Swine Flu - Official Use Only
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CDC interim guidance for taking care of a sick person at home
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/guidance_homecare.htm?s_cid=tw_epr_61
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/guidance_homecare.htm?s_cid=tw_epr_61
Your being hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray...
<font size="5"><center>
WHO notches up swine flu pandemic alert</font size><font size="4">
Global outbreak considered imminent;
vaccine efforts will be ramped up</font size></center>
MSNBC
April 29, 2009
Global health authorities warned Wednesday that swine flu was threatening to bloom into a pandemic, and the virus spread farther in Europe even as the outbreak appeared to stabilize at its epicenter. A toddler who succumbed in Texas became the first death outside Mexico.
New cases and deaths finally seemed to be leveling off in Mexico, where 160 people have been killed, after an aggressive public health campaign. But the World Health Organization said the global threat is nevertheless serious enough to ramp up efforts to produce a vaccine against the virus. The group raised its pandemic alert for swine flu to the second highest level Wednesday, meaning that it believes a global outbreak of the disease is imminent. It was the first time the WHO had declared a Phase 5 outbreak.
WHO Director General Margaret Chan declared the phase 5 alert after consulting with flu experts from around the world. The decision could lead the global body to recommend additional measures to combat the outbreak, including for vaccine manufacturers to switch production from seasonal flu vaccines to a pandemic vaccine.
"All countries should immediately now activate their pandemic preparedness plans," Chan told reporters in Geneva. "It really is all of humanity that is under threat in a pandemic."
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">A phase 5 alert means there is sustained transmission among people in at least two countries. Once the virus shows effective transmission in two different regions of the world, a full pandemic outbreak — phase 6 — would be declared, meaning a global epidemic of a new and deadly disease. </span>
"It is important to take this very seriously," Chan told a news conference watched around the globe on Wednesday. But for the average person, the term "pandemic" doesn't mean they're suddenly at greater risk.
Nearly a week after the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, was first identified in California and Texas, about 100 cases have now been confirmed in the U.S. across 11 states. The first U.S. death from the outbreak was a Mexico City toddler who traveled to Texas with family and died Monday night at a Houston hospital. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius predicted the child would not be the last U.S. death from swine flu.
In addition to the 160 deaths, the virus is believed to have sickened 2,498 people across Mexico. But only 1,311 suspected swine flu patients remained hospitalized, and a closer look at daily admissions and deaths at Mexico’s public hospitals suggests the outbreak may have peaked during three grim days last week when thousands of people complained of flu symptoms.
Light Symptoms Outside of Mexico
Almost all cases outside of Mexico have had only light symptoms, and only a handful of cases have needed hospitalization.
Officials warned more deaths could be expected as surveillance of the illness increases.
Pharmaceutical companies should ramp up manufacturing, Chan said. Two antiviral drugs — Relenza, made by GlaxoSmithKline and Tamiflu, made by Roche AG — have been shown to work against the H1N1 strain.
Flu viruses are notorious for rapid mutation and unpredictable behavior, she warned. But she also offered words of reassurance.
“The world is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history,” Chan said. “For the first time in history we can track the pandemic in real time.”
As fear and uncertainty about the disease ricocheted around the globe, Chan added that WHO did not recommend closing borders or forgoing pork.
No signs of slowing
Peru, Germany and Austria became the latest countries to report swine flu infections Wednesday, with cases already confirmed in Canada, Britain, Israel, New Zealand and Spain, bringing the number of affected countries to 10.
Spain has reported the first case in Europe of swine flu in a person who had not been to Mexico, illustrating the danger of person-to-person transmission.
Nations are taking all sorts of precautions, some more useful than others.
Egypt ordered the pig slaughter even though there hasn’t been a single case of swine flu there. Britain, with only five cases, is trying to buy 32 million masks. And in the United States, President Barack Obama said more of the country’s 132,000 schools may have to be shuttered.
At airports from Japan to South Korea to Greece and Turkey, thermal cameras were trained on airline passengers to see if any were feverish. And Lebanon discouraged traditional Arab peck-on-the-cheek greetings, even though no one has come down with the virus there.
Peru and Ecuador joined Cuba and Argentina on Wednesday in banning travel either to or from Mexico, and other nations considered similar bans. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy met with cabinet ministers to discuss swine flu, and the health minister said France would ask the European Union to suspend flights to Mexico.
The U.S., the European Union and other countries have discouraged nonessential travel to Mexico. Some countries have urged their citizens to avoid the United States and Canada as well. Health officials said such bans would do little to stop the virus.
The World Health Organization said total bans on travel to Mexico were questionable because the virus is already fairly widespread.
“WHO does not recommend closing of borders and does not recommend restrictions of travel,” said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the Geneva-based organization’s flu chief. “From an international perspective, closing borders or restricting travel would have very little effect, if any effect at all, at stopping the movement of this virus.”
