How to Stay Healthy and Fit?

Diabetes An Illness People Can't Afford to Get

2010-11-13T19:39:00.000-08:00

Diabetes treatment is unaffordable for many sufferers and only 25 percent get the care the care they need, experts say.

Their research relates to people with Type 2 Diabetes – the most common form of the illness.

Diabetes patients spend an average of $6,000 annually on treatment, according to a recent report put out by Consumer Reports Health.

The figure includes monitoring supplies, medicines, doctor visits, annual eye exams and other routine costs.

But the total doesn’t include the costs of medical complications that often result from Type 2 diabetes, like heart disease, strokes, liver and kidney damage, eye damage and a susceptibility to infections and poor healing that can lead to amputations, the New York Times reports.

Another worrying figure pertains to the statistic that one in 10 Americans has diabetes and by 2050, it will rise to one in three – if the present trends continue.

It currently costs the country’s health care system $174 billion a year.

Read More: http://www.thirdage.com/news/diabetes-illness-people-cant-afford-get_11-13-2010

What is Scalar Quantum Pendant?

2010-08-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

Frequently Asked Questions
1. How is the Scalar-Pendant going to help me?

You will feel more energetic, more focused, be less prone to suffer from headaches and can better cope with stress. Any aches and pains should gradually disappear.

2. Should I wear the Scalar-Pendant all the time?

Yes, except when taking a bath. As for wearing during sleep, some find difficulty in sleeping while others can sleep more soundly.

3. How soon will I have to wait before experiencing any effects?

Some respond within a few hours while others may require up to a month to register its effects. If there is still no effect after a month, removing it for a week is sometimes the best way to monitor how it has been of benefit.

4. Will it ever run out?

No, it will last a lifetime. It also does not require any maintenance.

5. Are there any side-effects to wearing Scalar-Pendant?

It is not magnetic, not electrical and not radioactive. A few wearers have experienced a strange or uncomfortable feeling during the first few days and may be symptomatic of the body adjusting to the effects of the pendant. If the discomfort continues, wear it for a few hours a day at first and gradually increase the wearing time.

6. What can I do if wearing the Scalar-Pendant did not help to reduce the pain of the affected part?

You can try rubbing the Scalar-Pendant directly over the painful area.

7. Why do some people experience an initial worsening of the pain on wearing Scalar-Pendant?

This is known as the 'healing crisis' which may occur prior to resolution of the symptoms.

8. How do I energize the water?

By placing Scalar-Pendant underneath a glass or a bottle of water for at least 15 minutes.

9. What are the benefits of drinking energized water?

It is the same as the benefits of wearing the Scalar-Pendant and the effects last 4-24 hours depending on the individual's energy level. The water has a fresher and more pleasant taste. Some have applied the energized water to the skin for chronic skin diseases. Others have used it on their hair to promote hair growth.

10. What is the difference between alkaline water and energized Scalar-Pendant water?

Many have mistakenly believed that making the body less acidic via alkaline water is healthy! This can cause pH imbalance, bone problems and organ damage if not careful. Safest way is fruits and vegetables and your body balances the pH itself through natural processing of these healthy foods. Drinking water is safer when neutral pH, as it is in its natural state. For more information, read Harvey Diamond’s "Fit for Life" book. Scalar-Pendant does not tamper with the natural safe pH of energized healing water. If nature wanted us to drink alkaline water, then water would be alkaline. Keep in mind that water is of neutral pH.

11. Where is the proof of these benefits?

If you look for the proof of ‘chi’ energy it’s all around you. Looking for proof of quantum physics is in the results not the cause and effects. Rather like the great religions of the world one either believes or does not. Look at the tests and observe and taste the differences.

12. How does it prevent jet lags?

Wetter liquids – more ability for the body organs to absorb water, increased ‘hydration’ locked within the natural molecular structure are thousands of molecular clusters. The body organs can hydrate and absorb the liquid more easily. In addition, the surface tension of the water has been removed (bio film) which adds to the hydration effect. Increased oxygen potential – Increasing oxygen in the blood cells increases energy levels. The natural molecular structure locks in the oxygen and other gases within the liquid into quantum suspension. These gases cannot evaporate, as they are part of the liquid. This in turn allows the bodies DNA to absorb oxygen at much higher levels than can be found in other liquids.

13. How is it used to lock the chlorinated water?

While chlorine is a wonderful bio-side, it has also been shown to destroy life. Fish and plants cannot live with it and it has been banned from German drinking water for several years. If your supply of water contains chlorine then one can simply stand a bottle of chlorinated water over the pendant or authenticity card. The new molecular structure of the water will remove the smell taste and odour of chlorine. Yet the chlorine is still effective but in this case the fish can live and plants will grow.

14. How does the energy transfer to the water using Scalar-Pendant?

The pendant energy resonates into the liquid where it ‘picks up’ the resonance. The resonance generated is similar to that which is found in the earth surrounding many healing spring waters of the world. Much research is now focused on this fact as 70% of our bodies are made of water and it is important to nourish the body with the correct molecular structured water.

For more details visit:
http://scalarquantumpendant.blogspot.com

Cinnamon and Honey- Good for the Body!

2010-08-15T05:59:00.000-07:00

Honey is the only food on the planet that will not spoil or rot. It will do
what some call turning to sugar. In reality honey is always honey. However,
when left in a cool dark place for a long time it will do what I rather call
"crystallizing". When this happens I loosen the lid, boil some water, and
sit the honey container in the hot water, turn off the heat and let it
liquefy. It is then as good as it ever was. Never boil honey or put it in a
microwave. To do so will kill the enzymes in the honey.

Cinnamon and Honey
Bet the drug companies won't like this one getting around. Facts on Honey
and Cinnamon: It is found that a mixture of honey and Cinnamon cures most
diseases. Honey is produced in most of the countries of the world.
Scientists of today also accept honey as a 'Ram Ban' (very effective)
medicine for all kinds of diseases. Honey can be used without any side
effects for any kind of diseases.

Today's science says that even though honey is sweet, if taken in the right
dosage as a medicine, it does not harm diabetic patients. Weekly World
News, a magazine in Canada , in its issue dated 17 January,1995 has given
the following list of diseases that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as
researched by western scientists:

HEART DISEASES:
Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on bread, instead of jelly
and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in
the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack. Also, those who have
already had an attack, if they do this process daily, they are kept miles
away from the next attack. Regular use of the above process relieves loss of
breath and strengthens the heart beat. In America and Canada , various
nursing homes have treated patients successfully and have found that as you age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged; honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and veins.

ARTHRITIS:
Arthritis patients may take daily, morning and night, one cup of hot water
with two spoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder. If taken regularly even chronic arthritis can be cured. In a recent research conducted at the Copenhagen University, it was found that when the doctors treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon Honey and half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that within a week, out of the 200 people so treated, practically 73 patients were totally relieved of pain, and within a month, mostly all the patients who could not walk or move around because of arthritis started walking without pain.

BLADDER INFECTIONS:
Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it. It destroys the germs in the bladder.

CHOLESTEROL:
Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a cholesterol patient, was found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10 percent within two hours. As mentioned for arthritic patients, if taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is cured. According to information received in the said Journal, pure honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol.

COLDS:
Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon
lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder daily for three days. This
process will cure most chronic cough, cold, and clear the sinuses.

UPSET STOMACH:
Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.

GAS:
According to the studies done in India and Japan, it is revealed that if
Honey is taken with cinnamon powder the stomach is relieved of gas.

IMMUNE SYSTEM:
Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of Honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles to fight bacterial and viral diseases.

INDIGESTION:
Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of honey taken before food
relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of meals.

INFLUENZA:
A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains a natural ' Ingredient'
which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu.

LONGEVITY:
Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Take four spoons of honey, one spoon of cinnamon powder, and three cups of water and boil to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age. Life spans also increase and even a 100 year old, starts performing the chores of a 20-year-old.

PIMPLES:
Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon powder paste. Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and wash it next morning with warm water. If done daily for two weeks, it removes pimples from the root.

SKIN INFECTIONS:
Applying honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts on the affected parts cures eczema, ringworm and all types of skin infections.

WEIGHT LOSS:
Daily in the morning one half hour before breakfast on an empty stomach, and at night before sleeping, drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water. If taken regularly, it reduces the weight of even the most obese person. Also, drinking this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet.

CANCER:
Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder for one month three times a day.

FATIGUE:
Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength of the body. Senior citizens, who take honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts, are more alert and flexible.. Dr. Milton, who has done research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing and in the afternoon at about 3:00 P.M. when the vitality of the body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within a week.

BAD BREATH:
People of South America, first thing in the morning, gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water, so their breath stays fresh throughout the day.

HEARING LOSS:
Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder, taken in equal parts restores hearing. Remember when we were kids? We had toast with real butter and cinnamon sprinkled on it!

Scalar Products - Are They for Real?

2010-08-08T04:51:00.000-07:00

What is Scalar Energy?
Based on latest discovery in quantum science, Scalar Energy has always existed since the beginning of time. However it is only recently that scientists have discovered it and begun to make use of it.

Scientific report
The scalar energy is based on strong scientific principles and evidence. The Barron Report, one of many, describes what scalar energy is and how amazing it is.There are many other scientific reports supporting the benefits of scalar energy for our health.Recently it is being used to treat HIV Positive patients!

Uses of scalar pendant :
* Migraine headaches
* Low metabolic rates
* Regulates Hypertension or Blood Pressure
* Arthritic, joint aches and pains
* Aches and pains, like frozen shoulders
* Keeps cells healthy, thus delaying ageing process
* Retards growth of malignant or cancerous cells
* Hair loss
* Eyes, reduces cataracts
* Diabetic conditions
* Insomnia
* Improves concentration
* Improving recovery of stroke patients

Read More (The Barron Report):
http://www.jonbarron.org/baseline-health-program/08-30-2006_3.php

Doctors, Scientists Adopt New Approach To Alzheimer's Care

2010-07-17T06:31:00.000-07:00

A new way of looking at Alzheimer's disease emerged at meetings here this week of nearly 4,000 scientists worldwide trying to unravel the causes of the health epidemic.

"We're moving in a direction in which we're not going to think of Alzheimer's disease as a person who has dementia," said Dr. Maria Carrillo, senior director of medical and scientific relations at the Chicago-based Alzheimer's Association.

The future of Alzheimer's disease, a disease of the brain, is to think of it as similar to other diseases -- for example, cardiovascular disease such as atherosclerosis, where signs and symptoms are treated before a heart attack or cardiac arrest occurs, she said.

"This is a huge change for the field," Carrillo said. "It is very exciting."

There is evidence that the Alzheimer's disease process begins perhaps more than 10 years before it is diagnosed, scientists said at a news briefing, stressing the importance of identifying people at risk as soon as possible for interventions.

"We're thinking of the development of Alzheimer's disease much like other diseases, as an elaborate process over a long period," said Dr. Marilyn Albert of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Inadequate funding and lack of participants in clinical trials to find out whether drugs work are two major obstacles to progress in diagnosing and treating the disease, Carrillo and other scientists said.

More than 100 clinical studies are going on, and experimental compounds are moving into clinical testing from laboratories in dozens of others, she said. But general practice physicians do not have experience with clinical trials in Alzheimer's and generally are not referring patients to them, Carrillo said.

To deal with that, the Alzheimer's Association has started a clinical trial matching service, called TrialMatch, for people with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia. The service was introduced during the Alzheimer's Association's six-day International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease at the Hawai'i Convention Center.

It can be accessed at www.alz.org/trialmatch or by calling 800-272-3900.

Alzheimer's disease "is clearly the No. 1 public health challenge of the 21st century, and research is the only way to solve this problem," said Dr. William Thies, the association's chief medical and scientific officer, urging participation in the clinical trials to improve diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

He said more than 5 million Americans have the debilitating disease, which causes memory, thinking and behavior problems, and the number is expected to triple by 2050. The global cost of dementia is estimated at $315 billion annually.

The researchers said they have learned enough about biomarkers that they can begin to identify people with mild symptoms who are likely to have underlying pathology of Alzheimer's disease. But not all people with risk factors for the disease or early pathology will manifest symptoms, they said.

Three work groups updated diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease for the first time in 25 years to better reflect various stages of the disease and include Alzheimer's biomarkers.

Elizabeth Stevenson, executive director of the Alzheimer's Association, Hawaii Chapter, said a new cognitive impairment test, replacing the current "mini mental exam," is a big advance. "It's going to improve early diagnosis, and the earlier people can get a diagnosis, the better we can help improve quality of life."

There is a concern that most trials are being conducted in which people are too impaired, scientists said. They hope in the next year to use biomarkers to identify people who could be enrolled in clinical trials and respond to treatment.

Among other developments reported at the meetings:

» The first clear link between vitamin D deficiency and development of cognitive problems, a key feature of dementia, was shown by a University of Exeter research team.

» An antioxidant-rich diet with walnuts improved memory and learning in mice with Alzheimer's.

» Physical activity and certain dietary items such as tea and vitamin D were found associated with maintaining cognitive ability and reducing dementia risk in older adults in three long-term, large-scale studies.

» A species of jellyfish found on Oahu called Aequorea victoria contains a protein that is a potential therapeutic for Alzheimer's disease.

By Helen Altonn
http://www.staradvertiser.com/

New Tylenol Recall Announced, Including Adult and Children's Products

2010-07-11T05:44:00.000-07:00

For the eighth time in a year, Johnson & Johnson has announced a recall of products bearing brand names that Americans have long trusted.

At drugstores across the country, many Johnson & Johnson's over the counter medications have been wiped off store shelves, as Tylenol, including some adult and children's brands, faces its latest recall. Related Johnson & Johnson brands like Benadryl and Motrin have also been pulled from stores.

On Thursday, the company's McNeil health care unit said it was recalling 21 different lots of products, including Children's Tylenol and other brands.

Metal particles, chemical contamination and dangerous bacteria have been discovered in some products, leading to this year's round of recalls.

There are no reports of illness and the FDA doesn't foresee any serious health risks, but millions of bottles have been pulled off store shelves and the federal government has launched a criminal investigation.

Johnson & Johnson, now 124 years old, has been synonymous with products like baby shampoo and Band-Aids, but most importantly, safety. Today, the New Jersey-based had no comment on the recall.

The Tylenol brand faced years of image rehab after 1982, when bottles of the pain killer were poisoned, killing seven people. Johnson & Johnson earned praise for the speed of its recall then, making this year's round of repeated recalls all the more embarrassing.

Consumers are clearly wary of the company's recent recall record. Sales of Children's Tylenol are down 96 percent, and adult Tylenol and Motrin sales are down 56 percent from last year.

Tylenol Recall Expanded, Includes Products Sold in U.S.

The musty, moldy smell that has caused a headache for the makers of Tylenol products is forcing more recalls, myFOXny.com reported Friday.

The latest recall by Johnson & Johnson's McNeil consumer health care unit covers 21 lots of products, including Children's Tylenol. The lots involved are sold in the United States, Fiji, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, and Jamaica.

Those are being recalled because they are tied to a large January 15 recall that is blamed on shipping pallets.

The company said the new lots were added to the recall as a precaution after an internal review found those lots, shipped and stored before January 15, had been on the same type of wooden pallets. The smell is caused by small amounts of a chemical associated with the treatment of the pallets.

"The risk of serious adverse medical events is remote," the company said in its statement detailing the voluntary recall.

J&J says latest drug recalls involved 3 mln bottles
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) provided additional details on Friday about its two most recent recalls of Tylenol and other over-the-counter drugs, saying the actions on Thursday and June 15 involved a total of about 3 million bottles of the medicines.

The company announced the latest recall on Thursday, involving 21 lots of medications -- including Tylenol for children and adults, several forms of Benadryl allergy tablets and painkiller Motrin. But it did not disclose the number of affected bottles.

"We shipped approximately 2.5 million bottles of the affected lots involved in yesterday's recall," a company spokeswoman said on Friday, following media criticism about the dearth of information.

The company recalled four lots of Benadryl and one lot of Extra Strength Tylenol gels on June 15, also without specifying the number of bottles involved. On Friday, it said that recall totaled about 500,000 bottles.

Both recalls were related to, but are in addition to, the company's Jan. 15 recall of 53 million bottles of widely used products, J&J said. They were all linked to odors traced to a chemical in pallets used to transport and store the medicines.

Excluding the two recent actions related to the Jan. 15 recall, McNeil has issued four product recalls in the past year due to quality control problems at its plants, sparking a congressional investigation and scrutiny from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

One of McNeil's three main factories, located in Ft. Washington, Pennsylvania, has been closed while the company addresses problems cited by the FDA.

By Ransdell Pierson; editing by Andre Grenon

Stop the Spread of Whooping Cough, Get Vaccinated

2010-07-03T23:03:00.000-07:00

Whooping cough is so bad that vaccines are being offered free of charge or highly discounted in Bay Area counties.

California is reporting a whooping cough outbreak to be an epidemic. There are four times more cases this year than last year. For the month of June there were approximately 900 cases reported as compared to around 200 last year. So far, five infants have died as compared to none last year.

Public Health officials believe people are not officially diagnosed with whooping cough because they do not go to the doctor. Therefore, it spreads from mother to child unknowingly.

Health officials are advising all adults and children to get vaccinated in order to better control the epidemic. Adults who have regular contact with infants and small children, such as preschool and kindergarten teachers, nurses, etc. should be vaccinated in order not to spread any germs to these young children.

Whooping cough derived its name from the horrible sounds that come forth when children have this ailment. They seem to gasp for air between their violent coughing. Whooping cough used to be called pertussis. It is a severe infection of the respiratory system and is very dangerous to babies and newborns. To most others it is just a temporary setback.

The symptoms of whooping cough are symptoms similar to a cold that progresses to very bad coughing that continues for weeks. Whooping cough is infectious for about three weeks. People should get antibiotics as soon as possible to reduce the infection time to just five days.

To avoid all the unpleasantness of whooping cough, make an appointment to get your free vaccine or very discounted vaccine as soon as possible.

Skeptics Warn Against Vaccine Hype as Whooping Cough Epidemic Hits California
Last week, state health officials declared a whooping cough epidemic. The disease, also known as pertussis, has infected a reported 910 people across the state as of June 15. Officials say outbreaks of the disease are cyclical, having last peaked in 2005 with 3,182 reported cases. "We're right about at the five-year peak, but we're on track to surpass our 50-year high," said Mike Sicilia of the California Department of Health.

That may be, but Dr. James Cherry's recent recommendation that “everyone of all ages” receive a pertussis vaccination to “break the cycle” reeks of the same scare-tactics that heavily lobbied federal health agencies during last year's over-hyped Swine flu fiasco.

Critics of the FDA and CDC believe officials pushed an untested and conveniently timed vaccine on the public without their informed consent. This led to record profits (not to mention mandatory government funding) for pharmaceutical companies.

The end result of that campaign?

Some 40 million doses of H1N1 vaccine (worth an estimated $260 million) expired on June 30, and there ended up being far fewer casualties than the seasonal flu routinely inflicts. Many experts believe H1N1 cases were overreported or confounded with the regular flu considering the similarity of symptoms. It is now known that the majority of swine flu deaths were from victims with pre-existing medical conditions, and many had already been inoculated against the disease.

In a November 2009 CBC interview, Dr. Richard Schabas summed up the matter:
“H1N1 has about the same death rate as hernias. But we don’t see scary front-page headlines for months on end about hernias, pneumonia, or falling down. It’s really not causing—and is not going to cause and nowhere has caused — significant levels of illness or death. H1N1 has ultimately turned out to be, from a pandemic perspective, a dud.”

A transcript from a Council on Foreign Relations symposium held last October helps shed light on why major media channels falsely reported on the supply of the H1N1 vaccine. Remarks from prominent attendees suggested a calculated attempt to create false demand for the newly approved FDA product. This same transcript is also indicative of Big Pharma's angst over a growing movement of people educating themselves about the negative health impacts of vaccine ingredients.

The increasing number of parents who are rejecting vaccinations for themselves and their children are no doubt spurred on by a consistently expanding body of research which condemns the use of adjuvants, preservatives, and other common vaccine ingredients because of their known toxicity. A certain heavy metal, mercury (in the form of thimerosal) has been linked to autism through its use as a preservative in the standard Measles, Mumps and Rubella shot.

The 1998 study which concluded that thimerosal is a causal factor in the autism epidemic has recently been rebuked by 'The Lancet,' the very same British medical journal which published the findings over a decade ago. In a statement made in February, the journal justified its deletion of the landmark study from the published record by claiming the lead researcher, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, did not get proper clearance with his local ethics committee for his methods. The doctor denies all allegations as unfounded and unjust. Writing for the Vaccine Resistance Movement (a nonprofit anti-vaccine group), Joel Lord notes, “The timing of this reversal is crucial as more & more parents of vaccine damaged children in Britain & around the world are organizing lawsuits against Big Pharma.”

To date, no empirical rebuttal of Dr. Wakefield's findings has been offered by the scientific community. Evidence suggests that the CDC even knew about the thimerosal/autism link as far back as 2000 but failed to publicize its concerns. An independent study of the CDC's own data reaffirmed that thimerosal-containing vaccines are indeed a factor in the development of autism.

Now, with whooping cough cases on the rise, pharmaceutical reps are capitalizing on the opportunity to marginalize vaccine questioners. Several high profile news pieces have attempted to place the blame for the rise in pertussis infection on a decrease in demand for vaccines of all categories. The problem with this theory is that childhood immunization for whooping cough has not substantially decreased, something Dr. Cherry – professor of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles – admits.

Five pertussis-related deaths have been reported in California so far this year. All of the victims were under the age of 3 months and had started (but not completed) their first series of recommended DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis) shots.

The CDC-prescribed DTaP shot schedule begins at two months of age. The agency claims that a series of three shots, to be completed by six months, is necessary. Additional doses are recommended between 15 to 18 months and again between the ages of four and six. Health officials further claim that immunity from the shots “wears off” by the time the child is of high school age. Stacey Martin, a CDC epidemiologist who works on pertussis, told CNN, “At most, a child may experience mild reactions to the vaccine, including swelling at the injection site, itching, low-grade fever or restlessness.”

But how can she be so sure?

The most common pertussis vaccine, Acel-Immune DtaP lists several toxic chemicals and heavy metals on its product insert. These include formaldehyde, aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, thimerosal, and polysorbate 80 (Tween-80). The effects of these agents on childhood development have not been studied in any significant way by the CDC.

According to Dr. Boyd Hayley, chairman of the chemistry department at the University of Kentucky and champion of the anti-vaccine movement, "Autism was not a known, described illness until about 1941-3, 8 to 10 years after the introduction of thimerosal and similar organicthiol-mercury compounds in biological mixtures used in medicine and other areas.” This argues against autism being a genetic illness, he says. “The study of non-vaccinated populations is a very obvious experiment that the CDC and its supporters refuse to consider," he suggests.

