Post by Paddy by Grace on Apr 28, 2009 16:41:01 GMT -7
www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518196,00.html
Los Angeles County public health officer Dr. Jonathan Fielding said Tuesday during a news briefing that news reports of two possible deaths were initially "misreported."
The Los Angeles County coroner's office ruled out swine flu as the cause of one those deaths. Cororner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter said Tuesday that swine flu was not found in a La Mirada man. Winter says lab testing is pending in the case of a 33-year-old Long Beach man but swine flu is now not suspected.
Of the 10 confirmed swine flu cases in California, none are in Los Angeles County, Fielding said.
“We have not yet identified a case in L.A., but we’ve increased our surveillance activities in the past week and we believe we will find and confirm flu cases in our county,” he said.
“We currently are investigating two possible flu clusters in two schools," he continued. "And since swine flu can only be confirmed by lab testing, it takes several days for a case to be confirmed. We have at this point two probable cases and two possible cases of swine flu.”
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Tuesday to respond to the swine flu outbreak as the two fatalities in Los Angeles were being investigated for possible links to the virus.
The state of emergency comes as President Obama requested Congress approve $1.5 billion in supplemental funds to "enhance capability" to address the spread of the outbreak, including the development of anti-viral stocks.
The governor's office said the declaration was not sparked by the deaths of two men but in part because California was the first U.S. state to confirm a case of the H1N1 virus.
The declaration is accompanied by a request for federal funds to cover enactment of emergency "services, materials, personnel and equipment to supplement extraordinary preventive measures being taken across the state."
The governor's office said state health officials are working closely with the federal government and local health partners to find measures to reduce the virus' spread and a wider impact on the state.
California's proclamation orders all state agencies and departments to assist the Department of Public Health enact the state emergency plan coordinated by the California Emergency Management Agency. It suspends bids for contracts to perform services like lab testing and analysis.
In making the declaration, Schwarzenegger announced that the state now joins the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in conducting its own testing of virus samples obtained from patients with symptoms resembling the swine flu.
Meanwhile, several hundred students have fallen ill at the New York school hit by a swine flu outbreak, city officials said Tuesday as the number of confirmed cases in the United States rose to 68, with at least seven people hospitalized.
"I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection," as swine flu cases are investigated, said Richard Besser, acting director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The World Heath Organization has now confirmed person-to-person transmission of the swine flu virus in the United States.
The WHO said some students in New York City infected with swine flu had not traveled to Mexico and must have contracted the disease from classmates who had recently returned from a trip to the country.
That is significant because it suggests the swine flu virus that is suspected in dozens of deaths in Mexico is now strong enough to be passed among people in other countries, raising the likelihood of a flu pandemic.
There had been suspicions that the diseases was being passed from human to human outside of Mexico, but this is the first confirmation.
Related: 10 Ways to Prevent Swine Flu
The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S. is believed to be 68. The CDC has teams of investigators "on the ground" in California and New York.
A CDC official told a Senate panel that includes five hospitalizations, up from one hospitalization the day before.
The state of Indiana is reporting a new confirmed case, but Indiana's health commissioner said the infected person was "doing well." In addition to 28 confirmed swine flu cases in New York City, health officials say they're also investigating a possible cluster of swine flu cases at a special education school in Queens.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday there are five new suspected cases; one of which is related to the Queens high school outbreak and two more under investigation. There is a 2-year-old boy in the Bronx in the hospital and is recovering, Bloomberg said, and he has an older brother who also exhibited flu symptoms, but tests for the flu are not complete.
Officials from New Jersey, South Carolina and North Carolina say those states have "suspected" cases. Michigan has a second suspected case of swine flu.
Dr. Nancy Cox of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said she believes the earliest onset of swine flu in the United States happened on March 28. Cordova said a sample taken from a 4-year-old boy in Mexico's Veracruz state in early April tested positive for swine flu. However, it is not known when the boy, who later recovered, became infected.