Scientists believe that somewhere in the world, months or even a year ago, a pig virus jumped to a human and mutated, and has been spreading between humans ever since. Unlike with bird flu, doctors have no evidence suggesting a direct pig-to-human infection from this strain, which is why they haven’t recommended killing pigs.
Medical detectives have not zeroed in on where the outbreak began. Mexico’s chief epidemiologist suggested Wednesday that someone could have carried it in from Pakistan or Bangladesh — or just about anywhere else in the world.
By March 9, the first symptoms were showing up in the Mexican state of Veracruz, where pig farming is a key industry in mountain hamlets and where small clinics provide the only health care.
The earliest confirmed case was there: a 5-year-old boy who was one of hundreds of people in the town of La Gloria whose flu symptoms left them struggling to breathe.
Days later, a door-to-door tax inspector was hospitalized with acute respiratory problems in the neighboring state of Oaxaca, infecting 16 hospital workers before she became Mexico’s first confirmed death.
Neighbors of the inspector, Maria Adela Gutierrez, said Wednesday that she fell ill after pairing up with a temporary worker from Veracruz who seemed to have a very bad cold. Other people from La Gloria kept going to jobs in Mexico City despite their illnesses, and could have infected people in the capital.
The deaths were already leveling off by the time Mexico announced the epidemic April 23. At hospitals Wednesday, lines of anxious citizens seeking care for flu symptoms dwindled markedly.
The Mexican health secretary, Jose Angel Cordova, said getting proper treatment within 48 hours of falling ill “is fundamental for getting the best results” and said the country’s supply of medicine was sufficient.
Cordova has suggested the virus can be beaten if caught quickly and treated properly. But it was neither caught quickly nor treated properly in the early days in Mexico, which lacked the capacity to identify the virus, and whose health care system has become the target of widespread anger and distrust.
In case after case, patients have complained of being misdiagnosed, turned away by doctors and denied access to drugs. Monica Gonzalez said her husband, Alejandro, already had a bad cough when he returned to Mexico City from Veracruz two weeks ago and soon developed a fever and swollen tonsils.
As the 32-year-old truck driver’s symptoms worsened, she took him to a series of doctors and finally a large hospital. By then, he had a temperature of 102 and could barely stand.
“They sent him away because they said it was just tonsillitis,” she said. “That hospital is garbage.”
That was April 22, a day before Mexico’s health secretary announced the swine flu outbreak. But the medical community was already aware of a disturbing trend in respiratory infections, and Veracruz had been identified as a place of concern.
Gonzalez finally took her husband to Mexico City’s main respiratory hospital, “dying in the taxi.” Doctors diagnosed pneumonia, but it may have been too late: He has suffered a collapsed lung and is unconscious. Doctors doubt he will survive.
Swine flu has symptoms nearly identical to regular flu — fever, cough and sore throat — and spreads like regular flu, through tiny particles in the air, when people cough or sneeze. People with flu symptoms are advised to stay at home, wash their hands and cover their sneezes.
H1N1 swine flu is seen as the biggest risk since H5N1 avian flu re-emerged in 2003, killing 257 people of 421 infected in 15 countries. In 1968 a “Hong Kong” flu pandemic killed about 1 million people globally, and a 1957 pandemic killed about 2 million.
Seasonal flu kills 250,000 to 500,000 people in a normal year, including healthy children in rich countries.
While epidemiologists stress it is humans, not pigs, who are spreading the disease, sales have plunged for pork producers around the world. Egypt began slaughtering its roughly 300,000 pigs on Wednesday, even though no cases have been reported there. WHO says eating pork is safe, but Mexicans have even cut back on their beloved greasy pork tacos.
Pork producers are trying to get people to stop calling the disease swine flu, and Obama notably referred to it Wednesday only by its scientific name, H1N1. U.N. animal health expert Juan Lubroth noted some scientists say “Mexican flu” would be more accurate, a suggestion already inflaming passions in Mexico.
Authorities have sought to keep the crisis in context. In the U.S. alone, health officials say about 36,000 people die every year from flu-related causes.
Mexico’s government said it remains too early to ease restrictions that have shut down public life in the overcrowded capital and much of the country. Pyramids, museums and restaurants were closed to keep crowds from spreading contagion.
“None of these measures are popular. We’re not looking for that — we’re looking for effectiveness,” Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said. “The most important thing to protect is human life.”
WHO notches up swine flu pandemic alert</font size><font size="4">
Global outbreak considered imminent;
vaccine efforts will be ramped up</font size></center>
MSNBC
April 29, 2009
Global health authorities warned Wednesday that swine flu was threatening to bloom into a pandemic, and the virus spread farther in Europe even as the outbreak appeared to stabilize at its epicenter. A toddler who succumbed in Texas became the first death outside Mexico.
New cases and deaths finally seemed to be leveling off in Mexico, where 160 people have been killed, after an aggressive public health campaign. But the World Health Organization said the global threat is nevertheless serious enough to ramp up efforts to produce a vaccine against the virus. The group raised its pandemic alert for swine flu to the second highest level Wednesday, meaning that it believes a global outbreak of the disease is imminent. It was the first time the WHO had declared a Phase 5 outbreak.