Whooping cough symptoms are similar to those of the common cold such as coughing and runny nose, but they are more pronounced and longer-lived. Pertussis, like most respiratory ailments, can be fatal to infants because of their underdeveloped immune and respiratory systems.

* Editor's note: California lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would institute mandatory whooping cough vaccine booster shots for middle-school children.
By Chris Hinyub

FDA: No Shortage of Kids' Medicines Seen

2010-06-26T07:05:00.000-07:00

U.S. health regulators said on Friday they do not expect any shortage of children's pain and allergy medications despite Johnson & Johnson's inability to resume production until at least next year.

Health

J&J, which has recalled more than 40 products including Tylenol, makes an estimated 70 percent of liquid, over-the-counter medications for children. But the Food and Drug Administration said that it is monitoring the situation and does not foresee a shortage.

"There are many alternative products available -- including generics -- and we do not anticipate a shortage in supply," FDA spokeswoman Elaine Bobo told Reuters.

On Thursday, J&J said it did not expect to restart production of most consumer medicines made at its Fort Washington, Pennsylvania plant before the end of the year.

The plant shut down in late April when the diversified healthcare company announced a widespread recall of infants' and children's liquid over-the-counter products made there. U.S. inspectors found filthy equipment and contaminated ingredients at the factory, which also made the pain medicine Motrin and allergy drugs Benadryl and Zyrtec.

"FDA continues to monitor the situation, and we are in continuous communication with McNeil Consumer Healthcare regarding start-up of production at the Fort Washington plant," FDA's Bobo said.

The suspension also affected adult nonprescription medications made at the facility, McNeil Consumer Healthcare said. All told, average annual sales of the products made at the plant over the last three years were about $650 million.

J&J said it has not yet completed plans to resume production at the plant and it conducts a quality assessment across its manufacturing operations.

After the announcement, analysts trimmed their sales and earnings estimates for J&J, based in part on the delay.

Leerink Swann analyst Rick Wise cut his 2010 sales forecast by $1.2 billion, reflecting not only the manufacturing suspension but also the "dramatic and sustained" depreciation in the euro versus the dollar since the end of March.

Wise expects 2010 sales of $63.4 billion, just below J&J's forecast of a range of $63.5 billion to $64.5 billion.

Wise also cut his 2010 earnings estimate by 10 cents a share to $4.80 per share. He noted that estimate falls within J&J's projected range of $4.80-$4.90 per share.

"Barring any further product recalls, we believe J&J can return to double-digit EPS growth in 2011," Wise said in a research note.

While the recall has not led to a huge financial hit for the giant diversified healthcare company, it threatens to severely damage J&J's reputation and has prompted an investigation by Congress.

U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns is planning a second hearing on the recall with J&J's Chief Executive William Weldon as a witness.

J&J's continued plant problems could be a boost to Perrigo Co, which manufactures generic versions of popular over-the-counter medications. A spokesman for the company could not be immediately reached for comment.

Privately-held Blacksmith Brands Inc, which makes PediaCare brand cold and allergy products that are also made at J&J's Pennsylvania plant, has recalled four of its children's medications.

J&J shares were off 0.8 percent to $59.11 in late morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, while shares of Perrigo were up 1.3 percent to 58.50.

By: Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York;
Editing by Tim Dobbyn

J&J Plant Involved in Recall to Stay Closed
Johnson & Johnson said it doesn't expect to resume before the end of this year making children's Tylenol and other medicines at the Fort Washington, Pa., plant that suspended production amid manufacturing problems that sparked a recall.

J&J's McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit halted work at the plant in late April, after learning that certain over-the-counter children's medicines could contain tiny metallic particles. The plant had made a range of products for kids and adults, including Tylenol, Benadryl, St. Joseph aspirin, Motrin and Zyrtec.

The products generate about $650 million in yearly sales, the company said. While their absence won't financially devastate a drug-and-device giant with sales last year of $62 billion, the recall has marred J&J's image. Analysts say the company faces not only an extensive undertaking to return the plant to compliance but also to restore the reputation of the recalled medicines.

On Thursday, J&J didn't give a timetable for restarting production at the plant, but the fact that the company ruled out doing so this year suggests the necessary fixes will be extensive. The company said it is in the midst of conducting a "comprehensive quality assessment" of its manufacturing operations and has identified fixes.

The April 30 recall involved more than 136 million bottles of pain and cold medicines for children and infants. It was the McNeil unit's fifth recall since last fall, and has prompted investigations by the Food and Drug Administration and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

The FDA has said the risk of harm from the defective medicines is remote, and has not reported any links between the products and reports of serious side effects.

J&J had said it's taken other significant steps to address the manufacturing problems at its McNeil unit, including replacing managers, hiring an outside consultant, and improving processes and employee training.

J&J's shares were at $59.65, up 5 cents, in after-hours trading. The stock, which recently traded under $58 for the first time in a year, has performed worse than other major drug makers during the past month as concerns linger over the recalls.

By: JONATHAN D. ROCKOFF And KATHY SHWIFF

Seniors Confront A Maze of Medicare Changes

2010-06-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

Put the word "cuts" and "Medicare" in the same sentence, and what do you get?

A bunch of anxious, angry older folks, who think dark thoughts and give voice to worries that don't occur to those who haven't walked a mile of hospital corridors in their shoes.

They're people like Pat Gee, who was sitting in her husband's hospital room late last year, watching TV cover the sausage making called politics that ultimately spat out a health-care overhaul.

Les Gee, 73, a retired Boeing worker from Federal Way, had just undergone a kidney transplant. Pat was worrying about paying for his expensive anti-rejection drugs, and listening as a Democratic congressman intoned about how everyone should get the same health benefits.

"Just who does he think will pay for this?" Pat Gee demanded.

That uncertainty — and worry — among seniors like Gee is understandable. Overhauling Medicare, the federal insurance plan that pays the medical bills of some 45 million Americans, most of them seniors, is a key part of remaking the national health-care system.

To provide coverage for millions of uninsured Americans of all ages, the law calls for squeezing Medicare to come up with more than half the $938 billion estimated cost of the new national health plan. Paring down Medicare is also necessary to keep the massive and financially troubled program afloat for the long haul.

While it's hard to predict what that will mean for individual seniors, it's likely that Les and Pat Gee will reap some benefits.

Many key aspects of Medicare's future are still in play politically, with rules and formulas still being hashed out, including how much doctors ultimately will be reimbursed for treating Medicare patients.

Even so, some gains — and some losses — are clearly spelled out in the law:

• For some 35 million Americans now on traditional Medicare, such as the Gees, basic benefits will be protected and even increased: Beginning next year, co-pays and deductibles will be lifted for many preventive services and a yearly physical.

• For those who have opted instead for private-market Medicare Advantage plans, which offer additional benefits and often require higher premiums, benefits may shrink and premiums rise.

• For those who have "Part D" prescription-drug coverage, there's mostly good news. A coverage gap that has hit many seniors — including the Gees — will gradually disappear, and in the meantime, they'll get discounts on brand-name and expensive biologic drugs. At the same time, though, affluent seniors, for the first time, will pay more for their drug plans.

• The sprawling new law shifts the way care is delivered to seniors on Medicare, rewarding better care instead of more of it and giving some primary-care doctors more money.

For seniors — and those coming up fast on 65 — a big issue still in play politically and financially is whether there will be a doctor to see them when they need one. Doctors are already crabby that Medicare typically pays them less than private insurers do, and Congress could shrink reimbursements even more as it tries to contain health-care costs in general.

Meanwhile, many seniors, pinched by the economy, worry about having to pay more out of pocket.

"These are the forces that are causing anger and discomfort in Medicare beneficiaries today," says Dr. James Lee, an internist at The Everett Clinic, which has about 290,000 patients, including 38,000 on Medicare.

The way it is now

By 2030, Medicare, which began in 1965, is expected to insure some 79 million seniors.

Many with coverage now — whether they're like Pat Gee, 71, who decries "socialized" medicine, or Bettie Dunbar, 90, who believes "poor people should have health care; everyone should have health care" — are quick to say they want the government to keep its hands off their Medicare.

"We're so well taken care of now, I don't want it to change," explains Marie Heberling, 82, who, like Dunbar, is a Medicare Advantage plan patient at Group Health Cooperative's Burien clinic.

But for the majority of seniors, who are insured by traditional, fee-for-service Medicare, change has already been happening. For years, primary-care doctors and clinics in Washington have been quietly closing their doors to new patients on regular Medicare, saying they lose money in treating them.

By contrast, many doctors and clinics are happy to take patients on Medicare Advantage plans. To encourage development of these insurer-run, private-market plans, which ideally would compete with each other, the government in 2003 began funding them better than traditional Medicare plans — about 9 to 14 percent more, on average.

Of the 900,000 seniors in Washington insured by Medicare, about 200,000 are in Medicare Advantage plans, says Ingrid McDonald, advocacy director of AARP Washington. Locally and nationally, the percentage opting for Advantage plans has grown fast.

Increasingly, clinics are urging — even requiring — senior patients to sign up for Advantage plans.

The Everett Clinic, for example, doesn't take new Medicare patients unless they're on an Advantage plan, and if current patients "age in" to Medicare, they must select an Advantage plan, a spokeswoman said.

"We lose $12 million a year on regular Medicare," says Mark Mantei, the clinic's chief operating officer.

Leveling the field

So what will happen under the new health-care law?

The law explicitly says there will be no cuts to benefits guaranteed under traditional Medicare, such as doctor visits and hospital care.

But next year, the extra government payments to insurers that run the private Medicare Advantage plans will freeze at 2010 levels, and roll back until they are essentially equal to regular Medicare. Insurers say the cuts will force them to raise premiums and reduce benefits and choices in Advantage plans, despite a recent stern warning against doing that by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

If insurers make good on their threats, it might play out in ways similar to what Erik Gulmann of Seattle has already experienced.

Gulmann, 72, was happy with his Regence BlueShield Medicare Advantage plan. For an extra $149 a month, it combined drug coverage, preventive dental services and a wide choice in doctors.

In October, Regence raised his premium to $262 — a 76 percent increase. Regence's explanation? The feds cut payments to insurers by 4.5 percent, and medical costs increased 6 percent. So how does that equal a 76 percent increase?

We got the same answer as Gulmann: zip, really.

He switched to another Advantage plan. Although his choice of providers is more limited, his doctor's still covered, his drugs are cheaper, and the plan's customer-service representatives answer his questions.

Drug coverage is also going to change under the overhaul.

By 2020, the law aims to fill the "doughnut hole" gap in Medicare Part D coverage that each year requires patients to pay all drug costs once their out-of-pocket costs reach $940. They don't climb out of the hole that year until they've spent $4,550.

Filling the hole

This year, people who have fallen into the hole — like Les Gee — will get a $250 check. It's a pittance compared with what they may spend before their drugs are covered again, but it does signal the feds' intent to abolish the hole.

Next year, patients who are in the hole will get a 50 percent discount on brand-name and super-expensive biologic drugs. The discount will increase to 75 percent by 2020, when patients will pay 25 percent for all drugs until they've spent $4,550 out-of-pocket and their co-pays drop to 5 percent.

But people with higher incomes, who already pay more for Medicare's Part B (doctor services), will begin paying pay more for Part D.

The real savings in the overhaul of Medicare may come from a gradual shift toward a more cost-effective, prevention-oriented approach to caring for seniors.

Many have chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer, and coordinating care among specialists and keeping them out of the hospital can save money. Medicare's traditional fee-for-service approach works against that.

"The present system actually discourages coordination and communication between doctors," says Dr. Marty Levine, a geriatrician at Group Health Cooperative. "This fragmentation really drives up the cost and lowers the quality."

Many doctors have for years said the whole system needs to change, and some hospitals and clinics have already begun doing that.

For example, some doctors at Group Health Cooperative hold monthly group visits for seniors, combining socializing with a sort of ongoing preventive checkup. At The Everett Clinic, a nurse-coach visits hospital patients to help them avoid unnecessary, expensive return trips.

The new health-care-law supports innovative pilot programs, cranks up payments to some primary-care doctors, and links payments with progress toward better care and cost containment.

For example: Medicare Advantage plans that rate higher on quality measurements will be eligible for increased payments.

Boost for state

In Washington state, where medical providers have long complained Medicare payments are much lower than in other states, a geographic adjustment in 2012 will boost payments for some hospitals, and further studies and adjustments are planned.

Beyond seniors, it's likely the rest of us will feel the overhaul, too. As an insurer, Medicare is the big dog on the block, and its coverage has long been the model for many private-plan benefits.

To work, the health overhaul must succeed in aligning pay with prevention instead of crisis care, Levine says. And much of this work will start with Medicare. "It's going to be bumpy and people are going to be scared ... ," he says.

But in the end, "we can actually increase the quality of care and lower the cost — and people will know they're getting a better deal."

By: Carol M. Ostrom

Allergies Prompt U.S. To Consider Limiting Or Banning Peanuts On Planes

2010-06-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

Federal regulators are considering restrictions, or even a complete ban, on the serving of peanuts on commercial airline flights.

Advocates say the move would ease fears and potential harm to the estimated 1.8 million Americans who suffer from a peanut allergy. Peanut farmers and food packagers, however, say it would be overreaching and unfair to their legume.

"The peanut is such a great snack and such an American snack," said Martin Kanan, chief executive of King Nut, an Ohio company that packages the peanuts served by most U.S. airlines. "What's next? Is it banning peanuts in ballparks?"

The Transportation Department previously weighed imposing peanut-free zones on airliners in 1998. The agency retreated after getting a hostile response from Congress, which threatened to cut its budget.

Last week, the department gave notice that it is gathering feedback from allergy sufferers, medical experts, the food industry and the public on whether to ban or restrict in-flight peanuts.

Three options were suggested, along with other proposed consumer protections for air travelers: banning service of peanuts on all planes, prohibiting peanuts only when an allergic passenger requests it in advance, or requiring an undefined "peanut-free zone" flight when a passenger asks for one.

"We're just asking for comment on whether we should do any of these three things," said DOT spokesman Bill Mosely. "We may not do any of them."

Mosely said the department is responding to concerns from travelers who either suffer from a peanut allergy or have allergic children, "some of whom do not fly" because they're afraid of exposure.

A peanut allergy can cause life-threatening reactions in people ingesting even trace amounts. Just breathing peanut dust in the air can cause problems -- though usually minor ones -- such as itching, sneezing and coughing.

A few limited studies on airline passengers with the allergy found that a number of them reported symptoms while flying, but few were severe or life-threatening, said Scott Sicherer, a doctor who studies food allergies at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.

Several airlines, including Continental, United, US Airways and JetBlue, have voluntarily stopped serving packaged peanuts. Delta and Southwest hand out goobers as in-flight snacks. American Airlines doesn't serve packaged peanuts, but it does offer trail mix and other snacks that can contain peanut ingredients.

By Associated Press

Ban Peanuts On Planes? It's Not Nutty To Allergics
Federal regulators are considering a snack attack on the nation's airlines that would restrict or even completely ban serving peanuts on commercial flights.

Advocates say the move would ease fears and potential harm to an estimated 1.8 million Americans who suffer from peanut allergies. Peanut farmers and food packagers, however, see it as overreaching and unfair to their legume.

"The peanut is such a great snack and such an American snack," says Martin Kanan, CEO of the King Nut Companies, an Ohio company that packages the peanuts served by most U.S. airlines. "What's next? Is it banning peanuts in ballparks?"

Twelve years after Congress ordered it to back off peanuts, the U.S. Transportation Department gave notice last week that it's gathering feedback from allergy sufferers, medical experts, the food industry and the public on whether to ban or restrict in-flight peanuts.

The peanut proposals were listed in an 84-page document including several other proposed consumer protections for air travelers. Three options were given: banning serving of peanuts on all planes; prohibiting peanuts only when an allergic passenger requests it in advance; or requiring an undefined "peanut-free zone" flight when a passenger asks for one.

While those options only pertain to peanuts served by flight crews, the document also states "we are particularly interested in hearing views on how peanuts and peanut products brought on board aircraft by passengers should be handled."

Spokesman Bill Mosely said the department is responding to concerns from travelers who either suffer from peanut allergies or have allergic children, "some of whom do not fly" because they're afraid of exposure.

"We're just asking for comment on whether we should do any of these three things," Mosely said. "We may not do any of them."

Peanut allergy can cause life-threatening reactions in people ingesting even trace amounts. Just breathing peanut dust in the air can cause problems — though usually minor ones — such as itching, sneezing and coughing.

A few limited studies on airline passengers with peanut allergies found a number of people reporting symptoms while flying, but few were severe or life-threatening, said Dr. Scott Sicherer, who studies food allergies at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

"But there's discomfort," Sicherer said. "It's sort of like if you were allergic to dogs and all of a sudden they brought 50 dogs onto the plane."

Why worry about peanuts on airplanes, as opposed to other public spaces?

Advocates with the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network say the answer's simple: planes are confined spaces where the air and dust particles get re-circulated. And there's no way to stop and get off during a severe reaction during flight.

"It's a different environment when you're basically 30,000 feet in the air," said Chris Weiss, the group's vice president of advocacy and government relations. "If you're sitting around a bunch of people and all of a sudden they're all handed packages of peanuts, that could release enough peanut dust into the air to trigger a reaction."

The Transportation Department previously weighed imposing peanut-free zones on airliners in 1998. The agency retreated after getting a hostile response from Congress, which threatened to cut its budget.

Several airlines such as Continental, United, US Airways and JetBlue have voluntarily stopped serving packaged peanuts as mile-high grub. Delta and Southwest still hand out goobers as in-flight snacks. American Airlines doesn't serve packaged peanuts, but it does offer trail mix and other snacks that can contain peanut ingredients.

Not surprisingly, government regulation of peanuts on planes is a woefully unpopular idea in Georgia — the nation's top peanut producing state and home to former President Jimmy Carter, who grew up on a peanut farm.

"The peanut industry feels like we're being picked on," said Armond Morris, who grows peanuts on about 270 acres in rural Irwinville and serves as chairman of the Georgia Peanut Commission. "If we're going to go targeting food products, maybe we just need to ban all food" on planes.

Arlene de Armas of Miami sees things differently as she makes plans for her family to fly to Pennsylvania for a summer vacation. Her 7-year-old son, Leandro, is allergic to peanuts.

She's already planning on what precautions to take — calling the airline ahead to request no peanuts are served on her son's row, bringing sanitary wipes to clean the folding table in front of his seat and packing epinephrine — or adrenaline — to administer if he suffers a severe reaction.

"It's the added stress of knowing, God forbid, you could have a situation where he has a reaction and you have no way of getting to a hospital," de Armas said. "Peanut allergies are severe enough and common enough. Why not serve fruit?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article

McDonald's Recalls "Shrek" Drinking Glasses

2010-06-06T02:09:00.000-07:00

McDonald's Corp has recalled millions of "Shrek Forever After" Collectable Drinking Glasses with "Shrek" characters printed on the glass surface because of contamination with a toxic metal, Reuters reported.

Cadmium was found in the print of the four movie characters on the glassware, Shrek, Fiona, Puss in Boots and Donkey, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Canada's Health ministry Health Canada were cited as saying.

The voluntary recall affected a total of about 13.4 million drinking glasses; 12 million were sold in the United States and 1.4 million were sold in Canada for $2 each as part of a promotional campaign.

The selling of the tainted glasses, made by ARC International of Millville, New Jersey, started on May 21, according to media reports. In Canada, the glasses were sold between May 10th and June 4th, 2010, Health Canada says on its website.

The CPSC kept the level of the contamination confidential. Reuters cited the consumer protection agency's spokesman Scott Wolson as saying that a small amount of cadmium, a cancer-causing agent, can come to the surface of the glass.

McDonald's says on its website that it has had the products tested and they don't have any toxicity or safety issue. The products were recalled only as a precautionary measure.

The recall was initiated after the CPSC was notified by the office of U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat, which got tipped by an anonymous source last week.

The Shrek glasses were tested by a third party laboratory accredited by the CPSC and test results showed that the painted design of the movies characters contains cadmium at levels higher than the new safety standard that has yet to be released.

Those who purchased the recalled products are advised to stop using the products and contact McDonald's at 1-877-495-5502 or by visiting the McDonald's website for a refund.

McDonald's shares fell 1.3 percent to 66.95 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday afternoon. But the fall may not have anything to do with the recall.

Cadmium does not play any constructive physiological role in the human body. Chronic exposure to even low levels of this toxic metal can elevate the risk of all types of cancer.

Joseph P. at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reviewed the mechanisms of cadmium carcinogenesis and found that exposure to the metal can raise lung cancer risk in humans.

In the Aug 2009 issue of Toxicology and applied pharmacology, Joseph reported that the metal raises cancer risk by changing gene expression, inhibiting DNA damage repair, inducing oxidative stress, and apoptosis.

For more information, visit mcdonalds.com or mcdonalds.ca and cpsc.gov.

By Jimmy Downs and editing by Rachel Stockton

McDonald's Recall Clouded By Lack Of Standards
McDonald's decision to recall 12 million "Shrek" beverage glasses that contain cadmium in their colored designs bears the hallmarks of a classic product-safety scare.

Cadmium is a known carcinogen, and the Illinois-based fast-food giant was selling the glassware in a large-scale promotion tied to the popular children's film franchise.

But as more information emerged Friday, events surrounding the recall became less clear. Federal regulators indicated the "Shrek" glasses do not pose a hazard. Yet that statement is difficult to quantify because there is a dearth of federal standards regarding acceptable levels of cadmium, an element found in everything from leafy green vegetables to cigarettes.

Still, the backdrop to the McDonald's recall is serious. Dangerous levels of cadmium have been found in children's jewelry this year, making the substance the consumer-safety bogeyman of the moment.

In the past six months, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced three other cadmium-related recalls, all involving children's jewelry. While there is no federal cadmium standard for children's jewelry, the levels found in the recalled jewelry was "through the roof," said agency spokesman Alex Filip.

In contrast, the "Shrek" glasses "are not toxic," Filip said.

Children's toys are the only products that have a safety standard for cadmium. Toys cannot contain more than 75 parts per million of the metal. McDonald's avoids any children's classification by identifying the "Shrek" glasses as an "adult promotion," not a child's product like a Happy Meal toy.

The CPSC said it is working to set a safety standard for cadmium in all consumer products. Filip said those decisions could be finalized in the coming weeks or months.

The CPSC identified the manufacturer of the "Shrek" glasses as ARC International of Millville, N.J., a subsidiary of a French glass and tableware company. The U.S.-based firm could not be reached Friday for comment.

Neither the CPSC nor McDonald's would reveal the level of cadmium found in the "Shrek" glasses. But McDonald's said in a statement that a CPSC-accredited laboratory had found the products "in compliance with all applicable federal and state requirements at the time of manufacture and distribution."

The company added that "the CPSC's evolving assessment of standards" prompted the voluntary recall.

By Wailin Wong and Ellen Gabler, Tribune reporters

Was H1N1 Much Ado About A Flu?