Richard Besser, the CDC's acting director, said his agency is aggressively looking for evidence of the disease spreading and probing for ways to control and prevent it.
Flu deaths are nothing new in the United States. The CDC estimates that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. But the new flu strain is a combination of pig, bird and human viruses that humans may have no natural immunity to.
Besser said that so far the virus in the United States seems less severe than in Mexico. Only one person has been hospitalized in the U.S.
"I wouldn't be overly reassured by that," Besser told reporters at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, sounding a cautionary note.
World health officials raised a global alert to an unprecedented level as swine flu was blamed for more deaths in Mexico and the epidemic crossed new borders, with the first cases confirmed Tuesday in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions.
The WHO raised the alert level to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country. Monday was the first time it has ever been raised above Phase 3.
Putting an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. Phase 6 is for a full-blown pandemic, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.
In addition to closing schools, museums and other businesses to curb the outbreak of swine flu, Mexican officials Tuesday ordered restaurants in its capital city to serve only take out food in a widening swine flu shutdown.
With the swine flu having already spread to at least six other countries, authorities around the globe are like firefighters battling a blaze without knowing how far it extends.
"At this time, containment is not a feasible option," said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization.
Canadian health officials on Tuesday confirmed two more mild cases of swine flu, bringing the country's total to eight, and warned against traveling to Mexico.
Alberta Chief Medical Officer Dr. Andre Corriveau said the western province has confirmed cases in two people who contracted the illness during recent travel to Mexico.
Neither man was hospitalized. One no longer has symptoms, while the other has made almost a full recovery.
Corriveau said none of the Canadian cases, including two cases in Nova Scotia and four in British Columbia, are severe. All of those infected have recovered.
New Zealand confirmed that 11 people who recently returned from Mexico contracted the virus, Health Minister Tony Ryall said. Laboratory tests on samples from three of the 11 came back positive and "on that basis we are assuming" the eight others are also infected, he said.
Those infected had suffered only "mild illness" and were expected to recover, Public Health Director Mark Jacobs said.
Israel and Spain have both confirmed two cases of swine flu.
With the virus spreading, the U.S. prepared for the worst even as President Barack Obama tried to reassure Americans.
At the White House, a swine flu update was added to Obama's daily intelligence briefing. Obama said the outbreak is "not a cause for alarm," even as the U.S. stepped up checks of people entering the country and warned U.S. citizens to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico.
"We are proceeding as if we are preparatory to a full pandemic," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
The European Union health commissioner suggested that Europeans avoid nonessential travel both to Mexico and parts of the United States. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus.
The European Union has no plan to restrict imports of meat, pork products or livestock from the United States because of the swine flu outbreak, the EU's executive arm said on Tuesday.
"We have no plans to ban any meat, pork or food products from the U.S. since there is no connection between food and the flu at present and such a move would be unjust," a European Commission official told Reuters.
Mexico, where the number of deaths believed caused by swine flu rose by 50 percent on Monday to 152, is suspected to be ground zero of the outbreak. But Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova late Monday said no one knows where the outbreak began, and implied it may have started in the U.S.
"I think it is very risky to say, or want to say, what the point of origin or dissemination of it is, given that there had already been cases reported in southern California and Texas," Cordova told a press conference.
It's still not clear when the first case occurred, making it impossible thus far to determine where the breakout started.
Including the New Zealand, Israeli and new Spanish reports, there were 81 confirmed cases worldwide, not including Mexico, on Tuesday. That included eight in Canada, one in Spain, two in Israel and two in Scotland.
Symptoms include a fever of more than 100, coughing, joint aches, severe headache and, in some cases — but not all cases, vomiting and diarrhea.
Amid the alarm, there was a spot of good news. The number of new cases reported by Mexico's largest government hospitals has been declining the past three days, Cordova said, from 141 on Saturday to 119 on Sunday and 110 Monday.
