces and did some odd "bad guy like" camera work on him.........then I started to think why easy it's Renee that is why Larry is pretending to be dead he coudln't trust her - so ok we've nailed it down to "it's everybody except Jack".
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHh.
I hesitated to go to a very busy, popular supermarket yesterday but went, anyway. It was almost empty! I've never seen that before; the manager looked miserable.
I didn't ask Dr. Choi about the INF. I'd read that one could buy ribavirin OTC in Mexico for many years, taken 'against' the flu. That's what partly prompted me to focus on riba in my question to him.
I sure don't want to stay home and watch Aaron, as great as he is. It's the teeming crowds I crave! Wish me luck. I'm off again.
Diffidently they will try and vindicate Tony under the guise of saving the USA from the laptop forum that voted to do the one canister thingy. Tony is after them to make Bills death worthwhile and save the country from take over.
apache
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigs_(Three_Different_Ones)
Lets make some mega bucks selling Tamiflu
ya baby
My hands are washed consistantly, I won't touch my face, nor will I shake anyone's hands.
(However, most Western scientists are skeptical of any claims of good efficacy)
http://www.pathobiologics.org/ivphc/ref/iav121604.doc
Health authorities say a twenty-three month old child from Mexico died from the Swine Flu earlier today here in Texas.
As of today, Ft. Worth has closed 4 schools till at least May 11, Cleburne school district closed all schools.
All Texas Athletic and Academic competitions have been canceled until May eleventh.
And this added note in the report I'm quoting from:
"In the meantime, state health officials are working with local hospitals and they're urging everyone to remain calm."
Yeah, right!
The swine flu has hit America, as you've no doubt heard. It hit Reno this morning and soon will be in Las Vegas. I got a prescription for Tamiflu for me and my family. When people find out there's two drugs to kill this virus, they will swarm to every pharmacy. There will then be none available. Get on the band wagon NOW for you and the family before it's too late!
The drug you need to go to your doctor and request, is called Tamiflu (by Roche). You want the 75mg capsules. It comes in a prepared dosage box of 10. You take two a day for 5 days if you get the flu now. The Surgeon General this morning posted a warning that this is NOT the flu season, so if you get the flu, it will be swine flu!
Remember there's NOTHING else out there to kill this flu virus. If you don't take care of this, it could be fatal! Most times, it develops into pneumonia and death will soon follow. 159 people have already died in Mexico and one in Texas.
In Las Vegas, doctors are scrambling to find it for patients, as most drug stores are out. Walgreen's still has it. Check Walgreen's in your area before it's too late. Remember what Dr. Brenell said in "Invasion Of The Body Snatchers", "You're next, you're next, you're next!"
Don't delay on this or you will be left out without the available drug...
Magnum
------------
Swine flu is potentially very serious but at the present time this is absolutely nothing to substantiate that the current swine flu strain is any more deadly than normal influenza. Let's be careful about alarmist and false statements unless you have authoritative back up.
-- Jim
http://rarediseases.about.com/b/2009/04/27/how-do-people-die-from-swine-flu.htm
Magum
I believe that in Mexico the death rate is elevated because many poor people there have had little or no medical care, and many are coinfected with respiratory illnesses like TB. Hygene is substandard in the poorer neighborhoods in Mexico and poor people who seldom see doctors are less likely to understand the hygenic practice necessary to prevent the spread of the flu.
Lets not panic.
Most people in the U.S. have had mild cases of Mexican flu.
You are urging people who don't have the flu to create a critical shortage of Tamiflu for those who may need it. This is a sure way to help the flu spread faster and farther.
Yes, the swine flu is of concern but the media is making everyone overly concern. All the pic shows people with masks and in hospital beds. That's certainly not what I see around here. I'm about 5 mins from the hotzone school in Queens, NYC. Kids still playing outside, still going to work, still using mass transit, didn't see anyone wearing masks today. A little common sense in precaution, like handwashing goes a long way. Allergies are more of a problem than the swine flu because it seems like over 50% of co-workers has allergies and are suffering terribly, myself included. Yes, I'm sure it's not the swine flu. And no, I don't need to go to the ER. Stay calm and hopefully this will pass.
-- Jim
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090429171015.htm
My specialty in the U.S. Air Force was Nuclear, Biological and Chemical warfare (weapon) defense. Our enemies can take and engineer diseases and release them in unsuspecting populated areas to wreak death and destruction. While the United States works on developing smart bombs that are smaller and more precise and limit collateral damage it is an undeniable fact that those who would do us harm are seeking to develop and obtain weapons that kill as many people as quickly and as easily as possible.
