Swine flu panic as death toll rises to 31!!!

[Peikko 1,575]

I can't find any US panic stories, so had to go with the UK version:

A mum aged 51 who had the bug has also died, it was revealed yesterday.

The new tragedies came as it emerged 55,000 new swine flu cases are being diagnosed in the UK every WEEK.

Doctors said the unnamed 15-year-old girl had underlying health problems.

She became Scotland's fourth victim after being admitted to Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Sick Children last week.

An inquest is expected to be held in the next few days into the death of the unnamed 51-year-old victim from Lea, Wilts. She died in Swindon's Great Western Hospital on Wednesday last week.

The mum tested positive for swine flu but it is not known whether it killed her.

Parish council chairman John Cull said: "The news has hit everyone in the village hard. We are all coming to terms with it. It happened very quickly."

It emerged yesterday that tragic six-year-old Chloe Drayton DID have the H1N1 virus - but was killed by septic shock triggered by a tonsillitis bug.

A post mortem on the schoolgirl revealed the toxic streptococcus A bacterium.

Chloe, from West Drayton, North West London, died in hospital a day after a GP is believed to have sent her home suffering a sore throat.

Dr Simon Tanner, regional director of public health for London, said: "It is not possible to say how much swine flu contributed to her death."

MP Andrew Gwynne has been struck by the virus, it emerged yesterday. He was sent home from Westminster with flu symptoms last week.

The MP for Denton and Reddish, Gtr Manchester, wrote on Twitter website he had a "sore throat and hot sweats".

But swine flu sufferer Cherie Blair looked like she had beaten the bug yesterday as she emerged smiling from her West London home.

In nearby Hammersmith and Fulham an NHS health centre put up a "Flu Free Site" sign urging sufferers not to enter - and instead contact their GP. In China, 21 British students and two teachers quarantined following a swine flu scare were yesterday allowed to leave their hotel in Beijing.

George Edge, 14, from the Central Foundation Boys' School in Islington, North London, said: "I am just really glad to be out. Hopefully we can finish our trip on a high."

Eight other teens - seven from London, one from Somerset and another from Brighton - have been receiving treatment for the H1N1 virus in a Beijing hospital.

UK officials are planning to cope with as much as a third of the country falling ill.

The World Health Organisation said the bug was spreading faster than any previous flu pandemic - and had claimed more than 700 lives worldwide. Two weeks ago the figure was just 429.

Link

Edited July 22, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[Peikko 1,575]

I bet it's not even known how many cases there are in the US, let alone how many have led to the patient dying, whether from the flu itself, or an underlying illness

[Nagishkaw 510]

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Panic now. Think later.

[Peikko 1,575]

Well, I know who didn't read the article.

[Peikko 1,575]

Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline predicts swine flu gold rush

Britain's biggest pharmaceutical company is preparing to sell £3bn worth of swine flu drugs this year, it emerged today.

GlaxoSmithKline revealed its vaccine, one of the world's first, could be available by September after the UK government placed advance orders for 60m doses.

It also disclosed that international governments were stockpiling large supplies of GSK's anti-viral treatment Relenza, which can relieve swine flu symptoms.

Worldwide sales from the two drugs are expected to reach £3bn by January, but the company rejected claims it was exploiting the pandemic – stressing that profits would be much lower once development costs were taken into account.

It also said poorer nations would receive the vaccine for free with 50m doses to be donated to the World Health Organisation. More could follow, depending on demand.

The chief executive, Andrew Witty, said the company had been preparing for a pandemic for the last three-and-a-half years and had spent more than £1bn to ensure its factories could crank up production at short notice. "We don't know how big this deal is going to be, but no-one can say we aren't ready," said Witty. "We are working flat out with governments around the world to come up with a solution."

GlaxoSmithKline has also developed an anti-viral face mask, which is expected to be used by people such as "front line health workers."

Swine flu is thought to have led to the deaths of 31 people in Britain so far and further details of its rapid spread are due to be released by the NHS tomorrow.

The world's first human trials of a swine flu vaccine have begun in Australia, drug company officials said, as the global death toll from the virus rose to 700.

Two biotechnology companies have started injecting adult volunteers in the southern city of Adelaide.