2010-05-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

A year after the first case arrived, a look at the response, lessons learned, risks that remain.

It was billed as the first global influenza pandemic in more than four decades. One year after the first case of novel H1N1 influenza appeared in the United States, was it a global catastrophe, or just much ado about flu?

Certainly the H1N1, or swine flu, that emerged a year ago killed thousands and sickened many more, but it didn't become the plague some feared.

"The epidemic we prepared for was not the epidemic we got," said Paul Myers, assistant director of the Alachua County Health Department.

From the start, most confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza were mild, and the death toll of 13,000 never approached the 36,000 Americans who die during a typical "regular" flu season.

Along the way, Myers emphasized, we learned valuable lessons that will serve us well in the event of a real global emergency.

Officials with the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had planned ahead for the next pandemic flu that would circle the globe. The response plans were built around the experience of the 1918 epidemic of Spanish flu, which had a very high mortality rate.

When the first cases of swine flu turned up in April 2009, scientists had no idea how vicious it might be, who would be hit the hardest, or whether it could be contained.

"There was a lot about this new virus that we didn't know," said Dr. Stephen Redd, who headed the H1N1 response at the CDC.

While typical seasonal flu strikes hardest in the most vulnerable - the very young and very old - the new flu was turning up in otherwise healthy young people. The average patient was in the mid-30s.

The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in June 2009, and in July, the CDC warned that 40 percent of the U.S. population could be hit with the new flu.

Television viewers could watch top health officials demonstrate how to wash their hands and cough into their sleeves or the crook of an elbow. Hand sanitizers appeared in schools and workplaces.

But vaccines against H1N1 influenza were slow to arrive. In some states, schools were shut down to prevent the spread of H1N1. Hospitals and doctors' offices saw both the sick and "worried well."

It takes manufacturers months to produce a new flu vaccine. As they waited, health officials planned how to parcel out the doses when they did arrive.

Alachua and Marion counties received their first shipments of H1N1 vaccine in October. By then, swine flu was widespread in 46 states.

The first shipments of vaccines went to priority groups, Myers explained. These were pregnant women, parents of children under 6 months of age, children under the age of 4, adolescents 18 and younger with pre-existing medical conditions, emergency medical services personnel and health care providers.

In November, the University of Florida's Student Health Care Center received its initial allotment of vaccine.

Dr. Phillip Barkley, the SHCC director, launched an online registration system so that at-risk students could register for a vaccine clinic.

Student Health Care Center personnel have administered 3,000 doses of seasonal flu vaccine and more than 7,500 doses of the H1N1 vaccine since November. The infirmary has seen about 17,000 patients with flu-like symptoms.

At a certain point, Barkley said, the assumption was that all new influenza cases were because of the H1N1 virus. The H1N1 strain will be part of the seasonal flu vaccine available this fall.

Myers said one of the major lessons learned is how important community partners are when you are trying to achieve mass vaccinations of the population.

"We needed the cooperation of the folks at Shands UF and the Student Health Care Center, at North Florida Regional Medical Center, everyone in the county medical society and all the doctors who provided services to the high-risk groups, particularly pregnant women," Myers said. "We all came together to address the initial thrust and reach those groups who were most at risk. We accomplished that."

The threat of H1N1 influenza is still with us, both Myers and Barkley stressed.

As recently as April 2, a 73-year-old woman became the second Marion County resident to die of H1N1 flu. Alachua County's first casualty, a 20-year-old woman, died in December 2009.

Of the 29 specimens that came into the state Bureau of Laboratories the week ending May 19, two tested positive for influenza. Testing confirmed that both cases involved the H1N1 virus.

Alachua, Clay, Dixie, Levy and Marion counties were among those reporting sporadic flu activity to the state Department of Health in mid-May. Two state residents were hospitalized with flu, one from Columbia County and one from Miami-Dade, the week of May 12.

So, was too much made of the risk of H1N1?

Health officials don't think so.

"Those who were hospitalized or the families who experienced a death didn't think H1N1 was insignificant," Myers said Friday.

He agrees that many people who were infected never even had to seek medical attention.

"But with a few small differences in the genetic makeup of this virus, it could have been completely different," he warned.

"In retrospect, our response was significant, but given the unknowns that we faced, I think it was appropriate," he said.

Contact Diane Chun at 374-5041 or chund@gvillesun.com.

The World Health Organization declared a global pandemic in June 2009, and in July, the CDC warned that 40 percent of the U.S. population could be hit with the new flu.

Television viewers could watch top health officials demonstrate how to wash their hands and cough into their sleeves or the crook of an elbow. Hand sanitizers appeared in schools and workplaces.

But vaccines against H1N1 influenza were slow to arrive. In some states, schools were shut down to prevent the spread of H1N1. Hospitals and doctors' offices saw both the sick and "worried well."

It takes manufacturers months to produce a new flu vaccine. As they waited, health officials planned how to parcel out the doses when they did arrive.

Alachua and Marion counties received their first shipments of H1N1 vaccine in October. By then, swine flu was widespread in 46 states.

The first shipments of vaccines went to priority groups, Myers explained. These were pregnant women, parents of children under 6 months of age, children under the age of 4, adolescents 18 and younger with pre-existing medical conditions, emergency medical services personnel and health care providers.

In November, the University of Florida's Student Health Care Center received its initial allotment of vaccine.

Dr. Phillip Barkley, the SHCC director, launched an online registration system so that at-risk students could register for a vaccine clinic.

Student Health Care Center personnel have administered 3,000 doses of seasonal flu vaccine and more than 7,500 doses of the H1N1 vaccine since November. The infirmary has seen about 17,000 patients with flu-like symptoms.

At a certain point, Barkley said, the assumption was that all new influenza cases were because of the H1N1 virus. The H1N1 strain will be part of the seasonal flu vaccine available this fall.

Myers said one of the major lessons learned is how important community partners are when you are trying to achieve mass vaccinations of the population.

"We needed the cooperation of the folks at Shands UF and the Student Health Care Center, at North Florida Regional Medical Center, everyone in the county medical society and all the doctors who provided services to the high-risk groups, particularly pregnant women," Myers said. "We all came together to address the initial thrust and reach those groups who were most at risk. We accomplished that."

The threat of H1N1 influenza is still with us, both Myers and Barkley stressed.

As recently as April 2, a 73-year-old woman became the second Marion County resident to die of H1N1 flu. Alachua County's first casualty, a 20-year-old woman, died in December 2009.

Of the 29 specimens that came into the state Bureau of Laboratories the week ending May 19, two tested positive for influenza. Testing confirmed that both cases involved the H1N1 virus.

Alachua, Clay, Dixie, Levy and Marion counties were among those reporting sporadic flu activity to the state Department of Health in mid-May. Two state residents were hospitalized with flu, one from Columbia County and one from Miami-Dade, the week of May 12.

So, was too much made of the risk of H1N1?

Health officials don't think so.

"Those who were hospitalized or the families who experienced a death didn't think H1N1 was insignificant," Myers said Friday.

He agrees that many people who were infected never even had to seek medical attention.

"But with a few small differences in the genetic makeup of this virus, it could have been completely different," he warned.

"In retrospect, our response was significant, but given the unknowns that we faced, I think it was appropriate," he said.

By Diane Chun
Staff writer
http://www.gainesville.com

Peanut Allergies in Kids on the Rise

2010-05-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Rate of Peanut Allergies in Children More Than Tripled Between 1997 and 2008, Study Finds

Peanut allergies in children have more than tripled in the United States from 1997 to 2008, an alarming trend that can’t yet be explained, a new study says.

“We don’t know why this is happening, but there are many theories,” study author Scott H. Sicherer, MD, of the Jaffe Food Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, tells WebMD.

Peanut allergy, unlike other food allergies, is seldom outgrown and is one of the most dangerous food allergies, Sicherer says.

His research team surveyed 5,300 households in 2008 and discovered that 1.4% of children were thought to have peanut allergies, more than three times the 0.4% rate found when a similar tally was taken in 1997.

The study says the percentage of children with allergies to peanuts or tree nuts soared to 2.1% in 2008 from 0.6% in 1997, while remaining at 1.3% for adults.
Peanut Allergy on the Rise: Why?

One theory for the rise, the hygiene hypothesis, holds that “we’ve become very good at preventing natural infections, and the immune system is not chewing on things it would normally be chewing on,” Sicherer tells WebMD. “We’re not living on farms anymore, we have lots of antibiotics, but seeing an increase means that something has changed in the environment.”

The theory suggests that “clean living” and more medication use leaves immune systems in a condition that is more prone to attack harmless proteins, such as those in foods, pollens, and animal dander.

The increase also could be related, he says, to the way peanuts are processed.

“We roast peanuts, and potentially, roasting it makes a more allergenic food out of it,” he says. “Some people theorize that the oil in peanut butter might make it more allergenic. Roasting peanuts changes the sugar and makes the protein more stable to digestion and easier for the immune system to attack.”
Peanut Allergy Rate Similar Across Globe

Researchers surveyed 5,300 households representing 13,534 people in 2008, a response rate of 42%.

The study is the first of its kind to incorporate all age groups within a national sample and to use the same methods over such an extended time period. It also is the first study in the U.S. to evaluate allergies to sesame seeds, according to the news release.

Tree nut allergies have increased from 0.2% in children in 1997 to 1.1% in 2008, the study says. Sesame allergy was reported in 0.1% of children and adults.

“Our research shows that more than 3 million Americans report peanut and or tree nut allergies, representing a significant health burden,” Sicherer says in the news release. “The data also emphasize the importance of developing better prevention and treatment strategies.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics used to instruct parents to avoid peanut use until their kids reached age 3, but that has been rescinded, Sicherer says.

The researchers say the rate of peanut allergy they found in the U.S. is similar to results from studies using different methods in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

The study is published in the May 12 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Food Allergies Take a Toll on Families and Finances
A DEBATE has broken out over how many people in this country really have food allergies. But whatever the numbers, parents whose children have serious reactions to certain foods can attest to the distress — and high financial costs — such allergies can cause.

Just ask the Delgadillo family of San Diego. The day Oscar put a little dab of peanut butter on his year-old son Andrew’s tongue was the day everything changed. Andrew immediately broke out in hives, his throat started to swell and he began wheezing and having trouble breathing.

Mr. Delgadillo and his wife, Martha, raced their child to the emergency room for treatment. Andrew, now 11, had experienced the first of what would be several severe allergic reactions to a variety of foods.

As the months and years went by, the Delgadillos learned that Andrew had multiple food allergies that included a life-threatening reaction to peanuts (but not tree nuts) and a severe reaction to soy, milk, egg, shellfish and other foods.

Even the smallest exposure to peanuts — a classmate eats a granola bar for breakfast at home, does not wash his hands, then touches Andrew — can cause at least a mild reaction.

Andrew’s allergies have also led to a rare inflammatory disease of the esophagus. His diet is so limited that he must be tube-fed to make sure he gets the nutrition he needs.

“He is a healthy, happy boy with rosy cheeks,” said Mr. Delgadillo. “But every day at 12:15 he heads to the nurse’s office for a feeding.”

In a study published earlier this week, research commissioned by the federal government found that while 30 percent of the population say they believe they have a food allergy, only about 8 percent of children and less than 5 percent of adults actually have one.

But for families like the Delgadillos, true food allergies can require careful navigation of everyday life and create all sorts of extra expenses.

Grocery shopping can mean weekly trips to four or five health food stores and multiple Internet sites to find allergen-free cereals, baked goods and other products.

Diligent research is an everyday task.

“You know that brand of mild soap products called Cetaphil?” Mr. Delgadillo asks. “Well, it turns out the moisturizer has macadamia nut oil in it. You have to check absolutely everything.”

Mr. Delgadillo, whose family has insurance coverage under his employer’s health plan, estimates they spend an extra $400 a month in the form of co-payments and other out-of-pocket medical bills, special foods and medicines.

“I’m an engineer, and I need to quantify things for my own sake,” said Mr. Delgadillo. “So I’ve taken a good look at this.”

Families with food allergies can also incur financial strains because constant monitoring for dangerous foods often means one spouse stops working or significantly cuts back on hours, said Dr. Tamara T. Perry, a researcher at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute.

“The loss of income and the additional costs associated with food allergies can have a significant financial impact,” Dr. Perry said.

There are three main financial challenges for families with food allergies. Here is advice on how to go about managing them:

A CLEAR DIAGNOSIS Pinpointing a food allergy is not easy. In most cases, doctors use a skin prick test during which they inject a small amount of a food under the skin to see if swelling or other symptoms occur within an hour or so. Also common are blood tests that show whether the body is making antibodies to fight certain foods.

But both tests generate a large number of false positives, said Matthew Fenton, chief of the asthma, allergy and inflammation branch of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, a unit of the federal National Institutes of Health.

The most reliable test is called a food challenge. It entails gradually exposing the individual to the suspected foods through the skin and mouth to see what type of reaction is produced. This can take a series of days and must be done in a setting close to an emergency facility.

Food challenges can be expensive because of the time and expertise involved, Mr. Fenton explained. Not all insurance covers these elaborate tests.

Another big problem is that not all doctors approach food allergies the same way.

“Your dermatologist, family doctor, pediatrician and allergist may all be on a different page in terms of how they classify and diagnose food allergies,” Mr. Fenton said. That can mean a lot of extra or unnecessary testing and doctor visits.

The national institute plans to release soon a comprehensive list of clinical guidelines for food allergies that can be used across all medical specialties and that may be a useful tool for parents and adult food allergy sufferers.

Patients and parents can check in with patient advocacy groups like the Food Allergy Initiative and the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network for the latest research on all types of food allergies and intolerances.

SPECIAL FOODS Take a quick look at any health food store and you will immediately notice the high prices. Factor in the dozens of special products people with food allergies need, and you have a huge grocery bill.

Infants who cannot breast feed and are allergic to dairy milk often need a specialty formula that can cost as much as $30 to $40 a can and is rarely covered by insurance, said Dr. Perry, whose 3-year-old son could not tolerate milk or soy as an infant.

Other milk and soy-free products are also expensive, as are wheat-free and egg-free foods.

Comparison shopping and buying in bulk online can help. The Kids With Food Allergies Web site offers many tips on finding the least expensive specialty products, along with hundreds of allergy-free recipes you can make at home.

When specialty food bills become excessive, Dr. Perry suggests writing a formal appeal to your insurance company for coverage — especially if it is for something as specific as baby formula.

EPIPEN STOCKPILE Many people with severe food allergies carry what is known as an epinephrine auto injector, primarily sold under the EpiPen brand. People accidentally exposed to a food culprit can use the pen to inject themselves with a dose of epinephrine — also known as adrenaline — to avoid a severe allergic reaction.

EpiPens are often priced around $100 each. In most cases a small supply is covered by insurance, but this is not always enough.

Severely allergic people often need two doses to keep a reaction at bay until they can get to a hospital. In practical terms, when you are dealing with children, that means both parents, the child, the school nurse, the soccer coach, the summer camp counselor and so on should all have two pens on hand, explained Cheri Golub, of Manalapan, N.J., whose 8-year-old son is severely allergic to peanuts.

“You wind up with quite a collection — many that you pay for yourself,” she said.

In addition, the pens expire in a year or so and must be discarded if they have been exposed to temperatures under 59 degrees or over 89 degrees.

Food allergy sufferers and their parents should ask their doctors about a generic version of an epinephrine auto injector that recently became available, suggested Lynda Mitchell, founder of Kids with Food Allergies. It is not the same as an EpiPen, and it works differently, so some retraining will be necessary.

By WALECIA KONRAD
Published: May 14, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/15/health/15patient.html

Recall of Kids' Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec, Benadryl

2010-05-03T06:54:00.000-07:00

43 Liquid Child/Infant Products Recalled by Johnson and Johnson's McNeil Division

Manufacturing defects have led to the recall of 43 child and infant liquid formulations of Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec, and Benadryl by McNeil, a division of Johnson & Johnson.

No injuries or deaths have yet been reported. The voluntary recall follows an April 19 FDA inspection of a McNeil plant in Fort Washington, Pa. that uncovered "manufacturing deficiencies," the Washington Post reports.

The company says the chances of injury from one of the recalled products are "remote." Yet consumers are warned not to use the recalled products.

"Some of the products included in the recall may contain a higher concentration of active ingredient than is specified; others may contain inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements; and others may contain tiny particles," a company news release states.

If children who have taken the recalled products have unusual symptoms, parents are urged to contact a health care professional.

Parents should not give children adult formulation of the medications. Alternative brands of the products, including generic medications, are available. Parents who have questions about alternative treatments should consult their child's pediatrician.

Recalled products may be returned for a refund or exchanged for a fresh product once manufacturing issues have been resolved.

McNeil did not say how many units were being recalled, but the number likely is huge. Recalled products were distributed in the U.S., Canada, Dominican Republic, Dubai (UAE), Fiji, Guam, Guatemala, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago, and Kuwait.

List of Recalled Products

Here's a complete list of the products:

TYLENOL INFANTS' DROPS
CONCENTRATED TYLENOL INFANTS' DROPS 1 OZ. GRAPE FLAVOR
50580-144-01
CONCENTRATED TYLENOL INFANTS' DROPS 0.5 OZ. GRAPE FLAVOR*
50580-144-15
CONCENTRATED TYLENOL INFANTS' DROPS 1 OZ. CHERRY DYE FREE
50580-167-01
CONCENTRATED TYLENOL INFANTS' DROPS 0.5 OZ. CHERRY FLAVOR
50580-143-15
CONCENTRATED TYLENOL INFANTS' DROPS 1 OZ. CHERRY FLAVOR
50580-143-30
CONCENTRATED TYLENOL INFANTS' DROPS 0.5 OZ. GRAPE - HOSPITAL
50580-144-18
CONCENTRATED TYLENOL INFANTS' DROPS 0.25 OZ. GRAPE - SAMPLE
50580-144-40

CHILDREN'S TYLENOL SUSPENSIONS

CHILDREN'S TYLENOL SUSPENSION 2 OZ. CHERRY BLAST FLAVOR
50580-123-02
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL SUSPENSION 4 OZ. CHERRY BLAST FLAVOR
50580-123-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL DYE-FREE SUSPENSION 4 OZ. CHERRY FLAVOR
50580-166-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL SUSPENSION 4 OZ. GRAPE SPLASH
50580-296-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL SUSPENSION 4 OZ. BUBBLEGUM FLAVOR
50580-407-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL SUSPENSION 4 OZ. BUBBLEGUM FLAVOR
50580-493-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL SUSPENSION 4 OZ. VERY BERRY STRAWBERRY FLAVOR
50580-493-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL SUSPENSION 1 OZ. CHERRY BLAST FLAVOR - SAMPLE
50580-123-01
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL SUSPENSION 4 OZ. CHERRY BLAST FLAVOR - HOSPITAL
50580-123-03

CHILDREN'S TYLENOL PLUS SUSPENSIONS
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL PLUS SUSPENSION 4 OZ. COUGH & SORE THROAT CHERRY FLAVOR 50580-247-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL PLUS SUSPENSION 4 OZ. COUGH & RUNNY NOSE CHERRY FLAVOR
50580-249-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL PLUS DYE-FREE SUSPENSION 4 OZ. COLD & STUFFY NOSE GRAPE FLAVOR
50580-253-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL PLUS DYE-FREE SUSPENSION 4 OZ. COLD & COUGH GRAPE FLAVOR
50580-254-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL PLUS DYE-FREE SUSPENSION 4 OZ. MULTI-SYMPTOM COLD GRAPE FLAVOR
50580-255-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL PLUS SUSPENSION 4 OZ. FLU BUBBLEGUM FLAVOR 50580-386-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL PLUS SUSPENSION 4 OZ. COLD GRAPE FLAVOR 50580-387-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL PLUS SUSPENSION 4 OZ. COLD & ALLERGY BUBBLEGUM FLAVOR
50580-390-04
CHILDREN'S TYLENOL PLUS SUSPENSION 4 OZ. MULTI-SYMPTOM COLD GRAPE FLAVOR
50580-391-04

MOTRIN INFANTS' DROPS
CONCENTRATED MOTRIN INFANTS' DROPS 1 OZ. BERRY DYE FREE
50580-198-01
CONCENTRATED MOTRIN INFANTS' DROPS 0.5 OZ. BERRY DYE FREE
50580-198-15
CONCENTRATED MOTRIN INFANTS' DROPS 0.5 OZ. BERRY FLAVOR*
50580-100-15

CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSIONS
CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSION 4 OZ. BERRY DYE FREE
50580-184-04
CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSION 2 OZ. BERRY FLAVOR
50580-601-02
CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSION 4 OZ. BERRY FLAVOR
50580-601-04
CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSION 4 OZ. TROPICAL PUNCH FLAVOR
50580-215-04
CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSION 4 OZ. GRAPE FLAVOR
50580-603-04
CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSION 4 OZ. BUBBLEGUM FLAVOR
50580-604-04
CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSION 1 OZ. GRAPE SAMPLE
50580-603-01
CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSION 1 OZ. BUBBLEGUM SAMPLE
50580-604-01
CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSION 1 OZ. BERRY SAMPLE
50580-601-01
CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSION 4 OZ. BERRY HOSPITAL
50580-601-50
CHILDREN'S MOTRIN SUSPENSION 4 OZ. COLD BERRY FLAVOR
50580-902-04

CHILDREN'S ZYRTEC LIQUIDS IN BOTTLES
CHILDREN'S ZYRTEC 4 OZ. BUBBLEGUM SYRUP
50580-721-04
CHILDREN'S ZYRTEC DYE FREE 4 OZ. GRAPE SYRUP
50580-730-04
CHILDREN'S ZYRTEC SUGAR-FREE DYE-FREE 0.5 OZ. GRAPE
50580-730-15
CHILDREN'S ZYRTEC SUGAR-FREE DYE-FREE 0.5 OZ. BUBBLEGUM
50580-721-15
CHILDREN'S ZYRTEC SUGAR-FREE DYE-FREE 2 X 4 OZ. BUBBLEGUM LIQUID
50580-721-08

CHILDREN'S BENADRYL ALLERGY LIQUIDS IN BOTTLES
CHILDREN'S BENADRYL ALLERGY 4 OZ. BUBBLEGUM FLAVORED LIQUID
50580-535-04

*CONCENTRATED TYLENOL INFANTS' DROPS 0.5 OZ. GRAPE FLAVOR is also included in JOHNSON'S Baby Relief Kit.

*CONCENTRATED MOTRIN INFANTS' DROPS 0.5 OZ. BERRY FLAVOR is also included in JOHNSON'S Baby Relief Kit.

By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD

The H1N1 Outbreak One Year Later

2010-04-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

OTTAWA — Stay focused. Be factual. Don't panic. Respond.

Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq says those were the principles which formed the approach she adopted one year ago when the H1N1 flu pandemic arrived on Canada's doorstep, and followed as the crisis unfolded over the following 10 months.