In a bid to prevent mass contagion, Mexico canceled school nationwide until May 6, and the Mexico City government is considering a complete shutdown, including all public transportation. The Cinco de Mayo parade celebrating Mexico's defeat of a French army on May 5, 1862 and Mexico City's traditional May 1 parade were canceled. More than 100 museums nationwide were closed.
At Mexico City's international airport, families grimly waited for flights out of the capital or country, determined to keep their masks on until they touched ground somewhere else.
Three games involving Mexico City soccer clubs were played with no spectators over the weekend. Decio de Maria, secretary general of the Mexican soccer federation, said plans for future matches would be announced on Wednesday.
"The idea is to look for the fewest number of games that have to be played behind closed doors," he said. "If it's necessary, we'll play all the matches behind closed doors. We don't foresee canceling any games."
Many residents of Mexico City wore blue surgical masks, though the CDC said most masks offer little protection. Many victims have been in their 30s and 40s — not the very old or young who typically succumb to the flu. So far, no deaths from the new virus have been reported outside Mexico.
It could take four to six months before the first batch of vaccines are available, WHO officials said. Some antiflu drugs do work once someone is sick.
Napolitano, the U.S. Homeland Security chief, said Washington is dispatching people and equipment to affected areas and stepping up information-sharing at all levels of government and with other nations.
WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley singled out air travel as an easy way the virus could spread, noting that the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time.
Governments in Asia — with memories of previous flu outbreaks — were especially cautious. Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines dusted off thermal scanners used in the 2003 SARS crisis and were checking for signs of fever among passengers from North America. South Korea, India and Indonesia also announced screening.
Teams of doctors, nurses and government officials boarded flights arriving in Japan from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada to check passengers for signs of the flu, Japanese Health Ministry official Akimori Mizuguchi said.
World stock markets fell Tuesday as investors worried that any swine flu pandemic could derail a global economic recovery.
Treating Swine Flu
Besser said Monday people can best protect themselves against the swine flu threat by taking precautions they were taught as kids, like frequently washing their hands and covering their mouths when coughing.
He said there is no reason for Americans to begin wearing face masks as residents of some Mexican states are now doing.
There is no vaccine available to prevent the new swine flu. However, there are antiflu drugs that do work once someone is sick.
Bresser said the government is still deciding whether to order that a swine flu vaccine be produced. He said vaccine manufacture takes a long time and would interrupt ongoing work to create next winter's regular flu shot.
But if a vaccine eventually is ordered, the CDC already has taken a key preliminary step — creating what's called seed stock of the virus that manufacturers would use.
The virus appears responsive to the antiviral drugs, like Tamiflu and Relenza, which can be used to reduce the severity of the flu if used within two days of the appearance of symptoms.
Dr. Robert A. Salata, chief of the Division of Infectious Disease at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, told FOXNews.com that the fact that the severity of the virus can be weakened by antiviral drugs is encouraging.
"This past flu season, all of the influenza type A viruses like this one, were resistant to Tamiflu," said Salata, who is also a professor at Case Western Reserve University. "These viruses appear to be sensitive to all four antiviral drugs on the market."
Roughly 12 million doses of Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to places where states can quickly get their share if they decide they need it, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.
Salata said people should be cautious, but not panic.
"It’s our responsibility to educate people on what they’re risks are and to encourage them to try to take measures to prevent the spread of the disease," he said. "Certainly people should stay away from people who are know to be ill, practice good hand hygene, as well as good cough and sneeze etiquette."
Drugmaker Baxter International Inc. has requested the swine flu virus sample from the World Health Organization so that it can research the virus and then develop a vaccine in what the company spokesperson said is half the time, approximately 13 weeks, of normal manufacturing, which is usually 26 weeks. Baxter specializes in research and development in emerging vaccines.
Los Angeles County public health officer Dr. Jonathan Fielding said Tuesday during a news briefing that news reports of two possible deaths were initially "misreported."
