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[mirkwood]

Some may be repeats.


US declares public health emergency for swine flu

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<ABBR class=recenttimedate title=2009-04-26T12:10:08-0700>48 mins ago</ABBR>
<!-- end .byline -->WASHINGTON – The U.S. declared a public health emergency Sunday to deal with the emerging new swine flu, much like the government does to prepare for approaching hurricanes.
Officials reported 20 U.S. cases of swine flu in five states so far, with the latest in Ohio and New York. Unlike in Mexico where the same strain appears to be killing dozens of people, cases in the United State have been mild — and U.S. health authorities can't yet explain why.
"As we continue to look for cases, we are going to see a broader spectrum of disease," predicted Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We're going to see more severe disease in this country."
At a White House news conference, Besser and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sought to assure Americans that health officials are taking all appropriate steps to minimize the impact of the outbreak.
Top among those is declaring the public health emergency. As part of that, Napolitano said roughly 12 million doses of the drug Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to places where states can quickly get their share if they decide they need it. Priority will be given to the five states with known cases so far: California, Texas, New York, Ohio and Kansas.
Napolitano called the emergency declaration standard operating procedure — one was declared recently for the inauguration and for flooding. She urged people to think of it as a "declaration of emergency preparedness."
"Really that's what we're doing right now. We're preparing in an environment where we really don't know ultimately what the size of seriousness of this outbreak is going to be."

[mirkwood]

CDC website: http://www.cdc.gov (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_go_pr_wh/storytext/us_swine_flu_emergency/31796469/SIG=10kfb8sqr/*http://www.cdc.gov)

[mirkwood]

Church Site (Provident Living)

http://providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,8041-1-4414-1,00.html


Home and Family Preparedness: http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/112086_PPHomeFamilyPrepardness_pdf.pdf

Personal Hygiene:
http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/111368_PPPersonalHygiene_pdf.pdf

Personal Protective Equipment:
http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/111369_PPPersonalProtectiveEquip_pdf.pdf

Infectious Disease Cleanup:
http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/111367_PPInfectiousDiseaseCleanup_pdf.pdf

Sheltering In Place:
http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/111370_PPShelteringInPlace_pdf.pdf

Social Distancing:
http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/111371_PPSocialDistancing_pdf.pdf

Workplace Preparedness:
http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/113053_PPWorkplacePreparation_pdf.pdf

Health Care Worker Preparedness:
http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/111366_PPHealthCareWorkers_pdf.pdf

[mirkwood]

Swine flu fears prompt quarantine plans, pork bans

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GENEVA – Canada became the third country to confirm human cases of swine flu Sunday as global health officials considered whether to raise the global pandemic alert level. Nations from New Zealand to Spain also reported suspected cases and some warned citizens against travel to North America while others planned quarantines, tightened rules on pork imports and tested airline passengers for fevers.
Nova Scotia's chief public health officer, Dr. Robert Strang, said the east coast Canadian province had confirmed four "very mild" cases of swine flu in students ranging in age from 12 to 17 or 18. All are recovering, he said.
"It was acquired in Mexico, brought home and spread," Strang said.
The western province of British Columbia confirmed two further cases.
The news follows the World Health Organization's decision Saturday to declare the outbreak first detected in Mexico and the United States a "public health emergency of international concern."
A senior World Health Organization official said the agency's emergency committee will meet for a second time Tuesday to examine the extent to which the virus has spread before deciding whether to increase the pandemic alert beyond phase 3.
The same strain of the A/H1N1 swine flu virus has been detected in several locations in Mexico and the United States, and it appears to be spreading directly from human to human, said Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general in charge of health security.
Mexico's health minister says the disease has killed up to 86 people and likely sickened up to 1,400 since April 13. U.S. officials say the virus has been found in New York, California, Texas, Kansas and Ohio, but so far no fatalities have been reported.
Governments including China, Russia and Taiwan began planning to put anyone with symptoms of the deadly virus under quarantine
Others were increasing their screening of pigs and pork imports from the Americas or banning them outright despite health officials' reassurances that it was safe to eat thoroughly cooked pork.
Some nations issued travel warnings for Mexico and the United States.
WHO's emergency committee is still trying to determine exactly how the virus has spread, Fukuda said
"Right now we have cases occurring in a couple of different countries and in multiple locations," he said. "But we also know that in the modern world that cases can simply move around from single locations and not really become established."
Raising the pandemic alert phase could entail issuing specific recommendations to countries on how to halt the disease. So far, WHO has only urged governments to step up their surveillance of suspicious outbreaks.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan called the outbreak a public health emergency of "pandemic potential" because the virus can pass from human to human.
Her agency was considering whether to issue nonbinding recommendations on travel and trade restrictions, and even border closures. It is up to governments to decide whether to follow the advice.

