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Editor-in-Chief & President
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Swine Flu Mildness Called ?Encouraging? by U.S. (Update2)
2009-05-03 20:28:38.186 GMT
(Updates world count in fifth paragraph, Canada?s count in
seventh, list in 12th. For related stories, see EXT3 <GO>.)
By Tom Randall
May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu is killing fewer people and
producing milder symptoms than the world?s previous influenza
outbreaks, an ?encouraging? sign for an illness that is
spreading easily, the U.S. chief for disease fighting said.
The official, Richard Besser, spoke as the newest tallies
confirmed the disease in at least 19 countries. Just nine days
ago, on April 24, the World Health Organization warned of cases
of ?influenza-like illness? in the U.S. and Mexico. The
Geneva-based international agency said yesterday it may declare
a pandemic, a measure of the flu?s geographical reach and
ability to spread.
Swine flu, formally H1N1, contains genes from swine, bird
and human viruses. The possibility of the virus jumping from
species to species, or of exchanging genetic material with other
forms of the disease to return in a more potent form later this
year, is one reason scientists are concerned. That prospect was
elevated with a confirmed human-to-swine transmission in Canada.
?What we?ve found is that we?re not seeing the factors
that were associated with the 1918 pandemic, we?re not seeing
the factors that were associated with other H1N1 viruses, and
that?s encouraging,? said Besser, acting chief of the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on the ABC News
program ?This Week.? Because the virus is new and possibly
evolving, ?I don?t think it?s time to let our guard down.?
Mostly North America
The WHO, a Geneva-based agency of the United Nations, today
reported 898 laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu, with 20
deaths. Mexico has the biggest outbreak, with 506 cases,
including 19 dead. The U.S. reported 226 cases in 30 states,
with one death, a 22-month-old child who had traveled from
Mexico and died April 27 at a Houston hospital.
?Virtually all the United States probably has this virus
circulating,? said Anne Schuchat, the CDC?s interim deputy
director for science and public health program, on a conference
call with reporters. Data so far suggest that the outbreak is
striking younger patients than is typical for influenza, and
younger patients than usual are entering hospitals.
Canada had 85 cases, reinforcing that the outbreak is most
severe in North America. Canada also reported the world?s first
case of the swine flu jumping to pigs from a human, probably
after a farm worker in the province of Alberta became ill during
a trip to Mexico. The animals are recovering and no need exists
to cull herds worldwide, said Peter Ben Embarek, a food safety
science with the WHO, on a conference call today.
Pigs as Mixers
Pigs serve as a ?wonderful mixing vessel? for bird, human
and swine viruses, said Nancy Cox, chief of the influenza
division at the U.S. disease control centers, in the conference
call.
?If pigs are infected with this new virus, and some of the
swine influenza viruses that are already circulating, there
could be additional reassortments of them,? she said.
?Likewise if a human were co-infected with one of the seasonal
influenza viruses, and this new H1N1 virus, we could have a
virus reassortment which emerged that has slightly different
properties than either of the two parental viruses.?
Reassortment ?is of major concern? in the new virus,
Schuchat said.
Italy was added to the WHO list today. Colombia has
confirmed a case today, although it hasn?t been added to the
WHO?s list, which typically lags behind country and local
reporting.
Spreads ?Very Easily?
The agency has confirmed the disease in these countries in
addition to Canada, Mexico and the U.S.: Austria, Costa Rica,
Denmark, France, Germany, China (Hong Kong), Ireland, Israel,
Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain,
Switzerland, and the U.K.
Even if symptoms remain mild, the ease with which the
illness can spread among a world population with no natural
immunity still makes it a threat, health officials said.
?It does spread very easily,? Besser said. ?The word out
of New York City where they had a school cluster is it spread
very rapidly through that school. But what they were seeing was
disease that was not that severe, and when it transmitted to
people in the families, they were seeing disease that was not
that severe, and that?s encouraging.?
Besser said it?s important to remain ?aggressive? this
early, and he said there?s no evidence that health officials
have overreacted.