The approach worked, she said: Canada handled the pandemic successfully and is being looked to as a model for other nations who didn't fare as well.

"I think we've done a fantastic job in rolling out the pandemic plan," Aglukkaq said in an interview this past week along with chief public health officer Dr. David Butler-Jones. The two were practically joined at the hip from the point the pandemic broke out in Canada, holding daily press conferences and working long hours to keep on top of the rapidly unfolding situation.

"There were really no weekends, and evenings went on until 8 or 9 every night," recalls Aglukkaq. "We had no life for 10 months."

By this date last April, Aglukkaq and Butler-Jones had been alerted that Mexico and the United States were grappling with respiratory illness outbreaks of some sort, and samples of the mysterious flu-like bug had been sent to Canada's national microbiology laboratory in Winnipeg for testing.

On April 23, scientists there announced the virus was a new strain of the "swine flu" virus. On April 26, the first Canadian cases were confirmed. The World Health Organization warned of the potential for a full-scale pandemic and it wasn't long before the H1N1 flu bug had spread to every corner of the planet.

The federal government kicked the national pandemic preparedness plan into action and Canadians were bombarded with stories in the media about the disease, which eventually came to be called the H1N1 flu — partly because of an outcry from pork farmers who worried for their livelihood.

"I said very early on that I was going to communicate with Canadians so that Canadians make an informed decision as to what we're dealing with," said Aglukkaq, who was the health minister in Nunavut before coming to Ottawa. "I would say communication was a strong point."

Butler-Jones agreed and said the government made every effort to be transparent.

"We were very conscious of making sure that essentially everybody knew what we knew," he said.

The problem, however, was that there was too little known about H1N1. It was a brand-new version of the flu that wasn't behaving like a typical influenza virus. At the outset, health specialists were at a loss to predict how the pandemic would develop. Then when the H1N1 vaccine was on its way, there was confusion over its two different versions — one with an adjuvant and one without for pregnant women — when it would be available, where, and how it had been tested.

"We did not do a good job at communicating issues around the vaccine, on many levels. We did a good job at lots of other things," said Dr. Allison McGeer, a microbiologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto who was interviewed frequently by the media throughout the pandemic.

Despite the demand for instant information from the public and the media, the hard reality is that in public health emergencies there are always uncertainties, McGeer said, and that message didn't get through.

"I think we frankly did a terrible job of communicating that issue broadly," she said.

The federal pandemic effort suffered serious image problems. First Nations communities — particularly those in remote areas of Manitoba — were hit disproportionately hard by the bug. So when the federal government sent some of those communities shipments of flu-fighting supplies that included a consignment of body bags, it appeared to add insult to injury. Health Canada apologized for the body bag shipment last September.

There were widespread complaints about the time it took to roll out the vaccine. Lineups were particularly long in Alberta, where health officials initially opted to offer the vaccine to everyone at first, rather than just those considered to face a high risk of dangerous illness. Last November, the province reported its per-capita hospitalization and death rates from the H1N1 flu were approaching double the national average.

And then there were the queue-jumpers. Two NHL teams — the Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames — along with the American Hockey League's Abbotsford Heat got early access to the vaccine for the players and their families, drawing outrage from health officials and members of the public.

With the exception of how things were handled when H1N1 hit several First Nations communities, and the failure to have the vaccine at the start of the second wave in the fall, McGeer says Canada performed "reasonably well" but she adds a caveat: "We need to be conscious of the fact that things went well in part because we were lucky," she said.

Canada experienced two waves of the illness and by the end of 2009, H1N1 had waned. More than 8,000 Canadians were hospitalized and close to 1,500 of them were treated in intensive care units. The latest data from the Public Health Agency of Canada indicate that 428 Canadians lost their lives.

In the history books however, the 2009 pandemic will be known as a mild one.

Butler-Jones and Aglukkaq say the government made the right decisions, with the knowledge they had at the time decisions were made, to mitigate the impact of H1N1. They also largely credit the health-care system and Canadians who listened to their advice, got vaccinated, stayed home when they were sick and coughed in their sleeves, for helping to limit the spread of H1N1.

"Thousands of people did not die, tens of thousands of others probably didn't end up in hospital because of all the things that everybody in the system did," said Butler-Jones.

The health minister believes one thing the 2009 pandemic will be remembered for is the degree to which people followed the public health advice and the long-term benefits that will have.

"Through the experience of H1N1 we were able to change behaviour that prevents the spread of other illnesses among Canadians and I think that in itself is a success," she said.

Canwest News Service

U.S. Health Chief Draws Lessons From Battle Against A/H1N1 Pandemic

2010-04-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

HOUSTON, April 19, 2010 (Xinhua) --

The last year's battle against the A/H1N1 flu has achieved many successes, but also has raised problems that need to be fixed, Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, said on Monday.

"Combined with the more than 100 million people who got a seasonal flu vaccine, we've had unprecedented levels of immunization during the 2009-2010 flu season," she said in a keynote address at the 44th Annual National Immunization Conference in Atlanta.

Sebelius also said some success can be helpful with an eye to the future, such as an unprecedented educational campaign about how flu and other viruses spread.

"When you see someone in the grocery store coughing into their sleeve, a parent who keeps a child home when he's sick, or someone at work disinfecting her keyboard, you can take a little of the credit for that, " she told the audience, mostly staff members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent ion (CDC ).

The key to fighting the A/H1N1 virus is immunizing more people, starting with the medical community, she pointed out, but admitting that some doctors and minorities still have a dangerous mistrust of vaccines that became painfully clear during the A/H1N1 pandemic.

The A/H1N1 flu was first identified in California and Texas in April 2009 and was later declared the first global flu pandemic by World Health Organization in more than 40 years. It has sickened an estimated 60 million, hospitalized 265,000 and killed about 12,000 people in the United States.

About 80 million Americans were vaccinated against the virus, but U.S. health officials say vaccination rates have been disappointing for minorities and doctors, nurses and other health care providers.

"We shouldn't have to convince health providers that vaccines are safe and that they work. But, despite the fact that we had more health providers than ever getting vaccinated last year, there was still a sizable number who did not," Sebelius said.

She believes the fact that fewer than 40 percent of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers get flu vaccines may have an impact on the general public, particularly on the minorities, who don't believe that vaccines are safe.

"With so many African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, and others experiencing rising rates of chronic disease, not getting vaccinated is many times more dangerous than even the perceived threat of the vaccine," she warned, urging both health workers and minorities to get vaccinated.

"We've learned important lessons about managing a pandemic and communicating with the public, and about how much we depend on partners who are working on the front lines," she concluded, reaffirming that the A/H1N1 strain will be included with the seasonal flu vaccine this year.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/

Women 'Have Inbuilt Fear of Being Fat'

2010-04-17T20:01:00.000-07:00

Women have an inbuilt fear of being fat which is triggered when they see an overweight female stranger, but men have no such reflex, scientists say.

Brain scans of women who were shown pictures of overweight strangers triggers activity in a part of the brain that processes identity and self-reflection.

The results show how women are conditioned to be afraid of being fat because they are constantly bombarded with messages and images of thin being the ideal.

But the same tests done on men revealed they showed no interest in their own weight indicating why women are much closer to developing eating disorders.

Researchers from America's Brigham Young University found that women felt scared of being overweight without consciously thinking about their figure.

Neuroscientist Mark Allen said: "These women in our study had no history of eating disorders and project an attitude that they don't care about body image.

"Yet under the surface is an anxiety about getting fat and the centrality of body image to self."

The research, published in the May issue of the psychological journal Personality and Individual Differences, is part of long-term project to improve treatment of eating disorders by tracking progress with brain imaging.

Dr Allen said when anorexic and bulimic women view an overweight stranger, the brain's self-reflection centre known as the medial prefrontal cortex lights up in ways that suggest extreme unhappiness and in some cases, self-loathing.

The motivation for this new study was to establish a point of reference among a control group of women who scored in the healthy range on eating disorder diagnostic tests.

Surprisingly, even this control group exhibited what Dr Allen calls "sub-clinical" issues with body image.

The results prompted Dr Allen to do the same tests on a healthy group of men but found they did not think about their own weight when looking at images of fat men.

Dr Allen said that the results showed that even confident, healthy women were much more likely to have eating disorders than men.

"Although these women's brain activity doesn't look like full-blown eating disorders, they are much closer to it than men are," he said.

Dr Allen said women are bombarded with messages that perpetuate the thin ideal, and the barrage changes how they view themselves.

"Many women learn that bodily appearance and thinness constitute what is important about them, and their brain responding reflects that," he said.

"I think it is an unfortunate and false idea to learn about oneself and does put one at greater risk for eating and mood disorders."

"It's like the plant in my office. It has the potential to grow in any direction, but actually only grows in the direction of the window the direction that receives the most reinforcement."

Fat women 'have fat daughters'
Childhood obesity could be linked to the weight problems of parents in a gender-specific way, research in the EarlyBird Diabetes study has suggested.

Girls whose mothers were clinically obese and boys whose fathers had the same condition were more likely to follow suit at a young age, according to a study.

Researchers from the EarlyBird Diabetes Study found the trend did not exist between mothers and sons and fathers and their daughters.

This suggests behavioural rather than genetic factors could hold the key to finding out why so many British children are obese, scientists claimed.

The EarlyBird Study, based at the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth, is tracking 300 children over 12 years in the hope of discovering why diabetes - which in the case of Type 2 is associated with obesity - is on the increase in youngsters.

Data collected by the researchers found that 35pc of eight year-old girls whose mothers were classed as obese were also obese, compared with 8pc of the daughters of women who were overweight and 5pc of girls whose mothers were classed as normal weight.

In the case of boys, 17pc of those whose fathers were obese also suffered with the condition, compared with 5pc of the sons of overweight men and 3pc of those with normal weight fathers.

According to the findings, the daughter of an obese woman was 10 times more likely to be obese than a girl with a normal weight mother (41pc against 4pc).

The son of an obese father was six times more likely to be obese than the son of a normal weight man (18pc against 3pc), the study concluded.

Children's weight problems bore no relationship to obesity in their opposite sex-parent, the scientists said.

The study's director, Professor Terry Wilkin, said: "Any genetic link between obese parents and their children would be indiscriminate of gender.

"The clearly defined gender-assortative pattern which our research has uncovered is an exciting one because it points towards behavioural factors at work in childhood obesity.

"These findings could turn our thinking on childhood obesity dramatically on its head.

"Money and resources have focused on children over the past decade in the belief that obese children become obese adults, and that prevention of obesity in children will solve the problem in adulthood.

"EarlyBird's evidence supports the opposite hypothesis - that children are becoming obese due to the influence of their same-sex parents, and that we will need to focus on changing the behaviour of the adult if we want to combat obesity in the child."

Type 2 diabetes is linked to unhealthy lifestyles, including a lack of exercise and obesity, and accounts for around nine out of 10 cases of the disease.

The other sort of diabetes, Type 1, is not linked to obesity and usually develops in childhood or adolescence.

Fattest mother' feeds babies on McDonald's fast food
The woman described as "Britain's fattest mother" when she gave birth to triplets has admitted raising her eight-month-old children on fast food.

Leanne Salt said that she feeds her babies McDonald's burgers because she is "too busy" to cook for them properly.

Her two daughters and one son also eat fish and chips, crisps and microwave ready meals, as well as getting leftovers from their mother's takeaways.

Mrs Salt, who weighs 29 stone herself, insists that her triplets – Deanna, Daisy and Finlee – are healthy even though they consume nearly double their recommended daily calories.

"My babies were six months old when they had their first McDonald's," she told Closer magazine.

"Sometimes I'll cook them a microwave lasagne. Babies are always hungry – sometimes it's easier to give them food that's already prepared."

The 24-year-old added: "I let the triplets eat fries off my plate as I think it's best they try all kinds of food to see what they like.

"I don't want them to think they have to watch what they eat. I'll tell them big is beautiful."

Mrs Salt is raising her children on benefits at her mother's home in Coventry in the West Midlands, after the triplets' father walked out halfway through her pregnancy.

While extreme, their case illustrates the crisis of childhood obesity in Britain, where a quarter of five-year-olds are too fat according to government figures.

Recent research from the World Cancer Research Fund found that babies who gain weight too quickly in the first months of life could be more likely to be overweight later, putting them at risk of diseases including Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

FAQ: Triclosan and Your Health

2010-04-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

FDA Reviewing Antibacterial Chemical Widely Used in Soaps and Body Washes

April 9, 2010
With the FDA reviewing the antibacterial chemical triclosan, widely found in everyday products such as hand soaps, body washes, toothpastes, cosmetics, toys, clothing, and furniture, should you or shouldn't you ditch products with this ingredient?

Here are the most frequently asked questions about triclosan, with answers from experts on both sides of the debate, to help you decide.

Q: What is triclosan?

Triclosan is a chemical added to many products for its antibacterial action.
Q: How long has it been in use?

''It's been in use for over 40 years," says Brian Sansoni, a spokesman for the Soap and Detergent Association, whose members produce soaps and body washes. Initially, its use was only in health care settings such as hospitals, he says.

In the last 15 years, triclosan began showing up in consumer hygiene products, he says.

Q: What prompted the recent FDA investigation of triclosan?

The FDA announcement this week about triclosan was in response to a letter from Rep. Edward J. Markey, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment.

Markey had sent the letter in January, requesting information about the status of the FDA's ongoing review of triclosan in consumer products.

Markey is concerned and is calling for the FDA to ban the use of triclosan in personal care products. He wants the Environmental Protection Agency to take steps, too, such as evaluating the potential of triclosan -- washed down the drain with personal care product use -- to contaminate drinking water and contribute to antibiotic resistance.

Q: Where does the FDA stand, for now, on triclosan?

Triclosan ''is not known to be hazardous to humans," according to the FDA statement issued this week.

In 1997, the FDA reviewed data on triclosan in one specific toothpaste, Colgate Total, and found that the triclosan in it was effective in preventing gingivitis, the inflamed gum condition that marks the beginning of periodontal disease.

(Markey has asked the FDA to re-evaluate this approval, as the review was done before health concerns arose about triclosan.)

As for triclosan added to soaps and body washes, the FDA say there is no evidence that these products provide any extra health benefits over plain soap and water.

The FDA say it is continuing to review the safety of triclosan in the products it regulates. It is partnering with the EPA to study the effects on environmental health.

Q: Why do critics want triclosan banned from consumer products?

"We want it removed because it is ineffective and poses a potential threat to human health and the environment," Sarah Janssen, MD, PhD, a staff scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, tells WebMD.

In animal studies, triclosan has been found to interfere with hormones crucial for normal brain development and function and reproductive system development and function, Janssen says.

By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health New

90,000 Extra Doses Ordered as Demand Increases for Flu Jabs

2010-03-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

90,000 Extra Doses Ordered as Demand Increases for Flu Jabs

Due to a 7% increase in demand for flu jabs as compared to this time last year, about 90,000 more doses are on their way from Europe and Australia in addition to the 450,000 that were ordered in December. The health professionals had to order extra flu jabs due to high demand.

Health ministry is forecasting the second wave of swine flu, which will strike back in autumn, after the usual winter flu season. The effect of H1N1 this year will be quite similar to that of the last year, or can even be less severe than that.

Health experts claim that a larger or more severe wave is less likely, this year. Last week, none of the swabs collected from patients with symptoms of influenza tested positive for the virus.

People who are above 65 years of age and have respiratory conditions such as asthma, heart disease or diabetes, can get vaccination for free. The vaccine is also free for the pregnant women and the morbidly obese.

Since the beginning of swine flu pandemic, about 213 countries have reported cases and the virus have claimed almost 17,000 lives across the globe.

Resistance Can Develop Fast With Swine Flu

The H1N1 swine flu virus can develop resistance quickly to antivirals used to treat it, U.S. doctors reported on Friday.

Government researchers reported on the cases of two people with compromised immune systems who developed drug-resistant strains of virus after less than two weeks on therapy.

Bacteria quickly develop resistance to antibiotics, which must be used carefully. Viruses can do the same and doctors worried about resistance had recommended against using antivirals for flu except in patients who really needed them.

"While the emergence of drug-resistant influenza virus is not in itself surprising, these cases demonstrate that resistant strains can emerge after only a brief period of drug therapy," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

"We have a limited number of drugs available for treating influenza and these findings provide additional urgency to efforts to develop antivirals that attack influenza virus in novel ways," he said in a statement.

Swine flu emerged a year ago in the United States and Mexico and spread around the world in just six weeks, killing thousands of people. It hit children and young adults especially hard.

Older antiviral drugs did not work against it -- they do not work against seasonal flu, either -- but Roche AG's Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir, did. It was not widely used, however.

Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger and colleagues studied two flu patients who had immune limitations due to past blood stem cell transplants. They were treated with Tamiflu.

Writing in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, Taubenberger and colleague Dr. Matthew Memoli said the virus infecting one patient developed a drug-resistant mutation after nine days and the other after 14 days of treatment.

And one of the patients also developed resistance against a second antiviral, Biocryst's peramivir, which is an experimental drug approved for emergency intravenous use in patients who cannot take Tamiflu.

This patient continued getting worse despite 24 days on Tamiflu and was given peramivir for 10 days.

Finally, GlaxoSmithkline's flu drug Relenza, known generically as zanamivir, did work and the patient recovered, the researchers said.

"These cases of rapid appearance of drug-resistant 2009 H1N1 influenza in immune-compromised patients are worrisome and should prompt clinicians to reconsider how they use available flu drugs," Memoli said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62P53I20100326

3 Rulings Find No Link to Vaccines and Autism

2010-03-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

In a further blow to the antivaccine movement, three judges ruled Friday in three separate cases that thimerosal, a preservative containing mercury, does not cause autism.

The three rulings are the second step in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding begun in 2002 in the United States Court of Federal Claims. The proceeding combines the cases of 5,000 families with autistic children seeking compensation from the federal vaccine injury fund, which comes from a 75-cent tax on every dose of vaccine.

Families of children hurt by vaccines — for example, who suffer fatal allergic reactions — are paid from it but are unable to sue the vaccine manufacturer. The fund has never accepted that vaccines cause autism; the omnibus proceeding, with nine test cases based on three different theories, was begun in 2002.

The antivaccine groups also lost the first three cases, which were decided in February 2009 by the same three judges, known as special masters. All three rulings were upheld on their first appeals.

Defenders of vaccines said they were pleased by Friday’s decision, while opponents were dismissive, saying they would never get a fair ruling from the omnibus arrangement.

In the three cases brought against the government, by the parents of Jordan King, Colin R. Dwyer and William Mead, all three special masters used strong language in dismissing the expert evidence from the families’ lawyers.

The master in the King ruling emphasized that it was “not a close case” and “extremely unlikely” that Jordan’s autism was connected to his vaccines. The master in the Dwyer case wrote that many parents “relied upon practitioners and researchers who peddled hope, not opinions grounded in science and medicine.”

Patricia Campbell-Smith, the master in the Mead case, also dismissed two subarguments made by a few opponents of vaccines, saying they “have not shown either that certain children are genetically hypersusceptible to mercury or that certain children are predisposed to have difficulty excreting mercury.”

She also echoed a contention by vaccine defenders that a shot is safer than a tuna sandwich. “A normal fish-eating diet by pregnant mothers” is more likely to deposit mercury in the brain than vaccines are, she wrote.

In a telephone press conference after the rulings, Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the inventor of a rotavirus vaccine from which he receives royalties, praised the decisions, saying: “This hypothesis has already had its day in scientific court, but in America we like to have our day in literal court. Fortunately, we now have these rulings.”

Fears of thimerosal emerged more than a decade ago and have cast a pall over vaccines ever since, even though it has been removed from most of them. The fear has caused some parents to avoid them and made outbreaks of diseases like measles and whooping cough more likely.

Even with this decision, Dr. Offit said, “it’s very hard to unscare people after you’ve scared them.”

The Coalition for Vaccine Safety, a group of organizations that believe vaccines cause autism, dismissed the rulings.

“The deck is stacked against families in vaccine court,” said Rebecca Estepp, of the coalition’s steering committee. “Government attorneys defend a government program using government-funded science before government judges. Where’s the justice in that?” The coalition claims to represent 75,000 families.

Amy Carson, founder of Moms Against Mercury, who has a son with brain damage, called the vaccine court arrangement “like the mice overseeing the cheese.”

The vaccine injury fund and the court overseeing it were created in 1988 after judgments in state court lawsuits over vaccines became so inconsistent and so expensive that vaccine companies started quitting the American market.

The third theory, that measles vaccine causes autism, is still to be ruled on by the special masters. But Lisa Randall, a lawyer with the Immunization Action Coalition, which defends vaccines, said she believed some of the test cases had been “abandoned” by the families that brought them after the 2009 decisions dismissed a variant of the same theory.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/science/13vaccine.html

The Secret Lives of Female Alcoholics

2010-03-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY

The numbers are troubling: An estimated 17.6 million adults in the USA are either alcoholics or have alcohol problems, according to the National Institutes of Health. By some estimates, one-third of alcoholics are women.

Yet if you were to ask a woman's friends and family if she has a drinking problem, they might very well say no.

When Paula Tokar, 26, told her friends she was getting sober and wouldn't be partying with them anymore, "They said, 'You seemed fine to us,' " says Tokar, now two years sober and living in Marshfield, Mass. That's because she'd worked hard to hide her alcohol abuse. "I was doing the things many women do, hiding drinks around the house, hiding vodka behind the frozen veggie burgers."

MOMS: Some resume substance abuse after baby's born
STUDY: A drink a day increases women's cancer risk
WEB INITIATIVE: People urged to think before they drink

When a close friend admitted to Elizabeth Schwarzer she was an alcoholic, "I just couldn't believe it," the Boston mom, 34, says. "I would have sworn up and down that she wasn't much of a drinker." But looking back, there were "all kinds of signs, and I had pretty willfully ignored them."

Kate Sanborn of Abington, Mass., was convinced her drinking was her "little secret, my little world, that I didn't affect anybody." Now five years sober, she says women drinking brings up so many issues for people. "How can you possibly — your kids are always first — how can something else get in the way? But I'm sorry, when you're engulfed in alcoholism, you do things you would never do in any kind of clear mind."

Sanborn drank until she blacked out; later a neighbor said she'd heard Sanborn's infant son screaming all night. "He was right next to me in bed. I didn't even know it."

Women alcoholics face a double whammy: addiction and a culture that is more likely to ignore drinking in women than in men. That issue, and denial, got an airing this spring and summer with the stories of two moms that have played out across talk radio, tabloids and the Web.

The first was the case of New York mother Diane Schuler, who according to state police had a blood alcohol level double the legal limit and high levels of the active ingredient in marijuana when she crashed into an SUV as she drove the wrong way on a New York highway July 26. Schuler, her daughter, three nieces and three men in the SUV died in the accident. Schuler's son was injured.