"Countries are encouraged to do anything that they feel would be a precautionary measure," WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi said. "All countries need to enhance their monitoring."
New Zealand said that 10 students who took a school trip to Mexico "likely" had swine flu. Israel said a man who had recently visited Mexico had been hospitalized while authorities try to determine whether he had the disease. French Health Ministry officials investigated four possible cases of swine flu, but three were later found to be negative.
Spanish authorities said a total of seven suspected cases were under observation.
Hong Kong and Taiwan said visitors who came back from flu-affected areas with fevers would be quarantined. China said anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms within two weeks of arrival from an affected area had to report to authorities. A Russian health agency said any passenger from North America running a fever would be quarantined until the cause of the fever is determined.
Tokyo's Narita airport installed a device to test the temperatures of passengers arriving from Mexico.
Indonesia increased surveillance at all entry points for travelers with flu-like symptoms — using devices at airports that were put in place years ago to monitor for severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and bird flu. It said it was ready to quarantine suspected victims if necessary.
Hong Kong and South Korea warned against travel to the Mexican capital and three affected provinces. Italy, Poland and Venezuela also advised their citizens to postpone travel to affected areas of Mexico and the United States.
Symptoms of the flu-like illness include a fever of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius), body aches, coughing, a sore throat, respiratory congestion and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.
The virus is usually contracted through direct contact with pigs, but Joseph Domenech, chief of animal health service at U.N. Food and Agriculture Agency in Rome, said all indications were that the virus is being spread through human-to-human transmission.
No vaccine specifically protects against swine flu, and it is unclear how much protection current human flu vaccines might offer. Russia banned the import of meat products from Mexico, California, Texas and Kansas. South Korea said it would increase the number of its influenza virus checks on pork products from Mexico and the U.S.

[mirkwood]

Swine flu confirmed in NYC high school students

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<CITE class=vcard>By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer Karen Matthews, Associated Press Writer </CITE>– <ABBR class=recenttimedate title=2009-04-26T11:44:35-0700>1 hr 15 mins ago</ABBR>
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NEW YORK – New York City was dealing with a growing public health threat Sunday after tests confirmed that eight students at a private Catholic high school had contracted swine flu. Some of the school's students had visited Mexico on a spring break trip two weeks ago.
New York officials previously had characterized the cases as probable, but Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that it was swine flu, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
About 100 students at St. Francis Preparatory School complained of flu-like symptoms; further tests will determine how many of those cases are swine flu.
Bloomberg stressed that the New York cases were mild and many are recovering, but said that parents of the students also had flu symptoms, "suggesting it is spreading person to person."
He said that the virus likely came from Mexico, although that has not officially been determined.
"We do know that some of the students from the school had a spring break in Mexico," Bloomberg said, surrounded by top city officials and members of Congress. "It is most likely to be brought back from Mexico, but nobody knows."
Federal health officials said Sunday that 20 swine flu cases have been reported so far in New York, Ohio, Kansas, Texas and California. Patients have ranged in age from 9 to over 50. At least two were hospitalized. All recovered or are recovering.
In Mexico, health officials say a strain of swine flu has killed up to 81 people and sickened more than 1,000.
New York officials said the flu strain discovered in the patients here is similar to the one in Mexico, but not as severe at this point. They are still conducting tests to investigate the strain in New York.
St. Francis is the largest private Catholic high school in the nation, with 2,700 students. The school canceled classes on Monday and Tuesday in response to the outbreak.
Parent Jackie Casola said Sunday that her son Robert Arifo, a St. Francis sophomore, told her on Thursday that a number of children had been sent home because of illness. On Friday, he said hardly anyone was in school.
Casola said she expected to keep him home from school on Monday, even if it was open. He hasn't shown any symptoms, but some of his friends have, she said, and she has been extra vigilant about his health.
"I must have drove him crazy, I kept taking his temperature in the middle of the night," she said.
In New York, state infectious-diseases, epidemiology and disaster preparedness workers have been dispatched to monitor and respond to possible flu cases. Gov. David Paterson said 1,500 treatment courses of the antiviral Tamiflu had been sent to New York City.
The city health department has asked doctors to take extra precautions and test patients who have flu symptoms and have traveled recently to California, Texas or Mexico. Bloomberg and health officials also urged people to cover their noses and mouths when they sneeze and cough, and not to leave the house for two days after the symptoms disappear.
Investigators also tested children who fell ill at a day care center in the Bronx, but the tests came back negative. Two Manhattan families also have contacted the city, saying they had recently returned ill from Mexico with flu symptoms, New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said. Those cases were also found to not be swine flu.
Frieden said New Yorkers having trouble breathing due to an undiagnosed respiratory illness should seek treatment but shouldn't become overly alarmed. Medical facilities near St. Francis Prep have already been flooded with people overreacting to the outbreak, he said.