No Room for Error
Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the WHO, said on a
conference call today that this outbreak of H1N1 ?could be the
first wave? and the real test will be after autumn starts in
the Northern Hemisphere. That would be late September.
Readiness includes vaccine preparations. Kathleen Sebelius,
who was confirmed as the U.S. Health and Human Services
secretary last week, said production of the vaccines for the
strains already expected for the season is being hastened to add
capacity to produce swine flu vaccine if necessary.
?We are ramping up and accelerating the production of
seasonal flu vaccine to make sure that we kind of clear the
decks,? she said on the ABC program. ?Ultimately the
scientists will tell us whether or not production of that
vaccine makes sense.?
The WHO raised its six-tier alert to 5 on April 29 and a
further elevation would signal a pandemic, alerting governments
to carry out plans to curb the disease.
Past Pandemics
International health experts said the world is now closer
to another influenza pandemic than at any time since 1968, when
the last of the previous century?s three pandemics occurred. The
WHO hasn?t had a phase 6 alert since it introduced the six-level
system in 2005. Before last week, the warning had been at phase
3 since 2007, when it was elevated for an outbreak of avian flu,
according to the WHO Web site.
?I would still propose that a pandemic is imminent,? said
Michael Ryan, the agency?s director of global alert and
response, at a news conference yesterday.
The new influenza strain has now struck more people than
the H5N1 avian influenza that emerged in 2003. That illness
killed more than half of the 421 who contracted the malady
worldwide. Unlike swine flu, it didn?t spread from person to
person.
The Spanish flu of 1918, another version of bird flu,
killed as many as 50 million people in one of history?s
deadliest outbreaks.
Seed Virus
The U.K. has confirmed 18 cases of the disease with more
than 700 test results still to come, the Health Protection
Agency said on its Web site today.
New York officials identified a probable case in Onandaga
County, the home to Syracuse, in the central part of the state.
State Health Commissioner Richard Daines disclosed the possible
case at a news conference today and said the total statewide
count is 96. That?s higher than the 63 in the official U.S.
government count.
Batches of seed virus are being developed for potential
vaccine production, according to the World Health Organization.
Sanofi-Aventis SA of Paris, Baxter International Inc. of
Deerfield, Illinois, and GlaxoSmithKline Plc of London, are
talking with world health authorities about producing shots, the
agency said.
The three main seasonal flu strains -- H3N2, H1N1 and type-
B -- cause 250,000 to 500,000 deaths a year globally, according
to WHO. The new flu?s symptoms are similar, including fever and
coughing, nausea and vomiting, according to the U.S. disease
control centers, which is based in Atlanta.
Authorities advised hand-washing, hygiene and staying home
if sick as the most effective ways to control the outbreak.
Border-Closing Rejected
U.S. officials reasserted their argument that no scientific
justification exists for closing borders, and that
?mitigation? counts most.
?You also have to understand the inordinate costs
associated with closing a border, the number of jobs associated
with that, the trade that goes back and forth,? the U.S.
secretary for Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, told ?Fox
News Sunday.? ?If it had a benefit to it, you would make that
calculation perhaps a little differently.?
Napolitano and Sebelius also said only the sick should
avoid jetliners, subways and trains, remarks following comments
last week by Vice President Joe Biden that he would tell his
family not to travel in ?confined places now.?
?Each member of our country makes decisions about
themselves and their family and about safety and security,?
Sebelius said on Fox News. ?What we?re telling you is what the
science says.?
She said her ?elderly father and aunt? were planning to
fly today. Napolitano said, ?The vice president did take the
train home from work yesterday.?
For Related News and Information:
For a global toll, click ALLX H1N1 <GO>
Top government stories: TOP GOV <GO>
Today?s most popular health-care stories: MNI HEA <GO>
Top health stories: HTOP <GO>
News about influenza: NI FLU <GO>
Stories about drugs: NI DRG BN <GO>
For swine flu news: EXT3 <GO>
For swine flu data: SWINE <GO>
--With assistance from Dermot Doherty in Geneva, Greg Quinn in
Ottawa; Helen Murphy in Bogota; and Jason Kelly in New York.