Next came an admission from Los Angeles "mommy blogger" and writer Stefanie Wilder-Taylor that she was an alcoholic. The author of Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay and Nap Time Is the New Happy Hour was part of a new wave of moms asserting their ability to have small kids and still be hip and cool and sip the occasional cosmopolitan.

Except, as Wilder-Taylor said in her posting on May 26, however much she enjoyed drinking, she was frightened it would "consume my life and I can't afford that. I need to be present for my husband in the evening; I need to be fully reliable for all three of my children at all times and, for me, if I'm 100% honest with myself, I can't do that if I drink."

Somewhere in between are the 72,287 fans of the Facebook page "OMG I so need a glass of wine or I'm going to sell my kids," created by a Sacramento mom.

The myth of the good mother

Their stories highlight the uncomfortable relationship society has between women and drinking, especially when they are mothers.

Schuler's family and friends insist they had no knowledge of a drinking or drug problem. The family has begun legal efforts to have her body exhumed for further testing.

Good mothers don't drink, and everyone says Schuler was a good mom, so she couldn't possibly have been an alcoholic. That's how the thinking goes, says Eleanor Schoenberger, 40. "Especially when it comes to mothers, there's such a strong inclination to believe 'she just wouldn't do anything like that,' " says Schoenberger, of Hanover, Mass. She writes a blog about being a mom in recovery and making jewelry at One Crafty Mother.

Schoenberger wonders if the national conversation would be the same if Schuler's husband, Daniel, had been behind the wheel when the accident happened. "The question would be, 'Where was the mother?' " she says. "A father who drinks is just as responsible for the welfare of his children, but the stigma isn't there."

Schwarzer, whose friend went into treatment and no longer drinks, says she won't be afraid of speaking up again. "Is politeness worth some kid's life? You convince yourself that it's just not that bad, but when a child's life is at stake, none of us should ever be that polite."

TIPS FROM WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN THERE
• Don't ignore signs that a friend is having trouble with alcohol and drugs. Elizabeth Schwarzer kept chalking up her friend's problems to the stress of being at home with kids. "I was aware that she was drinking at the end, but I thought she had just had a bad day."

• Reach out. A friend wrote Kate Sanborn a letter. "She said, 'I've been watching you and I really think you have a problem.' That was the first time someone actually talked to me about it." That letter was part of what helped her get sober.

• Recognize that just because you're not "a crazy maniac running down the street" doesn't mean you don't have a problem, says Paula Tokar. "I had a great job, I was functional, so I thought I was OK."

• Your doctor can help and will keep it confidential. So "if you don't want to tell your husband or wife, or walk into a meeting where you might know someone, a doctor's office can be the right place to start," says Eleanor Schoenberger.

• For family members, even if the alcoholic won't seek treatment, groups such as Al-Anon offer support. Online, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has information both for addicts and friends and family.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health

The Flu Season That Fizzled

2010-03-03T04:14:00.000-08:00

Cases of H1N1 Have Dwindled, Seasonal Flu Has Been a No-Show and Doctors Wonder Why

This has been a flu season like few others.

Normally at this time of year, influenza is rampant in the U.S., prompting hundreds of thousands of people to stay home in the dead of winter with fever, aches and pains.

Now, after raging through college campuses and communities last summer and fall, cases of the new H1N1 swine flu virus have dwindled to a trickle, and run-of-the-mill seasonal flu has barely made an appearance. Not one state reported widespread flu illness to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the week ended Feb. 20, the latest data available. The percentage of all doctors' visits by patients with influenza-like symptoms has dropped from a high of 7.8% in late October—the largest peak since the agency began surveillance in 1997—to 1.8% in late February, well below the norm for flu season.

Doctors and flu experts say the lull is unusual. "This is typically the peak of flu," said James Turner, executive director of the University of Virginia's department of student health. He said the Charlottesville, Va., student health center usually sees as many as 130 students a week complaining of flu symptoms this time of year. Recently, no more than three to five students a week have been coming in with fever, cough or other signs of flu, he said.

It is not clear why there is so little flu, particularly swine flu, going around, experts say. "Surely there's a sufficient number of people who haven't been infected or vaccinated," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

Many scientists say the answer probably has to do with how the flu virus progresses. Influenza comes and goes in waves, normally running from October through May. But pandemic viruses—new viruses that emerge and spread quickly around the globe—often move to a different rhythm, and can reach their busiest stage at unusual times like summer and early fall, although the reason for this isn't understood. Flu has peaked in late February or early March in 20 of the past 26 flu seasons, said Lyn Finelli, the CDC's chief of flu surveillance and outbreak response. But the latest swine flu wave started in August, and peaked in late October, before waning.

Widely publicized preventive measures such as hand washing, and the large national vaccination effort thus far, may also have played a role in the sharp drop off in H1N1 infections, but it is not clear by how much, said Anthony Fiore, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC's influenza division.

By mid-January, swine flu had sickened about 57 million people in the U.S. and killed roughly 11,700—mostly young adults and children—from the time it emerged in late April through mid-January. Young people who ordinarily fight off flu easily ended up in intensive care units on advanced life support. Pregnant women, children, and other people at risk of flu complications stood in line for hours for vaccine, as slow production and delays prompted limited supplies.

In past years, when seasonal flu was the big worry, influenza has typically sickened about 25 million people a year, and directly killed about 8,000, according to the CDC.

The H1N1 flu virus hasn't disappeared, and another wave could still come this winter. "We've had peaks [of flu] as late as May, so we're not out of the woods yet," said Dr. Fiore of the CDC's influenza division. The virus could also mutate, spawning more new infections, though it hasn't done so yet. Flu experts estimate that more than half the country's population may still be vulnerable to the H1N1 virus, either because they haven't been sick or gotten vaccinated.

Some recent statistics could be warning signals. A few states have reported small increases in the percentage of doctors' visits by patients with flu-like symptoms. And the American College Health Association reported for the week ending Feb. 19 its first uptick in swine flu cases on college campuses since mid-December, to 4.1 cases per 10,000 from 2.7 cases per 10,000.

Dr. Turner, who is also president of the ACHA, said the organization plans to decide along with the CDC after getting more data this week whether to warn colleges to promote prevention measures to thwart a new wave that may be on its way. He said he is concerned that college students traveling on spring break could bring the disease back with them to campus. "If there's anytime we're going to see an increase in disease activity, I'd say March or early April is the time," he said.

U.S. and global health officials have recommended that the new H1N1 virus be included as one of three strains in next season's flu vaccine. The CDC's vaccine advisory panel also expanded its recommendation for who should get flu shots to include young and middle-aged adults, among whom death rates from the new H1N1 virus have been higher than for the elderly or children. The change means that all Americans now will be encouraged to get flu shots when the next vaccine is ready in September.

The unusual course this flu season is taking isn't one that public health officials are eager to repeat. Not knowing when the next flu outbreak could occur will mean staying on high alert for much of the year. It would also mean another rush to get vaccine distributed quickly. The CDC, which normally starts tracking flu hospitalizations and deaths in October, will continue to monitor them this spring, summer, and early fall. "We're going to make sure when it hits, we know about it and can describe it," Dr. Finelli said.

Nancy Cox, the CDC's influenza chief, told a vaccine advisory panel last week that the pandemic H1N1 virus is likely to eventually become a seasonal strain, though it is not one yet. Globally, the pandemic virus is still circulating in tropical countries and some parts of Europe, but is waning in most places, according to the World Health Organization.

Flu experts say they don't know why there is so little seasonal flu circulating this year. One theory doctors are debating is that people infected with H1N1 swine flu may produce a chemical in their bodies that protects them against other flu viruses.

The new virus doesn't appear to have completely muscled out other flu viruses, as some past pandemic viruses have. While one seasonal strain appears to have succumbed to the new tide of H1N1, another that is considered particularly hard on the elderly—H3N2—has continued to circulate in pockets of the globe, albeit in small amounts.

While relatively few people are currently seeking out H1N1 shots, the CDC isn't giving up on promoting the vaccine this winter. About 155 million doses of H1N1 vaccine have been distributed so far this flu season, and about 86 million people have been vaccinated—a few million less so far than normally get vaccinated for seasonal flu. The agency is especially urging parents with children under 10 who have only had one dose to get a second, which it says is needed for full protection.

Even if a new wave of H1N1 illness occurs, some experts believe it won't be as large as the one last fall.

That's because millions more people have become immune either through infection or vaccination. "I think we'll have scattered outbreaks in communities that didn't have it," said Dr. Finelli.

What's expected for the future of the H1N1 swine flu virus.

* Flu experts say it is impossible to know if or when there will be another wave of swine flu.
* The flu season may not be over for this year, and swine flu could still return in strength. At least half the population remains susceptible to the flu.
* Some scientists expect any return of the virus won't be as severe as last fall. Millions of people are immune now, either because they were sick or have been vaccinated.
* Vaccine for H1N1 swine flu is still being administered, and next year's shot will include protection against the strain, along with two other seasonal viruses.
* Another possibility: The H1N1 virus could mutate and make the current vaccine, as well as next fall's version, less effective.

http://online.wsj.com/article/
Betsy McKay at betsy.mckay@wsj.com

Swine Flu Has Killed Up To 17,000 in U.S

2010-02-13T06:03:00.000-08:00

H1N1 swine flu has killed as many as 17,000 Americans, including 1,800 children, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Friday.

The swine flu pandemic put as many people into the hospital as during the normal influenza season -- but most were younger adults and children instead of the elderly, and it was during the months when usually very little or no flu is circulating, the CDC said.

In a separate study that helped shed light on why so many children were seriously affected, researchers reported on four children who developed a serious infection of the heart from swine flu, including one who died.

"CDC estimates that between 41 million and 84 million cases of 2009 H1N1 occurred between April 2009 and January 16, 2010," the agency said in a statement. Usually the CDC goes with a middle number, which it puts at about 57 million people infected.

Between 8,330 and 17,160 people died during that time from H1N1, with a middle range of about 12,000, the CDC said. But between 880 and 1,800 children died, up to 13,000 adults under the age of 65 and only 1,000 to 2,000 elderly.

In a normal flu season, the CDC estimates that 36,000 Americans die of flu, but 90 percent are over the age of 65. The CDC estimates that 200,000 go into the hospital, again mostly frail elderly people with other health conditions.

The swine flu pandemic has affected much younger people.

The CDC estimate shows that between 183,000 and 378,000 people were hospitalized with H1N1 swine flu from April to January.

In an average flu season, about 82 children die in the United States, the CDC says. But those are lab-confirmed cases.

ACCURATE ESTIMATES

The CDC and the World Health Organization stopped trying to count all the actual cases months ago, once it became clear that H1N1 was a pandemic that would infect millions.

WHO's count of lab-confirmed cases showed that at least 15,292 people had died in 212 countries and territories.

But WHO and the CDC note there are nowhere near enough diagnostic tests to give to everyone with flu-like symptoms to see if they really have swine flu.

The CDC therefore does its estimates based on models, calculated by looking intensively at small groups of people, gathering data on overall reports of sickness and death, and reconciling the two.

That is also how the CDC comes up with its annual estimates for seasonal flu, and experts agree these estimates are far more accurate than counting confirmed cases.

H1N1 is causing some unusual symptoms. In a report published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Andras Bratincsak of Rady Children's Hospital and the University of California San Diego reported on four cases of a heart inflammation called myocarditis among children there in just one month.

"We present the first known report of acute myocarditis in pediatric population associated with the present pandemic H1N1 influenza A virus infection," they wrote.

Viral myocarditis is extremely rare and one child died and two required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support or ECMO -- an extreme type of life support similar to heart-lung bypass machines used during open-heart surgery.

"Our observations warrant a high index of suspicion for myocarditis in children with H1N1 influenza A infection. Early detection and aggressive management are paramount," Bratincsak's team wrote.

http://www.reuters.com

Americans Advised To Get H1N1 Vaccine

2010-02-06T22:29:00.000-08:00

Atlanta, Georgia (CNN)

Federal health officials urged Friday that more Americans get vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus, sometimes referred to as swine flu, which continues to kill.

Most states are reporting only sporadic or local flu activity, but Dr. Anne Schuchat, who heads the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned against complacency, telling reporters the virus is still a threat.

According to the CDC, the H1N1 virus is still the overwhelmingly predominant flu virus in circulation. Of the 124 million doses of vaccine made available in the United States, 70 million Americans -- 23.4 percent of the population -- have gotten the vaccine, a CDC survey estimated.

Schuchat sounded pleased with those figures, but urged those who haven't been vaccinated to do so. "Individual cases of H1N1 continue to occur and people are being hospitalized and they're dying," Schuchat said.

The CDC estimates that 7,880 to 16,460 H1N1-related deaths occurred between April, when the virus emerged, and December 12.

Schuchat added that 37 percent of children younger than 18 have been vaccinated, though not all of them are fully protected. Children have been among the populations hardest hit by the virus. Nine pediatric deaths were reported to the CDC in the past week and the agency estimates that 830 to 1,730 children have died from complications of the virus since April.

Schuchat said slightly more than a third of children under age 10 have received the second dose of vaccine young children need for full protection and urged parents to make sure they follow through.

"It would just be tragic for you to have gone so far to do the right thing and have your child get sick because they weren't completely protected," she said.

Health officials continue to encourage vaccination because they say it's the best way to protect against infection and because there are still several months left in the flu season, which typically ends in May.

But a Harvard School of Public Health survey published Friday reports that nearly half of Americans (44 percent) say they believe the outbreak is over. Only 32 percent said they were concerned that someone in their immediate family would contact the disease, down from 40 percent in December.

The survey of 1,419 adults, carried out January 20-25, had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.24 percentage points.

International health officials have sounded defensive in recent days, given that the pandemic's toll has not proven as severe as some had predicted.

"The pandemic is not over, but to date, more than 14,000 laboratory-confirmed deaths have been reported," Dr. Keiji Fukuda reported last month at a Council of Europe hearing.

"Deaths from the pandemic have been confirmed one by one through laboratory tests and unquestionably are much lower than the true number," said Fukuda, who is the World Health Organization's special adviser on pandemic influenza to the director-general.

He rejected accusations that WHO policies were influenced by the pharmaceutical industry. "The labeling of the pandemic as 'fake' is to ignore recent history and science and to trivialize the deaths of over 14,000 people and the many additional serious illnesses experienced by others," he said.

CNN Medical News
Managing Editor Miriam Falco

H1N1 spreading in some areas but declining overall: WHO

2010-01-30T05:56:00.000-08:00

The H1N1 flu is still spreading in North Africa, parts of eastern and southeastern Europe and areas of Asia, but is generally declining, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Swine Flu

The pandemic virus is still the predominant influenza virus circulating worldwide, posing an increased risk to pregnant women and people with underlying medical conditions such as asthma, it said.

"Activity in general is decreasing," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told a news briefing.

Much of the temperate northern hemisphere passed a peak of influenza transmission between late October and late November, the WHO said in a weekly update.

But the H1N1 virus continues to transmit actively in North Africa, including Egypt, limited areas of eastern and southern Europe, and in parts of South and East Asia, including western India, according to the United Nations agency.

In China, the H1N1 pandemic virus has declined substantially since peaking last November, but other influenza viruses have been detected increasingly in recent weeks, the WHO said.

The virus has killed at least 14,711 people worldwide since emerging last April, it said. The WHO has said it will take a year or two after the pandemic ends to establish the true number of fatalities.

(By Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Jonathan Lynn)

Health officer Expects 3rd Wave of Swine Flu
Health officials are watching for a third wave of H1N1 influenza to strike and are urging people to get vaccinated to help stop the virus from spreading again.

There's plenty of swine flu vaccine available for anyone who wants it and it's recommended that everyone get it, said Dr. Larry Jecha, Benton-Franklin public health officer.

"There is so much out there. We have a surplus," he said.

It's a different story for the seasonal flu vaccine. There are no vaccines available, except for the very young, and many people weren't able to get it this year, Jecha said.

The good news, however, is that the seasonal flu doesn't appear to be making its way across the nation, he said.

Typically, seasonal flu is in the Tri-Cities by the third week of January, Jecha said. But it isn't here yet and it's not showing up in other states either.

"Only 2 percent of all cultures in the United States are not H1N1," he said. "Are we going to get it or not? No one really knows what's going to happen. Ours is usually really implanted by the end of January and we get it through March.

"Last year it was a little later, but at least we were still seeing it," Jecha added. "Hopefully we don't get it."

No one knows for sure that the third H1N1 wave is coming -- or even when it will hit the Tri-Cities if it does start, but officials do know that there are usually three waves of a pandemic, Jecha said.

"We didn't have the vaccine in time to stop the second wave, but we're hoping if we can get 50 percent protected, you can stop the third wave," he said.

It's not clear how many Tri-Citians have been vaccinated, but officials say there's still a way to go to get to 50 percent. At least 50,000 vaccines were distributed in the community and the health department had more than 7,000.

People in high risk groups -- pregnant women, people around kids up to 6 months old, health care workers, children ages 6 to 21 and those 21 to 50 with chronic diseases -- are especially urged to get vaccinated.

Parents of children younger than 10 also need to remember that their kids need a second H1N1 shot four weeks after the first to be fully protected.

Tri-Citians heading to the Winter Olympics next month also should be vaccinated, Jecha said.

"People from all over the world are coming into one small area," he said.

When the first waves of swine flu hit, there was a high demand for the vaccine but not enough vaccine to go around. Now it's readily available but the demand isn't there, likely because many who came down with it realized it wasn't so severe, Jecha said.

"It's apathy. After the wave went through we found out it wasn't that bad," he said. "But we are very fortunate it was a mild strain."

If the third wave moves through the area, it also likely will be mild, but that shouldn't stop people from getting vaccinated, he said.

As of Friday, no states were reporting widespread influenza activity and only five states -- Alabama, Georgia, New Jersey, South Carolina and Virginia -- reported regional flu activity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There have been 1,383 Washington residents hospitalized with influenza since Sept. 19, and 76 deaths, according to the Washington Department of Health. In Eastern Washington, 432 residents have been hospitalized and 20 deaths have been attributed to influenza.

By: Paula Horton: 582-1556; phorton@tricityherald.com

Gates Pledges $10 Billion to Fund Vaccines
Gates Pledges $10 Billion to Fund Vaccines

Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates plans to more than double his contribution to the vaccine effort over the next decade, Reuters reports. His foundation will spend $10 billion to support research on and access to immunizations worldwide—with the hope that 90 percent of children in developing nations could be protected against illnesses such as pneumonia and rotavirus diarrhea. Gates, who made the announcement at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the plan could prevent nearly 8 million child deaths over the next 10 years, Reuters reports.

WHO Says Critics Who Claim Swine Flu Is Fake Pandemic Are 'Irresponsible'

2010-01-25T05:48:00.000-08:00

GENEVA — The World Health Organization has rejected as "irresponsible" allegations that swine flu is a fake pandemic.

WHO also dismissed claims it colluded with drug companies to bring economic benefit to the industry by playing up the danger of the new H1N1 influenza strain.

WHO officials will meet with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Tuesday after the watchdog body questioned whether the U.N.'s health agency acted under undue influence.

Spokesman Gregory Hartl says WHO has always been "very measured and sober" in describing the outbreak as causing overwhelmingly mild disease.

Hartl said Monday that from a scientific point of view "this is plainly a pandemic and for people to not describe it as a pandemic is irresponsible."

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WHO Lists Gains, Obstacles To Public Health

THE Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Margaret Chan, has listed the gains made in public health in the last decade and major challenges ahead.

Addressing the organisation's executive board at its 126th session held at the weekend, Chan noted that many health problems had become transnational, such as the harmful use of alcohol and the marketing of unhealthy foods to children.

Chan also reviewed the international response to the current H1N1 influenza pandemic, noting that the moderate impact of the pandemic was the best health news of the previous decade.

She said some of the major challenges were the precarious funding to sustain progress, and even more so for scaling up; and the shortage of doctors, nurses and other personnel needed to do the job.

Chan said countries lacked fundamental laboratory capacity; and unsafe practices in hospitals abound, contributing, among other things, to the spread of viral hepatitis. "Blood supplies are likewise often unsafe, of poor quality, or inadequate," she said.

Chan continued: "Countries lack critical support from regulatory and enforcement bodies. Countries lack reliable systems for data collection and information management. This is the absolute foundation for setting national priorities and monitoring progress.

"Health services in the public sector are plagued by stock-outs, poor working conditions, and staff shortages. In the private sector, the price of generic medicines is, on average, more than 600 per cent higher than their international reference price. This is not a pretty picture, but this is the reality. This is what insufficient capacity means, also in costs.

"Delivering interventions, like vaccines, medicines, condoms, bed-nets, and vitamins, clearly brings mortality down, sometimes very quickly. But this is not enough..."

"We face a dilemma. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are result-oriented and time-limited, and have unquestionably spearheaded much progress. Donors are impatient, but capacity building takes time."

Reviewing the progress made in the last decade, Chan said: "...Making hospitals safe during emergencies was the theme for last year's World Health Day. One point is obvious. When infrastructure are already weak, the vulnerability of populations to disasters is vastly increased."

Chan said the picture of the progress on MDGs was mixed at the international level, and the African region must continue to be a focus of particular concern.

But there are many bright and motivating examples of success everywhere. Some of these examples come from big-picture trends. "Towards the end of last year, WHO and other agencies issued substantial reports on trends for Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), tuberculosis, malaria, vaccines and immunization, and the health of children," she said.

Chan said the progress was sometimes fragile, threatened by factors ranging from drug resistance to uncertain funding for the future. "But the trends are definitely positive. While optimism about the malaria situation must be cautious, this is the first time, in decades, that we are getting some good news. This, too, is progress," she said.

The WHO DG said apart from these big-picture trends, reports prepared for the session cover many specific indicators of progress. She said: "Vitamin A supplementation has been implemented as a life-saving measure in 66 of 68 countries with a high burden of child deaths. Since 2000, measles deaths have dropped by 78 per cent. As the report on this item concludes, measles eradication is achievable. If we want to do this, we can.

"By 2007, 98 per cent of reported tuberculosis cases were being diagnosed and treated in Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) programmes. WHO Child Growth Standards have been adopted by more than 100 countries. This, in turn, has led to increased investment in programmes to reduce under-nutrition, but also to tackle the growing problem of childhood obesity. As I have said on many occasions, what gets measured gets done.

"Ten years into this new century, we are seeing signs that aid for health development can bring solid results. Equally important, in the drive to reach a limited number of time-bound health goals, fundamental problems are being uncovered, and solutions are being found that benefit public health across the board. We are making progress, as the reports before you show. We need to keep on setting our sights higher, aiming to do more, for more and more people."

Chan said the best health news of the previous decade was the fact that the long overdue influenza pandemic had been so moderate in its impact. She explained: "Had the pandemic taken another course, the agenda for this session would have looked very different. Had the virus mutated to a more virulent form, we would not be talking about forging ahead. We would be standing still or dealing with serious setbacks.