"The bottom line is there is an outbreak at St. Francis school and we are monitoring that outbreak very carefully," Bloomberg said.
In Ohio, state health officials said a 9-year-old boy who recently traveled to Mexico on vacation with his family has a confirmed case of swine flu and is recovering at his home. Officials do not know if the boy has the same strain linked to the deaths in Mexico, health department spokesman Robert Jennings said.
Kansas health officials said Saturday that they had confirmed swine flu in a married couple living in the central part of the state after the husband visited Mexico. The couple, who live in Dickinson County, weren't hospitalized, and the state described their illnesses as mild.
"Fortunately, the man and woman understand the gravity of the situation and are very willing to isolate themselves," said Dr. Jason Eberhart-Phillips, the state health officer.
Swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A flu viruses, the CDC's Web site says. Human cases are uncommon but can occur in people who are around pigs. It also can be spread from person to person. Symptoms include a high fever, body aches, coughing, sore throat and respiratory congestion.
At least nine swine flu cases have been reported in California and Texas. The most recent California case, the state's seventh, was a 35-year-old woman from Imperial County who got sick in early April. She had no known contact with the others. Health officials are concerned because people appear to have no immunity to the virus, a combination of bird, swine and human influenzas. The virus also presents itself like other swine flus, but none of the U.S. cases appear to involve direct contact with pigs, Eberhart-Phillips said.

[mirkwood]

Mexico City streets empty as swine flu toll climbs

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<CITE class=vcard>By DAVID KOOP, Associated Press Writer David Koop, Associated Press Writer </CITE>? <ABBR class=recenttimedate title=2009-04-26T11:51:44-0700>1 hr 7 mins ago</ABBR>
<!-- end .byline -->MEXICO CITY ? Churches stood empty Sunday in predominantly Roman Catholic Mexico City after services were canceled, and health workers screened airports and bus stations for people sickened by a new strain of swine flu that experts fear could become a global epidemic.
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said two more people died of swine flu overnight in the overcrowded capital, and three other deaths are suspected to have been caused by the strain. Another 73 more people were hospitalized with influenza, possibly swine flu.
President Felipe Calderon has assumed new powers to isolate people infected with the deadly swine flu strain that health officials say has killed up to 86 people and likely sickened about 1,400 in the country since April 13.
Six million masks have been handed out by soldiers, Calderon said, urging Mexicans to use in public and take other precautions, such as avoiding traditional greetings with a handshake and a kiss on the cheek. If you have flu symptons "and you don't go the doctor right away, it could have grave consequences," the president said.
Calderon also pledged to continuously update the public "with openness and truthful information," in an attempt to defuse public anger that authorities did not act soon enough to contain the epidemic.
The flu has spread far beyond Mexico's borders with 20 confirmed cases in five U.S. states and suspected cases as far away as New Zealand, Canada and France. The U.S. declared a public health emergency, providing for easier access to flu tests and medications, and enhanced surveillance along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In Mexico, soldiers and health workers patrolled the capital's subway system, looking for possible flu cases. People were advised to seek medical attention if they suffered from symptoms including a fever of more than 100 degrees, body aches, coughing, a sore throat, respiratory congestion and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.
Markets and restaurants were nearly empty and all school-related activities were suspended in the capital and the states of Mexico and San Luis Potosi until May 6. Hundreds of public events from concerts to sports matches to were called off to keep people from congregating and spreading the virus in crowds. Zoos were closed and visits to juvenile correction centers were suspended.
About a dozen federal police in blue surgical masks stood in front of Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral, which was nearly empty after a measure canceling services to avoid large concentrations of people. Mass was delivered over television and radio, with a sermon urging all faithful to pray for divine intervention against the epidemic.
Johana Chavez, 22, said she showed up for her confirmation only to find a sign advising that all Masses, baptisms and confirmations were canceled until further notice.
"We are all Catholic so this is a big step, closing the cathedral," she said, cradling a squirming infant in her arms. "The flu must be bad. I guess I'll have to come back later."
Mexico City Health Secretary Armando Ahued said most of the fatalities involve victims who only sought medical help after the disease was well advanced.
By Sunday, throngs of Mexicans were rushing to hospitals, some with just a fever.
Mexico appears to have lost valuable days or weeks in detecting the new flu strain, a combination of pig, bird and human viruses that humans may have no natural immunity to. Health officials have since found cases across 16 states, half of Mexico.
The first death was in southern Oaxaca state on April 13, but Mexico didn't send the first of 14 mucus samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until April 18, around the same time it dispatched health teams to hospitals looking for patients with severe flu or pnuemonia-like symptoms.
Those teams noticed something strange: The flu was killing people aged 20 to 40. Flu victims are usually either infants or the elderly. The Spanish flu pandemic, which killed at least 40 million people worldwide in 1918-19, also first struck otherwise healthy young adults.
The World Health Organization on Saturday asked all countries to step up reporting and surveillance of the disease, as airports around the world were screening travelers from Mexico for flu symptoms. New Zealand's 10 students who were found "likely" to have swine flu had just come back from a school trip to Mexico.

