H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu)

CDC reports 4 weeks without a big flare-up; another wave unlikely

ATLANTA – Is the U.S. swine flu epidemic over? Federal health officials won’t go so far as to say that, but on Friday they reported for the fourth week in a row that no states had widespread flu activity.

U.S. cases have been declining since October. An official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says swine flu cases are still occurring and are likely to continue a while longer at some level.

But another expert said a future large wave of cases now seems very unlikely. The expert,Vanderbilt University’s Dr. William Schaffner, said the epidemic has “one foot in the grave.”

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With H1N1 waning, 1 in 5 Americans has been vaccinated

ATLANTA – A new government estimate says swine flu has sickened about 55 million Americans and killed about 11,160.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the estimates on Friday, which cover roughly the first eight months of the pandemic — from April through mid-December. The CDC last estimated that through mid-November, the pandemic had sickened 50 million Americans and killed 10,000.

Swine flu infections have been waning since late October, and no states were reporting widespread cases as of last week.

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By Stephanie Smith, CNN Medical Producer

New York (CNN) — In the rare cases when the H1N1 virus kills, scientists have found, it penetrates deep into the lungs, creating widespread damage — a pattern similar to what killed millions during previous flu pandemics in 1918 and 1957.

The New York Office of Chief Medical Examiner examined medical records, autopsy reports and microscopic slides of 34 people with H1N1 who died between May 15 and July 9, 2009, during the early days of the pandemic.

The report found that among those deaths, inflammation and damage in the lungs extended all the way to the alveoli, tiny sacs at the farthest end of the lungs’ airways.

“Generally, flu stays in the upper airways,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “What this shows is clearly this virus has capability of infecting and causing inflammation and destruction of cells from the trachea, all the way down into smaller cells of the lungs.”

“The cells of the lung get directly attacked by the virus,” said Fauci.

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GlaxoSmithKline said Tuesday that its H1N1 pandemic vaccine manufactured in Canada has been approved by the World Health Organization for distribution in developing countries.

Prequalification from WHO ensures that a vaccine has met standards of quality and safety. This is the first prequalification for London-based GSK, which has its U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park where it employs more than 4,000 people.

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News outlets are reporting this morning that the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is advising medical personnel in Canada that one of its batches of H1N1 flu vaccine may trigger a life-threatening allergy.

A GlaxoSmithKline spokesperson, Gwenan White, is quoted as saying the recall was issued after determining that one batch of H1N1 vaccine may be responsible for more allergic reactions than what is being seen with other batches.

The identified batch consists of 172,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine.  The spokesperson declined to divulge how many doses had already been administered before the recall was issued.

The Oregon State Public Health Veterinarian confirmed Nov. 18 that a cat in Oregon has died from presumed 2009 H1N1 influenza virus infection, according to the American Veterinary Medication Association.

It’s believed that this is the first feline H1N1 fatality and the third case of a cat with the virus, according to the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association. The other two cats from Iowa and Utah have recovered.

The deceased 10-year-old male cat lived with three other cats that also became ill with different degrees of sneezing and coughing. The other three did not have  elevated temperatures and their nasal swab samples yielded no  positive results for H1N1, according to the OVMA.

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There are growing signs that the H1N1 flu pandemic is waning in North America, based on a number of indicators from health officials and doctors.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says that, as of the week ending Nov. 14, the number of outbreaks at schools and hospitals, the prevalence of flu-related doctor visits and the number of flu cases for testing across the country declined.

In Ottawa, the number of flu cases fell far enough for local health authorities to closed all but one of the city’s flu assessment clinics. In Vancouver, a flu clinic at the B.C. Children’s hospital also shut down this week as the number of patients eased.

“This is an outbreak that rose for the first four weeks, peaked three weeks ago and is now in freefall,” said Dr. Richard Schabas, Ontario’s former chief medical officer.

South of the border, fewer Americans are visiting their doctor because of swine flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Absentee rates at U.S. schools have returned to normal as well.

The evidence suggests that the virus is spreading more slowly than it was in September and October, and the number of lab samples testing positive for H1N1 is dropping.

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More than 50 isolated cases of H1N1 mutation that results in resistance to antiviral drugs like Tamiflu have been identified around the world since the outbreak of the Novel A H1N1 virus, also known as Swine Flu. These cases have been carefully monitored, but have not appeared to spread beyond the original host. Now, however, a cluster of patients with the H1N1 mutation have been identified in a single hospital.

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For the third week in a row,  numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a reduction in hospitalizations and deaths from H1N1.  Dr. Anne Shuchat, Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) says, “the level of influenza activity we are seeing right now remains high even though we saw a little bit of a decrease this week.  It is still higher than the peak activity in many years.”

Schuchat was leery of saying the H1N1 disease had “peaked” warning, “even when a peak has occurred half of the people who are going to become ill haven’t gotten ill yet.”

CDC spokesman Tom Skinner  warns  ”Flu is very unpredictable. While 2009 H1N1 activity is declining in a number of areas around the country, we are still seeing unprecedented levels — levels well above what we would expect for this time of year.”

While there has been a dip, and the trend may continue as we enter the holiday season, Skinner says  Americans should not become complaisant.  “Activity might go down during the holiday season as schools break and then re-surge when schools start back up after the first of year.  In addition, we expect to see a surge of activity due to seasonal viruses as well.”

Each year season flu kills more than 36,000 people in the United States.  Typically Seasonal does not reach its peak until January or February according to the CDC website.

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You better watch out. Santa Claus doesn’t want to catch the H1N1 flu virus.

Some national Santa hiring companies are trying to reduce the risk that this white-bearded man of Christmas — and the children who sit on his lap — will not contract the H1N1 virus, commonly referred to as swine flu.

Companies that hire Santas at shopping malls in the Roanoke and New River valleys are issuing new guidelines to their employees that advise them to change their white gloves often, clean Santa suits every few days and use antibacterial hand sanitizer.

One Alabama nonprofit, Santa America, even has requested to a state legislator that its Santas, including those in Virginia, receive the H1N1 vaccine. The vaccine is targeted at high-risk groups, such as pregnant women, young children and health care workers, because supplies are limited nationwide.

Also, malls in this region are installing hand sanitizer pumps near some entrances and St. Nick’s chair.

“We’re being proactive,” said Mike Poldiak, general manager of New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg, which installed sanitizing lotion dispensers at three entrances a few weeks ago. There will be a dispenser at the mall’s Santa set when he arrives Friday.

St. Nick typically does not have to worry about catching the flu during the Christmas season. In Virginia, the seasonal flu peaks in late January to mid-February, said Dr. Jody Hershey, director of the New River Health District.

But the H1N1 flu outbreak began in April, sickening millions nationwide and killing thousands.

H1N1 passes from person to person through coughing and sneezing. It also can spread by touching an object with the virus and then touching your mouth or nose, Hershey said.

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