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H1N1 flu has spread to all 50 states
September 11th, 2009
Posted: 06:14 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) ? The swine-flu virus has spread to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, health officials announced Friday.
Eleven states, primarily in the Southeast but also including Alaska, Arizona, Oklahoma and Maryland, have experienced widespread flu activity, according to Dr. Anne Schuchat, who heads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
She told reporters that the seasonal flu season has started and reiterated that the new swine-flu virus ? also called H1N1 ? has not gone away since it was discovered last April and now represents the cause of the vast majority of the nation?s flu.
?Ninety-eight percent of the viruses circulating are this new H1N1 strain,? she said. Nearly 4 percent of hospital outpatient visits are from people with flu-like symptoms, the highest percentage that health officials have seen this early into a flu season, she said.
Children and young adults make up the majority of patients, which is consistent with what health officials saw last spring and summer, Schuchat said.
Widespread vaccination against the new flu would reduce the spread of illness, she said.
Pregnant women are being recruited for clinical trials to test the vaccine against H1N1; trials in children and other adults have been underway since August.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, described early results from adult trials in the United States as encouraging.
Fauci said Thursday that results from the NIH-led clinical trials show that a single 15-microgram dose of H1N1 vaccine is well-tolerated and induces a robust immune response in healthy adults.
The vaccine ? produced by Sanofi Pasteur and CSL Limited ? provided protection from the new strain of flu within eight to 10 days and was associated with side effects similar to those caused by vaccine against seasonal flu, he said.
In results from adult clinical trials published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the vaccine made by Australian manufacturer CSL Limited provoked the minimum immune response needed for licensing after three weeks.
Fauci said early results from the NIH-led trials corroborate the results from Australia.
?We?re very encouraged by the data,? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters Friday at a clinic in northern Virginia. She added that, since the results suggest many adults may need only a single dose, ?the vaccine we have purchased will go further and help us cover more people.?
Sanofi Pasteur and CSL Limited are among five makers from whom the Department of Health and Human Services has purchased H1N1 vaccine. Forty-five million doses are expected to be delivered by mid-October and 20 million more are expected to be available each week thereafter through the end of the year.
Sebelius underscored the fact that seasonal flu vaccine is already available by getting one herself at the clinic.
She reiterated that, until the H1N1 vaccine becomes available, the best way to prevent the spread of swine flu is to wash hands frequently, cough into a tissue or a sleeve and stay home if sick.
http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09...all-50-states/
Posted: 06:14 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNN) ? The swine-flu virus has spread to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, health officials announced Friday.
Eleven states, primarily in the Southeast but also including Alaska, Arizona, Oklahoma and Maryland, have experienced widespread flu activity, according to Dr. Anne Schuchat, who heads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
She told reporters that the seasonal flu season has started and reiterated that the new swine-flu virus ? also called H1N1 ? has not gone away since it was discovered last April and now represents the cause of the vast majority of the nation?s flu.
?Ninety-eight percent of the viruses circulating are this new H1N1 strain,? she said. Nearly 4 percent of hospital outpatient visits are from people with flu-like symptoms, the highest percentage that health officials have seen this early into a flu season, she said.
Children and young adults make up the majority of patients, which is consistent with what health officials saw last spring and summer, Schuchat said.
Widespread vaccination against the new flu would reduce the spread of illness, she said.
Pregnant women are being recruited for clinical trials to test the vaccine against H1N1; trials in children and other adults have been underway since August.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, described early results from adult trials in the United States as encouraging.
Fauci said Thursday that results from the NIH-led clinical trials show that a single 15-microgram dose of H1N1 vaccine is well-tolerated and induces a robust immune response in healthy adults.
The vaccine ? produced by Sanofi Pasteur and CSL Limited ? provided protection from the new strain of flu within eight to 10 days and was associated with side effects similar to those caused by vaccine against seasonal flu, he said.
In results from adult clinical trials published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the vaccine made by Australian manufacturer CSL Limited provoked the minimum immune response needed for licensing after three weeks.
Fauci said early results from the NIH-led trials corroborate the results from Australia.
?We?re very encouraged by the data,? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters Friday at a clinic in northern Virginia. She added that, since the results suggest many adults may need only a single dose, ?the vaccine we have purchased will go further and help us cover more people.?
Sanofi Pasteur and CSL Limited are among five makers from whom the Department of Health and Human Services has purchased H1N1 vaccine. Forty-five million doses are expected to be delivered by mid-October and 20 million more are expected to be available each week thereafter through the end of the year.
Sebelius underscored the fact that seasonal flu vaccine is already available by getting one herself at the clinic.
She reiterated that, until the H1N1 vaccine becomes available, the best way to prevent the spread of swine flu is to wash hands frequently, cough into a tissue or a sleeve and stay home if sick.
http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09...all-50-states/