Editors: Robert Greene, Mark Rohner
Swine Flu Mildness Called ?Encouraging? by U.S. (Update2)
2009-05-03 20:28:38.186 GMT
(Updates world count in fifth paragraph, Canada?s count in
seventh, list in 12th. For related stories, see EXT3 <GO>.)
By Tom Randall
May 3 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu is killing fewer people and
producing milder symptoms than the world?s previous influenza
outbreaks, an ?encouraging? sign for an illness that is
spreading easily, the U.S. chief for disease fighting said.
The official, Richard Besser, spoke as the newest tallies
confirmed the disease in at least 19 countries. Just nine days
ago, on April 24, the World Health Organization warned of cases
of ?influenza-like illness? in the U.S. and Mexico. The
Geneva-based international agency said yesterday it may declare
a pandemic, a measure of the flu?s geographical reach and
ability to spread.
Swine flu, formally H1N1, contains genes from swine, bird
and human viruses. The possibility of the virus jumping from
species to species, or of exchanging genetic material with other
forms of the disease to return in a more potent form later this
year, is one reason scientists are concerned. That prospect was
elevated with a confirmed human-to-swine transmission in Canada.
?What we?ve found is that we?re not seeing the factors
that were associated with the 1918 pandemic, we?re not seeing
the factors that were associated with other H1N1 viruses, and
that?s encouraging,? said Besser, acting chief of the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on the ABC News
program ?This Week.? Because the virus is new and possibly
evolving, ?I don?t think it?s time to let our guard down.?
Mostly North America
The WHO, a Geneva-based agency of the United Nations, today
reported 898 laboratory-confirmed cases of swine flu, with 20
deaths. Mexico has the biggest outbreak, with 506 cases,
including 19 dead. The U.S. reported 226 cases in 30 states,
with one death, a 22-month-old child who had traveled from
Mexico and died April 27 at a Houston hospital.
?Virtually all the United States probably has this virus
circulating,? said Anne Schuchat, the CDC?s interim deputy
director for science and public health program, on a conference
call with reporters. Data so far suggest that the outbreak is
striking younger patients than is typical for influenza, and
younger patients than usual are entering hospitals.
Canada had 85 cases, reinforcing that the outbreak is most
severe in North America. Canada also reported the world?s first
case of the swine flu jumping to pigs from a human, probably
after a farm worker in the province of Alberta became ill during
a trip to Mexico. The animals are recovering and no need exists
to cull herds worldwide, said Peter Ben Embarek, a food safety
science with the WHO, on a conference call today.
Pigs as Mixers
Pigs serve as a ?wonderful mixing vessel? for bird, human
and swine viruses, said Nancy Cox, chief of the influenza
division at the U.S. disease control centers, in the conference
call.
?If pigs are infected with this new virus, and some of the
swine influenza viruses that are already circulating, there
could be additional reassortments of them,? she said.
?Likewise if a human were co-infected with one of the seasonal
influenza viruses, and this new H1N1 virus, we could have a
virus reassortment which emerged that has slightly different
properties than either of the two parental viruses.?
Reassortment ?is of major concern? in the new virus,
Schuchat said.
Italy was added to the WHO list today. Colombia has
confirmed a case today, although it hasn?t been added to the
WHO?s list, which typically lags behind country and local
reporting.
Spreads ?Very Easily?
The agency has confirmed the disease in these countries in
addition to Canada, Mexico and the U.S.: Austria, Costa Rica,
Denmark, France, Germany, China (Hong Kong), Ireland, Israel,
Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain,
Switzerland, and the U.K.
Even if symptoms remain mild, the ease with which the
illness can spread among a world population with no natural
immunity still makes it a threat, health officials said.
?It does spread very easily,? Besser said. ?The word out
of New York City where they had a school cluster is it spread
very rapidly through that school. But what they were seeing was
disease that was not that severe, and when it transmitted to
people in the families, they were seeing disease that was not
that severe, and that?s encouraging.?
Besser said it?s important to remain ?aggressive? this
early, and he said there?s no evidence that health officials
have overreacted.
