Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US
Buckle up… the propaganda around this is going to be absolutely deafening (again). That is, if the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t simply count its sweet bailout cash and call it a day – which would be a best case scenario. (Note: The information archived here about H1N1 is getting a bit unwieldy to reference it all immediately below – your best bet to find other articles is to scan the health-related links at the end of this article, or to enter ’swine flu site:statismwatch.ca’ into Google)
Flashback: Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk | Swine flu death rate similar to seasonal flu: expert | Swine flu unlikely to become superbug | UK: Half of all pregnant women will refuse swine flu jab, poll reveals | Flu vaccine plan will be too slow: CMAJ | Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America | Canada to order 50.4 million H1N1 vaccine doses – with adjuvant additive | Genetically modified Swine Flu hybrid may provide vaccine yield solution | Washington Post: Swine Flu Vaccine Will Contain Mercury | UK Government Swine Flu Advisor On Vaccine Maker Payroll | Fast-tracked swine flu vaccine will be safe, officials insist | Swine flu: How scared should we be? | Top Epidemiologist Slams Swine Flu Fearmongering | Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers | Swine flu ‘related’ to 1918 pandemic virus – survivors exhibit resistance | Did leak from a laboratory cause swine flu pandemic? | Swine Flu May Be Human Error; WHO Investigates Claim | Lessons of 1976: swine flu, fear, mass vaccinations, wasted millions | ‘Accidental’ Contamination Of Vaccine With Live Avian Flu Virus Virtually Impossible | Officials investigate how bird flu contaminated vaccines in Europe | Researchers unlock secrets of 1918 flu pandemic
Rob Stein, Washington Post
September 28, 2009
WASHINGTON – After months of warnings and frantic preparations, the second wave of the swine flu pandemic is starting to be felt around the country. Doctors, health clinics, hospitals, and schools are reporting rapidly increasing numbers of patients experiencing flu symptoms.
While most cases so far are mild, and the health care system is handling the load, officials say the number of people seeking treatment for the flu is unprecedented for this time of year.
In Austin, so many parents are rushing their children to Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas with swine flu symptoms that the hospital had to set up tents in the parking lot to cope with the onslaught.
In Memphis, the Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center emergency room got so crowded with feverish, miserable youngsters that it had to do the same thing.
And in Manning, S.C., a private school where an 11-year-old girl died shut down after the number of pupils who were out sick with similar symptoms reached nearly a third of the student body.
“It just kind of snowballed,’’ said Kim Jordan, a teacher at Laurence Manning Academy, which closed Wednesday after Ashlie Pipkin died and the number of ill students hit 287. “We had several teachers out also.’’
“H1N1 is spreading widely throughout the US,’’ said Thomas Frieden, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The CDC reported last week that at least 26 states are now reporting widespread flu activity, up from 21 a week earlier.
Even though some parts of the Southeast that started seeing a surge of cases first now seem to be showing a decline, that could be a temporary reprieve, Frieden said. And other parts of the country are probably just starting to feel the second wave.
“Influenza is perhaps the most unpredictable of all infectious diseases,’’ Frieden said.
The pandemic has prompted scattered school closings around the country in recent weeks, including 42 schools that closed in eight states Friday, affecting more than 16,000 students.
Many colleges and universities have been hit particularly hard, forcing some to open separate dorms for sick students. Ninety-one percent of the 267 colleges and universities being surveyed by the American College Health Association are now reporting cases.
The government is starting an unprecedented system to track possible side effects as mass flu vaccinations begin next month. The idea is to detect any rare but real problems quickly, and explain the inevitable coincidences that are sure to cause some false alarms.
In just a few months, health authorities hope to vaccinate well over half the population against swine flu, which doctors call the 2009 H1N1 strain. No more than 100 million Americans usually get vaccinated against regular winter flu, and never in such a short period.
The last mass inoculations against a different swine flu, in 1976, were marred by reports of a rare paralyzing condition, Guillain-Barré syndrome, a sometimes fatal paralysis. Other possible side effects could potentially include heart attacks, strokes, seizures, and miscarriages.
On top of routine vaccine tracking, these government-sponsored monitoring projects are planned:
■ Harvard Medical School scientists are linking large insurance databases that cover up to 50 million people with vaccination registries around the country for real-time checks of whether people see a doctor in the weeks after a flu shot and why. The huge numbers make it possible to quickly compare rates of complaints among the vaccinated and unvaccinated, said the project leader, Dr. Richard Platt, Harvard’s population medicine chief.
