WHO says Tamiflu still works against swine flu

GENEVA – The World Health Organization says isolated cases of drug-resistant swine flu in Britain and the United States have not changed the agency's assessment of the disease.
It says Tamiflu remains highly effective against the vast majority of H1N1 cases.
Four cancer patients in a North Carolina hospital tested positive last week for a type of the flu that was resistant to Tamiflu. Five people at a British hospital also didn't respond to the drug after contracting the flu.
WHO flu chief Dr. Keiji Fukuda said Thursday that investigations were under way, but that the American and British patients for whom Tamiflu did not work had severely weakened immune systems.

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WHO says Tamiflu still works against swine flu

CDC Warning: Holidays May Bring More H1N1

Let us give thanks — and pass the Purell.
Your family might be sharing more than turkey and pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving. Swine flu may also be on the table — and at crowded airports and shopping malls.
Just as the pandemic seems to be waning around the country, some health officials are worried that holiday gatherings could lead to more infections. So the government has launched a new travel-health campaign.
"It's important to remember the things that everybody can do to stay healthy," said Dr. Beth Bell of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Thanksgiving is typically followed by at least a modest bump in early seasonal flu cases, according to reports from the past few years. But this, of course, is not a typical year. Swine flu is a new virus that accounts for nearly all flu cases right now.


Despite weeks of declining infections, health officials are staying vigilant. The federal government is putting up posters in airports, seaports and border crossings in time for Thanksgiving. The campaign also includes advertisements with slogans such as "Stop, Wash & Go."

The CDC urges people to travel only if they are well, get vaccinated against swine and seasonal flu, wash their hands often, and cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or sleeve.
Some 33 million Americans are expected to hit the nation's highways over the Thanksgiving holiday, a slight increase from last year. About 2.3 million more will travel by airplane.

The elbow-to-elbow conditions expected on many flights may pose more of an infection threat than a runny-nosed tike at the other end of a Thanksgiving dinner table. One CDC official even suggested asking that a sick passenger be moved to another part of a plane.

But that's not likely to happen on a crowded airliner or bus, and it isn't much of a solution anyway, said a few people waiting at Atlanta's downtown Greyhound station on Tuesday morning.
"That's just putting it next to somebody else," said Judd Nelson, 39, waiting to start a two-day bus trip to Phoenix.

Nelson had not been vaccinated against swine flu, and he did not have any hand sanitizer. He was resigned to his fate if someone with swine flu happens to be aboard his bus.

"The way I look at it is, if I get it, I'm going to get it no matter what," he said.

Swine flu has sickened an estimated 22 million Americans, hospitalized about 98,000 and killed 4,000 since it was first identified last April. It is similar to seasonal flu but poses a much bigger threat to children and young adults.

Usually, seasonal flu is just getting going in late November, and holiday get-togethers allow illness to jump from small pockets to other parts of the country. Swine flu, in contrast, has been widespread for months.
"It's not like we expect to see a bunch of infected people going to uninfected cities and towns," said Andrew Pekosz, a flu expert at Johns Hopkins University.

The swine flu pandemic hit in two waves: first in the spring, then a larger wave that started in the late summer.

For the past three weeks, fewer states have been reporting widespread cases. School closings have dropped to the point that there were none on Monday — the first time that's happened since late August — though there were six on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

But there are still plenty of ill people — as many as during the peak of many regular flu seasons, CDC officials say.

Indeed, disease trackers are quick to say that flu is unpredictable. A variety of things could happen, including a third wave or a mutation that could make the virus more deadly or less susceptible to medicines.
"We really don't know what the trajectory is going to be," said Bell, a CDC epidemiologist who has been a leader in the agency's swine flu response.

Seasonal flu usually emerges at this time of year, but some experts think swine flu will muscle aside the seasonal viruses. That probably will not be known until next month, said Dr. Richard Whitley, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

At New York's Pennsylvania Station, Katie Almroth was waiting to board a train Tuesday with her 11-month-old daughter Anna, who's been vaccinated for seasonal flu but not for swine flu. They were headed to Harrisburg, Pa., to visit relatives for Thanksgiving.

The 33-year-old nurse from Jersey City, N.J., said she was not worried about traveling during the swine flu pandemic, but felt more comfortable on a train than an airplane with her daughter.

"I must admit I did bring little wipes along," said Almroth, showing the antiseptic wipes she had tossed in her bag with small bottles of hand sanitizer.

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CDC Warning: Holidays May Bring More H1N1

CDC: H1N1 Vaccine Safe, Few Problems Seen

ATLANTA —  There's no evidence that the swine flu vaccine is causing any serious side effects, U.S. health officials said Wednesday, in their first report on the safety of the new vaccine.
Since vaccinations began in early October, the government has been tracking the safety of the swine flu vaccine. By mid-November, about 22 million Americans had gotten the vaccine and there were about 3,200 reports of possible side effects, the vast majority for minor things like soreness or swelling from the shot.
Health officials didn't expect to see any serious problems — the swine flu vaccine is basically the same as the regular winter flu vaccine. And there weren't any signs of trouble in the tests done in thousands to find the right dose.


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Still, it is "very reassuring" to see that confirmed in their first report, said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The vaccine data so far really suggests this is a safe vaccine," she said at a press conference Wednesday.

In particular, officials have been watching for reports of a rare paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome. That condition was seen in higher numbers than usual during a swine flu vaccination campaign in 1976, a development that contributed to the program's cancellation.

There have been only 10 Guillain-Barre reports so far in those who got the new swine flu vaccine since early October, and some of those cases still are under investigation, CDC officials said.

Ten is low. Guillain-Barre can occur on its own, and normally between 80 and 160 people are diagnosed with the condition each week in the United States, Schuchat said.

The information comes from a voluntary reporting system that patients and doctors can use if they think something went wrong after a vaccination. Of the swine flu reports, 177 were considered serious, including 11 deaths.

There's no evidence those deaths were due to the vaccine, and there was no common underlying medical condition or other pattern seen in those fatalities, CDC officials said.
The CDC has two other systems for looking for vaccine side effects, and neither of those have turned up Guillain-Barre cases so far, CDC officials said. If problems occur, it's usually within six weeks of vaccination, they said.

Since it was first identified in April, swine flu has sickened an estimated 22 million Americans, hospitalized about 98,000 and killed 4,000. It has proved to be similar to seasonal flu but a bigger threat to children and young adults.

Only a few million doses of swine flu vaccine were available at the beginning of the campaign, but about 50 million doses have now been shipped, and the supply continues to increase, Schuchat said.

Health officials are increasingly worried about severe cases of bacterial pneumonia seen in non-elderly adults this fall. The swine flu virus and bacteria can act as a dangerous one-two punch, and information from Denver in October indicates bacterial pneumonia may be occurring at triple the normal rate, Schuchat said.
She urged adults with chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes and heart disease to get a pneumococcal vaccine, which protects against bacterial infection.

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CDC: H1N1 Vaccine Safe, Few Problems Seen