And, in that endeavor, they are succeeding.
Suddenly, the H1N1 swine flu appears in both Mexico City and New York City (two of the most populated cities in the world), far from swine. This virus strain is reportedly unlike any other disease, and contains strains of human flu, bird/avian flu, and swine flu. It’s apparently spreading from human to human (the bird flu never achieved that, only from birds to human). It’s a lethal disease. There is no vaccine for this.
This is scary stuff and we need to pay attention to what happens next.
http://genomega1.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/swine-flu-terrorism-link/
And let's not forget about us
"These studies, when added together, suggest that over 200 million people around the world are infected with hepatitis C - an overall incidence of around 3.3% of the world's population. Statistically, as many people are infected with HCV as are with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Without large scale efforts to contain the spread of HCV and treat infected populations, the death rate from hepatitis C will surpass that of AIDS by the turn of the century and will only get worse." http://www.epidemic.org/theFacts/theEpidemic/worldPrevalence/
I guess I just don’t get why I am supposed to be “Freaking Out” over Swine Flu. Wouldn’t it be nice to have just a fraction of the publicity? Also, shouldn’t most of us in the South have been killed by Killer Bees by now?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMEPV-NTeZs&feature=channel_page
Magnum
----------------------------
I think there may be some confusion with "wine" flu which made in Napa Valley.
Distraction is a wonderful tool
No, really, I know that's corny and I'm not buying into this whole panic mode. Although I did put up a red stop swine in front of my house today.......ba dah bing ba dah booom!
Seriously though, the wine flu made in Napa Valley is actually preventitive medicine for the swine flu! Alcohol is used to kill germs so keeping a little red wine available to sanitize my hands and prevent disease heart diseases is a good thing........thanks!
Bug
Q) Does anyone remember how the pig got on top of the Empire State Building?
A) Why...... the swine flew.
snort snort snort.
I seriously remember having a friend tell me that it was only a matter of time that the avian flew would get to everybody. It's true.
I am SO more worried about cooking my brain with a damned cell phone;
Can you hear me now??????
(Smell of fried eggs emanating from Willy's ears)
Willy
-----------
This is getting more serious than I thought and hopefully your hairdresser will be able to give you a Tamiflu permanent, that is if the Magnum family hasn't cornered the entire market by then :)
-- Jim
Needed that laugh, thanks
Going in this morning for another post eot pcr, and a little on edge.
apache
I do, however, wish that everyone would use some freaking common sense and stay the hell home from work when they are sick! The bookkeeper at my office just showed up this morning sicker than a dog (vomiting, etc). She distributed the mail to everyone, distributed the payroll checks to everyone and then went home --- AFTER she had contact with absolutely everyone.
we are tired of being eaten by you humans
It better be so apache it better be so! But in the meantime I can hardly look at evil Tony's evil face!
Anyway, all of the news casts here in NY (where it has been for a while) are saying it's a very communicable flu but not a very virulent flu and that is where we need to take notice. It's easy to get but not very dangerous. The people it would be most dangerous to are people who already have chronic lung conditions (COPD) and who are ALWAYS in danger of the flu developing into pneumonia and complications (such as my daughter).
Most of us would have the flu and recover. I took Tamiflu once when I was diagnosed with the flu and from whatI remember it just cuts the length of duration down but not the symptoms. It's not going to keep you from getting the flu but it will make it last less time.
Seriously folks, they have closed some schools just to PREVENT it from spreading from kid to kid cause you know how kids are........but it is not The Stand nor Captain Trips - just wash your hands and don't touch your face and eyes and you will be fine!
Mag
Thats was as funny as funny can be to me.
I think people that have HepC or have had it god made us funnier than the norm.
HAHAHAHAA
Thank you for the "Good Humor"
Charm:}}}}}
It's a personal opinion, of course, as to whether people go out and try to get Tamiflu without actual need but "in my opinion" it's wrong. The reason I feel it's wrong is because there is a system at work here and stockpiling meds messes with the system. It's a lot like triage...triage ***** BIG TIME for people with the wrong injuries at the wrong time. Triage is deadly for some but it works for the masses in a crisis.