■ Johns Hopkins University will direct e-mails to at least 100,000 vaccine recipients to track how they’re feeling, including the smaller complaints that wouldn’t prompt a doctor visit. If anything seems connected, researchers can call to follow up with detailed questions.
■ The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing take-home cards that tell vaccine recipients how to report any suspected side effects to the nation’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting system.
“Every day, bad things happen to people. When you vaccinate a lot of people in a short period of time, some of those things are going to happen to some people by chance alone,’’ said Dr. Daniel Salmon, a vaccine safety specialist at the Department of Health and Human Services. [Ed. Note: Just in case you suspect the vaccine when you're suffering Guillain-Barres' agonizing paralysis - it's all in your head.]
Source | See also under Health: Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | HIV vaccine achievement bewilders researchers | Seasonal flu shot may increase H1N1 risk | Immortality only 20 years away says scientist | As Olympics loom, B.C. wants to force homeless into shelters in extreme weather | The Case for Killing Granny | Swine flu ‘could kill millions unless rich nations give £900m’ | Massachusets Says Forced Injections, Quarantines For Any “Rapidly Spreading Germ” | Remote B.C. native community hit by flu | Health Canada apologizes for body bags delivered to First Nations for H1N1 outbreak | Ottawa sends body bags to First Nations communities for flu battle | Swine flu death rate similar to seasonal flu: expert | Up to two million march to US Capitol to protest against Obama’s spending in ‘tea-party’ demonstration | French Government To Use Swine Flu Threat In Crack Down On Liberties | Manitoba launches $47M swine flu plan for mass vaccination centres | UK: Question a doctor about HPV shot and lose your child | UK: Sentenced to death by the National Health Service | CIA doctors face human experimentation claims | Swine flu unlikely to become superbug | UK: Half of all pregnant women will refuse swine flu jab, poll reveals | Flu vaccine plan will be too slow: CMAJ | Afghanistan’s Hidden Heroin Addicts | Swine flu jab link to killer nerve disease: Leaked letter reveals concern of neurologists over 25 deaths in America | Canada to order 50.4 million H1N1 vaccine doses – with adjuvant additive | Reduce fetal exposure to BPA and phthalates, experts say | California fertility clinic offers celebrity look-alike sperm | Genetically modified Swine Flu hybrid may provide vaccine yield solution | Greece To Enforce Mandatory Swine Flu Vaccinations | Forced quarantines, vaccinations among pandemic powers provinces could employ | Flu scare a boon to body-bag sales | US House approves sweeping new food powers for FDA | Washington Post: Swine Flu Vaccine Will Contain Mercury | Organic food no more nutritious, study finds | US Military To Work With FEMA During Swine Flu Pandemic | Social workers erred in removing child from poor parents: report | More untendered eHealth spending, Liberal connections emerge | UK Government Swine Flu Advisor On Vaccine Maker Payroll | Fast-tracked swine flu vaccine will be safe, officials insist | Swine flu: How scared should we be? | Obama tries to save health-care overhaul on primetime broadcast | Top Epidemiologist Slams Swine Flu Fearmongering | Canadian defends anti-medicare ad | UK: Man refused liver transplant by NHS dies | Legal immunity set for swine flu vaccine makers | ‘They were looking for the ideal Manchurian Candidate’ | Swine flu ‘related’ to 1918 pandemic virus – survivors exhibit resistance | Bisphenol A traces found in baby food: Health Canada | Rwanda denies sterilisation plans | Canadian HIV vaccine ready for human tests | Newborn’s Blood Samples Raise Questions of Privacy | Did leak from a laboratory cause swine flu pandemic? | Scottish parliamentarians seek answers as cervical cancer vaccine injuries mount | Flu shots, including H1N1, to require 3 doses | Girl’s forced blood transfusion didn’t violate rights: top court | Manitoba First Nations declare swine flu state of emergency | Chemical ban targets toys, rubber duckies | GAVI foundation’s malaria vaccine trial encounters opposition from wary Kenyans | ABC Turns Programming Over To Government to Promote State Healthcare Agenda | HIV positive women in Africa sterilized, stigmatized | Black ooze at old Cold War station frightens Labrador town | WHO declares swine flu pandemic, no change in Canada’s approach | Aspartame-laden diet pop kicked out of Toronto schools | Manitoba First Nations, health system straining