No Room for Error
Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the WHO, said on a
conference call today that this outbreak of H1N1 ?could be the
first wave? and the real test will be after autumn starts in
the Northern Hemisphere. That would be late September.
Readiness includes vaccine preparations. Kathleen Sebelius,
who was confirmed as the U.S. Health and Human Services
secretary last week, said production of the vaccines for the
strains already expected for the season is being hastened to add
capacity to produce swine flu vaccine if necessary.
?We are ramping up and accelerating the production of
seasonal flu vaccine to make sure that we kind of clear the
decks,? she said on the ABC program. ?Ultimately the
scientists will tell us whether or not production of that
vaccine makes sense.?
The WHO raised its six-tier alert to 5 on April 29 and a
further elevation would signal a pandemic, alerting governments
to carry out plans to curb the disease.
Past Pandemics
International health experts said the world is now closer
to another influenza pandemic than at any time since 1968, when
the last of the previous century?s three pandemics occurred. The
WHO hasn?t had a phase 6 alert since it introduced the six-level
system in 2005. Before last week, the warning had been at phase
3 since 2007, when it was elevated for an outbreak of avian flu,
according to the WHO Web site.
?I would still propose that a pandemic is imminent,? said
Michael Ryan, the agency?s director of global alert and
response, at a news conference yesterday.
The new influenza strain has now struck more people than
the H5N1 avian influenza that emerged in 2003. That illness
killed more than half of the 421 who contracted the malady
worldwide. Unlike swine flu, it didn?t spread from person to
person.
The Spanish flu of 1918, another version of bird flu,
killed as many as 50 million people in one of history?s
deadliest outbreaks.
Seed Virus
The U.K. has confirmed 18 cases of the disease with more
than 700 test results still to come, the Health Protection
Agency said on its Web site today.
New York officials identified a probable case in Onandaga
County, the home to Syracuse, in the central part of the state.
State Health Commissioner Richard Daines disclosed the possible
case at a news conference today and said the total statewide
count is 96. That?s higher than the 63 in the official U.S.
government count.
Batches of seed virus are being developed for potential
vaccine production, according to the World Health Organization.
Sanofi-Aventis SA of Paris, Baxter International Inc. of
Deerfield, Illinois, and GlaxoSmithKline Plc of London, are
talking with world health authorities about producing shots, the
agency said.
The three main seasonal flu strains -- H3N2, H1N1 and type-
B -- cause 250,000 to 500,000 deaths a year globally, according
to WHO. The new flu?s symptoms are similar, including fever and
coughing, nausea and vomiting, according to the U.S. disease
control centers, which is based in Atlanta.
Authorities advised hand-washing, hygiene and staying home
if sick as the most effective ways to control the outbreak.
Border-Closing Rejected
U.S. officials reasserted their argument that no scientific
justification exists for closing borders, and that
?mitigation? counts most.
?You also have to understand the inordinate costs
associated with closing a border, the number of jobs associated
with that, the trade that goes back and forth,? the U.S.
secretary for Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, told ?Fox
News Sunday.? ?If it had a benefit to it, you would make that
calculation perhaps a little differently.?
Napolitano and Sebelius also said only the sick should
avoid jetliners, subways and trains, remarks following comments
last week by Vice President Joe Biden that he would tell his
family not to travel in ?confined places now.?
?Each member of our country makes decisions about
themselves and their family and about safety and security,?
Sebelius said on Fox News. ?What we?re telling you is what the
science says.?
She said her ?elderly father and aunt? were planning to
fly today. Napolitano said, ?The vice president did take the
train home from work yesterday.?
For Related News and Information:
For a global toll, click ALLX H1N1 <GO>
Top government stories: TOP GOV <GO>
Today?s most popular health-care stories: MNI HEA <GO>
Top health stories: HTOP <GO>
News about influenza: NI FLU <GO>
Stories about drugs: NI DRG BN <GO>
For swine flu news: EXT3 <GO>
For swine flu data: SWINE <GO>
--With assistance from Dermot Doherty in Geneva, Greg Quinn in
Ottawa; Helen Murphy in Bogota; and Jason Kelly in New York.
Editors: Robert Greene, Mark Rohner