"We have been fortunate since the very emergence of the new H1N1 virus, and have remained fortunate up to now. The virus initially spread in countries with good surveillance systems. The honesty and speed of early reporting set the standard for the international response.

"The virus did not mutate to a more virulent form. Resistance to oseltamivir did not become widespread. The vaccine proved safe and a close match with circulating virus. Things could have gone wrong in any of these areas.

"We were fortunate in other ways. This is the first pandemic to occur since the revolution in communications and information technologies. For the first time in history, the international community could watch a pandemic unfold, and chart its evolution, in real time."

By Chukwuma Muanya

Seniors Urged to Get Vaccine Against H1N1

2010-01-16T04:24:00.000-08:00

Indiana Health Commissioner Judy Monroe trekked north from the state capital Friday, continuing her mission to guard against complacency about the H1N1 virus and encouraging seniors in East Chicago and Gary to get vaccinated.

Monroe told a group of seniors at a lunch at the East Chicago Health Department that 10,000 Americans have died from the virus, 1,000 of them children, and 200,000 have been hospitalized. Thirty-six Hoosiers have died from the H1N1 since June 1, but Monroe expects more casualties.

She must have been persuasive, because she convinced a number of seniors to take the plunge, including Dorothy Figueroa, 81, a retired Inland Steel truck dispatcher who lives in East Chicago.

Figueroa, who volunteers now, said her grandchildren have all been vaccinated. "So I thought I should get it, too," she laughed. "The pain was so minute and my arm doesn't even hurt. It's nothing to be scared of. It was really easy. And the best thing is it was free."

Monroe said H1N1 has essentially supplanted other influenza strains, effectively becoming the dominant strain this year and likely the seasonal flu strain for next year. More than 98 percent of the flu samples taken from Indiana patients this season have been H1N1.

"We're not even seeing seasonal flu," she said. "If people are vaccinated this year it will confer some protection next year and when they have their seasonal shots next year it will be like a booster and offer even more protection."

Monroe and state health officials came to Northwest Indiana to promote National Influenza Vaccination Week and a number of compliant seniors accepted her invitation, lining up at the Health Department to receive the quick, painless vaccination. She answered questions and dispelled myths about the vaccine, which is now in plentiful supply throughout the state.

She said in any given year around 36,000 Americans die from seasonal flu, primarily young children and seniors. And she said the seasonal flu typically peaks in mid-February. "If seniors don't get vaccinated now, what might happen in the winter months?"Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Judy Monroe (right) spoke to seniors Friday on the importance of getting the H1N1 vaccine at the East Chicago Health Clinic.

Get The Shot

The East Chicago Public Health Department is offering H1N1 vaccinations free from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at its offices at 100 W. Chicago Ave.

e.c. 'takes THE LEAD'

The East Chicago Health Department won a grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and didn't even apply for it.

The CDC awarded the grant to the health department, one of only six in the country, to explore ways of educating diverse populations about the H1N1 virus and encourage people to get vaccinated against the flu pandemic virus.

East Chicago Health Department Director Diana Garcia Burns, who also works as a nurse practitioner there, said Indiana Health Commissioner Dr. Judy Monroe recommended the department for the $3,000 grant called "Take the Lead" in August.

East Chicago Health Department Preparedness Coordinator Anita Ard said the department has offered immunization shots at town hall and school PTA meetings in English and Spanish, church health fairs, schools and libraries, at Ivy Tech Community College, ArcelorMittal and Ameristar Casino.

BY MARK TAYLOR, POST-TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT

UW Provides Case Study In Handling H1N1 Virus

2010-01-08T22:51:00.000-08:00

Wisconsin college officials looking at how they might handle an expected peak in swine flu cases as the spring semester starts can look to the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a case study.

More than 200 students were treated for flu-like symptoms during the first week of classes in September and nearly 400 were treated the second week. The outbreak tapered off about a month into the school year before a spike of flu-like symptoms in the general population hit the Madison campus again in early November.

UW was one of a handful of campuses nationwide that dealt with apparent large outbreaks of the novel H1N1 virus from the first day of classes, but the problem at colleges was widespread. The American College Health Association reported in early September that more than half of the 165 colleges and universities it surveyed had reported cases of influenza-like illness.

About 165 college students nationwide were hospitalized with flu-like symptoms in the fall; three died.

Swine flu vaccine wasn't available for students or many others until nearly the end of the semester. Schools had to find ways to help sick students keep up with their studies while at the same time isolating them to keep the virus from spreading.

"It's a large community where people are really working in close quarters," UW Health Director Sarah Van Orman said, noting that 9,000 of the school's 42,000 students live in dorms and many others live in group housing off campus.

"Most of us don't live with eight or 10 roommates," she said.
Efforts detailed

Van Orman described the efforts that Madison and other UW campuses took to manage the H1N1 virus during the fall and the efforts they will make in the spring during a meeting Friday with the UW System Board of Regents.

UW-Madison health officials had more sick students on their hands than other Wisconsin's schools. Marquette University student health service treated 302 students for flu symptoms during the entire fall semester.

But many of the efforts among campuses were similar: Placing signs around campus buildings encouraging sick students to stay home, teaching students to wash hands more often and to improve their sneezing etiquette, and spreading prevention messages via e-mail and social networking methods such as Twitter.

Once H1N1 vaccine was available for college-age students, campuses mobilized to get it distributed. UW-Madison distributed about 6,200 doses of the vaccine, short of the 20,000 doses officials had hoped to distribute. UWM distributed about 3,100 shots to its 29,000 students, and Marquette gave about 2,100 doses to its 11,700 students. UW-Whitewater gave about 1,000 injections.

Campuses are filled with 18- to 24-year-olds, an age group the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says seems vulnerable to the virus. Julia Bonner, director of UWM's Norris Health Center, said that once school officials had vaccine doses, they tried to target students that they knew were vulnerable, such as those with asthma, and to treat students such as those who work in child care with children too young to get the vaccine.

As the semester starts, there will be more emphasis on getting more students vaccinated and on keeping the campaign fresh.

"The point is to present it in new and different ways," Bonner said.

By Sharif Durhams of the Journal Sentinel

State Reports Two New H1N1 Deaths; Cases Still Ebbing

2010-01-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

State health officials said Wednesday they have recorded two new deaths associated with the H1N1 virus, but all other flu indicators continued to show an ebb in the outbreak.

Only one patient was hospitalized with flu symptoms in the week ending on Jan. 2, and "sentinel'' clinics that report data to the state said that just 2.59 percent of their patients were reporting flu-like symptoms. There were no new outbreaks in long-term care facilities and no new school outbreaks, though most schools were closed for the holiday break.

Most indicators of the virus have dropped sharply since the fall wave of the outbreak peaked in October.

In its final weekly update for 2009, the Minnesota Department of Health said 54 Minnesotans died from H1N1 since the virus first appeared in the state last spring, and 1,578 were hospitalized with H1N1. Overall, there were 60 flu-related deaths, including one attributed to influenza-B, a different strain, and five from an unspecified strain.

Meanwhile, federal authorities have made 2.265 million doses of H1N1 vaccine available to Minnesota, with the result that the Health Department has lifted its restrictions on who can get H1N1 shots and is encouraging the general public to get vaccinated to prevent a third wave of the outbreak.

By DAVE HAGE, Star Tribune

Minnesota has 6 more swine flu deaths

BLAINE, Minn.
Hundreds of people turned out for a mass swine flu clinic in Anoka County on Wednesday, the first day anyone in Minnesota could get vaccinated with the state Health Department's blessing.

The clinic was scheduled to start at 1 p.m., but nurses started giving flu shots and squirting nasal mists to early arrivals nearly two hours before the official start. An official said 150 people had been vaccinated by 1:15 p.m. and about 500 by 3:30 p.m.

Many were like Bill Haugen, 31, of Andover, and Janet Lundeen, 64, of New Brighton who couldn't get the vaccine before Wednesday because they weren't in one of the priority groups designated by federal health officials.

Those groups included people younger the 25 years, pregnant women, health care workers, children and adults with certain underlying health conditions and those who care for infants. In Minnesota, that's an estimated 2.7 million people.

Haugen said he wanted to get vaccinated as quickly as possible because he was concerned about his children, ages 1 and 4. "I don't want to bring it home to my kids," he said at the clinic at the National Sports Center in Blaine.

Lundeen was there with her two grandchildren, ages 4 and 6, and their mother. "I want to stay healthy," Lundeen said. "I don't want to get the flu. I don't want to give it to my grandchildren or anyone else."

Another apparent benefit of making the vaccine available to all is that family members can prod each other into going out on a cold December day for a vaccination.

"We have to give each other support for these sorts of medical traumas," said Carol Beckerleg, 61, of Blaine, with a smile, as she waited for her daughter to arrive.

Also Wednesday, the Health Department reported that swine flu activity in the state remained low for the second week of December, although six new swine flu deaths were confirmed bringing the state's total to 50.

On Monday, the Health Department announced that clinics could open up vaccinations to anyone starting on Wednesday. The clinic put on by the Anoka County Community Health Department at the sports complex was the first in the metro area to take advantage of it.

Anoka County Community Health Department Director Rina McManus said she couldn't predict how the state's announcement would affect turnout at her clinic, but she said anything that gets more vaccine into the community was good.

"We want to get as much immunity in the community as possible," she said.

Many people are vaccinated at their doctor's offices instead of mass clinics, and spokesmen for HealthPartners Clinics and Park Nicollet Health Services both reported a spike in calls for vaccine appointments after the Health Department's announcement.

The chief of immunization at the Minnesota Department of Health, Kris Ehresmann, said the rising supply of vaccine in the state prompted the decision. "You reach some level of critical mass, and it's reasonable to open it up," she said.

The state has received about 1.5 million doses of the vaccine. That's not enough to vaccinate everyone in the priority groups, but the Health Department determined enough people in those groups had been given the chance to get vaccinated.

Minnesota was one of several states in the Upper Midwest that announced it would open its swine flu clinics in the past few days, including Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Illinois.

Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said opening the clinics was always expected when vaccine supply caught up to the demand from the priority groups.

"It's pretty much as planned," he said.

Flu viruses are notoriously unpredictable, but Osterholm said there's chance for a third wave of infections later this winter if enough people don't get their flu shots. "We need really desperately to get people vaccinated," he said.

The states announcements followed a Dec. 11 communication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to state health officers. It reminded them that in the past month vaccine supplies had doubled while virus activity declined.

The letter from CDC Director Thomas Frieden said it was appropriate to open up the clinics in areas where the demand for vaccine from the priority groups had been met.

"In many communities," he wrote, "the goal of vaccinating as many people as want to be vaccinated can be best achieved by broadening the population able to access vaccine now."

By CHRIS WILLIAMS , Associated Press

Flu Season Not Over, But Lessons Emerging

2010-01-03T05:31:00.000-08:00

The pandemic of 2009 wasn't as bad as health officials feared, but it hit the young harder and may be only in a lull.

On Kris Ehresmann's 2009 calendar, April 23 is marked with two events: "Get haircut. Pandemic begins."

That was the day Ehresmann, head of Minnesota's state vaccine program, learned that the nation's first cases of H1N1 flu had surfaced in California and Texas.

As she headed out the door that day, all she can remember thinking is: "Oh please, let this not be what I think it is."

Now, eight months later she has the answer. The 2009 flu pandemic was not the disaster public health authorities had planned for -- one that, like the 1918 Spanish flu, would kill tens of millions around the world.

But it's been pretty bad, with hundreds of patients hospitalized in Minnesota and a tragic death toll among the state's children. It's also held enough surprises to keep public health experts guessing all the way.

"The virus didn't read the playbook," Ehresmann said in an interview last week.

For now, the H1N1 outbreak is in a lull, but it may return before the winter is out. Looking back on the year, experts say they've learned some lessons from the Great Flu Pandemic of 2009. One: Expect the unexpected. Two: Don't over-promise, especially when it's a vaccine. Three: Worst-case scenario planning pays off.

"When you don't know what's in front of you, you really have an obligation to prepare for the worst," said Patsy Stinchfield, director of infectious disease at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. "And if the worst doesn't happen, we're all thankful."

The virus debuts

In Minnesota, the first case of what was then known as swine flu appeared April 30 at a middle school in Cold Spring. Reporters and disease experts from the Minnesota Department of Health descended on the small town. Two schools and a senior citizens center were closed. Gov. Tim Pawlenty ordered the state plane to ferry the specimen to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta for testing.

By the time the outbreak's first wave ended, two months later, experts knew H1N1 wasn't likely to be as bad as the virulent 1918 Spanish flu. But for reasons that are still not entirely clear, it was more dangerous to children, young adults and pregnant women than it was to the elderly.

The CDC rushed to commission a vaccine, hoping it would be ready for fall, when they knew H1N1 would return with a vengeance. But vaccine manufacturing processes are old, slow and unpredictable. Even if everything went right, it would take six months.

In the absence of a vaccine, Ehresmann and her colleagues knew Minnesota needed stopgap measures, and their only tool was to encourage the public to contain the virus itself. The "wash your hands, cover your cough" message became a public health mantra.

Just as expected, the outbreak resumed as soon as school started. By mid-October, school absences were mounting, hundreds of people were landing in the hospital -- and as authorities feared, the state's health care system was taxed to the limits.

Nowhere was the outbreak more dramatic than at Twin Cities' children's hospitals.

"We were ground zero," said Stinchfield at Children's. In all, 328 children were hospitalized there with H1N1, 50 of them in intensive care. So many kids poured into Children's emergency rooms -- a record 400 a day at the peak in October -- that the staff had to convert a day clinic into an overflow ER.

It may not have been the pandemic everyone feared, Stinchfield said, but it was bad enough. "I hope that the words 'just' and 'flu' are not in the same sentence ever again," she said.

Most children recovered within a few days, but many needed chest tubes and ventilators; at least one child was hospitalized for two months, and some were left with permanent brain damage.

Meanwhile, a surprising number of healthy, younger adults were devastated by H1N1, including Krystal Alwin, 28, who now lives in east St. Paul. She got sick on a Friday in October. Because she didn't have health insurance, she waited until Monday to see her doctor. Her clinic immediately called an ambulance -- then asked if she had a living will.

"I felt sicker after hearing that," she said last week.

Alwin was on a ventilator and in a coma for two weeks at United Hospital in St. Paul before she woke up in the intensive care unit. She's recovering now and looking for a job. But she lies awake nights worrying about how she will pay off her $300,000 hospital bill.

"I should never have waited," she said. "If I had [gone] in on Friday I would have been fine."

Vaccine delays

A vaccine might have helped patients like Alwin, too. But unexpected manufacturing problems turned the supply into a trickle and confounded the optimistic promises of federal health officials.

Clinics were flooded with calls from patients seeking vaccine. At day care centers and school events, mothers exchanged tips on where to find it. When Park Nicollet Clinic announced it had a limited supply, its switchboard crashed.

"The pressures to say we've got the vaccine ... made us paint a much more rosy picture than was actually [true]," said Stinchfield. If, instead, federal health officials had warned it wouldn't be widely available until January, they would have looked like heroes when it started arriving in October.

That, Stinchfield said, "was probably the only thing I think people would want to take back and do over." All the experts agree that one of the major lessons learned last year is that it's time to develop a better, faster way to make flu vaccine.

Once it became clear that initially there would be a shortage, Minnesota, in contrast to other states, devised a lottery system to distribute the vaccine to local public health agencies and clinics. Officials started with those who took care of the sickest children and gradually expanded to others as supplies increased.

At the height of the outbreak in October and November, state health officials took heat from many who wanted the vaccine but couldn't get it.

Ehresmann said she has no regrets because the plan worked. Vaccine went to the vulnerable first. There was no outcry here as there was in New York, when Wall Street firms gave shots to employees.

But, Ehresmann says, she would give federal and state public health agencies a grade of "D" in managing public expectations. "We have to talk more about the reality of shortages and what it means," she said.

So how bad was the Great Pandemic of 2009?

Across the country so far there have been some 16 million more cases than in the average seasonal flu season and 13,000 more hospitalizations, said Mike Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota. There have been nearly 10,000 deaths, far fewer than in a typical flu season -- but the vast majority were in people younger than 65, he said.

And it's not over until it's over.

"We could have a lot of illness yet to come," he said.

Josephine Marcotty • 612-673-7394
Maura Lerner • 612-673-7384
Star Tribune staff writers

Question & Answer: Advice About Swine Flu

2009-12-31T06:05:00.000-08:00

Swine flu has spread across the world since emerging in Mexico and is now officially the first flu pandemic for 40 years. Experts fear millions of people will be infected.

What is swine flu and what are the symptoms?

Swine flu is a respiratory disease, caused by a strain of the influenza type A virus known as H1N1.

H1N1 is the same strain which causes seasonal outbreaks of flu in humans on a regular basis.

But this latest version is different: it contains genetic material that is typically found in strains of the virus that affect humans, birds and swine.

Although the strain may have originated in pigs, it is now a wholly human disease.

It can be spread from person to person by coughing and sneezing.

Symptoms of swine flu in humans appear to be similar to those produced by standard, seasonal flu - fever, cough, sore throat, body aches and chills. Some people with the virus have also reported nausea and diarrhoea.

However, many people who get flu show no symptoms at all.

Health experts say this could happen in half of all cases and with swine flu an analysis has shown that for children one in four of those infected may not fall ill.

What are the risks of the flu?

Experts have wrestled with the question ever since the pandemic emerged.

The problem is that for most people it is mild - about 98% recover without the need for any hospital treatment.

But doctors have found it very hard to predict who will develop complications, hence it has been dubbed a "Jekyll and Hyde" virus.

A fifth of the people who have died have been previously healthy individuals without any health conditions.

Nonetheless, certain groups are known to be at higher risk.

Pregnant women are between three to four times more likely to get seriously ill.

Young children also have higher rates of hospitalisation - although this could be partly because doctors are quicker to admit them.

Should I have the vaccine if offered it?

The vaccination programme is well under way.

Nearly 14m people, including NHS workers, people with health problems and pregnant women, will be offered the jab by Christmas. Healthy children under the age of five are also due to start getting it.

But already polls suggest people are worried about whether to get vaccinated.

The government says that getting immunised is the best way to protect yourself against flu.

However, its experts recognise that people are jumpy about vaccines and have said it is very much a personal decision.

People who are suspicious of vaccines often talk about the risk of complications.

One of the most common which is mentioned in association with flu vaccines is Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare disorder in which a person's own immune system damages the nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis.

Most of the evidence suggests vaccines do not increase the risk, however there is research to indicate that getting flu increases it seven-fold.

Another allegation sometimes made is that being given the vaccine could actually give you flu.

Doctors are adamant this is not the case - the two vaccines being used in the UK do not contain the live virus.

As for deaths, the World Health Organization has been monitoring this and while a handful of people have died after being given the vaccine, officials have ruled out any link to the jab.

Why has the UK been more affected than other countries?

The UK has a comprehensive flu surveillance system, hence more cases may be identified in the UK than in other countries with less comprehensive monitoring services.

Also, the spread of the infection in the early stages was linked to flights out of Mexico. With Mexico being a popular tourist destination for British tourists, Britain was one of the first countries alongside the US and Canada to start seeing cases.

As the UK was affected earlier than some other countries the infection spread to a higher number of people at the start of the pandemic.

However, as the British summer progressed, cases fell, while southern hemisphere countries saw rises as they went through their winters.

More recently cases have started going up again in the UK, but other countries, such as France, also have high rates.

What should I do if I think I have it?

Anyone with flu-like symptoms who suspects they might have the swine flu virus are being advised to stay at home and contact the National Flu Service on 0800 1 513 100 or via the internet at www.direct.gov.uk/pandemicflu

The service allows sufferers to get access to anti-flu drugs without the need to consult a GP.

However, those with underlying health conditions, pregnant women and parents of children under one are still being advised to contact a doctor.

The GP route is also open to anyone who does not want to use the service.

In the initial phase of the outbreak, lab testing was done to diagnose the flu but this is no longer happening routinely.

How is it treated?

Two drugs commonly used to treat flu, Tamiflu and Relenza, are effective at treating infection, reducing the length of the illness and cutting the chances that people will have serious complications.

Use of these drugs may also make it less likely that infected people will pass the virus on to others.

However, the drugs must be administered at an early stage to be effective.

Researchers have also questioned whether the drugs are helpful in children aged between one and 12, saying the risk of side effects might outweigh any benefits.

But the Department of Health maintains a "safety-first approach" of offering antivirals to everyone remains a sensible and responsible way forward.

It said it would keep the policy under review.

Where can I get further advice?

Further information and advice on swine flu can be found at websites of leading health and research organisations around the world. The World Health Organisation gives background information on the virus.

The UK's government services website is carrying regularly updated health and travel information. The Health Protection Agency advises the public about what to do if returning from an affected area. NHS Choices outlines how swine flu is different from other flu.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is another good source of information.

The US government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is counting the number of cases in the US.

You can also track spread of swine flu reports using unofficial sources. Google is mapping search term data as an indicator of flu activity both across the US down to state level and in Mexico. Healthmaps maps viruses using news reports. Social media guide Mashable lists a range of ways to track the virus .

Information and links to useful websites are being shared on Twitter, the micro-blogging service, while social networking website Facebook is tracking swine flu discussion amongst users.

Further questions from our readers have been answered by a UK-based expert.

And the BBC's medical correspondent, Fergus Walsh, is filing regular entries on his blog on H1N1.

Swine Flu Wanes, But Challenges Stay

2009-12-31T05:53:00.000-08:00

Global health officials' response to the swine-flu pandemic reflects major improvements in flu-fighting capabilities in recent years, but limited vaccine supplies, crowded emergency rooms, and other challenges show they still aren't fully equipped to combat a deadlier scourge, the World Health Organization's chief said.

While a second wave of infections caused by the H1N1 virus has ebbed in North America and Western Europe, transmission of flu remains intense in Central and Eastern Europe and parts of southern Asia, and health authorities must monitor its spread for another year or more, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in an interview this week.

It is premature to say the pandemic has peaked world-wide," she said. "The situation needs to be watched and monitored at least another six to 12 months." The virus could still mutate to become more severe, she warned.

Cases of H1N1 flu confirmed by laboratory testing have been reported in more than 208 countries and overseas territories, the WHO said Wednesday, and at least 12,220 people have died. A third wave is possible, Dr. Chan said, noting that the Southern Hemisphere could experience another one when its flu season returns in a few months.

North Korea sent out a nationwide alert in recent days about the apparent worsening spread of H1N1 flu there, according to Seoul-based Buddhist aid group Good Friends, which has contacts in that country.

In the U.S., flu was widespread in only seven states in disparate parts of the country the week ended Dec. 19, the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The WHO chief defended the United Nations agency's decision in June to declare the H1N1 virus a pandemic, saying it was causing sustained transmission in multiple areas and severe disease. She said the agency would facilitate a review by member states of global health officials' response to the pandemic, the world's first in more than four decades.

