The Swine Flu

When I think of "Swine Flu" I think of a little piggy with a runny nose, sneezing all over the place. I try to find some humour in everything that comes along. I am quite sane, really I am.

Unfortunately the Swine Flu or the new name of this Influenza called the H1N1 Virus.is no joke. It's origin is Mexico, one of my favorite places to go to. It did not take very long for the spread of this virus hit us here in Ontario, with the return of vacationers from all over Mexico.

It brings me back to 2003 when the SARS Virus paid our Country a visit. Our health system was not prepared for such an breakout, although we have been told now 6 years later we are better prepared this time. We will see.

If you would like to read a little further I have posted below today's latest news of this Outbreak.








1st case of swine flu confirmed in Asia
WHO confirms 331 human cases of virus, at least 10 deaths
Last Updated: Friday, May 1, 2009 | 11:09 AM ET Comments92Recommend41
CBC News
Health officials in Hong Kong confirmed Friday they have found the first case of swine flu in the country, as the World Health Organization reported more confirmed human cases around the world.

Beth Weiman, a lead microbiologist, tests a suspected swine flu sample at the Washington State Public Health Laboratories in Shoreline, Wash. (Elaine Thompson/Associated Press)The H1N1 virus was detected in a Mexican citizen who arrived in Hong Kong via Shanghai on Thursday with a fever, officials said. It is the first confirmed instance of the virus in Asia, where officials have been stepping up precautions to keep the virus from spreading to the continent.

The patient has been isolated in hospital and is in stable condition, officials said. The hotel in Hong Kong where the tourist stayed has been quarantined.

The virus has killed at least 10 people, nine in Mexico and one in the United States, according to the WHO.

"The situation continues to evolve rapidly," the WHO said in a release issued early Friday.

The WHO is reporting 331 confirmed cases in 11 countries:

109 in the United States (one death).
156 in Mexico (nine deaths).
34 confirmed cases in Canada.
13 in Spain.
Eight in the United Kingdom.
Three in Germany.
Three in New Zealand.
Two in Israel.
One in Austria.
One in the Netherlands.
One in Switzerland.
The number of confirmed cases and deaths reported by WHO may not match the numbers reported by countries because they may not yet have reported them to the international health body.

The case in Hong Kong is not yet included in the WHO's official tally, which is based on specific laboratory tests.

New cases found in N.B., Denmark

On Friday, New Brunswick health officials confirmed the province's first case of swine flu — in a woman in her 20s who had recently returned from Mexico — taking Canada's total number of cases to 35. The case is not yet included in the official WHO tally.

Health officials in Denmark also reported on Friday that it had confirmed its first case of the virus.

The WHO raised its global pandemic alert level to five, its second-highest level, on Wednesday. Phase 5 is called when there is human-to-human spread of a virus in at least two countries in one region, according to the organization's pandemic response guidelines.

The classification means a pandemic is imminent and countries must finalize preparations to deal with the outbreak of swine flu, officials said.

The WHO's emergency committee, which can recommend a change to the pandemic alert level, is not scheduled to hold any meetings on Friday, though the committee will convene if the flu outbreaks widens, officials said.

To declare a full-blown pandemic, the WHO would have to be convinced the new virus is spreading in a sustained way among communities in another region besides North America.

Watching for human-to-human spread

WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham told reporters in Geneva on Friday that officials are watching a case in Spain where the patient had not travelled to Mexico. That would indicate human-to-human spread.

"We need to be sure it is actually established in communities," Abraham said, "not just stray cases of a traveller passing it on to one person or two people."

Over the next week, medical experts will be able to get a better understanding of how transmissible the virus is, said Dr. Donald Low, medical director of Ontario's Public Health Laboratories.

The number of specimens being sent for testing in Canadian laboratories is increasing but officials are still waiting to see the number of positive results, Low said.

"This is a brand new disease," Low said. "It's a historic event. Most of us have not lived through a pandemic and we've never been in a situation where we're actually looking as it evolves."

Developing a vaccine against the new disease could take up to six months, Abraham said.

The WHO has been speaking with Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG, which makes Tamiflu, an antiviral that has proven effective against the virus, about making it available to developing countries deemed in need of supplies, he said.

New cases in Mexico levelling off

Mexico, which is where the outbreak is believed to have started, opted to shut down parts of the country for five days, beginning on Friday, in a bid to control the spread of the illness.

Wearing protective face masks to protect against swine flu contagion, Jaqueline Garcia Gonzalez, right, and Alan Martinez look at each other while waiting in line to be examined by a doctor at a mobile medical brigade set up in downtown Mexico City. (Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press)New cases and suspected deaths in Mexico appear to be leveling off, said Mexican Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova.

Cordova said the public hospitals that treat roughly half the country admitted just 46 patients with severe flu symptoms on Thursday, down from 212 patients on April 20. "This is encouraging," he said.

Mexican health authorities said Thursday they have confirmed 300 swine flu cases and 12 deaths related to the virus.

Shutting down non-essential government services and private businesses should help further slow the spread of the virus, according to officials.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said authorities would use the extensive shutdown to consider whether to extend emergency measures or ease some restrictions. The five days include Friday's Labour Day holiday, the weekend, and the Cinco de Mayo observance on Monday, minimizing the disruption.

Mexican officials wanted earlier action

Meanwhile, Mexico's epidemiology chief faulted the WHO and its regional branch, the Pan American Health Organization, for not stepping in earlier.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Mexico City late Thursday, Dr. Miguel Angel Lezana said he is troubled by the response of the PAHO and its parent organization, the WHO, in the early days of the outbreak.

Lezana, director of the National Epidemiology Center, said it notified PAHO on April 16 about the outbreak in Mexico, but that action wasn't taken until eight days later, when the WHO announced the spreading epidemic.

Lezana said that to prevent delays in the future, there should be an investigation of the WHO's handling of the crisis, adding that the public health agency should decide whether it should be an internal or an independent probe.

'Rapid response,' says the WHO

Abraham said the health body had been informed on about April 9 of unusual cases of "suspicious influenza" from Mexico that had begun in late March, but that U.S. and Canadian laboratories identified the virus on April 24, after which the organization responded rapidly.

"Once we knew that this illness was caused by a new influenza virus … we moved into operation within a matter of hours," Abraham said.

WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan was aboard a flight to the U.S. at the time, but was immediately briefed upon landing, Abraham said. She then cancelled all appointments in order to meet with Mexican and American health authorities, flew back to Geneva the next day and by the evening of April 25 declared to the world that it faced a possible flu pandemic.

"We didn't wait. We notified them in time of this event," Lezana said. He said while Mexico was waiting for the WHO, it tried to stem the outbreak and identify it.

Mexican medical teams interviewed 472 people who may have come into contact with the first known swine flu fatality, Adela Maria Gutierrez, a 39-year-old from Oaxaca. Samples were taken from her and sent to the lab in Canada.

But only 18 people — all hospital workers — were tested for swine flu.

Health workers in Mexico only started visiting the families of victims this week to see if they also contracted the illness.

With files from The Associated Press