WHO Director General Margaret Chan declared the phase 5 alert after consulting with flu experts from around the world. The decision could lead the global body to recommend additional measures to combat the outbreak, including for vaccine manufacturers to switch production from seasonal flu vaccines to a pandemic vaccine.
"All countries should immediately now activate their pandemic preparedness plans," Chan told reporters in Geneva. "It really is all of humanity that is under threat in a pandemic."
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">A phase 5 alert means there is sustained transmission among people in at least two countries. Once the virus shows effective transmission in two different regions of the world, a full pandemic outbreak — phase 6 — would be declared, meaning a global epidemic of a new and deadly disease. </span>
"It is important to take this very seriously," Chan told a news conference watched around the globe on Wednesday. But for the average person, the term "pandemic" doesn't mean they're suddenly at greater risk.
Nearly a week after the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, was first identified in California and Texas, about 100 cases have now been confirmed in the U.S. across 11 states. The first U.S. death from the outbreak was a Mexico City toddler who traveled to Texas with family and died Monday night at a Houston hospital. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius predicted the child would not be the last U.S. death from swine flu.
In addition to the 160 deaths, the virus is believed to have sickened 2,498 people across Mexico. But only 1,311 suspected swine flu patients remained hospitalized, and a closer look at daily admissions and deaths at Mexico’s public hospitals suggests the outbreak may have peaked during three grim days last week when thousands of people complained of flu symptoms.
Light Symptoms Outside of Mexico
Almost all cases outside of Mexico have had only light symptoms, and only a handful of cases have needed hospitalization.
Officials warned more deaths could be expected as surveillance of the illness increases.
Pharmaceutical companies should ramp up manufacturing, Chan said. Two antiviral drugs — Relenza, made by GlaxoSmithKline and Tamiflu, made by Roche AG — have been shown to work against the H1N1 strain.
Flu viruses are notorious for rapid mutation and unpredictable behavior, she warned. But she also offered words of reassurance.
“The world is better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history,” Chan said. “For the first time in history we can track the pandemic in real time.”
As fear and uncertainty about the disease ricocheted around the globe, Chan added that WHO did not recommend closing borders or forgoing pork.
No signs of slowing
Peru, Germany and Austria became the latest countries to report swine flu infections Wednesday, with cases already confirmed in Canada, Britain, Israel, New Zealand and Spain, bringing the number of affected countries to 10.
Spain has reported the first case in Europe of swine flu in a person who had not been to Mexico, illustrating the danger of person-to-person transmission.
Nations are taking all sorts of precautions, some more useful than others.
Egypt ordered the pig slaughter even though there hasn’t been a single case of swine flu there. Britain, with only five cases, is trying to buy 32 million masks. And in the United States, President Barack Obama said more of the country’s 132,000 schools may have to be shuttered.
At airports from Japan to South Korea to Greece and Turkey, thermal cameras were trained on airline passengers to see if any were feverish. And Lebanon discouraged traditional Arab peck-on-the-cheek greetings, even though no one has come down with the virus there.
Peru and Ecuador joined Cuba and Argentina on Wednesday in banning travel either to or from Mexico, and other nations considered similar bans. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy met with cabinet ministers to discuss swine flu, and the health minister said France would ask the European Union to suspend flights to Mexico.
The U.S., the European Union and other countries have discouraged nonessential travel to Mexico. Some countries have urged their citizens to avoid the United States and Canada as well. Health officials said such bans would do little to stop the virus.
The World Health Organization said total bans on travel to Mexico were questionable because the virus is already fairly widespread.
“WHO does not recommend closing of borders and does not recommend restrictions of travel,” said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the Geneva-based organization’s flu chief. “From an international perspective, closing borders or restricting travel would have very little effect, if any effect at all, at stopping the movement of this virus.”
Scientists believe that somewhere in the world, months or even a year ago, a pig virus jumped to a human and mutated, and has been spreading between humans ever since. Unlike with bird flu, doctors have no evidence suggesting a direct pig-to-human infection from this strain, which is why they haven’t recommended killing pigs.
Medical detectives have not zeroed in on where the outbreak began. Mexico’s chief epidemiologist suggested Wednesday that someone could have carried it in from Pakistan or Bangladesh — or just about anywhere else in the world.
By March 9, the first symptoms were showing up in the Mexican state of Veracruz, where pig farming is a key industry in mountain hamlets and where small clinics provide the only health care.
The earliest confirmed case was there: a 5-year-old boy who was one of hundreds of people in the town of La Gloria whose flu symptoms left them struggling to breathe.
Days later, a door-to-door tax inspector was hospitalized with acute respiratory problems in the neighboring state of Oaxaca, infecting 16 hospital workers before she became Mexico’s first confirmed death.
