According to CDC, swine flu cases went down last week. Have circumstances changed or is wave I ending?

170 deaths in the USA when 1% of the pandemic has passed (ignoring future vaccinations).

Three Tamiflu resistant infections have been reported from Denmark, Hong Kong and Japan.

Europe exceeded 10 000 cases. 4 deaths. The UK stopped counting of cases.

About 1/10000 of the pandemic has passed in the world (ignoring future vaccinations).

Cancun | July 3

BBC - The UN's top health official has opened a forum in Mexico on combating swine flu by saying that the spread of the virus worldwide is now unstoppable. World Health Organization head Margaret Chan added that the holding of the meeting in Cancun showed confidence in Mexico, which has been hard hit. The WHO says most H1N1 cases are mild, with many people recovering unaided. As the summit opened, the UK alone was projecting more than 100,000 new cases of H1N1 a day by the end of the summer, and informed the ECDC that the country has changed its response strategy, acknowledging that containment of the virus is no longer possible.

The disease, which the WHO declared a full-fledged pandemic on Jun. 11, is now spreading fast in Chile, Argentina and Uruguay, fuelled by the southern hemisphere winter.

<sub>* The United States, with nearly 34,000 confirmed cases, remains the most affected country, followed by Mexico at about 9,000 and Canada with about 8,000 cases.
* 337 people have died from swine flu, which has also sickened 80000 others in 121 countries
* 1970's lab accident may have caused pandemic
* Obama to launch "national influenza campaign"
* WHO update 56 1/7</sub>

Steve Connor | July 1

The Independent - Scientists have discovered a remarkable similarity between the genetic faults behind both schizophrenia and manic depression in a breakthrough that is expected to open the way to new treatments for two of the most common mental illnesses, affecting millions of people.

Previously doctors had assumed that the two conditions were quite separate. But new research shows for the first time that both have a common genetic basis that leads people to develop one or other of the two illnesses.

Gardiner Harris | Adelphi, MD | June 30

NYT - A federal advisory panel voted narrowly on Tuesday to recommend a ban on Percocet and Vicodin, two of the most popular prescription painkillers in the world, because of their effects on the liver.

The two drugs combine a narcotic with acetaminophen, the ingredient found in popular over-the-counter products like Tylenol and Excedrin. High doses of acetaminophen are a leading cause of liver damage, and the panel noted that patients who take Percocet and Vicodin for long periods often need higher and higher doses to achieve the same effect.

Nicholas Wade | Sydney | June 28

NYT - A new method of attacking cancer cells, developed by researchers in Australia, has proved surprisingly effective in animal tests.

The method is designed to sidestep two major drawbacks of standard chemotherapy — the treatment’s lack of specificity and the fact that cancer cells often develop resistance.

- With the total number of cases in the USA estimated to have passed a ballpark one million we can be re-assured that in its present makeup the swine flu has a very low fatality rate.

The UK is seeing numbers rise above 4,500, but the methodology of diagnosis and reporting is fluid across England and Scotland.

Sunshine, especially its ultra-violet properties, usually prevent the spread of influenza in summer as people are outside. However, it is obvious that the virus is continuing to spread. WHO's latest confirmed figure globally is approaching 60,000 as at June 26.

Rob Stein | June 25

WaPo - New York has become the first state to allow taxpayer-funded researchers to pay women for giving their eggs for embryonic stem cell research, a move welcomed by many scientists but condemned by critics who fear it will lead to the exploitation of vulnerable women.

The Empire State Stem Cell Board, which decides how to spend $600 million in state funding for stem cell studies, will allow researchers to compensate women up to $10,000 for the time, discomfort and expenses associated with donating eggs for experiments.

Nicholas D Kristof | NYT

Growing up on a farm near Yamhill, Ore., I quickly learned to appreciate the difference between fresh, home-grown foods and the commercial versions in the supermarket.

...

I’ve often criticized America’s health care system, and I fervently hope that we’re going to see a public insurance option this year. But one reason for our health problems is our industrialized agriculture system, and that should be under scrutiny as well.