In a sign of how quickly GSK is working to make sure a vaccine is available from September, the company said that "clinical trials will be limited, due to the need to provide the vaccine to governments as quickly as possible.

"Additional studies will therefore be required and conducted after the vaccine is made available."

Link

[alienlovechild 75]

I bet it's not even known how many cases there are in the US, let alone how many have led to the patient dying, whether from the flu itself, or an underlying illness

Is that right?

Table. U.S. Human Cases of H1N1 Flu Infection

Web page updated July 17, 2009,

11:00 AM ET

Data reported to CDC by July 17, 2009, 11:00 AM ET. States and Territories* Confirmed and Probable Cases Deaths

States

Alabama 477 cases 0 deaths

Alaska 218 cases 0 deaths

Arizona 762 cases 11 deaths

Arkansas 47 cases 0 deaths

California 3161 cases 52 deaths

Colorado 155 cases 0 deaths

Connecticut 1581 cases 7 deaths

Delaware 364 cases 0 deaths

Florida 2188 cases 12 deaths

Georgia 174 cases 1 death

Hawaii 722 cases 1 death

Idaho 143 cases 0 deaths

Illinois 3357 cases 15 deaths

Indiana 282 cases 1 death

Iowa 165 cases 0 deaths

Kansas 186 cases 0 deaths

Kentucky 143 cases 0 deaths

Louisiana 232 cases 0 deaths

Maine 133 cases 0 deaths

Maryland 732 cases 3 deaths

Massachusetts 1343 cases 5 deaths

Michigan 515 cases 8 deaths

Minnesota 660 cases 3 deaths

Mississippi 219 cases 0 deaths

Missouri 70 cases 1 death

Montana 94 cases 0 deaths

Nebraska 264 cases 1 death

Nevada 406 cases 0 deaths

New Hampshire 247 cases 0 deaths

New Jersey 1350 cases 14 deaths

New Mexico 232 cases 0 deaths

New York 2670 cases 57 deaths

North Carolina 395 cases 4 deaths

North Dakota 61 cases 0 deaths

Ohio 161 cases 1 death

Oklahoma 176 cases 1 death

Oregon 465 cases 5 deaths

Pennsylvania 1914 cases 8 deaths

Rhode Island 188 cases 2 deaths

South Carolina 244 cases 0 deaths

South Dakota 39 cases 0 deaths

Tennessee 247 cases 1 death

Texas 4975 cases 24 deaths

Utah 966 cases 14 deaths

Vermont 59 cases 0 deaths

Virginia 319 cases 2 deaths

Washington 636 cases 4 deaths

Washington, D.C. 45 cases 0 deaths

West Virginia 227 cases 0 deaths

Wisconsin 6031 cases 5 deaths

Wyoming 106 cases 0 deaths

Territories

American Samoa 8 cases 0 deaths

Guam 1 case 0 deaths

Puerto Rico 18 cases 0 deaths

Virgin Islands 44 cases 0 deaths

TOTAL (55)* 40,617 cases 263 deaths

Surveillance

Novel influenza A (H1N1) activity is being detected through CDC’s routine influenza surveillance systems and reported weekly in FluView. CDC tracks U.S. influenza activity through multiple systems. While our influenza surveillance systems indicate that overall influenza activity is decreasing in the United States, novel H1N1 outbreaks are ongoing in different parts of the U.S., in some cases with intense influenza-like activity. Nearly 100 percent of the influenza viruses being detected now are novel H1N1 viruses.

http://www.cdc.gov/H1n1flu/update.htm

[Peikko 1,575]

Yes, that's right, because unlike in the US, every UK citizen has access to health care. There are not 20 million plus citizens 'outside' the system - which includes the system of monitoring pandemics.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

I bet it's not even known how many cases there are in the US, let alone how many have led to the patient dying, whether from the flu itself, or an underlying illness

From what I understand, not sure where I read it, the US has half the confirmed cases of H1N1 in the world. Pretty good stat, maybe that is where those who say the lets keep today's health care system in place get healthcare in the USA is #1?

[HAL 9000 96]

All I can say is wait and see for this fall's flu season. I hope no VJers fall prey to H1N1.

[kayandnigel 0]

hmmm I need a few days off of work