under flu outbreak | Head of eHealth Ontario is fired amid contracts scandal, gets big package | Personal ties exposed in eHealth’s untendered contracts | UK: Call to make MMR jab compulsory | Expand sex ed to all grades: report | Swine flu ‘getting closer’ to pandemic level, WHO official says | France Considers Mandatory Flu Vaccinations | Ontario eHealth approved 4.8 million in no-bid contracts | Genetically modified monkeys pass traits to offspring | Government unveils new tobacco restrictions aimed at protecting kids | Elevated BPA levels in people drinking out of plastic bottles, study finds | Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation | Children Who Get Flu Vaccine Have Three Times Risk Of Hospitalization For Flu, Study Suggests | Meet – and eat – the modified Atlantic salmon | Vaccines delayed, ’still in danger zone,’ for swine flu: UN chief | Canada waiting for WHO guidance on swine flu vaccine | Swine Flu May Be Human Error; WHO Investigates Claim | Canadian Forces: Worries about child abuse by Afghan allies ‘unfounded’ | 2 Billion Infected? WHO Stokes Swine Flu Fear | Researchers working on swine flu ‘vaccine corn’ | WHO to declare full flu pandemic | Potential pandemic or garden-variety flu? No agreement among experts | Merck Makes Phony Peer-Review Journal | Political Lies and Media Disinformation regarding the Swine Flu Pandemic | Lessons of 1976: swine flu, fear, mass vaccinations, wasted millions | WHO distributes drug stockpile as swine flu cases rise | Swine Flu: In Mexico, an outbreak of police-state opportunism | Health officials confirm 6 cases of swine flu in Canada, ‘makings’ of pandemic | Illinois-based Baxter working on vaccine to stop swine flu outbreak in Mexico | ‘We have to assume’ swine flu is in Ontario, health official warns | Mexico cancels public events because of deadly flu outbreak | Will recession spark global food crisis? | Supreme Court rejects breast-implant case | Canadians returning from Mexico urged to be on alert for flu-like symptoms | Army: 3 vials of virus samples missing from Maryland facility | Cut ties between Health Canada, drug companies, grieving MP urges | High-fructose sweeteners linked to obesity, diabetes | Psychologists Helped Guide CIA Interrogations | Microchip in a pill to monitor your meds | Mother who smacked son, 8, with hairbrush is forced to give him up to social services | Vioxx, Gardasil maker Merck and Co drew up doctor hit list | Students given suspension notices for not getting booster shots | Ottawa to test taps for cancer contaminants | Stun gun shock to head may cause seizures, doctors warn | Erasing traumatic memory possible, researchers say | Australians refused insurance because of poor genes | ‘Accidental’ Contamination Of Vaccine With Live Avian Flu Virus Virtually Impossible | Tests find Bisphenol A in majority of soft drinks | Against protocol, bus decapitation accused released from Ontario institution in 2005 | Details being withheld of listeria discussion held prior to outbreak | Scientists make HIV strain that can infect monkeys | Designer baby row over US clinic | Chair to have final say as residential schools commission jobs rewritten | Cornwall pedophile ring ‘fiction,’ church’s lawyer says | Officials investigate how bird flu contaminated vaccines in Europe | Vaccine Court: Autism Debate Continues | Alberta drug rehab centre abused us, former teen patients allege | Vaccines ‘not to blame for autism’, U.S. court rules | Hepatitis C sufferers haven’t received promised federal money | Electronic immunization records needed: Toronto health official | Ban stun gun use on young people, Ontario child advocate urges | Milk trial defence: Raw milk is safe and food choice a right | Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury | UK Hospitals will take meat off menus in bid to cut carbon | Raw milk crusader returns to court to fight charges | Health Canada silent on cellphone risks for kids | As in Canada, gender-bending chemicals in UK rivers grow more potent | U.S. again denies approval to expand use of Gardasil vaccine | Champix side effects prompt 818 complaints | Missed vaccinations lead to suspension threat | Did Pharma Giant with Gardasil HPV Patents Buy Nobel Prize? | Chemicals feminizing males, study suggests | Major report to reveal male gender under threat from pollutants | FDA Reluctantly Admits Mercury Fillings Have Neurotoxic Effects on Children | End water fluoridation, U of T dental professor says | CBC broadcasts “The Disappearing Male”, an expose of hormone-disrupting plastics | Experts set to revisit global cloning ban | Health Canada adds bisphenol A to list of toxic substances | Plastics