Tamiflu is being released to those that need it most first. There are medical personnel that certainly need it before someone like me. I could NEVER put myself before people who need it worse than me. Most of us on this site will probably fit the criteria of needing it before most people who don't have a chronic disease, but I will wait patiently until I am told I need it and then I'll take my chances as to whether or not I can get it. It feels too much like cutting in a waiting line...I don't cut.
However, if we get sick, it's up to our medical care providers to treat us within the CDCs guidelines for the immunosuppressed (those on Hep C treatment) or within the CDC's guidelines for those with a chronic illness.
I, too, do not believe that riba/inf tx gives us any edge against the flu so I'm not going to count on it...I'm going to do the common sense things and I am going to avoid crowds and confined areas because I am immunosuppressed. That's not really doing anything different that I have already been doing since I started treatment.
I think we should start taping our windows with pig tape as opposed to duck tape.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bhRIbXjJ5g&feature=popular
ML
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Two American Red Cross nurses demonstrate treatment practices during the influenza pandemic of 1918.The 1918 flu pandemic (commonly referred to as the Spanish flu) was an influenza pandemic that spread to nearly every part of the world. It was caused by an unusually virulent and deadly Influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify the geographic origin of the virus.[1] Most of its victims were healthy young adults, in contrast to most influenza outbreaks which predominantly affect juvenile, elderly, or otherwise weakened patients. The pandemic lasted from March 1918 to June 1920,[2] spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It is estimated that anywhere from 20 to 100 million people were killed worldwide,[3] or the approximate equivalent of one third of the population of Europe,[4][5][6] more than double the number killed in World War I.[7] This extraordinary toll resulted from the extremely high illness rate of up to 50% and the extreme severity of the symptoms, suspected to be caused by cytokine storms. The pandemic is estimated to have affected up to one billion people: more than half the world's population at the time.[8]
Scientists have used tissue samples from frozen victims to reproduce the virus for study. Given the strain's extreme virulence there has been controversy regarding the wisdom of such research. Among the conclusions of this research is that the virus kills via a cytokine storm (overreaction of the body's immune system) which explains its unusually severe nature and the concentrated age profile of its victims. The strong immune systems of young adults ravaged the body, whereas the weaker immune systems of children and middle-aged adults caused fewer deaths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic
The 1918 Swine Flu outbreak
The 1918 Swine Flu outbreak was exceptionally severe, and affected approximately one-third of the world's population, which amounted to about five-hundred million people at the time. The rate of death associated with this outbreak of SIV was estimated to be between fifty-million and one-hundred million people.
For someone who is so concerned with nutrition and proper eating has it occurred to you that people might have been able to eat all that well and had compromised immune systems (and health) at the end of the Great War (WWI)? They also didn't have the ways of sharing information from medical community to medical community that we do now. There have been a ton of advancements and this is a different world than it was then.
Being an alarmist only compromises your own immune system, eh? So chill. It's May Day. Go and smell some flowers.
ML
Speaking of pigs, though, the sad fact is that it's not only Rocker who is panicked. Have a look at what the GOVERNMENT of Egypt decided, which the Egyptian Coptic leadership endorsed:
Egypt's call to kill pigs amid flu scare ridiculed
By TAREK EL-TABLAWY, AP Business Writer Tarek El-tablawy, Ap Business Writer
Fri May 1, 3:27 am ET
CAIRO – Egypt's government was hoping to look strong and proactive in the swine flu scare with its decision to slaughter all the country's pigs, after taking heavy criticism at home for poor planning and corruption in past crises.
But instead, some Egyptians called the move a knee-jerk overreaction that even the World Health Organization said was unnecessary.
Egypt, which has no swine flu cases, is the only country in the world to order a mass pig slaughter in response to the disease. The move mirrored Egypt's battle with bird flu, in which the government killed 25 million birds within weeks in 2006.
But international health officials said the swine flu virus that has caused worldwide fear is not transmitted by pigs, and that pig slaughters do nothing to stop its spread. The WHO on Thursday stopped using the term "swine flu" to avoid confusion.
In Egypt, even the editor of a pro-government newspaper criticized the order to slaughter the estimated 300,000 pigs, which was pushed by parliament and issued by the government.
"Killing (pigs) is not a solution, otherwise, we should kill the people, because the virus spreads through them," wrote Abdullah Kamal of the daily Rose El-Youssef. "The terrified members of parliament should have concentrated on asking the government first about the preventive measures and ways of confronting the problem."
The Egyptian government has come under criticism in past years for being caught flat-footed by crises.