A team from the CDC was in Mexico to help set up detection testing for the swine flu strain, something Mexico previously lacked.
Health authorities noticed a threefold spike in flu cases in late March and early April, but thought it was a late rebound in the December-February flu season.
Testing at domestic labs did not alert doctors to the new strain. Health Secretary Jose Cordova acknowledged Mexican labs lacked the profiling data needed to detect the previously unknown strain.
Even though U.S. labs detected the swine flu in California and Texas before last weekend, Mexican authorities as recently as Wednesday were referring to it as a late-season flu.
But mid-afternoon Thursday, Mexico City Health Secretary Dr. Armando Ahued said, officials got a call "from the United States and Canada, the most important laboratories in the field, telling us this was a new virus."
Asked why there were so many deaths in Mexico, and none so far among the U.S. cases, Cordova noted that the U.S. cases involved children ? who haven't been among the fatal cases in Mexico, either.
"There are immune factors that are giving children some sort of defense, that is the only explanation we have," he said.
Another factor may be that some Mexican patients may have delayed seeking medical help too long, Cordova said.
Others are forced to work and leave their homes despite health concerns.
Wearing two dirty, blue surgical masks she says she found and a heavy coat, Daniela Briseno swept garbage early Sunday morning from the streets in Mexico City.
"This chill air must be doing me harm. I should be at home but I have a family to support," the 31-year-old said. Scientists have warned for years about the potential for a pandemic from viruses that mix genetic material from humans and animals.

[mirkwood]

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=126&sid=6279291

US declares public health emergency for swine flu
April 26th, 2009 @ 1:10pm
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WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. declared a public health emergency Sunday to deal with the emerging new swine flu, much like the government does to prepare for approaching hurricanes.
Officials reported 20 U.S. cases of swine flu in five states so far, with the latest in Ohio and New York. Unlike in Mexico where the same strain appears to be killing dozens of people, cases in the United State have been mild _ and U.S. health authorities can't yet explain why.
"As we continue to look for cases, we are going to see a broader spectrum of disease," predicted Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We're going to see more severe disease in this country."
At a White House news conference, Besser and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sought to assure Americans that health officials are taking all appropriate steps to minimize the impact of the outbreak.
Top among those is declaring the public health emergency. As part of that, Napolitano said roughly 12 million doses of the drug Tamiflu will be moved from a federal stockpile to places where states can quickly get their share if they decide they need it. Priority will be given to the five states with known cases so far: California, Texas, New York, Ohio and Kansas.
Napolitano called the emergency declaration standard operating procedure _ one was declared recently for the inauguration and for flooding. She urged people to think of it as a "declaration of emergency preparedness."
"Really that's what we're doing right now. We're preparing in an environment where we really don't know ultimately what the size of seriousness of this outbreak is going to be."