Neighbors of the inspector, Maria Adela Gutierrez, said Wednesday that she fell ill after pairing up with a temporary worker from Veracruz who seemed to have a very bad cold. Other people from La Gloria kept going to jobs in Mexico City despite their illnesses, and could have infected people in the capital.
The deaths were already leveling off by the time Mexico announced the epidemic April 23. At hospitals Wednesday, lines of anxious citizens seeking care for flu symptoms dwindled markedly.
The Mexican health secretary, Jose Angel Cordova, said getting proper treatment within 48 hours of falling ill “is fundamental for getting the best results” and said the country’s supply of medicine was sufficient.
Cordova has suggested the virus can be beaten if caught quickly and treated properly. But it was neither caught quickly nor treated properly in the early days in Mexico, which lacked the capacity to identify the virus, and whose health care system has become the target of widespread anger and distrust.
In case after case, patients have complained of being misdiagnosed, turned away by doctors and denied access to drugs. Monica Gonzalez said her husband, Alejandro, already had a bad cough when he returned to Mexico City from Veracruz two weeks ago and soon developed a fever and swollen tonsils.
As the 32-year-old truck driver’s symptoms worsened, she took him to a series of doctors and finally a large hospital. By then, he had a temperature of 102 and could barely stand.
“They sent him away because they said it was just tonsillitis,” she said. “That hospital is garbage.”
That was April 22, a day before Mexico’s health secretary announced the swine flu outbreak. But the medical community was already aware of a disturbing trend in respiratory infections, and Veracruz had been identified as a place of concern.
Gonzalez finally took her husband to Mexico City’s main respiratory hospital, “dying in the taxi.” Doctors diagnosed pneumonia, but it may have been too late: He has suffered a collapsed lung and is unconscious. Doctors doubt he will survive.
Swine flu has symptoms nearly identical to regular flu — fever, cough and sore throat — and spreads like regular flu, through tiny particles in the air, when people cough or sneeze. People with flu symptoms are advised to stay at home, wash their hands and cover their sneezes.
H1N1 swine flu is seen as the biggest risk since H5N1 avian flu re-emerged in 2003, killing 257 people of 421 infected in 15 countries. In 1968 a “Hong Kong” flu pandemic killed about 1 million people globally, and a 1957 pandemic killed about 2 million.
Seasonal flu kills 250,000 to 500,000 people in a normal year, including healthy children in rich countries.
While epidemiologists stress it is humans, not pigs, who are spreading the disease, sales have plunged for pork producers around the world. Egypt began slaughtering its roughly 300,000 pigs on Wednesday, even though no cases have been reported there. WHO says eating pork is safe, but Mexicans have even cut back on their beloved greasy pork tacos.
Pork producers are trying to get people to stop calling the disease swine flu, and Obama notably referred to it Wednesday only by its scientific name, H1N1. U.N. animal health expert Juan Lubroth noted some scientists say “Mexican flu” would be more accurate, a suggestion already inflaming passions in Mexico.
Authorities have sought to keep the crisis in context. In the U.S. alone, health officials say about 36,000 people die every year from flu-related causes.
Mexico’s government said it remains too early to ease restrictions that have shut down public life in the overcrowded capital and much of the country. Pyramids, museums and restaurants were closed to keep crowds from spreading contagion.
“None of these measures are popular. We’re not looking for that — we’re looking for effectiveness,” Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said. “The most important thing to protect is human life.”
<font size="5"><center>
Can you catch swine flu from money?
YES</font size></center>
By SmartMoney
To reduce the risk of catching swine flu, wash your hands frequently and use tissues when you sneeze -- those are the recommendations from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">But there's another way to protect yourself, even if it's not so good for the economy: Stop handling money.
It doesn't get talked about much, but paper currency -- the dollars, fives, 10s and 20s most people routinely touch every day -- can spread viruses from one person to another. So if you have contact with money that an infected individual has also handled, there's a possibility of catching the flu.</span>
<font size="3">How likely is that? </font size>
Despite the pervasiveness of cash in society, its role in transmitting illness has been the subject of surprisingly little study. But some recent research suggests that flu bugs can show some staying power when they land on one of the countless bank notes that change hands every day.
Amid public concern and media hype about the swine flu outbreak, it's remarkable how little the subject of money comes up -- and how few people want to discuss it. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">The CDC wouldn't discuss the role of money in flu transmission.</span> At the New York State Health Department, spokeswoman Claire Pospisil declined to comment. And when we asked the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing -- that's the government operation that actually manufactures money -- a spokeswoman told us that what happens to U.S. dollars once they're in circulation is beyond the bureau's control.
Meanwhile, concern about the swine flu continues in the U.S. and abroad. The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert level to phase 5, one level shy of WHO's highest readiness. As of May 11, there had been three confirmed swine flu deaths in the U.S., and the tally of confirmed U.S. cases of swine flu stood at 2,600, measured from when it was first identified as a new strain April 24. To put those numbers in perspective, an estimated 36,000 Americans die annually from complications related to regular seasonal flu strains, according to the CDC.