Global health officials have far better tools for battling emerging infections than they did "in 2003 when the world was really scrambling to deal with SARS," said Dr. Chan, who was director of health in Hong Kong during the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome. She credited countries with "generous and timely sharing" of information, virus samples, diagnostic capabilities and research expertise in the eight months since the H1N1 virus was identified.

But the world isn't ready for a deadly pandemic like one that officials have feared could be sparked by the H5N1 avian-flu virus, which, though rare, has killed about 60% of the people it has infected, she said. Against a backdrop in which more people suffering from chronic diseases, HIV and other diseases, and a global recession that has pushed many further into poverty, "the occurrence of a moderate pandemic will probably rank as the best health news of the decade," Dr. Chan said.

Health systems in many countries -- both rich and poor -- aren't equipped to handle a surge of patients in an outbreak, Dr. Chan said. While most people haven't required a doctor's treatment to recover from the H1N1 flu, the virus has severely sickened and killed some children and young adults.

More must be done to improve vaccine technology and increase capacity enough to allow officials to mount a massive, rapid global vaccination campaign that could thwart a deadly virus, she said. An antiquated technology currently in use takes months to produce a vaccine.

Dr. Chan said she remains concerned about the spread of the H1N1 virus to developing countries.

The South Korean government shipped antiviral drugs to its impoverished neighbor earlier this month, and Good Friends, the aid group, said this week that North Korean officials had issued a statement that said patients suffering from the disease should be given priority.

The true picture within highly restrictive North Korea is difficult to determine. Officials there couldn't be reached. On Dec. 9, North Korea's official Korea Central News Agency confirmed that nine people had contracted the epidemic.

Jaeyeon Woo contributed to this article.
Write to Betsy McKay at betsy.mckay@wsj.com

Three Things To Prevent Cancer

2009-12-20T01:39:00.000-08:00

One of the most unfortunate developments in modern healtcare is that the practice of medicine has become the business of medicine. The goal is not to make people healthy. It is to make a profit.

"Modern medicine" has little interest in preventing disease, because there is little profit in it. That is why virtually the entire system is based on "managing" and "treating" illness, rather than preventing it in the first place.
And nowhere is this more evident than when it comes to cancer...

In May of 1986, the New England Journal of Medicine commented on the state of modern cancer treatment. They called it a "qualified failure." The report strongly argued for an emphasis on prevention. Today – more than two decades later – that emphasis is still not there.

Currently, less than 10% of the National Cancer Institute budget is set aside to study the environmental causes of cancer. And less than 1% is budgeted for nutrition studies.

But our job here at Total Health Breakthroughs is not to decry the unfortunate politics of health or rail against the system. Our job is to provide you with solutions, to uncover breakthroughs, and to foster hope.

The great news is that there are proven solutions, powerful breakthroughs and great cause for hope in the prevention (and treatment) of cancer.

In fact, there are three simple things you can do that will dramatically reduce your risk. And for those who are already fighting the disease, these three steps are mandatory.
Here they are:

1. Optimize your levels of the "sunshine hormone"
2. Optimize your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio
3. Eat a low-glycemic diet to keep your insulin and blood sugar low

If you ignore these three factors, it will create an environment in your body that fuels cancer like gas on a fire. On the other hand, if you follow the advice I give you below, you will create an internal environment that is inhospitable to the disease. And you will dramatically lower your risk.

Optimize Your Levels of the "Sunshine Hormone"
In the 1940s, Dr. Frank Apperly discovered that there was an 85% higher overall cancer death rate in cities between 10 and 40 degrees latitude than cities farther south. In cities between 40 and 50 degrees, there was a 118% higher death rate. And farther north still – in cities between 50 and 60 degrees latitude – there was a 150% higher death rate from cancer.

Unfortunately, Apperly’s research was virtually ignored until 25 years ago. That is when it was discovered that the rates of breast and colon cancer were twice as high in the Northeast as in the Sun Belt. Only then did researchers begin to understand and acknowledge the connection between sunlight, vitamin D and cancer.
Since then, an inverse relationship between sun exposure and at least 17 different types of cancer has been shown.

It is beyond the scope of this article, but in the book I wrote with Dr. Al Sears – Your Best Health Under the Sun – we document seven distinct ways that vitamin D fights and prevents cancer. Even if you don’t care to learn why this is true, you should optimize your vitamin D levels by spending time in the sun. During the winter months, most people should supplement with at least 2,000 IU per day.

Optimize Your Omega-3 to Omega-6 Ratio
Our ancient ancestors consumed roughly equal amounts of omega-3 fatty acids compared to omega-6 fatty acids. We evolved on this ideal 1:1 ratio. However, with the advent of food processing and the abundance of vegetable and seed oils in our diet, many people consume 20 to 50 times more omega-6 fats than omega-3s.

These fats are highly unstable and vulnerable to oxidation. The unnatural, excessive consumption of these fats strongly promotes free radicals, which can lead to DNA damage and cell mutation.

In a study published in the journal Cancer Research in 2000 researchers showed that the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, inhibited the progression of exponentially growing cancer cells. This study also noted that omega-6 fatty acids are known to stimulate cancer.

The researchers summarized their findings, stating that "Epidemiological, experimental, and mechanistic data implicate omega-6 fat as stimulators and long-chain omega-3 fats as inhibitors of the development and progression of a range of human cancers." Numerous studies confirm these findings.

Keep Your Blood Sugar and Insulin Levels Low
In the Women’s Health Study, researchers found that a consistently high glycemic diet significantly increased the risk of colon cancer in women. Other studies have clearly shown that high carbohydrate diets are linked with a broad range of cancers.
There are several reasons for this. First, these foods dramatically increase inflammation and oxidative stress in the body.

High-glycemic carbohydrates also stimulate the release of insulin. High insulin levels have been shown to fuel cancer growth. In fact, cancer cells have six to ten times more insulin receptors than normal cells!
Finally, sugar itself is like fertilizer for cancer. In 1931, German scientist Otto Warburg, Ph.D. won his first of two Nobel prizes. He discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells. While all cells require glucose for fuel, cancer cells consume 4 to 5 times more glucose than normal cells. In other words, sugar feeds cancer.

One of the best ways to monitor your blood sugar metabolism is with a "fasting insulin test." Dr. Joseph Mercola suggests that a normal fasting blood insulin level is below 5. Ideally, however, you want it to be below 3.

Three Steps to Stopping Cancer...
There are many things you can do to reduce your risk of cancer and increase your level of protection. But the three things I have listed in this issue are extraordinarily important. And the good news is that they are simple and inexpensive.

Optimize your vitamin D levels... choose healthy fats... and consume a low-sugar, low-glycemic diet. Follow these three steps consistently over a long period of time, and you will dramatically reduce your risk of cancer... and just about every other degenerative disease!

To Your Great Health,

Jon Herring
Editorial Director
Total Health Breakthroughs

Good News, Bad News on Swine Flu

2009-12-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

Deaths Increase, but So Do Number Immunized

County Health officials reported that roughly 30 percent of the county’s population has now been immunized—either through vaccines or through exposure—to the H1N1 virus, a.k.a. swine flu, thus slowing the rate of increase. Thirty percent is the threshold at which “herd immunity” is said to occur.

To date, county health officials have distributed about 10,000 vaccines via the various health clinics throughout the county, and private doctors have dispensed another 55,000. County health officials are expecting that another 60,000 vaccines will be made available by the end of December. That would take the percentage of immunized individuals well past the 50 percent mark.

During the last two weeks of November, two additional deaths were reported in connection with the swine flu, bringing the county total thus far to five. On November 27, a 25-year old male died after a 20-day hospitalization. On November 28, a 52-year-old female died after spending only a few days in the hospital. (Both individuals were Santa Barbara residents, so presumably they stayed at Cottage Hospital.) The three prior deaths involved a 15-year-old female, a four-year-old male, and an 82-year-old female. County health officials reported seven swine flu patients were hospitalized during the last two weeks of November, bringing the total number of individuals hospitalized since the swine flu epidemic started to 54.

Most of those reporting the flu are younger; only 12 of the 54 hospitalized were 40 years or older. In addition, 61 percent of those hospitalized were female. Although county officials have expressed relief that the rate of spread has slowed down, they stressed that swine flu remains an epidemic throughout Santa Barbara County and the state.

Santa Barbara County’s incidence of swine flu is 12.9 per 100,000 people, versus 18.8 per 100,000 statewide.

County health officials confirmed anecdotal accounts suggesting that Santa Barbara emergency rooms saw intense activity the last week, up by about 1,000 visits from the week before. While that’s high, it is not a record or even the highest for the past year. Of those, six percent of the admissions were for the flu. That percentage has been relatively constant.

By Nick Welsh
http://independent.com/news/2009/dec/05/good-news-bad-news-swine-flu/

Flu virus cases slowing down

The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services is warning residents to beware of potential scams preying on concerns generated by the H1N1 influenza outbreak.

One such scam is a phishing e-mail currently circulating that directs the recipient that he or she must register with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and create their “personal vaccination profile” online. If you receive this e-mail, delete it.

“Nevadans should not provide any personal information online in response to this type of solicitation, and neither the state nor the federal government is requesting that people do so,” said Richard Whitley, administrator of the State Health Division.

The e-mail in question has the subject line “Creation of your personal Vaccination Profile” and comes from an e-mail address that appears to be the CDC. It is not. Instead, it takes the person to a Web site that looks like the CDC page and directs them to download a file.

Consumers should also beware of any companies or individuals offering special sanitation services to protect from H1N1. A normal, thorough cleaning of surfaces with a household disinfectant is an effective method of fighting off the flu.

The federal government has also set up a list of fraudulent products being marketed to protect against H1N1 influenza, and that list can be found at http://www.flu.gov.

Bacterial illness is linked to swine flu, CDC reports

2009-11-29T05:39:00.000-08:00

Federal officials said Wednesday that they have noticed "a worrisome spike in serious pneumococcal disease" linked to infections with pandemic H1N1 influenza.

Health authorities normally see an increase in such infections associated with seasonal flu, but this year the rate is substantially higher than normal and striking younger people rather than the elderly, according to Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

And for the second week in a row, the American College Health Association has reported a drop in influenza-like illnesses on college campuses, a 37 percent decrease for the week ended Nov. 20, following a 27 percent decrease the preceding week. Those data suggest that the first wave of swine flu has passed its peak.

The pneumococcal infections typically occur when an influenza infection weakens the lining of the lungs, allowing bacteria that normally reside in the nose and throat to make their way down to the lungs, where they cause severe disease, inflaming the lungs and often spreading through the blood to other organs.

Most of the pneumococcal infections can be prevented with a vaccine called Pneumovax that is recommended for people with medical conditions that leave them at high risk, but only about a quarter of such people have received an immunization.

The problem with pneumococcal infections is showing up in the CDC's Active Bacterial Core surveillance program, which monitors infections at 10 sites. In the Denver metropolitan area, there are typically about 20 such infections in October. This year, there were 58, most of them among people under age 60, according to the ABC surveillance.

"We don't think this is the only area of the country where this is going on," Schuchat said. "There is some evidence of an increase at multiple sites, but there is probably more timely reporting in Denver."

Schuchat said 61.2 million doses of swine flu vaccine are available for ordering by the states as of Wednesday, an increase of more than 7 million doses since last week.

"We're expecting to see vaccination efforts really step up as we head into December," she said.

The agency also reported its first assessment of potential side effects from vaccinations.

"A lot of people have been waiting for this report, and we think it is good news," Schuchat said. "The patterns we are seeing are pretty much exactly what we see with seasonal flu."

That is not surprising because the two vaccines are manufactured the same way. More than 94 percent of reports to the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System, or VAERS, are classified as not serious, she said, including a sore arm and redness and tenderness at the injection site.

Ten reports of Guillain-Barre Syndrome are being investigated. That syndrome is a particular concern because there were reports of an increase in incidence after an earlier swine flu vaccination program.

"The number of reports, given the number of doses (of swine flu vaccine given), is not at all notable," Schuchat said. "It's important to remember that Guillain-Barre Syndrome happens, with or without the vaccine. Every week, 80 to 160 people come down with it."

Just because an event was reported to VAERS does not mean that it was caused by the vaccine.

For example, one severe adverse event reported to VAERS was a fatality in a car crash. Schuchat also noted that the CDC has organized an external group of experts to monitor the adverse event reporting to look for red flags, and so far "they haven't found any."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/hc-tc-nw-flu-1126-1127.artnov27,0,5260044.story

Babies arrive with limited H1N1 protection
Part of a baby's protection against the H1N1 flu depends on its most natural interactions with its mother, but other measures are needed as well.

Below, Tribune reporters address questions from readers about the swine flu virus:

Do newborn children have any antibodies in to fight the virus, or are they at a huge risk to die from the virus?

"Babies are indeed born with some of their mother's antibodies against influenza," said the University of Chicago's Kenneth Alexander, a pediatric infectious disease specialist, "and more antibodies are transferred in breast milk, another reason why breast-feeding is the best form of nutrition for babies."

But the anti-influenza antibodies from the mother and in breast milk are insufficient to prevent infection entirely, he said, which means newborns are more at risk of contracting severe influenza than older children, particularly newborns with heart and lung problems common in premature babies.

"Unfortunately, infants respond poorly to flu vaccine until age 6 months, so that doesn't help us much either," he said. "That is why it is so important that family members of young children seek flu immunization to create a 'cocoon' of protection around the infant."

Can the virus be passed through breast milk to my 2-month-old daughter?

"Influenza virus does not pass in breast milk," Alexander said. "Babies catch flu the same ways that all of us do. They inhale droplets from the coughs and sneezes of infected people, or babies acquire the virus by direct contact. This is why it is important to wash your hands before handling a young infant."

My mother had the Spanish flu in 1918 at age 4. It is a subtype of the H1N1 flu. Does she have an immunity to H1N1?

There is no current evidence that exposure to and recovery from the 1918 Great Influenza offers any protection against the 2009 H1N1 influenza, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease and immunization expert at Vanderbilt University Medical School.

Does having H1N1 give you permanent immunity to it?

People who had laboratory-confirmed cases of H1N1 in the spring or who currently have it will not get infected with this particular strain again, according to Dr. Julie Morita, medical director for the Chicago Department of Public Health's immunization program.

But that does not mean you are permanently immune to swine flu.

"It is possible that in subsequent seasons the virus may change a little ... and even people who were sick previously no longer will be immune to it," Morita said.

Every year there is a seasonal flu epidemic because of minor changes in the virus, according to Morita. When a pandemic occurs, as it did with H1N1, it is a completely new virus.

"We don't expect the H1N1 strain will change dramatically in the coming years, but there may be a small enough change that people will get infected again, even if they had it this year," Morita said.

Does the H1N1 vaccine include adjuvants, such as squalene?

Adjuvants boost a person's immune response to vaccines, but neither the H1N1 vaccine nor the seasonal flu vaccine includes any adjuvants, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC did, however, purchase squalene to have on the shelf in case of an emergency or as a contingency plan, said Dr. Anne Shuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

"If the virus mutates and becomes much, much different and more severe, we might need to add adjuvants in order to have an immune response that's effective," Shuchat said during a CDC podcast. "But for the time being, we really aren't expecting to use them."

For years, there have been claims by some Gulf War veterans that the Department of Defense added squalene to the anthrax vaccine in 1999 to stretch the supply, causing Gulf War syndrome, an autoimmune disease. However, several independent panels have investigated the allegations and found no evidence that squalene was added to the vaccine, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Europe has safely distributed seasonal flu vaccine with squalene since 1997, federal health officials said. But in the U.S., the only adjuvants licensed for use are aluminum gels or aluminum salts, used in vaccines for illnesses such as tetanus, diphtheria and childhood hepatitis, officials said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-swine-flu-q-and-a_glanton1nov29,0,6947184.story?obref=obinsite

65? Back of the Line for the Swine Flu Vaccine, Pal

2009-11-22T05:21:00.000-08:00

Who of these four is first in line for a swine flu shot:

1. A great-grandmother in a nursing home with lung problems?

2. A hospital cafeteria worker being treated for AIDS?

3. An overweight department-store Santa with a line of children waiting for his lap?

4. A healthy Wall Street banker whose trophy wife is pushing a new baby in a $600 Bumbleride jogging stroller?

Answer: The banker.

Normal flu seasons have accustomed Americans to an “old people first” ethic, but swine flu has reversed that. It’s pregnant women and children first, and in the rush for the lifeboats, elbows are beginning to fly.

Mostly, as in any panic, confusion has reigned. Older people are still first in line for seasonal flu shots, but all the media attention has been on swine flu. Both kinds of shots are in short supply. More swine vaccine is being made, but slowly. All the seasonal vaccine has already been made — but much of it was taken up by middle-aged people who didn’t know one shot from another and bared their arms for any available needle.

Now that the health authorities are cracking down on the swine flu vaccine and real triage has begun, some older Americans are finding the new realities pretty harsh. Breathing problems and heart conditions are common among people over 50, and some have been calling their Congressmen to complain. Those older Americans and their advocates point to studies indicating that elderly people rarely catch swine flu but, when they do, their outcomes are just as grim as they are for seasonal flu, which kills 36,000 mostly elderly people a year.

“We’re not used to this in the U.S.,” said Jeffrey Levi, executive director of Trust for America’s Health, a nonpartisan group that works to prevent epidemics, and who testified before Congress last week, essentially defending the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s choices. “When there’s a limited supply of a scarce resource, you have to give it to those who are most at risk and who will benefit the most.”

So why the banker? He gets the shot not for his sake — many Americans would be pleased to see him roast on a spit — but to save his baby. Infants under six months old are at very high risk but too young for a flu shot.

The hospital employee does not have direct patient contact; if he is taking his anti-AIDS drugs, his immune system is not suppressed. And even if Santa is morbidly obese — though that could create a lap problem — he is presumably over 18.

And the great-grandmother? She was born before 1957, probably caught H1N1 flus several times growing up, and may still have protective antibodies. True, if she is unlucky enough to catch swine flu anyway, she is at risk. But public health is a numbers game and her probability is low. Also, flu shots don’t protect the aged well, since their immune systems may be too weak to build new antibodies. Studies suggest it is more effective to inoculate their nurses and visitors.

On the AARP Web site, some people are complaining. “I’m 70 and my wife is 69 and we are last on the list for H1N1. I thought there was no death panels,” wrote one.

But Dr. J. T. Howell, a geriatric specialist in Bucks County, Pa., said most of his older patients were taking their back-of-the-line status in stride.

“There’s been, if anything, a little more concern about lack of ability to get the regular seasonal vaccine, which has also been in short supply in our area,” he said. “But, again, they’re doesn’t seem to be a great deal of concern with respect to H1N1.”

The ground for all these decisions was laid on July 29, when the C.D.C. released guidelines saying which Americans should be first in line.

The first swipe at the problem comprised 159 million Americans — half the population. It included everyone under 25, all health care workers and everyone of any age with heart or lung problems, diabetes, obesity or a list of other ills.

Now, just as the pandemic’s fall wave has peaked, there are only 42 million doses of swine flu vaccine to go around — by coincidence, the same number that the C.D.C. said were at top risk and should be the first of the first should there be a shortage of the vaccine. They are pregnant women, people caring for infants less than six months old, health care workers with direct patient contact, children six months through 4 years old and children 5 through 18 with chronic medical problems.

Who was left out in the narrower reslicing of the cake? Everyone over age 18, unless they are pregnant, have an infant at home or treat patients.

That means that about 117 million Americans have been told: Yes, you are officially at risk. Please step to the rear anyway until more of this slow-growing vaccine is ready.

Some understand; many are upset. They want their shot, or they want someone’s head to roll. Politicians are responding to their anger, dragging health officials before Congress to explain their priorities.

“We just have to tolerate the fact that these decisions are not going to satisfy some folks,” said Dr. William Schaffner, director of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University’s medical school and a member of the C.D.C. advisory committee that picked the guidelines.

“Some people are going to be waving their hands and saying ‘What about us?’ and some are going to be grumpy,” he said. “You just have to tell them — hold tight, wash your hands, avoid sick people, rent a movie instead of going out, and wait for more vaccine to be made.”

And, while the elderly and sick may feel vulnerable, they also often have a sense of self-sacrifice.

A few years ago, preparing for a possible pandemic of fatal bird flu, the C.D.C. held focus groups around the country to set vaccine priorities. Some were composed mostly of seniors.

Janice Zalen, director of special programs at the American Health Care Association, which represents 11,000 nursing homes, recalled the reaction.

While nearly everyone wanted the shots if there were plenty, she said, “The elderly said, ‘Well, if it comes down to it, if there aren’t enough, I don’t need it — give it to my grandson.’ ”

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/weekinreview/22mcneil.html

Concern grows over flu as wait for vaccine continues

2009-11-15T04:57:00.000-08:00

Parkside resident John McCone prays that the H1N1 virus stays away from his 19-month-old son and newborn girl.

“Every day I wonder. I hope none of us get the virus,” said McCone, 38, in reference to his wife and three children as he stood outside the Borders in Springfield Friday. He said he struggles with sending 19-month-old J.P. to preschool, knowing he might contract the “swine flu.”

“Every day, you think about it because you love your babies,” he said. “If he got H1N1, it could kill him.”

McCone is not alone in his concern over H1N1. Initially labeled swine flu because the virus’ genes are similar to the influenza viruses found in North American pigs, the Novel H1N1 influenza virus has caused concern because it has spread worldwide since last spring.

Nevertheless, Delaware County schools and agencies are determined to beat the bug that has plagued more than 206 countries and overseas territories, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

First identified in Mexico, the H1N1 influenza virus was detected in the United States in April and was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization June 11.

The CDC estimated between 14 million and 34 million cases of H1N1 occurred from April to Oct. 17 in the U.S., resulting in 3,900 deaths.

The CDC noted that while approximately 503,536 cases worldwide have been reported, including 6,260 deaths, countries are no longer required to test and report individual cases. The number of reported cases actually understates the real number of cases, the organization said.

Though Delaware County has not yet suffered any deaths from H1N1, it has seen 383 confirmed cases of the virus, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health. The majority of these cases, 30.5 percent, or 117, have been confirmed in those between the ages of 19 and 24.

The tendency of the virus to infect the school-age population was precisely the reason why the Delaware County Office of Intercommunity Health has been working with the Pennsylvania Department of Health to get an H1N1 vaccine into schools, said Maureen Hennessey Herman, the Delaware County office’s director.

Originally, 120 million doses of the vaccine were expected from the U.S. Department of Health by mid-October. Delays caused by manufacturing problems, including a backup in getting the vaccine from vats to vials because of limited “finish-and-fill” facilities, enabled only about 40 million doses to be created.

However, the Department of Health announced Friday that Chichester Middle School in the Boothwyn section of Upper Chichester will be the site of a free vaccine clinic for H1N1 from Nov. 20-22.