ingredient linked to feminization in children | Tests find melamine in candies, milk, infant formula from China | Report urges long-term funding for HPV vaccine | Scientists Note Hormones in Water, Feminization of Fish Downstream of Montreal | New study raises concerns Bisphenol-A could be related to heart disease | Govt. Report: Fluoride in Water Supply Harms Thyroid Function | Frequent school lockdowns raise questions | Air freshener chemicals could impact fertility: study | Are we already dining on clones? | Bisphenol tied to lower brain function | Revealed: The serious health concerns about the cervical cancer jab | Study finds higher rate of reactions to HPV shot | Radiation touted to protect meat | Dementia drugs still prescribed, despite warnings | Chemical Industry Source of Hyped FDA Study ‘Exonerating’ Plastic Bottles | Researchers Question Wide Use of HPV Vaccines | Vaccines Found to Cause Diabetes in Children | Pfizer to be called on carpet in Nigeria for experimenting on children | Pesticides, pollutants threaten Canadian tap water, researchers suggest | Cut children’s fluoride exposure, report to Health Canada urges | Kids and cellphone warning | Sludge biosolids decried as ‘toxic stew’, used as fertilizer | Cellphone use potentially risky for kids, teens: health agency | CDC reports almost 8,000 adverse reactions to “Gardasil” HPV vaccine in U.S. | Is HPV Vaccine to Blame for a Teen’s Paralysis? | Home-grown veg ruined by toxic fertiliser | Alberta to offer HPV vaccine this fall | Ottawa knew breast implants harmful, case alleges | Naturopaths Fear Proposed Bill C-51 | The tiny, useful particle that could also be a health problem | Farmer Surveilled, Raided for Natural Milk Operation has Trial Delayed | Discovery of HPV in male oral cancers leads to vaccination call | Families will make case for vaccine link to autism | HPV vaccination program raises concerns in B.C. | Canada’s C-51 Law May Outlaw 60% Of Natural Health Products | Homeless people die after bird flu vaccine trial in Poland | Perspective on the HPV vaccine | Gardasil shots have earned a painful reputation | Vaccine-linked polio hits Nigeria | Deaths associated with Merck’s HPV vaccine (Gardasil), over 3500 adverse affects reported | Bush To Veto Ban On Mercury In Vaccines | Government knew of HIV risk from imported blood | Political Intrigue in Merck’s Push for Mandatory HPV Vaccinations | Codex Alimentarius — An Emerging Threat | Polio Warning Issued for Travel to Nigeria | Bayer Continued Selling Contaminated Blood Product in 1980s | Aids scandals around the world | Blood Money: The Clinton Ties to the Blood Scandal
September 30th, 2009 at 6:32 am
[...] Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US [...]
October 1st, 2009 at 2:36 pm
[...] taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | British schoolgirl dies after HPV vaccination | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | HIV vaccine [...]
October 16th, 2009 at 5:54 am
[...] hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot [...]
October 17th, 2009 at 7:56 am
[...] taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | British schoolgirl dies after HPV vaccination | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | HIV vaccine [...]
October 25th, 2009 at 6:48 am
[...] hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot [...]
November 1st, 2009 at 5:29 am
[...] hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot [...]
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:30 pm
[...] hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot [...]
November 24th, 2009 at 1:45 am
[...] hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
[...] hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot [...]
November 26th, 2009 at 2:19 am
[...] hits GTA: Provincial Health Official | Canadian taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | Seasonal flu shot [...]
February 18th, 2010 at 6:00 am
[...] taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | British schoolgirl dies after HPV vaccination | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | HIV vaccine [...]
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:14 am
[...] taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | British schoolgirl dies after HPV vaccination | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | HIV vaccine [...]
February 24th, 2010 at 7:43 am
[...] taxpayers on hook for any H1N1 vaccine damages | British schoolgirl dies after HPV vaccination | Second wave of swine flu pandemic begins to hit US | Seasonal flu shots delayed for non-seniors on fears of increased H1N1 risk | HIV vaccine [...]
May 2nd, 2010 at 8:01 pm
[...] [...]