Still, if all this has you looking more suspiciously at the folding money you're carrying around, you could consider relying more on coins. Scientists say those are much more likely to be virus-free, because metals such as nickel and copper inhibit viruses.
In Defense of 'New" Money
And even the humble dollar bill may have some defenses. The ink on freshly printed U.S. dollars has a fungicidal agent in it that can inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungi, and the influenza virus can be killed more easily because of it, New York University's Tierno says. But as the dollar gets used and abused, especially with perspiration or water, the strength of the ink weakens, he says.
As for the paper, Peter Hopkins, a spokesman for Crane & Co., the exclusive provider of paper for U.S. currency, says he doesn't know whether the paper has any antiviral properties but notes that it is made out of 75% cotton and 25% linen. Tierno says those natural fibers can be degraded by fungi. And, therefore, to prevent that from happening, the pulp, like the ink, includes a fungicidal agent.
<font size="3">Not just swine flu </font size>
One big unknown at the moment is whether the swine flu will continue to mutate and grow stronger, says Rani Bright, an assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and forensic medicine at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. If it does, the virus could conceivably survive on dollar bills for even longer periods.
When severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, broke out in China, some researchers expected the virus to survive on currency and other surfaces for just a few hours. Instead, it lasted a few days because it was much stronger than originally anticipated, says Jean Patterson, the chairwoman of the virology and immunology department at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio.
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Even after the spread of swine flu subsides, consumers may want to continue being cautious when handling their cash. Some infectious bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae, can stick to currency for a longer period than viruses</span>, according to a 2002 study, "Bacterial Contamination of Paper Currency," that was published by the Southern Medical Journal. Dr. Peter Ender, an infectious-disease physician at St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network in Bethlehem, Pa., who co-authored the study, said that though the average health risks are low, bacteria on U.S. dollars could cause mild or serious illness.
<font size="3">For once, plastic edges cash </font size>
Are there ways to make cash cleaner? One approach: ATMs that sterilize your money. Some years back, just such a machine was marketed in Japan, where cleanliness can be something of a cultural obsession. These "clean ATMs" were manufactured by a Hitachi subsidiary, Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions. However, according to Hitachi spokeswoman Lauren Garvey, those machines were not available outside of Japan and are no longer manufactured.
There may be a much simpler solution: Paying by credit or debit card instead of cash could lower your risk of catching a bug, Patterson says. That isn't because of any special properties of plastic but because your card typically passes through fewer hands than cash, reducing the chance of contact with an infected individual. But don't throw away your sanitizing gel. Viruses can live on your plastic for up to an hour or so, she says.
This article was reported by AnnaMaria Andriotis and Aleksandra Todorova for SmartMoney.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.co...ealth/can-you-catch-swine-flu-from-money.aspx
Can you catch swine flu from money?
YES</font size></center>
By SmartMoney
To reduce the risk of catching swine flu, wash your hands frequently and use tissues when you sneeze -- those are the recommendations from the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">But there's another way to protect yourself, even if it's not so good for the economy: Stop handling money.
It doesn't get talked about much, but paper currency -- the dollars, fives, 10s and 20s most people routinely touch every day -- can spread viruses from one person to another. So if you have contact with money that an infected individual has also handled, there's a possibility of catching the flu.</span>
<font size="3">How likely is that? </font size>
Despite the pervasiveness of cash in society, its role in transmitting illness has been the subject of surprisingly little study. But some recent research suggests that flu bugs can show some staying power when they land on one of the countless bank notes that change hands every day.
<font size="3">Nothing to sneeze at </font size>
Generally speaking, scientists interviewed by SmartMoney estimate <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">the lifetime of a plain flu virus deposited on money at an hour or so. But mix in some human nasal mucus, and the potential for the virus to hang on long enough to find a victim increases</span>, according to one of the few scientific studies done on flu transmission through cash.
In a study conducted at Switzerland's Central Laboratory of Virology at the University Hospitals of Geneva, researchers tested to see what would happen when flu virus was placed on Swiss franc notes. In some of these tests, researchers placed flu virus mixed in with nasal secretions from children on bank notes and saw some unexpected results.
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">When protected by human mucus, the flu cells were much hardier, lasting up to 17 days on the franc notes.</span> The virus that persisted for 17 days was a form of influenza A called H3N2. In an e-mail interview, Dr. Yves Thomas said samples of an influenza<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00"> A strain called H1N1 also endured for quite a bit -- in some cases, up to 10 days.</span> That bug was similar but not identical to the virus at the center of the current swine flu outbreak, which is consideredhttp://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/74/10/3002 a new strain of H1N1.
The research suggested that <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">in the real world, where runny noses get wiped by hands that then handle money, flu viruses may have more persistence than previously thought.</span> (Read the study "Survival of Influenza Virus on Banknotes" in the May 2008 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.)
To be sure, many kinds of frequently touched surfaces could temporarily harbor the flu virus. Broadly speaking, scientists consider the risk of transmission in this way to be low, particularly if hand washing and other hygiene measures are practiced, says Dr. Philip Tierno, the director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University's Langone Medical Center and author of "The Secret Life of Germs."
