News story topics immediately following phase 6 announcement

[The Mountains Voice]

I'm starting this thread to get an idea of how News Media is reporting this. By comparing the various topics - it should give us an idea of how this is being "handled" by media & officials.

Everyone please post different headline stories you may find today, Thursday, June 11 2009

1st Story I found is below.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090611/sc_livescience/swinefluevolvedunnoticedforyears

Swine Flu Evolved Unnoticed for YearsLiveScience.com livescience Staff

livescience.com ? 1 hr 30 mins ago
The H1N1 influenza A, or swine flu, evolved and hopped to humans several months before public health officials recognized the outbreak, according to a new analysis. Scientists also said the virus's early incarnation was festering in pigs for years but went undetected.

The work, published online today in the journal Nature, highlights the need for systematic surveillance of influenza in swine, the journal's publisher said in a statement, and it provides evidence that new genetic elements in swine can result in the emergence of viruses with pandemic potential in humans.

Reports this week indicate the World Health Organization (WHO) is on the verge of declaring the viral outbreak a full pandemic (currently the agency ranks the outbreak as a level 5 on a six-point scale, indicating that a pandemic is imminent and time is short to prepare mitigation measures).

It is known that flu viruses evolve quickly. Two or more strains can get together in the body of a human or other animal and swap genes to generate new strains. As an example, one relatively benign strain that is able to infect humans might pass that ability to a more deadly strain that had only been able to transmit between pigs, thereby evolving into a new strain that is deadly and can pass between humans.

Researchers do not yet know exactly when, how or where the current strain developed.

For the new analysis, Andrew Rambaut of the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) and his colleagues used evolutionary analysis to estimate the timescale of the origins and the early development of the epidemic. They think it was derived from several viruses circulating in swine, and that the initial transmission to humans occurred several months before recognition of the outbreak.

"Despite widespread influenza surveillance in humans, the lack of systematic swine surveillance allowed for the undetected persistence and evolution of this potentially pandemic strain for many years," the researchers conclude.

 

[The Mountains Voice]

Re: News story topics immediately following phase 6 announcement

I'm starting this thread to get an idea of how News Media is reporting this. By comparing the various topics - it should give us an idea of how this is being "handled" by media & officials.

WHO: Swine flu pandemic has begun, 1st in 41 years
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/un_un_swine_flu
Associated Press Writer Maria Cheng And Frank Jordans

GENEVA – The World Health Organization told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic Thursday — the first global flu epidemic in 41 years — as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.

In a statement sent to health officials, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 — its highest alert — after holding an emergency meeting with its flu experts.

WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan was expected to make a formal announcement on the pandemic later Thursday.

The long-awaited pandemic decision is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus.

"At this early stage, the pandemic can be characterized globally as being moderate in severity," WHO said in the statement, urging nations not to close borders or restrict travel and trade.

WHO also told countries it was in "close dialogue" with flu vaccine makers and it believed the firms would work "to ensure the largest possible supply of pandemic vaccine in the months to come."

Flu vaccine makers like GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Sanofi-Aventis have been working since last month on a swine flu vaccine. GlaxoSmithKline spokesman Stephen Rea said the company was ready to start making swine flu vaccine in large quantities once it finished its regular flu vaccine production in July.

On Wednesday, WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu, including 141 deaths. The agency has stressed that most cases have been mild and required no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities — especially in poorer countries.

Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu, also known by its scientific name H1N1, were previously young and healthy — people who are not usually susceptible to flu.

Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.

The last pandemic — the Hong Kong flu of 1968 — killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.

Many health experts say WHO's pandemic declaration could have come weeks earlier but the agency became bogged down by politics. In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would cause social and economic turmoil.

"This is WHO finally catching up with the facts," said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota who has advised the U.S. government on pandemic preparations.

Despite WHO's hopes, raising the epidemic alert to the highest level will almost certainly spark some panic about spread of swine flu.

Fear has already gripped Argentina, where thousands worried about swine flu flooded into hospitals this week, bringing emergency health services in Buenos Aires, the capital, to the brink of collapse. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger on it had swine flu. Chile has the most swine flu cases in South America.

In Hong Kong on Thursday, the government ordered all kindergartens and primary schools closed for two weeks after a dozen students tested positive for swine flu — a move that some health experts would consider an overreaction.

In the United States, where there have been more than 13,000 cases and at least 27 deaths from swine flu, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the move would not change how the U.S. tackled swine flu.

"Our actions in the past month have been as if there was a pandemic in this country," Glen Nowak, a CDC spokesman, said Thursday.

The U.S. government has already taken steps like increasing availability of flu-fighting medicines and authorizing $1 billion for the development of a new vaccine against the novel virus. In addition, new cases seem to be declining in many parts of the country, U.S. health officials say, as North America moves out of its traditional winter flu season.

Still, Osterholm said Thursday's decision was a wake-up call for the world.

"I think a lot of people think we're done with swine flu, but you can't fall asleep at the wheel," he said. "We don't know what's going to happen in the next 6 to 12 months."

