Tweet
More Severe Swine Flu Toll Expected in U.S., CDC Says (Update1)
April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu illnesses in the U.S. will intensify in severity and spread to more states, U.S. health officials said today, even as they stressed the response to the illness is ?going well.?
Vaccine development is under way with the help of drug manufacturers and 600 million doses may be ready in six months, said Rear Admiral W. Craig Vanderwagen, U.S. Health and Human Services Department assistant secretary for preparedness and response, at a House health subcommittee hearing today in Washington. The H1N1 virus appears to be susceptible to the stockpiled flu treatments, Roche Holding AG?s Tamiflu and Relenza from GlaxoSmithKline Plc, that are being distributed to states, he said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention based in Atlanta has identified 109 U.S. cases of flu caused by the H1N1 virus and the Geneva-based World Health Organization has found the infection in 11 countries. Health workers don?t know yet how dangerous the virus ultimately will be, said Rear Admiral Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director of the CDC?s Science and Public Health Program.
?We fully expect to find more cases, also of severity of illness,? Schuchat told the lawmakers at the hearing. ?It?s a very unusual virus and we don?t believe humans have experienced it before these cases we?re seeing. We don?t have good information about how dangerous it is. We?re in early days of understanding how severe it is.?
Preparation Key
Vanderwagen said money and time spent preparing for such an outbreak of influenza has allowed health authorities to respond quickly and communicate well with state and local partners.
?Government efforts are currently focused on saving lives, slowing the transmission of the disease, and mitigating consequences of those affected,? Vanderwagen said
Lawmakers asked Schuchat to evaluate Vice President Joe Biden?s comments today on NBC?s ?Today Show? that he has told his family to avoid traveling by airplane and subway because of he virus. ?I would tell my family -- and I have -- that I wouldn?t go anywhere in confined places now,? Biden said.
Schuchat said the CDC is telling people to avoid non- essential travel to Mexico. She added she was looking forward to flying home to Atlanta after the hearing. She repeated the advice that people frequently wash their hands, and stay home or keep their children home if they are sick.
?Worrisome? Sign
Schuchat said a ?worrisome sign from Mexico was the relatively young healthy adults? succumbing to the H1N1 virus. She said the average age of those in the U.S. confirmed to have the flu is 22.
?That did ring a bell with cases from 1918,? she said, responding to questions from lawmakers about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. People now have access to anti-viral drugs and antibiotics, as well as better health care, communications ?and hopefully leadership,? Schuchat said.
The effort to produce a vaccine to protect against the H1N1 virus will be difficult, said Joshua Sharfstein, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. The CDC has sent samples of the virus to manufacturers, government scientists and other researchers working to develop a vaccine.
?Unknown Virus?
?There are several steps to make a vaccine, to test a vaccine, but each step has uncertainties,? said Sharfstein, whose Silver Spring, Maryland-based agency falls under the Department of Health and Human Services. ?We?re dealing with an unknown virus, one that hasn?t been turned into a vaccine before, so there?s a lot of uncertainty there, but it?s a scientific uncertainty.?
Sharfstein said ?four months is one scenario? for the development of a vaccine. Public health officials in a few weeks may have a better idea of how long it will take to produce a vaccine.
Public health officials and manufacturers will face strategic decisions as they create a vaccine, Sharfstein said. The choices will include whether to produce a ?stand-alone? vaccine or combine it with other vaccines. Those decisions would be made by the agencies, researchers and manufacturers together after the data had been examined, he said after the hearing.
Rep. Philip Gingrey, a Georgia Republican, said he worried the U.S. may spend money unnecessarily and asked whether health officials will go ahead with a vaccine if the flu outbreak diminishes.
Influenza viruses can mutate frequently and the CDC tests frequently to watch the changes, Schuchat said.
?We are mindful that things might look like they?re getting better and then have a resurgence in the fall,? she said.
?The plan is to prepare for the worst,? added Sharfstein. ?We don?t want to be in a situation where we have a pandemic and no vaccine.?