The Los Angeles County coroner's office ruled out swine flu as the cause of one those deaths. Cororner's Assistant Chief Ed Winter said Tuesday that swine flu was not found in a La Mirada man. Winter says lab testing is pending in the case of a 33-year-old Long Beach man but swine flu is now not suspected.
Of the 10 confirmed swine flu cases in California, none are in Los Angeles County, Fielding said.
“We have not yet identified a case in L.A., but we’ve increased our surveillance activities in the past week and we believe we will find and confirm flu cases in our county,” he said.
“We currently are investigating two possible flu clusters in two schools," he continued. "And since swine flu can only be confirmed by lab testing, it takes several days for a case to be confirmed. We have at this point two probable cases and two possible cases of swine flu.”
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Tuesday to respond to the swine flu outbreak as the two fatalities in Los Angeles were being investigated for possible links to the virus.
The state of emergency comes as President Obama requested Congress approve $1.5 billion in supplemental funds to "enhance capability" to address the spread of the outbreak, including the development of anti-viral stocks.
The governor's office said the declaration was not sparked by the deaths of two men but in part because California was the first U.S. state to confirm a case of the H1N1 virus.
The declaration is accompanied by a request for federal funds to cover enactment of emergency "services, materials, personnel and equipment to supplement extraordinary preventive measures being taken across the state."
The governor's office said state health officials are working closely with the federal government and local health partners to find measures to reduce the virus' spread and a wider impact on the state.
California's proclamation orders all state agencies and departments to assist the Department of Public Health enact the state emergency plan coordinated by the California Emergency Management Agency. It suspends bids for contracts to perform services like lab testing and analysis.
In making the declaration, Schwarzenegger announced that the state now joins the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in conducting its own testing of virus samples obtained from patients with symptoms resembling the swine flu.
Meanwhile, several hundred students have fallen ill at the New York school hit by a swine flu outbreak, city officials said Tuesday as the number of confirmed cases in the United States rose to 68, with at least seven people hospitalized.
"I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection," as swine flu cases are investigated, said Richard Besser, acting director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The World Heath Organization has now confirmed person-to-person transmission of the swine flu virus in the United States.
The WHO said some students in New York City infected with swine flu had not traveled to Mexico and must have contracted the disease from classmates who had recently returned from a trip to the country.
That is significant because it suggests the swine flu virus that is suspected in dozens of deaths in Mexico is now strong enough to be passed among people in other countries, raising the likelihood of a flu pandemic.
There had been suspicions that the diseases was being passed from human to human outside of Mexico, but this is the first confirmation.
Related: 10 Ways to Prevent Swine Flu
The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the U.S. is believed to be 68. The CDC has teams of investigators "on the ground" in California and New York.
A CDC official told a Senate panel that includes five hospitalizations, up from one hospitalization the day before.
The state of Indiana is reporting a new confirmed case, but Indiana's health commissioner said the infected person was "doing well." In addition to 28 confirmed swine flu cases in New York City, health officials say they're also investigating a possible cluster of swine flu cases at a special education school in Queens.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday there are five new suspected cases; one of which is related to the Queens high school outbreak and two more under investigation. There is a 2-year-old boy in the Bronx in the hospital and is recovering, Bloomberg said, and he has an older brother who also exhibited flu symptoms, but tests for the flu are not complete.
Officials from New Jersey, South Carolina and North Carolina say those states have "suspected" cases. Michigan has a second suspected case of swine flu.
Dr. Nancy Cox of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said she believes the earliest onset of swine flu in the United States happened on March 28. Cordova said a sample taken from a 4-year-old boy in Mexico's Veracruz state in early April tested positive for swine flu. However, it is not known when the boy, who later recovered, became infected.
Richard Besser, the CDC's acting director, said his agency is aggressively looking for evidence of the disease spreading and probing for ways to control and prevent it.