<font size="3">How you'd catch it </font size>
Three things likely must happen for a flu virus to be transmitted from one person to another via paper money:
Generally speaking, scientists interviewed by SmartMoney estimate <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">the lifetime of a plain flu virus deposited on money at an hour or so. But mix in some human nasal mucus, and the potential for the virus to hang on long enough to find a victim increases</span>, according to one of the few scientific studies done on flu transmission through cash.
In a study conducted at Switzerland's Central Laboratory of Virology at the University Hospitals of Geneva, researchers tested to see what would happen when flu virus was placed on Swiss franc notes. In some of these tests, researchers placed flu virus mixed in with nasal secretions from children on bank notes and saw some unexpected results.
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">When protected by human mucus, the flu cells were much hardier, lasting up to 17 days on the franc notes.</span> The virus that persisted for 17 days was a form of influenza A called H3N2. In an e-mail interview, Dr. Yves Thomas said samples of an influenza<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00"> A strain called H1N1 also endured for quite a bit -- in some cases, up to 10 days.</span> That bug was similar but not identical to the virus at the center of the current swine flu outbreak, which is consideredhttp://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/74/10/3002 a new strain of H1N1.
The research suggested that <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">in the real world, where runny noses get wiped by hands that then handle money, flu viruses may have more persistence than previously thought.</span> (Read the study "Survival of Influenza Virus on Banknotes" in the May 2008 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.)
To be sure, many kinds of frequently touched surfaces could temporarily harbor the flu virus. Broadly speaking, scientists consider the risk of transmission in this way to be low, particularly if hand washing and other hygiene measures are practiced, says Dr. Philip Tierno, the director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University's Langone Medical Center and author of "The Secret Life of Germs."
<font size="3">How you'd catch it </font size>
Three things likely must happen for a flu virus to be transmitted from one person to another via paper money:
First, a person who is infected with the flu must sneeze or cough onto the bill or blow his/her nose and leave remnants of mucus on the currency.
Next, an uninfected person needs to touch the money while the virus is still present.
Finally, that person needs to put his (or her) contaminated hand in his mouth or pick his nose, says Dr. Murray Grossan, an otolaryngologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Next, an uninfected person needs to touch the money while the virus is still present.
Finally, that person needs to put his (or her) contaminated hand in his mouth or pick his nose, says Dr. Murray Grossan, an otolaryngologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Amid public concern and media hype about the swine flu outbreak, it's remarkable how little the subject of money comes up -- and how few people want to discuss it. <SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">The CDC wouldn't discuss the role of money in flu transmission.</span> At the New York State Health Department, spokeswoman Claire Pospisil declined to comment. And when we asked the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing -- that's the government operation that actually manufactures money -- a spokeswoman told us that what happens to U.S. dollars once they're in circulation is beyond the bureau's control.
Meanwhile, concern about the swine flu continues in the U.S. and abroad. The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert level to phase 5, one level shy of WHO's highest readiness. As of May 11, there had been three confirmed swine flu deaths in the U.S., and the tally of confirmed U.S. cases of swine flu stood at 2,600, measured from when it was first identified as a new strain April 24. To put those numbers in perspective, an estimated 36,000 Americans die annually from complications related to regular seasonal flu strains, according to the CDC.
Still, if all this has you looking more suspiciously at the folding money you're carrying around, you could consider relying more on coins. Scientists say those are much more likely to be virus-free, because metals such as nickel and copper inhibit viruses.
In Defense of 'New" Money
And even the humble dollar bill may have some defenses. The ink on freshly printed U.S. dollars has a fungicidal agent in it that can inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungi, and the influenza virus can be killed more easily because of it, New York University's Tierno says. But as the dollar gets used and abused, especially with perspiration or water, the strength of the ink weakens, he says.
As for the paper, Peter Hopkins, a spokesman for Crane & Co., the exclusive provider of paper for U.S. currency, says he doesn't know whether the paper has any antiviral properties but notes that it is made out of 75% cotton and 25% linen. Tierno says those natural fibers can be degraded by fungi. And, therefore, to prevent that from happening, the pulp, like the ink, includes a fungicidal agent.
<font size="3">Not just swine flu </font size>
One big unknown at the moment is whether the swine flu will continue to mutate and grow stronger, says Rani Bright, an assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and forensic medicine at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. If it does, the virus could conceivably survive on dollar bills for even longer periods.
When severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, broke out in China, some researchers expected the virus to survive on currency and other surfaces for just a few hours. Instead, it lasted a few days because it was much stronger than originally anticipated, says Jean Patterson, the chairwoman of the virology and immunology department at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio.