To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: April 30, 2009 15:06 EDT
April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu illnesses in the U.S. will intensify in severity and spread to more states, U.S. health officials said today, even as they stressed the response to the illness is ?going well.?
Vaccine development is under way with the help of drug manufacturers and 600 million doses may be ready in six months, said Rear Admiral W. Craig Vanderwagen, U.S. Health and Human Services Department assistant secretary for preparedness and response, at a House health subcommittee hearing today in Washington. The H1N1 virus appears to be susceptible to the stockpiled flu treatments, Roche Holding AG?s Tamiflu and Relenza from GlaxoSmithKline Plc, that are being distributed to states, he said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention based in Atlanta has identified 109 U.S. cases of flu caused by the H1N1 virus and the Geneva-based World Health Organization has found the infection in 11 countries. Health workers don?t know yet how dangerous the virus ultimately will be, said Rear Admiral Anne Schuchat, interim deputy director of the CDC?s Science and Public Health Program.
?We fully expect to find more cases, also of severity of illness,? Schuchat told the lawmakers at the hearing. ?It?s a very unusual virus and we don?t believe humans have experienced it before these cases we?re seeing. We don?t have good information about how dangerous it is. We?re in early days of understanding how severe it is.?
Preparation Key
Vanderwagen said money and time spent preparing for such an outbreak of influenza has allowed health authorities to respond quickly and communicate well with state and local partners.
?Government efforts are currently focused on saving lives, slowing the transmission of the disease, and mitigating consequences of those affected,? Vanderwagen said
Lawmakers asked Schuchat to evaluate Vice President Joe Biden?s comments today on NBC?s ?Today Show? that he has told his family to avoid traveling by airplane and subway because of he virus. ?I would tell my family -- and I have -- that I wouldn?t go anywhere in confined places now,? Biden said.
Schuchat said the CDC is telling people to avoid non- essential travel to Mexico. She added she was looking forward to flying home to Atlanta after the hearing. She repeated the advice that people frequently wash their hands, and stay home or keep their children home if they are sick.
?Worrisome? Sign
Schuchat said a ?worrisome sign from Mexico was the relatively young healthy adults? succumbing to the H1N1 virus. She said the average age of those in the U.S. confirmed to have the flu is 22.
?That did ring a bell with cases from 1918,? she said, responding to questions from lawmakers about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. People now have access to anti-viral drugs and antibiotics, as well as better health care, communications ?and hopefully leadership,? Schuchat said.
The effort to produce a vaccine to protect against the H1N1 virus will be difficult, said Joshua Sharfstein, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. The CDC has sent samples of the virus to manufacturers, government scientists and other researchers working to develop a vaccine.
?Unknown Virus?
?There are several steps to make a vaccine, to test a vaccine, but each step has uncertainties,? said Sharfstein, whose Silver Spring, Maryland-based agency falls under the Department of Health and Human Services. ?We?re dealing with an unknown virus, one that hasn?t been turned into a vaccine before, so there?s a lot of uncertainty there, but it?s a scientific uncertainty.?
Sharfstein said ?four months is one scenario? for the development of a vaccine. Public health officials in a few weeks may have a better idea of how long it will take to produce a vaccine.
Public health officials and manufacturers will face strategic decisions as they create a vaccine, Sharfstein said. The choices will include whether to produce a ?stand-alone? vaccine or combine it with other vaccines. Those decisions would be made by the agencies, researchers and manufacturers together after the data had been examined, he said after the hearing.
Rep. Philip Gingrey, a Georgia Republican, said he worried the U.S. may spend money unnecessarily and asked whether health officials will go ahead with a vaccine if the flu outbreak diminishes.
Influenza viruses can mutate frequently and the CDC tests frequently to watch the changes, Schuchat said.
?We are mindful that things might look like they?re getting better and then have a resurgence in the fall,? she said.
?The plan is to prepare for the worst,? added Sharfstein. ?We don?t want to be in a situation where we have a pandemic and no vaccine.?
To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: April 30, 2009 15:06 EDT