A rockslide that crushed a Cairo neighborhood and killed at least 100, and a series of fires — including one that burned down the upper house of parliament — highlighted how ill-prepared emergency services are. A 2005 ferry sinking that killed 1,000 raised an uproar over poor safety conditions.
Many accused the government of not taking precautions when bird flu first appeared in Asia in 2003. When the first case appeared in Egypt in 2006, the government carried out mass bird culls, but the disease has killed more than two dozen people since.
With the new flu scare, the government "took a precautionary step because they were afraid there would be a case here, and then they would face questions about why they didn't take this step," said Nader Noureddin, an agricultural resources expert at Cario University's Agricultural College.
The government likely felt confident slaughtering pigs would not spark any public backlash in predominantly Muslim Egypt, where the majority of the population does not eat pork. Pig raising and consumption is limited to the country's Christian minority, estimated at 10 percent of the population.
Still, the opposition Muslim Brotherhood was critical of the slaughter on the grounds it was not thought out.
"The problem is that the government here deals with things in emotional ways," said Essam el-Erian, a top Brotherhood leader. "It acts with the memory of what happened during the bird flu crisis."
Coptic Christian leaders — including the pope — condoned the slaughter, and two Coptic lawmakers were among the most vocal supporters.
But pig farmers — overwhelmingly Christian — were angered. Government efforts to start the slaughter Wednesday were met with farmers who hurled stones at Health Ministry trucks.
"This is the livelihood of a segment of the people," said Youssef Sidhom, an editor of the Al-Watani newspaper and prominent Coptic figure. "You can't just do something on the national level and ignore a segment of the population."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090501/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_scapegoating_pigs/print
FREE SPEACH IN MINE
Its not made from the pig..as most vaccines are made from the "killer source"
http://www.3dchem.com/molecules.asp?ID=220
http://www.cp24.com/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090502/090502_mexico/20090502/?hub=CP24Home
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/29/Swine-Flu.aspx
From the above article:
"More than half a dozen pharmaceutical companies, including Gilead Sciences Inc., Roche, GlaxoSmithKline and other companies with a stake in flu treatments and detection, have seen a rise in their shares in a matter of days, and will likely see revenue boosts if the swine flu outbreak continues to spread.
Swine flue is extremely convenient for governments that would have very soon have to dispose of billions of dollars of Tamiflu stock, which they bought to counter avian flu, or H5N1. The US government ordered 20 million doses, costing $2 billion, in October, 2005, and around that time the UK government ordered 14.6 million doses. Tamiflu’s manufacturer, Roche, has confirmed that the shelf life of its anti-viral is three years.
As soon as Homeland Security declared a health emergency, 25 percent -- about 12 million doses -- of Tamiflu and Relenza treatment courses were released from the nation's stockpile. However, beware that the declaration also allows unapproved tests and drugs to be administered to children. Many health- and government officials are more than willing to take that chance with your life, and the life of your child. But are you? "
Tamiflu Loaded With Side Effects, Including Death and Can Only Reduce Symptoms by 36 Hours at BEST
Please realize that Tamiflu is NOT a safe drug Serious side effects include convulsions, delirium or delusions, and 14 deaths in children and teens as a result of neuropsychiatric problems and brain infections Japan actually banned Tamiflu for children in 2007.
Remember, Tamiflu went through some rough times not too long ago, as the dangers of this drug came to light when, in 2007, the FDA finally began investigating some 1,800 adverse event reports related to the drug.
Additionally common side effects of Tamiflu include:
Nausea
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Headache
Dizziness
Fatigue
Cough
All in all, the very symptoms you're trying to avoid.
Additionally, Tamiflu has been reported to be ineffective against seasonal flu outbreaks, and may not be sufficient to combat an epidemic or pandemic.
But making matters worse, some patients with influenza are at HIGHER risk for secondary bacterial infections when on Tamiflu. And secondary bacterial infections, as I mentioned earlier, was likely the REAL cause of the mass fatalities during the 1918 pandemic!
But here’s the real kicker.
When Tamiflu is used as directed (twice daily for 5 days) it can ONLY reduce the duration of your influenza symptoms by 1 to 1 ½ days, according to the official data.
Why on earth would anyone want to take a drug that has a chance of killing you, was banned in Japan, is loaded with side effects that mimic the flu itself, costs over $100, and AT BEST can only provide 36 hours of SYMPTOM relief. Just doesn't make any sense.
http://www.naturalnews.com/026185.html