A terrific new documentary, “Food, Inc.,” playing in cinemas nationwide, offers a powerful and largely persuasive diagnosis of American agriculture. Go see it, but be warned that you may not want to eat for a week afterward.

(It was particularly unnerving to see leftover animal bits washed over with ammonia and ground into “hamburger filler.” If you happen to be eating a hamburger as you read this, I apologize.)

[Cross posted from Corrente.]

It's simple. You do the math on savings and you look at how the insurance companies are going to behave, given their incentives*. From Bill Moyers Journal on May 25, 2009:

BILL MOYERS: I want to get your thoughts on President Obama's plan. As I read it, it's very difficult, at this moment, to know the details of it.

DR. SIDNEY WOLFE: 'Cause there aren't any details.

BILL MOYERS: There aren't any details. But he seems to be advocating a public option that would compete with the private insurance-driven sector, as a way of lowering the cost. What do you think about it? Is that- am I reading his plan correctly?

DR. DAVID HIMMELSTEIN: Well, most of the cost savings he's talking about are really illusory, I think. And my research group has done most of the research work on administrative costs in health care. And the administrative costs he's talking about saving are a tiny fraction of the potential savings under single-payer. 'Cause hospitals have to keep their bureaucracy, if you're dealing with hundreds of different plans.

Amy Minski | June 21

Ottawa Citizen - Treatment of HIV 'sanctuary' cells creates path for possible cure: researchers

Scientists have found a new way to fight - and possibly eradicate - HIV, according to a study released Sunday by a team of Canadian and American researchers.

"For 15 years we haven't had a clue," said Dr. Rafick-Pierre Sekaly. "But now, we do. Now there's a whole new perspective of how to get rid of HIV," said the Universite de Montreal professor and director of the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida.

The new "weapon" will combine antiretroviral therapy, which is the current treatment for HIV/AIDS, with a new one the researchers are calling an intelligent targeted chemotherapy.

June 19

MSNBC - Worldwide, the number of confirmed cases reached 44,287, the WHO reported Friday. WHO says cases increased by more than 10 percent in two days. In Europe, the ECDC on Friday reported 348 new cases in EU and EFTA countries.

CDC tele-conference June 18.

In Australia the total of confirmed H1N1 Influenza 09 cases as at 1200 AEST on 20 June is at 2376, up 46 since this morning, with one H1N1 09 related death. The national breakdown is: ACT 93, NSW 409, NT 56, Qld 249, SA 139, Tas 62, Vic 1230, WA 138. One death has been recorded in SA in a person with confirmed H1N1 Influenza 09, together with a range of other chronic diseases.

Canberra | June 17

Agonist Exclusive - Over the next 48 hours Australia is moving into a new national pandemic level, "protect".
Following consultation with state and territory health officials and WHO, the consensus is that many Australians will contract the virus over the winter months. The new "protect" level is a solution on how to deal with a mild pandemic

Officials are hoping that the majority of cases will only have a mild influenza illness. Therefore the Australian health authorities have requested that anti-virals such as Tamiflu and Relenza are not to be prescribed to those with the illness, in order to maintain the stockpile of anti-virals. The stockpile is only to be used if a second more serious wave of infections occurs.

Cairo | June 16

Reuters -
Libyan authorities have reported an outbreak of bubonic plague in the Mediterranean coastal town of Tubruq(Tobruk), and the World Health Organisation was sending a team to investigate, a WHO official said Tuesday.

The cases -- approximately 16 to 18 have been reported -- would be the first in more than two decades in Libya of the disease known in medieval times as the Black Death, according to John Jabbour, a Cairo-based emerging diseases specialist at WHO.

"It is reported as bubonic plague," Jabbour said, adding WHO still didn't have "a full picture" of the situation.

"It is officially reported by Libya... Tomorrow, WHO is deploying a mission to Libya to investigate the whole situation, to see how many of the cases are confirmed, or not confirmed."

He said preliminary information from Libyan authorities showed 16 to 18 reported cases including one death, and that Tripoli had asked for assistance from the global health body.

Bubonic plague, noticeable by black bumps that sometimes develop on victims' bodies, causes severe vomiting and fever and still kills around 100 to 200 people annually worldwide. It can kill within days if not treated with antibiotics.