 

[Possibilities]

Re: News story topics immediately following phase 6 announcement

Dr. Chan is speaking as I write this. The best way to get the news now is through the google news clipping service. Expect some disruptions as more people will be looking through for articles. I expect this forum to get hammered with more hits as people look for ways to prepare.

I pray that this pandemic leaves your family safe through this difficult time. May God have mercy on us all.

 

[Commonground]

Re: News story topics immediately following phase 6 announcement

No pandemic affect expected for air traffic

CDC strategy to reschedule international flights not expected

Scott Powers | Sentinel Staff Writer
11:24 AM EDT, June 11, 2009

No changes in international air traffic to Orlando International Airport or any other American airport are expected as a consequence of today's declaration, by the World Health Organization, of a Phase 6 international pandemic of swine flu.

While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Transportation recently jointly developed an influenza pandemic strategy that includes the rescheduling of all incoming international flights to 19 American airports in the case of a worldwide health emergency, such a decision would be based on a variety of factors, chiefly assessments of the risks to the American public, according to a spokeswoman at the CDC, which has lead responsibility for U.S. responses. Orlando International Airport is not one of the 19 airports in the strategy.

The CDC is planning a press conference this afternoon to further discuss its role and ramifications of the WHO declaration. Earlier this week CDC spokeswoman Shelly Sikes Diaz said any decisions regarding international air traffic into the United States would be made at "a very high level" of U.S. government, and would not be based on WHO's pandemic index.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-pandemic-oia-nochange-061109,0,1176137.story?track=rss

 

[Merricat]

Re: News story topics immediately following phase 6 announcement

Bay News 9 Tampa, Fl

Just a short mention of the move to the level 6, and the big news of the day was the weather, another hot day.

He he!

merricat

 

[hornblower]

Re: News story topics immediately following phase 6 announcement

http://www.570news.com/news/national/more.jsp?content=n102399222


WHO declaration doesn't mean flu more dangerous: top doctor


June, 11, 2009 - 02:20 pm THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA - The chief public health officer is assuring Canadians that a decision to declare the swine flu outbreak a pandemic changes little in how the country is dealing with the virus.

The World Health Organization has formally notified Dr. David Butler-Jones and health officials worldwide that it is raising the pandemic alert to its highest level - the first such declaration since the 1968 Hong Kong flu.

However, Butler-Jones is stressing that the decision only means the virus is spreading and not that it has become more dangerous.

"We in Canada have been dealing with H1 since the beginning," he told The Canadian Press in an email.

"So going from Level 5 to 6 only reflects broader spread internationally of what we have already seen."

Government officials were to hold a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday afternoon.

The virus appears to be on the wane after peaking last month. Butler-Jones said lessons learned this spring during the flu's first round are helping health officials plan and prepare for a likely resurgence in the fall.

"We will continue to adapt and respond to what we are actually seeing here and internationally," he said.

The federal government has signed a contract with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to produce a new vaccine for swine flu when one is developed.

Canada has confirmed 2,978 cases of swine flu, most of them mild. Four people have died and another 138 have been hospitalized.

In recent days, the number of flu cases has shot up in the North and in remote aboriginal communities.

The virus's spread among Canada's aboriginals has caught the attention of the WHO, which believes the disease can take a harsher toll on people facing poverty, substandard housing and underlying health problems.

The Public Health Agency's website says the common flu sends about 20,000 Canadians to hospital each year. Between 4,000 and 8,000 Canadians die of influenza and its complications annually, depending on the severity of the season.

 

[hornblower]

Re: News story topics immediately following phase 6 announcement

different singer, mostly the same chorus

http://www.opinion250.com/blog/view/13098/1/h1n1+pandemic+designation++doesn't++mean+flu+more+severe

H1N1 Pandemic Designation Doesn't Mean Flu More Severe
By 250 News

Thursday, June 11, 2009 11:20 AM


Prince George, B.C.- The World Health Organization has declared the H1N1 flu a pandemic, but B.C.’s Health Officer, Dr. Perry Kendall says that is a reflection of the geographic spread of the illness and not because it has become more severe.

Dr. Kendall says B.C. will stay the course on the way it has been handling cases of H1N1 flu. He says two vaccines will be available this fall, one in September for the normal expected two strains of flu, then sometime before Christmas (when it is developed) the H1N1 vaccine will be available.
Dr. Kendall says there will be enough H1N1 vaccine made so that, if necessary, every person in Canada could be vaccinated. The province has also ordered an extra 300 thousand doses of the normal flu vaccine.

He says B.C. has been acting as if this was a pandemic since day one “So we are not acting any different today than we did yesterday. We have been taking precautions and watching this very closely for six weeks.”

He says it has shown itself to be no more than a moderate to heavy flu for most people, and was more severe for those who had underlying health issues.

There have been 151 confirmed cases of H1N1 flu in B.C. including 28 in Northern Health. Dr. Kendall says while some health authorities have been “stretched” the number of cases did not pose an undo burden on Health authorities and most cases did not need hospitalization at all.