<SPAN style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff00">Even after the spread of swine flu subsides, consumers may want to continue being cautious when handling their cash. Some infectious bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae, can stick to currency for a longer period than viruses</span>, according to a 2002 study, "Bacterial Contamination of Paper Currency," that was published by the Southern Medical Journal. Dr. Peter Ender, an infectious-disease physician at St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network in Bethlehem, Pa., who co-authored the study, said that though the average health risks are low, bacteria on U.S. dollars could cause mild or serious illness.
<font size="3">For once, plastic edges cash </font size>
Are there ways to make cash cleaner? One approach: ATMs that sterilize your money. Some years back, just such a machine was marketed in Japan, where cleanliness can be something of a cultural obsession. These "clean ATMs" were manufactured by a Hitachi subsidiary, Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions. However, according to Hitachi spokeswoman Lauren Garvey, those machines were not available outside of Japan and are no longer manufactured.
There may be a much simpler solution: Paying by credit or debit card instead of cash could lower your risk of catching a bug, Patterson says. That isn't because of any special properties of plastic but because your card typically passes through fewer hands than cash, reducing the chance of contact with an infected individual. But don't throw away your sanitizing gel. Viruses can live on your plastic for up to an hour or so, she says.
This article was reported by AnnaMaria Andriotis and Aleksandra Todorova for SmartMoney.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.co...ealth/can-you-catch-swine-flu-from-money.aspx
<font size="5"><center>
Obama declares swine flu emergency</font size></center>
Maynor Canales, 11, waits to receive the H1N1 vaccine in a Texas drive-through flu-shot clinic.
San Francisco Chronicle
Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, October 25, 2009
President Obama declared swine flu a national emergency, a move intended to give hospitals and other medical facilities more flexibility in coping with the possible surge of infected patients, public health experts said Saturday.
The declaration, announced Saturday, allows U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to waive certain regulations or speed up the regulatory process if health providers are inundated with swine flu patients.
For example, an overwhelmed hospital might be able to set aside a specific wing for infectious patients, or even move people to a location outside the hospital for treatment.
The declaration also allows the health secretary to remove some of the red tape associated with treating patients on Medicare and Medicaid. That could be a major help to hospitals that are trying to move patients quickly in and out of health clinics, said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, director of infection control at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
Swine flu has killed more than 1,000 people in the United States since April, according to the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and infectious disease experts believe it has infected millions around the globe. In the Bay Area, 58 people had died from swine flu as of Sept. 26, according to the latest information from the California Department of Health Services. Seven of those deaths occurred in San Francisco.
<font size="4">Outbreak's severity the same</font size>
White House officials were quick to note that the emergency declaration does not signify an increase in severity of the national H1N1 outbreak.
Obama's declaration states that as the swine flu outbreak continues to progress in the United States, "the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities."
Art Reingold, head of epidemiology at UC Berkeley, said the declaration doesn't mean that the national outbreak is "any worse than it was yesterday or last week." Instead, he suspects it was issued in part to help state and local governments manage an epidemic that could overwhelm already limited resources after public health budgets were slashed all over the country.
He added that the declaration, while not surprising, had to be carefully worded to avoid creating more anxiety about the swine flu.
"It's difficult to get the right message across to people," Reingold said. "There's this balance between the flu is important and people should be vaccinated, but you don't want an overreaction."
In the Bay Area, many public health agencies have reported significant increases in flu activity in the first half of October. While health services aren't yet strained by the increased patient load, public health experts said the president's declaration comes as a relief.
"This might open up approvals for hospital procedures, and allow us to get our patients in and out faster," Maldonado said. "Hospitals are tightly regulated. We won't be exempt from those regulations, but our needs will probably be fast-tracked."
Several local public health experts said they hope the declaration can be used to speed up distribution of the swine flu vaccine. The vaccine was supposed to have been available in large quantities in mid-October, but as of late last week, many communities - including most Bay Area counties - had very limited supplies.
<font size="4">Speeding drug distribution</font size>
In recent months, Sebelius has issued three declarations of a public health emergency to help ease distribution of U.S. supplies of antiviral drugs to treat people with the swine flu. At the local level, some counties may declare emergencies to help corner resources for vaccine distribution.
"Given the variables related to vaccine supply and the need for expanded resources at the municipal level, it's not unreasonable to assume that a proclamation of emergency may be required at the local level to facilitate the distribution of vaccine," said Vanessa Cordova, a spokeswoman for the Alameda County Public Health Department.
<font size="4">To find out where to get a vaccine or when it might be available:</font size>
<font size="4">Who gets the swine flu vaccine first:</font size>
<font size="4">Why there's so much concern about swine flu </font size>
Public health officials are taking extra precautions with swine flu, a form of influenza Type A, subtype H1N1, this flu season, in part because:
E-mail Erin Allday at eallday@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/24/MNFP1AAB4V.DTL&tsp=1
Obama declares swine flu emergency</font size></center>
Maynor Canales, 11, waits to receive the H1N1 vaccine in a Texas drive-through flu-shot clinic.
San Francisco Chronicle
Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, October 25, 2009
President Obama declared swine flu a national emergency, a move intended to give hospitals and other medical facilities more flexibility in coping with the possible surge of infected patients, public health experts said Saturday.