Individuals eligible for vaccination include: Young people between the ages of 6 months and 24 years; people who have contact with children younger than 6 months; pregnant women; health care providers and emergency medical services personnel; people under age 65 with chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, suppressed immune systems, heart or kidney disease and neurocognitive or neuromuscular disorders.

Pennsylvania Deputy Health Secretary Michael Huff said: “Our goal is to get the H1N1 vaccine to as many people as possible who are at risk of suffering serious complications from the virus.”

“The Pennsylvania Department of Health has worked very aggressively to bring in H1N1 vaccine to the commonwealth,” said Hennessey Herman, adding that vaccination will be a voluntary process.

“It’s our hope that we will continue to see larger and larger waves of the vaccine being made available,” she added.

Although Delaware County does not have a health department, three years ago the Office of Intercommunity Health Coordination organized the Delaware County Flu Task Force, a coalition of health and human service providers, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and municipal boards of health. They help raise awareness of flu prevention measures and flu vaccine clinics open to the public, said Herman.

For the last two years, the coalition has assisted state health officials in conducting drive-through flu vaccine clinics in Delaware County. Like the rest of the country, coalition members are awaiting word on the availability of H1N1 vaccine and its distribution process.

She said the county’s pandemic planning team would implement the H1N1 vaccination distribution process. The county’s federally mandated Strategic National Stockpile Plan that addresses the mass distribution of medications is primarily based at schools and has been tested in at least five schools districts, including Radnor and Chester Upland in June.

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-7, of Edgmont, also got into the virus-fighting fray, visiting the Delcroft School in Folcroft Thursday to promote flu prevention.

Many of the first- through fifth-graders in attendance were fascinated by the type of sea life the former three-star admiral encountered during his 31-year career in the Navy. He nonetheless impressed upon them the hygiene lessons he learned while at sea.

“When you are in command of a ship, as I am so fortunate to have been, one of the greatest threats to your crew is the spread of disease,” he said. Preventative measures like proper hand-washing, cough-etiquette and staying home when sick are imperative to keep everyone healthy, he said.

“I encourage every school to consider ways to ingrain preventative actions into their students to protect them, their families and those around them,” he said.

One school district that has created a “culture of cleanness,” was Springfield, according to Superintendent James Capolupo.

After experiencing its worst single-day absenteeism at 13.9 percent last year, Capolupo said everything from the busses to the mops were overhauled to promote health and mute the effects of diseases.

Hand sanitizers were installed in every elementary school classroom, hand-washing charts were installed in every bathroom, busses are routinely disinfected and microfiber mops replaced cotton loop wet mops, he said.

“There is nothing more important than the health, safety and welfare of our students and staff,” said Capolupo. “It’s kind of become part of the culture.”

Lori Gilkin, an Upper Darby mother of three, said the Upper Darby School District sent packets of information about H1N1 home with her 12-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son at the beginning of the school year. She also receives weekly phone messages regarding the status of student absences in the district.

“If anything does break out … in the district, I would know about it,” she said.

She is constantly sanitizing the surfaces in her home in response to the H1N1 threat.

“I have a newborn at home, and my kids going to school bring home germs,” she said of children enrolled in Drexel Hill Middle School.

“I spray everything I own with Lysol after my kids touch it.”

Dr. Kevin Fosnocht, M.D., the assistant vice president for quality and patient safety at Crozer-Keystone Health System, said the most important preventative measure residents can take is to get vaccinated.

“Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands,” Fosnocht said.

If an individual does contract H1N1, Fosnocht said that person should stay rested, drink plenty of fluids and stay home from work or school.

“It can be managed at home like any other flu,” he said.

By PAUL LUCE
http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2009/11/15/news/doc4aff7a0ab5bdf092168188.txt

ANALYSIS-New US swine flu death estimates will be guess

2009-11-11T19:53:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON, Nov 11 (Reuters) -

U.S. health officials are due to release new estimates of deaths from swine flu on Thursday, but the numbers will be just that -- a rough estimate.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization stopped trying to count actual cases months ago, once it became clear that H1N1 was a pandemic that would infect millions.

There are nowhere near enough diagnostic tests to give to everyone with flu-like symptoms to see if they really have swine flu, and autopsies have shown that some people who have died had H1N1 and no one even knew it.

So the death figures will be based on models, calculated by looking intensively at small groups of people, gathering data on overall reports of sickness and death, and reconciling the two.

This is also what happens every year with seasonal influenza, which WHO says kills 250,000 to 500,000 people a year globally and which CDC says kills 36,000 Americans in an average year.

Will this pandemic kill even more?

Not necessarily. Seasonal flu attacks about 20 percent of the population in an average year but it is the elderly who are the most likely to die. These patients often have other conditions and a flu infection can be the last straw that kills them.

H1N1 is hitting a younger population -- adults in their 20s and 30s and children. The latest counts from CDC showed that 1,000 have died so far, including 129 children.

The global count is more than 6,000, according to WHO.

It is possible that these younger patients may be more likely to survive their bout of flu, even if they have chronic conditions.

Doctors are comparing information about who is the most likely to die.

MEXICAN STUDY

A study in The Lancet medical journal released late on Wednesday shows that in Mexico, where the new flu appears to have spread first last March, young people were the most likely to be infected but elderly were most likely to die.

This study matches one published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association that showed 11 percent of Californians hospitalized for H1N1 died, but among people 50 and older, 18 to 20 percent who went to a hospital died.

A CDC estimate released last month suggested that up to 20,000 people were hospitalized with H1N1 through July and that 6 percent of hospitalized patients died, or about 1,300 people.

Seasonal flu has a death rate of less than 0.1 percent. The worst pandemic, such as the influenza pandemic of 1918, had a mortality rate of 2 percent or more.

The Mexican study also found that infants and people aged 39 years and under were the most likely to get infected, but that far fewer than 1 percent of these patients died.

Ten percent of patients over 70 who were treated in clinics died, they found.

They found that 4.5 percent of patients aged 50 to 59 died, but just 2.7 percent of those in their 40s and 2 percent of patients in their 30s.

These were all people who attended clinics that were part of the Mexican Institute for Social Security network, the Institute's Victor Borja-Aburto and colleagues reported, so milder cases for which patients did not seek treatment were not included in the analysis.

Mexicans who had been vaccinated for seasonal influenza had a 35 percent lower risk of getting H1N1, even though the seasonal flu vaccine offers no protection against the new virus.

Every day of delay in hospital admission after the fourth day of illness raised the risk of death by almost 20 percent, Borja-Aburto's team found.

The study shows hard hard it is to get a grip on flu deaths, as doctors cannot assess or count people who do not show up for treatment.

And numbers take months to collect. The latest Mexican data includes cases from April to July.

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
http://www.reuters.com/article/americasCrisis/idUSN11383966

H1N1: Simple Steps To Follow For Prevention

2009-11-07T22:54:00.000-08:00

The following advice, given by Dr. Oz, makes a lot of sense
and is important for all to know:

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat.

In a global epidemic of this nature, it's almost impossible to
avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all
precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as
proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of
H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation
of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very
simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official
communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how
to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official
communications).

2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to
touch any part of face (unless you want to eat or bathe.)

3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine or
Hydrogen Peroxide if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3
days after initial infection in the throat/ nasal cavity to
proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling
prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has
the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an
infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and
powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once
every day with warm salt water, or hydrogen peroxide. *Not
everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good
Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose
softly once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds
dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down
viral population.*

5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in
Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to
supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has
Zinc to boost absorption.

6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you
can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling,
but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating
viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot
survive, proliferate or do any harm.

Prevention is better than cure!

Nation Is Facing Vaccine Shortage for Seasonal Flu

2009-11-06T21:03:00.000-08:00

Even though the regular flu season has yet to start, the nation is facing a severe shortage of seasonal flu vaccine as well as swine flu vaccine.

Federal officials and independent flu experts have said the situation was unavoidable, given that the global swine flu pandemic had raised demand for all flu shots far beyond what manufacturers can make in a year.

The shortage does not mean there will be an increase in seasonal flu deaths, which average about 36,000 a year. The same amount of vaccine was made this year as last, and there is no reason to believe any of the three strains of seasonal flu will be worse this winter. In parts of the Southern Hemisphere, swine flu seemed to “crowd out” seasonal flu this winter, experts said, but whether it will do so here is impossible to predict.

Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a House subcommittee on Wednesday that officials were “very frustrated” by the shortages but unable to prevent them.

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said it showed “the inexorable connection between preparedness for pandemic flu and preparedness for seasonal flu.”

In New York, the shortage is so acute that the city health department on Wednesday asked doctors to stop giving seasonal vaccines to healthy adults under 65.

“Some additional supplies of vaccine are expected during November,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, the city’s health commissioner. “But the demand may continue to exceed the supply.”

Shortages are being reported across the country. Based on recent telephone surveys and health insurer billing data, the C.D.C. believes that up to 85 million Americans have already had seasonal flu shots, said David Daigle, a C.D.C. spokesman. Last year at this time, only about 61 million had.

Last year was the previous record: 113 million doses of vaccine were made and about 103 million Americans took them. This year, from February to May, manufacturers had grown virtually the same amount — 114 million doses — before they were asked to switch to swine flu vaccine. They have shipped about 90 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine, Mr. Daigle said.

Unless there is a sudden loss of interest, a shortage seems inevitable even after the remaining 24 million doses are shipped. Exactly when shipping will finish is unknown. One company that had problems growing one of the three seasonal flu strains has not even filled its vials yet, said a flu expert who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A sudden drop in demand seems unlikely. In New York, children and teenagers have had 258,000 doses, twice the number given last year, and frustrated parents are looking for more. The city’s public clinics have already vaccinated more people than they did all last year, the health department said.

“Most of my colleagues in Manhattan ran out of injectable vaccine two or more weeks ago and are faced with dwindling stocks of FluMist,” said Dr. Mark Horowitz, a family practitioner with offices near Wall Street and Carnegie Hall. “And none of the manufacturers are going to retool to make more.”

The University of Minnesota, which last year set the record — 11,810 — for most seasonal flu shots given in one day, had to cancel this year’s clinic because it could not get vaccine, said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy there.

The current problems began years ago, experts said, when vaccine companies started abandoning the American market.

Vaccines, which involve living viruses, are much harder to make than most drugs. Profits are lower and unused flu vaccine expires after a few months. Also, vaccines are primarily intended for children, and Americans frequently sue when a child is injured.

Little was done to lure companies back until bioterrorism fears emerged after the anthrax attacks of 2001 and the H5N1 avian flu virus, which kills about 60 percent of humans infected with it, emerged in 2003, Dr. Fauci said.

In 2004, only two companies were licensed to sell flu vaccine in the United States; now there are five, but only one, Sanofi-Pasteur, has a domestic plant. The others — GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, CSL Ltd. and Medimmune — use plants in England, Germany and Australia.

The drawback of relying on foreign plants was made clear recently when the Australian government pressured CSL to keep its vaccine at home instead of fulfilling its contract for 36 million doses of swine flu vaccine for the United States.

Bush administration officials repeatedly pressed Congress for money for vaccine technology, sometimes as part of bioterrorism-preparedness budgets, but never got as much as they asked for, said William Hall, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services.

Trying to place blame for the current shortages “is inappropriate,” said Dr. William Schaffner, director of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University medical school. “It was decisions by the manufacturers, and it was only recently, after the bioterrorism threat, that people woke up and started trying to reverse that.”

Although the government itself ordered and paid for all this year’s swine flu vaccine, about 90 percent of each year’s seasonal vaccine is made for the private sector.

Some of it is ordered directly by pharmacies, hospitals and other big users, and some is ordered by distributors who sell to individual doctors.

There is no way for vaccine makers to make more seasonal vaccine now, several experts said. They have already committed their factories to making nearly 200 million doses of swine flu vaccine for the United States and unknown amounts for other markets. It is growing in eggs much more slowly than was predicted.

They are under pressure to make more to donate or sell to the World Health Organization. Even optimistic predictions say the world’s poorest countries will get only 10 percent of the vaccine they need by winter’s end.

Also, it takes longer to make seasonal vaccine because it contains three strains.

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/health/05flu.html

H1N1: How Do You Know You Have The Flu

2009-11-05T20:47:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

Vaccination programs against H1N1 swine flu are under way in the United States, China and Australia and will begin soon in parts of Europe.

As people await their chance for immunization, here are some questions and answers about flu symptoms and what to do if they arrive before the vaccine does.

WHAT IS INFLUENZA AND WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF H1N1 SWINE FLU?

Influenza is a virus that infects the nose, throat and lungs. Seasonal flu typically kills 250,000 to 500,000 people globally, mostly the elderly but also very young children, pregnant women and people with chronic diseases.

H1N1 swine flu is a new strain that appeared in March and became pandemic in June. Like seasonal flu, H1N1 is usually mild and requires no medical care. But H1N1 also differs from seasonal flu because it is more likely to infect children and young people than the elderly.

Most H1N1 symptoms are the same as seasonal flu: fever, coughing or sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, headaches, body aches, chills and fatigue. But swine flu also can cause vomiting and diarrhea.

Dozens of other viruses cause similar symptoms but one hallmark of influenza is a sudden onset of symptoms. An illness that develops gradually is likely to be from another virus.

WHAT IF SOMEONE GETS SICK?

People who get infected by the H1N1 virus may be contagious as early as one day before they show symptoms.

Because H1N1 is now the overwhelming flu strain circulating globally, health authorities say anyone with influenza should assume it is the swine flu.

Quick flu tests may not detect H1N1 so doctors are advised not to even bother testing people with flu-like symptoms.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people with H1N1 stay home from work, school, travel, shopping, social events and public gatherings until at least 24 hours after the fever has disappeared.

Officials also urge the sick to avoid contact with anyone in a high risk group, including pregnant women, children and infants and people with chronic medical conditions including asthma, diabetes or heart disease.

In the meantime, officials recommend frequent hand-washing, covering coughs and sneezes, and in some cases use of face masks to avoid spreading infection.

The main remedies for mild illness are rest and ample fluids such as water, broth, sports drinks or electrolyte beverages made to prevent dehydration in small children.

WHAT IF SOMEONE GETS REALLY SICK?

Medical attention is recommended if the sick person has difficulty breathing or chest pain, appears blue or purple around the lips, vomits and cannot keep liquids down or shows signs of dehydration including dizziness.

The government recommends that people with chronic conditions who come into contact with an H1N1 patient seek treatment with antiviral drugs such as oseltamivir, which Roche AG and Gilead Science sell under the Tamiflu brand name, or zanamivir, an inhaled medicine produced as Relenza by GlaxoSmithKline.

Pregnant women are urged to take special care, as they are always at heightened risk from flu and especially H1N1. More than 100 pregnant women have been admitted to intensive care with H1N1 in the United States this year and 28 have died.

Parents should especially seek treatment for children with flu-like symptoms who cannot be awakened easily, who appear blue or gray, or who become ill again after getting better -- as this last symptom may indicate they have a secondary bacterial infection that can be more serious after a bout of flu.

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-SwineFlu/idUSTRE5973DC20091008?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=11604&sp=true

H1N1 flu vaccine shortage possible in Michigan

2009-11-03T05:39:00.000-08:00

State need exceeds the allocated doses

State health officials said Monday that there are fewer than 1 million doses of H1N1 vaccine allocated to Michigan right now, but there are 5 million people -- about half of those in the state -- who are high-risk individuals in need of the vaccine.

In other states, the vaccine is trickling in as officials try to meet the needs of high-risk populations.

As orders are placed and fulfilled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "we're getting it out as quickly as possible," said Bob Swanson, Michigan Department of Community Health director of the immunization division. "Orders are placed on a daily basis."

Since Sept. 1, there have been 396 H1N1-related hospitalizations and 16 deaths, all adults, in Michigan. Most of the people hospitalized have had underlying medical conditions. It's unusual to see this much flu so soon, said Dr. Greg Holzman, chief medical officer for the state health department. "We're seeing numbers you might see at the peak of a bad flu season," he said.

Federal health officials announced initial results of clinical trials in pregnant women Monday. At day 21 after immunization, 47 of 50 pregnant women had an immune response predicted to be protective. Further analysis of clinical trials in children supported the recommendation of two doses of the vaccine to achieve best protection.

As the virus continues to spread, and vaccine is still in short supply, the University of Michigan and St. John Mercy health systems are limiting visitors to those older than 16 who have no flu symptoms.

Admitted patients can have only two visitors at a time. This affects hospitals and treatment facilities in the U-M health system and at St. John Mercy locations in Ann Arbor, Livingston County, Oakland County and Saline and at St. Mary Mercy Hospital in Livonia and Chelsea Community Hospital.

BY MEGHA SATYANARAYANA
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
http://www.freep.com/article/20091103/NEWS05/911030320/?imw=Y

Pregnant women should get flu shot as winter bites: WHO

2009-11-03T05:37:00.000-08:00

GENEVA (Reuters)

Pregnant women and other people at high risk should be vaccinated against the H1N1 swine flu virus as the cold weather begins to bite in the northern hemisphere, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

It voiced concern that some vulnerable people are shying away from the pandemic vaccine, which the WHO stressed had not caused any unusual side effects in hundreds of thousands of people to have received it worldwide so far.

"Certainly the fact that the vaccine isn't being used by those who would have access to it and who would be in priority risk groups is of concern, yes," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told a news briefing.

At least 5,712 people have died from the swine flu virus, according to the United Nations agency. Health workers, pregnant women and people with conditions such as asthma are deemed at greatest risk and should be top priority for getting the shot.

"We have seen many, many instances of people in high risk groups such as pregnant women who have very severe disease or outcomes. These outcomes could be in all likelihood avoided if one were to get vaccinated," Hartl said.

Unlike seasonal flu, which is most dangerous to the elderly, H1N1 is hitting younger adults and children especially hard.

The WHO recommends a single vaccine dose for protecting adults against H1N1. It has also urged governments to consider giving a single dose to as many children under age 10 as possible, but says more research is needed into child dosages.

In the United States, studies show that children under the age of 9 will need two doses of the vaccine to be fully protected, officials there said on Monday [ID:nN02462530].

Parts of North America and Europe have already crossed the epidemic threshold, ahead of the normal influenza season which peaks in January-February for the northern hemisphere, WHO says.

"There is substantial influenza activity and we would expect to see more. Certainly the indications are that this will become something quite widespread across the northern hemisphere temperate zones as we go forward through the late autumn and winter," Hartl said.

But the WHO is reluctant to speak of a "second wave" of outbreaks, as the virus may have just been less active in the summer months, he said. Colder weather favors its spread.

Countries from China to the United States have rolled out vaccination campaigns and the rare side effects have been mild, in line with those caused by seasonal flu vaccines, Hartl said.

GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Aventis are among some 25 drugmakers companies producing pandemic vaccine.

By Stephanie Nebehay
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5A227820091103

Independent experts to study safety data on H1N1 vaccine

2009-11-02T00:40:00.000-08:00

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 2, 2009

An independent panel of experts will meet Monday to review the safety of the swine flu vaccine as part of the government's efforts to monitor the unprecedented immunization campaign.

The National Vaccine Advisory Committee's H1N1 Vaccine Safety Working Group will review the results of data being collected by the government to detect any problems with the vaccine as soon as possible.

According to a summary of data the panel will review, about 10,352 people have received the injected vaccine and 501 have gotten the FluMist nasal spray in 13 studies funded by the Health and Human Services Department's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

Of those who received the injections, 6,098 got standard vaccine while 4,254 received shots containing a substance known as an "adjuvant," which is designed to boost the effectiveness but is not being used widely. That included 5,776 adults and 4,576 children.

The subjects received two doses 21 or 28 days apart and were to be followed for six months if they did not receive an adjuvant and for a year if they did.

"After preliminary review of available safety data, the rate and nature of local and systemic reactions following each dose appear to be acceptable and similar to other influenza vaccines," according to the summary.

To date, no serious adverse events have suggested any safety signals with H1N1 vaccines. There have been no serious adverse events in the opinion of the investigator definitely related to the vaccine," the summary states.

The summary notes, however, that "the limited size of the database is not sufficient to exclude rate adverse events" and "the safety data available for review is limited because studies are still ongoing."

A second summary of data collected through Oct. 20 by the National Institutes of Health from its own studies involving 3,630 children, pregnant women and non-pregnant adults similarly found that there "have been 'adverse events,' but none that have been attributed directly to the vaccine."

"The most common issue is pain and some swelling at the injection site for a day or two. We see this with any injectable vaccine to one degree or another," it states.

Although the vaccine was produced in record time, federal health officials have issued repeated assurances that there is no reason to doubt the vaccine's safety because it was produced by the same companies that have been making the seasonal vaccine for years using the same process and the same facilities.

By Rob Stein
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110102458.html

Obama declares swine flu a national emergency

2009-10-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

President Barack Obama has declared 2009 H1N1 swine flu a national emergency, the White House said on Saturday.

The declaration will make it easier for U.S. medical facilities to handle a surge in flu patients by allowing the waiver of some requirements of Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health insurance programs as needed, the White House said in a statement.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that swine flu has become widespread in 46 of the 50 U.S. states, a level comparable to the peak of ordinary flu seasons but far earlier and with more waves of infection expected.

Obama signed the statement on Friday night.

The White House statement said the declaration was intended to prepare the country in case of "a rapid increase in illness that may overburden health care resources." It was similar to disaster declarations issued before hurricanes hit coastal areas.

"It's important to note that this is a proactive measure -- not a response to a new development," an administration official said.

"H1N1 is moving rapidly, as expected. By the time regions or healthcare systems recognize they are becoming overburdened, they need to implement disaster plans quickly," he said.

Seasonal flu normally peaks sometime between late November and early March and kills about 36,000 Americans in an average year.

Swine flu has hit young adults and children the hardest, while seasonal flu normally is more dangerous for people over age 65.

H1N1, declared a public health emergency earlier in the year, has killed more than 1,000 people in the United States and put more than 20,000 in the hospital since it emerged earlier this year, the CDC said. But health officials are quick to note that the actual number of cases cannot be measured.

The new declaration clears the way for waivers of federal requirements that, for example, could prevent hospitals from establishing off-site, alternate care facilities that could help them deal with emergency department demands, the White House said.

The Health and Human Services Department is trying to deliver vaccines against H1N1 but says production is falling short of projections because companies are having trouble making them.

HHS has also moved to make available stockpiles of antiviral drugs oseltamivir, made by Roche AG under the brand name Tamiflu, and zanamivir, an inhaled drug made by GlaxoSmithKline under the brand name Relenza.

On Friday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for an experimental new drug called peramivir, made by Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc and licensed to Shionogi & Co Ltd.

The authorization allows the intravenous drug to be used in hospitalized patients who cannot take pills or inhale Relenza or when Tamiflu or Relenza do not seem to be helping.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59N19E20091025
By Patricia Zengerle

H1N1: How do you know you have the flu?

2009-10-25T04:42:00.000-07:00