A plague epidemic of 1347 to 1351 was one of the deadliest recorded in human history, killing about 75 million people, according to some estimates, including more than a third of Europe's population.

That pandemic was thought to have begun in Asia, then spread into the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Joyce Smith | June 13

The Kansas City Star -

Calorie counters, beware.

Restaurants across the land, feeding a trend begun several years ago with the introduction of Hardee’s Thickburger, are offering ever-larger burgers, sandwiches and rich dishes.

In this economy, restaurateurs say, they want to give more value for the money. And stressed consumers seem to have a taste for such comfort food. For some diners, words like low fat, diet, organic or healthy are just not on the menu.

“I hate to say it, but if you are down on your luck, you tend to eat more, you lean toward food,” said Kevin Lyman, president of the Kansas City Originals, an organization of area independent restaurants.

The latest burst of big food is not going down well with nutrition experts. To counter the trend, they’re backing federal legislation introduced this week that would require restaurants to list calories on the menu or on menu boards.

Papa Bob’s Bar-B-Que of Bonner Springs calls its entry into the giant sandwich explosion of 2009 the Ultimate Destroyer.(pictured, engorged here)

Take a half-pound of pulled pork and a half-pound of hickory-smoked sliced pork on a 12-inch hoagie bun. Top that with sauce, two slices of bread and then a half-pound of hickory-smoked turkey breast.

Follow that with a half-pound of ham, sauce and two more slices of bread, then three half-pound hickory smoked hamburgers with more sauce and more bread, brisket, sausage, sauce and bun.

In case you’ve lost track, that’s 4½ pounds of meat.

June 11

Agonist Exclusive - After years of international concern about an avian flu H5N1 pandemic; the world is awaiting the 6pm Geneva time WHO press conference, at the WHO boardroom where it is expected that the Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan will announce that the world is officially dealing with the novel H1N1 influenza (swine flu) at pandemic level. Scotland's Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon told Scottish lawmakers "A move to level 6 is not a verdict on the severity of the virus," she said. "It simply means that the extent of global spread now fulfills the definition of a pandemic." WHO considers a disease pandemic when transmission between humans becomes widespread in at least two regions of the world.

Emerging in Mexico and California in March 2009, the novel H1N1 influenza, commonly known as swine flu, has achieved what many feared Avian Flu would do since November 2003, spread rapidly 'around the world in 80 days', with sustained transmission on several continents, especially in Australia.

...And we have a pandemic! ~ h/t raja

June 9

Reuters -

U.S. advisers began considering on Tuesday whether the makers of three blockbuster antipsychotic drugs should be allowed to promote them for children and teens with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
.
Eli Lilly and Co's Zyprexa, AstraZeneca's Seroquel and Pfizer's Geodon are approved for adults and already used to treat children. But the companies need Food and Drug Administration approval before they can advertise them specifically for youths as young as 10.
.
Winning FDA clearance for wider use may boost sales, which already top a combined $10 billion annually.

Lilly and Pfizer were scheduled to speak to the panel later on Tuesday. In summaries released before the meeting, both companies said their drugs' risks were acceptable, given their benefits for treating serious mental illnesses.
.
The FDA advisers were expected to vote Wednesday on whether the medicines were effective and acceptably safe for various age groups. The agency will make the final decision, but usually follows panel recommendations.

LOL! '..both companies said their drugs' risks were acceptable, given their benefits for treating serious mental illnesses'..what else would they say?

June 9

WHO - situation update 45 as at June 8. Three updates a week have become the WHO norm~graham

My roundup of the current situation after the jump.

Spencer S. Hsu | June 8

WaPo - President Obama's contingency plan to help finance production of a swine flu vaccine with funds set aside to develop defenses against biological attacks would weaken the nation's preparedness for terrorism, the leaders of a bipartisan commission on weapons of mass destruction said yesterday.

The White House asked Congress on Tuesday for authority to spend up to $9 billion more for an H1N1 flu vaccine and other preparations against the novel flu strain that first appeared in April.