Flu deaths are nothing new in the United States. The CDC estimates that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the United States. But the new flu strain is a combination of pig, bird and human viruses that humans may have no natural immunity to.
Besser said that so far the virus in the United States seems less severe than in Mexico. Only one person has been hospitalized in the U.S.
"I wouldn't be overly reassured by that," Besser told reporters at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, sounding a cautionary note.
World health officials raised a global alert to an unprecedented level as swine flu was blamed for more deaths in Mexico and the epidemic crossed new borders, with the first cases confirmed Tuesday in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions.
The WHO raised the alert level to Phase 4, meaning there is sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus causing outbreaks in at least one country. Monday was the first time it has ever been raised above Phase 3.
Putting an alert at Phases 4 or 5 signals that the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. Phase 6 is for a full-blown pandemic, characterized by outbreaks in at least two regions of the world.
In addition to closing schools, museums and other businesses to curb the outbreak of swine flu, Mexican officials Tuesday ordered restaurants in its capital city to serve only take out food in a widening swine flu shutdown.
With the swine flu having already spread to at least six other countries, authorities around the globe are like firefighters battling a blaze without knowing how far it extends.
"At this time, containment is not a feasible option," said Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization.
Canadian health officials on Tuesday confirmed two more mild cases of swine flu, bringing the country's total to eight, and warned against traveling to Mexico.
Alberta Chief Medical Officer Dr. Andre Corriveau said the western province has confirmed cases in two people who contracted the illness during recent travel to Mexico.
Neither man was hospitalized. One no longer has symptoms, while the other has made almost a full recovery.
Corriveau said none of the Canadian cases, including two cases in Nova Scotia and four in British Columbia, are severe. All of those infected have recovered.
New Zealand confirmed that 11 people who recently returned from Mexico contracted the virus, Health Minister Tony Ryall said. Laboratory tests on samples from three of the 11 came back positive and "on that basis we are assuming" the eight others are also infected, he said.
Those infected had suffered only "mild illness" and were expected to recover, Public Health Director Mark Jacobs said.
Israel and Spain have both confirmed two cases of swine flu.
With the virus spreading, the U.S. prepared for the worst even as President Barack Obama tried to reassure Americans.
At the White House, a swine flu update was added to Obama's daily intelligence briefing. Obama said the outbreak is "not a cause for alarm," even as the U.S. stepped up checks of people entering the country and warned U.S. citizens to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico.
"We are proceeding as if we are preparatory to a full pandemic," said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
The European Union health commissioner suggested that Europeans avoid nonessential travel both to Mexico and parts of the United States. Russia, Hong Kong and Taiwan said they would quarantine visitors showing symptoms of the virus.
The European Union has no plan to restrict imports of meat, pork products or livestock from the United States because of the swine flu outbreak, the EU's executive arm said on Tuesday.
"We have no plans to ban any meat, pork or food products from the U.S. since there is no connection between food and the flu at present and such a move would be unjust," a European Commission official told Reuters.
Mexico, where the number of deaths believed caused by swine flu rose by 50 percent on Monday to 152, is suspected to be ground zero of the outbreak. But Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova late Monday said no one knows where the outbreak began, and implied it may have started in the U.S.
"I think it is very risky to say, or want to say, what the point of origin or dissemination of it is, given that there had already been cases reported in southern California and Texas," Cordova told a press conference.
It's still not clear when the first case occurred, making it impossible thus far to determine where the breakout started.
Including the New Zealand, Israeli and new Spanish reports, there were 81 confirmed cases worldwide, not including Mexico, on Tuesday. That included eight in Canada, one in Spain, two in Israel and two in Scotland.
Symptoms include a fever of more than 100, coughing, joint aches, severe headache and, in some cases — but not all cases, vomiting and diarrhea.
Amid the alarm, there was a spot of good news. The number of new cases reported by Mexico's largest government hospitals has been declining the past three days, Cordova said, from 141 on Saturday to 119 on Sunday and 110 Monday.