The declaration, announced Saturday, allows U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to waive certain regulations or speed up the regulatory process if health providers are inundated with swine flu patients.
For example, an overwhelmed hospital might be able to set aside a specific wing for infectious patients, or even move people to a location outside the hospital for treatment.
The declaration also allows the health secretary to remove some of the red tape associated with treating patients on Medicare and Medicaid. That could be a major help to hospitals that are trying to move patients quickly in and out of health clinics, said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, director of infection control at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
Swine flu has killed more than 1,000 people in the United States since April, according to the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and infectious disease experts believe it has infected millions around the globe. In the Bay Area, 58 people had died from swine flu as of Sept. 26, according to the latest information from the California Department of Health Services. Seven of those deaths occurred in San Francisco.
<font size="4">Outbreak's severity the same</font size>
White House officials were quick to note that the emergency declaration does not signify an increase in severity of the national H1N1 outbreak.
Obama's declaration states that as the swine flu outbreak continues to progress in the United States, "the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities."
Art Reingold, head of epidemiology at UC Berkeley, said the declaration doesn't mean that the national outbreak is "any worse than it was yesterday or last week." Instead, he suspects it was issued in part to help state and local governments manage an epidemic that could overwhelm already limited resources after public health budgets were slashed all over the country.
He added that the declaration, while not surprising, had to be carefully worded to avoid creating more anxiety about the swine flu.
"It's difficult to get the right message across to people," Reingold said. "There's this balance between the flu is important and people should be vaccinated, but you don't want an overreaction."
In the Bay Area, many public health agencies have reported significant increases in flu activity in the first half of October. While health services aren't yet strained by the increased patient load, public health experts said the president's declaration comes as a relief.
"This might open up approvals for hospital procedures, and allow us to get our patients in and out faster," Maldonado said. "Hospitals are tightly regulated. We won't be exempt from those regulations, but our needs will probably be fast-tracked."
Several local public health experts said they hope the declaration can be used to speed up distribution of the swine flu vaccine. The vaccine was supposed to have been available in large quantities in mid-October, but as of late last week, many communities - including most Bay Area counties - had very limited supplies.
<font size="4">Speeding drug distribution</font size>
In recent months, Sebelius has issued three declarations of a public health emergency to help ease distribution of U.S. supplies of antiviral drugs to treat people with the swine flu. At the local level, some counties may declare emergencies to help corner resources for vaccine distribution.
"Given the variables related to vaccine supply and the need for expanded resources at the municipal level, it's not unreasonable to assume that a proclamation of emergency may be required at the local level to facilitate the distribution of vaccine," said Vanessa Cordova, a spokeswoman for the Alameda County Public Health Department.
<font size="4">To find out where to get a vaccine or when it might be available:</font size>
-- Kaiser Permanente patients should call (800) 573-5811.
-- See the flu-shot locator page at www.flu.gov.
-- Call or check the Web site of your local public health department.
-- See the flu-shot locator page at www.flu.gov.
-- Call or check the Web site of your local public health department.
<font size="4">Who gets the swine flu vaccine first:</font size>
-- Pregnant women
-- People who live with or care for infants under 6 months old
-- Health care and emergency medical workers who have direct contact with patients or infectious materials
-- Young people ages 6 months to 24 years
-- Adults younger than 65 with chronic health problems
-- People who live with or care for infants under 6 months old
-- Health care and emergency medical workers who have direct contact with patients or infectious materials
-- Young people ages 6 months to 24 years
-- Adults younger than 65 with chronic health problems
<font size="4">Why there's so much concern about swine flu </font size>
Public health officials are taking extra precautions with swine flu, a form of influenza Type A, subtype H1N1, this flu season, in part because:
-- It's a new strain of influenza and therefore unpredictable - it could suddenly become much more severe or pervasive.
-- It has remained very active through the spring, summer and fall, when the regular seasonal flu typically wanes. No one knows what to expect from swine flu during the winter months.
-- It is primarily affecting people younger than 65, and especially children. So far, more than 1,000 people in the United States have died from swine flu, about 100 of them children. The seasonal flu kills many thousands of people every year; almost all of them are elderly or have serious underlying health problems.
-- People younger than 65, in particular children, appear to have almost no immunity to swine flu, which means it can spread rapidly, especially in schools.
-- It has remained very active through the spring, summer and fall, when the regular seasonal flu typically wanes. No one knows what to expect from swine flu during the winter months.
-- It is primarily affecting people younger than 65, and especially children. So far, more than 1,000 people in the United States have died from swine flu, about 100 of them children. The seasonal flu kills many thousands of people every year; almost all of them are elderly or have serious underlying health problems.
-- People younger than 65, in particular children, appear to have almost no immunity to swine flu, which means it can spread rapidly, especially in schools.
E-mail Erin Allday at eallday@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/24/MNFP1AAB4V.DTL&tsp=1