Of the total, the administration asked Congress to provide $2 billion in "contingent" funding. Another $3 billion could come from the Project BioShield Special Reserve Fund, created in 2004 to field countermeasures against nuclear, biological or chemical threats; $3.1 billion from stimulus funds appropriated to spur economic recovery; and $800 million from the Department of Health and Human Services.

"Using BioShield funds for flu preparedness will severely diminish the nation's efforts to prepare for WMD events and will leave the nation less, not more, prepared," the commission's chairman, former senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.), and vice chairman, former senator James M. Talent (R-Mo.), wrote to Obama in a letter sent yesterday and in another dated Wednesday to his budget director, Peter Orszag.

Raiding BioShield would weaken the ability of private firms to raise credit and sustain long-term research and development on drugs to respond to bioterror threats, for which there is no private market, industry officials said. The former lawmakers said the H1N1 influenza virus poses a public health threat that merits its own funding.

June 8

BBC - Scientists have shown a rogue protein thought to cause Alzheimer's can spread through the brain, turning healthy tissue bad.

They believe the tau protein may share characteristics with the prion proteins which cause vCJD.

When injected into the brains of healthy mice it triggered formation of protein tangles linked to Alzheimer's.

However, experts stressed the Nature Cell Biology study did not mean tau could be passed from person to person.

Tau is a protein present in all nerve cells, where it plays a key role in keeping them functioning properly.

But a rogue form of the protein can trigger the formation of protein clumps within nerve cells known as neurofibrillary tangles.

It is thought that these tangles are likely to be a major cause of Alzheimer's disease.

Mike Stobbe | Atlanta | June 5

AP - Tourette's syndrome occurs in 3 out of every 1,000 school-age children, and is more than twice as common in white children as in blacks or Hispanics, according to the largest US study to estimate how many have the disorder.

Tourette's - known for its physical tics and, in some cases, shouted obscenities - has long been considered a rare condition. The new number means it's more common than some past estimates, but confirms that it's far less common than other neurological conditions such as autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Google flu trends spies queries related to flu in almost real time from Australia, USA, Mexico and New Zealand.

The spread of the swine flu is normal in Australia. It spreads like an ordinary flu.

Whither novel h1n1 influenza (swine flu)?

Across the USA, it is the only significant influenza strain in circulation. Cases keep increasing thru Asia and Oceania.
Infections across Europe continue to rise BUT it is worth noting that some cases are actually travellers arriving from the Americas.

WHO continues to try and maintain a perspective by only posting updates every two days; with the onset of colder weather in the southern hemisphere, WHO is looking at implementing a severity index based on geographical data rather than upping the global pandemic warning to 6.

An interesting review of the response and preparedness of the USA since April here.

Earlier updates.

Washington DC | June 4

Reuters - Medical bills are behind more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday in a report they said demonstrates that healthcare reform is on the wrong track.

More than 75 percent of these bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by their medical debts, the team at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School and Ohio University reported in the American Journal of Medicine.

"Unless you're Warren Buffett, your family is just one serious illness away from bankruptcy," Harvard's Dr. David Himmelstein, an advocate for a single-payer health insurance program for the United States, said in a statement. "For middle-class Americans, health insurance offers little protection," he added.

Patients with multiple sclerosis paid a mean of $34,167 out of pocket in 2007, diabetics paid $26,971, and those with injuries paid $25,096, the researchers found.

Jaonon Gale & John Lauerman | June 3

Bloomberg - Swine flu, becoming entrenched in Australia and Chile, will prompt the World Health Organization to declare the first influenza pandemic in 41 years, said three people familiar with the agency’s plans.

As global infections creep past 20,000, Bloomberg have a good round up of the current state of decision making~graham

Denis Campbell | May 31

The Observer - Record numbers of Britons who are suffering from terminal illnesses are queueing up for assisted suicide at the controversial Swiss clinic Dignitas, the Observer can reveal.

Almost 800 have taken the first step to taking their lives by becoming members of Dignitas, and 34 men and women, who feel their suffering has become unbearable, are ready to travel to Zurich and take a lethal drug overdose.

The tenfold increase in the number of Britons who have joined Dignitas since 2002 will raise questions about the law that bans assisted suicide in Britain.