In a bid to prevent mass contagion, Mexico canceled school nationwide until May 6, and the Mexico City government is considering a complete shutdown, including all public transportation. The Cinco de Mayo parade celebrating Mexico's defeat of a French army on May 5, 1862 and Mexico City's traditional May 1 parade were canceled. More than 100 museums nationwide were closed.
At Mexico City's international airport, families grimly waited for flights out of the capital or country, determined to keep their masks on until they touched ground somewhere else.
Three games involving Mexico City soccer clubs were played with no spectators over the weekend. Decio de Maria, secretary general of the Mexican soccer federation, said plans for future matches would be announced on Wednesday.
"The idea is to look for the fewest number of games that have to be played behind closed doors," he said. "If it's necessary, we'll play all the matches behind closed doors. We don't foresee canceling any games."
Many residents of Mexico City wore blue surgical masks, though the CDC said most masks offer little protection. Many victims have been in their 30s and 40s — not the very old or young who typically succumb to the flu. So far, no deaths from the new virus have been reported outside Mexico.
It could take four to six months before the first batch of vaccines are available, WHO officials said. Some antiflu drugs do work once someone is sick.
Napolitano, the U.S. Homeland Security chief, said Washington is dispatching people and equipment to affected areas and stepping up information-sharing at all levels of government and with other nations.
WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley singled out air travel as an easy way the virus could spread, noting that the WHO estimates that up to 500,000 people are on planes at any time.
Governments in Asia — with memories of previous flu outbreaks — were especially cautious. Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines dusted off thermal scanners used in the 2003 SARS crisis and were checking for signs of fever among passengers from North America. South Korea, India and Indonesia also announced screening.
Teams of doctors, nurses and government officials boarded flights arriving in Japan from Mexico, the U.S. and Canada to check passengers for signs of the flu, Japanese Health Ministry official Akimori Mizuguchi said.
World stock markets fell Tuesday as investors worried that any swine flu pandemic could derail a global economic recovery.
Treating Swine Flu
Besser said Monday people can best protect themselves against the swine flu threat by taking precautions they were taught as kids, like frequently washing their hands and covering their mouths when coughing.
He said there is no reason for Americans to begin wearing face masks as residents of some Mexican states are now doing.
There is no vaccine available to prevent the new swine flu. However, there are antiflu drugs that do work once someone is sick.
Bresser said the government is still deciding whether to order that a swine flu vaccine be produced. He said vaccine manufacture takes a long time and would interrupt ongoing work to create next winter's regular flu shot.
But if a vaccine eventually is ordered, the CDC already has taken a key preliminary step — creating what's called seed stock of the virus that manufacturers would use.
The virus appears responsive to the antiviral drugs, like Tamiflu and Relenza, which can be used to reduce the severity of the flu if used within two days of the appearance of symptoms.
Dr. Robert A. Salata, chief of the Division of Infectious Disease at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, told FOXNews.com that the fact that the severity of the virus can be weakened by antiviral drugs is encouraging.
"This past flu season, all of the influenza type A viruses like this one, were resistant to Tamiflu," said Salata, who is also a professor at Case Western Reserve University. "These viruses appear to be sensitive to all four antiviral drugs on the market."
Roughly 12 million doses of Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to places where states can quickly get their share if they decide they need it, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.
Salata said people should be cautious, but not panic.
"It’s our responsibility to educate people on what they’re risks are and to encourage them to try to take measures to prevent the spread of the disease," he said. "Certainly people should stay away from people who are know to be ill, practice good hand hygene, as well as good cough and sneeze etiquette."
Drugmaker Baxter International Inc. has requested the swine flu virus sample from the World Health Organization so that it can research the virus and then develop a vaccine in what the company spokesperson said is half the time, approximately 13 weeks, of normal manufacturing, which is usually 26 weeks. Baxter specializes in research and development in emerging vaccines.