Cited: HealthDay

At the end of May, US health officials are working as fast as they can to learn about the unusual pathogen, H1N1 virus, commonly called the swine flu before the next flu season starts this fall. Right now, the swine flu is riding a roller coaster in various parts of the country. Health officials are also concerned because it is a more virulent and easily transmitted virus strain.

The reason for the urgency: Some past pandemics were preceded by “herald waves” of a flu strain that surfaced at the end of one flu season, only to return with far greater consequences the next flu season.

“We are mindful that pandemics of influenza have sometimes come in waves,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s interim deputy director for science and public health program, said during an afternoon news conference. “The very severe 1918 pandemic had a moderate herald wave in the spring and a much more severe second wave in the fall. So that very terrible experience of 1918 is in our minds.”

Some estimates have placed the worldwide death toll from the 1918 outbreak — often referred to as the “Spanish Flu” — as high as 40 million people.

“We are really on a fast track, over the next to eight to 10 weeks, to learn as much as we can as this virus heads to the Southern Hemisphere [where flu season is just beginning] and to strengthen our planning for the surge of illness that we expect to experience here in the fall,” Schuchat added.

Scientists will be looking to see if the H1N1 swine flu virus mutates or becomes resistant to antiviral medications, or is more easily spread among people, she said.

Schuchat said there is no way to tell now if the H1N1 virus will be more virulent when — and if — it returns to the Northern Hemisphere with the approach of winter. “Whether it will dominate among the seasonal flu viruses or whether it will disappear is not predictable right now,” she said.

To date there have been 6,764 confirmed and probable cases of infection in the United States, Schuchat said, adding that most of the cases have been mild and patients have recovered quickly.

The CDC is reporting 11 deaths linked to the swine flu, and all of the victims had underlying health problems before they were infected. Illinois health officials reported the death of a Chicago area man over the weekend.

Canadian officials said Monday that a Toronto man who had swine flu died Saturday, and he also suffered from a chronic medical condition.

The World Health Organization said Tuesday that 46 countries have reported 12,954 cases of H1N1 swine flu infection, including 92 deaths, most of them in Mexico, where the outbreak began.

The CDC said last week that progress was being made toward the development of an H1N1 swine flu vaccine, with two promising candidate viruses for use in such a shot. In addition, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday that the federal government was allocating $1 billion to the search for a swine flu vaccine.

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In the United States, most cases of the swine flu continue to be no worse than seasonal flu. Testing has found that the swine flu virus remains susceptible to two common antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, according to the CDC.

The CDC believes that another strain H1N1 swine flu circulated prior to 1957 and that this is the reason why some older people may have a slight immunity to the current swine flu. In the United States, only 64% of the swine flu infections have been in people between the ages of 5-24 and that only 1% involves people over 65 years of age.

U.S. Human Cases of H1N1 Flu Infection

(As of May 25, 2009, 11:00 AM ET)

States	# confirmed and probable cases	Deaths	States	# confirmed and probable cases	Deaths
Alabama	66		Montana	12
Arkansas	4		Nebraska	29
Arizona	531	3 deaths	Nevada	49
California	553		New Hampshire	23
Colorado	60		New Jersey	29
Connecticut	102		New Mexico	97
Delaware	102		New York	343	1 deaths
Florida	139		North Carolina	12
Georgia	28		North Dakota	6
Hawaii	40		Ohio	14
Idaho	9		Oklahoma	51
Illinois	896		Oregon	116
Indiana	120		Pennsylvania	88
Iowa	71		Rhode Island	10
Kansas	34		South Carolina	36
Kentucky**	27		South Dakota	3
Louisiana	86		Tennessee	94
Maine	9		Texas	900	3 deaths
Maryland	41		Utah	122	1 deaths
Massachusetts	238		Vermont	2
Michigan	176		Virginia	25
Minnesota	44		Washington	517	1 death
Mississippi	7 cases		Washington, D.C.	13
Missouri	24	1 deaths	Wisconsin	766
TOTAL*(48)				6,764 cases	10 deaths

*includes the District of Columbia
**One case is resident of Ky. but hospitalized in Ga.
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My Take: I am a big believer in taking multivitamins every day and if people would take multivitamins every day, they might have a better chance of not getting the swine flu. It would also help if people would cover their mouths when they sneeze or cough and then wash their hands.

Kids are the worst because they never cover their mouth when they sneeze or cough. Then you have the ones that wipe their runny noses on their sleeve instead of using a Kleenex or kerchief. This is the fault of the parents who do not keep after their children.

Otherwise, I think if people are careful and avoid crowds there should not be a problem. They should definitely avoid anyone wearing a facemask because if they are wearing one they are either sick or they know someone who is. People should also keep in touch with their doctors if they do get the feeling sick. I understand it is a simple blood test to find out if they do have the H1N1 swine flu.

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