<p>My thoughts are with you and your child starz27!</p>
<p>We don’t have the fatalities in the US because of the Post flu antibiotics we administer are working, as is the Tamiflu/Relenza… currently.
Oh, did you guys know nearly 2-year-old Mexican boy who died in Houston,was the grandson of a very wealthy Mexican family in the Government. There was no poverty or dirty water involved.</p>
<p><a href=“http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/03/content_11303748.htm[/url]”>http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/03/content_11303748.htm</a></p>
<p>Deerfield cancelled their upcoming parents weekend, b/c they are worried that parents/siblings will bring infection into the school. Rye Country Day closed for two weeks. Dont know the reason.</p>
<p>mhmm: swine flu. do you live in Westchester (pm me)? there are a couple news stories about it. I also hear (from news) that though it is not definite, they are trying to re-open school as early as monday.</p>
<p>The CDC is no longer recommending that schools close. See the press release below.</p>
<p>ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. health officials are no longer recommending that schools close because of swine flu.</p>
<p>The government last week advised schools to shut down for about two weeks if there were suspected cases of swine flu. Hundreds of schools around the country have followed that guidance and closed schools.</p>
<p>Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday that the swine flu virus had turned out to be milder than initially feared. She says the government is changing its advice on closing schools.</p>
<p>I’m a lot more worried about APs and final exams then school closings, Any sick student is a student whose GPA just took a hit adn college chances deminished. </p>
<p>DA’s closed campus policy makes sense, what ever the national policy. Let’s not take chances with importing a flue that could wipe out a years AP effort.</p>
<p>Luckily, toadstool, schools realize that this health scare has been taken very seriously and that schools were actually told to close. Any self-respecting school will allow their students to take the AP when they are healthy. In fact, AP regulations state that the AP may be taken at an alternate time in the event of sickness in test-takers. It would just be cruel to disallow test-taking for students who were sick against their will with a really rather benign flu that the entire country, including the government, blew out of proportion.</p>
<p>Shelley14, thanks for the info! No surprise on my part, though.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’ll leave you adults to your adult area. Sorry to interrupt!</p>
<p>Anderson Cooper Speaks:
[Anderson</a> Cooper 360: Blog Archive - Get ready for pandemic - Blogs from CNN.com](<a href=“http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/05/still-unprepared-for-a-lethal-pandemic/]Anderson”>http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/05/still-unprepared-for-a-lethal-pandemic/)</p>
<p>May 5, 2009</p>
<p>Get ready for pandemic</p>
<p>Posted: 10:15 AM ET</p>
<p>Stephen Flynn and Irwin Redlener
AC360° Contributors</p>
<p>We may have dodged a bullet - for now. If the strain of Swine Flu virus that is currently circulating the United States remains mild, our plans and capabilities for responding to a nationwide health care crisis will not be put to the test. That is a good thing because if our pandemic preparedness were to undergo a stress test today, it would fail.</p>
<p>Because panic can lead to misdirected energies that result in harmful outcomes, the Obama Administration and local leaders like New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg deserve high marks for providing a measured and reassuring tone in the face of the initial fear and uncertainty surrounding the H1N1 outbreak.</p>
<p>But now the hard work must begin.</p>
<p>President Obama needs to quickly seize upon this crisis to mobilize state and local governments and everyday Americans to better prepare our hospitals, communities, and homes for the task of protecting and saving lives during a virulent pandemic.</p>
<p>The sobering reality is that we have been living on borrowed time. Lethal, new, non-seasonal influenza outbreaks typically strike three to four times a century and we are overdue.</p>
<p>The H1N1 virus has all the microbial evolutionary attributes for producing our millennium’s first deadly pandemic: it is a new virus compounded from several distinct strains for which people have no natural immunity; it is transmissible among humans; and, it has caused fatalities in unexpected age groups.</p>
<p>The relatively mild form of the virus we are seeing now could mutate in the upcoming flu season in the southern hemisphere. Then we could see it back in our own communities next winter in a more virulent form.</p>
<p>According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a full-blown pandemic would result in approximately 90 million Americans become ill, and depending on the flu’s potency, with anywhere from 865,000 to 9,900,000 requiring hospitalization. To put that number into context, consider that the entire inventory of staffed hospital beds within the United States is 970,000 and virtually all of them are currently occupied.</p>
<p>We are simply not prepared for this kind of outbreak:</p>
<p>• The emergency health care system is incapable of managing the surge of millions of “worried-well” and sick.</p>
<p>• Most of our communities do not have tested plans for the timely distribution of antivirals, vaccines, or protective equipment.</p>
<p>• Within many state and local jurisdictions, confusion remains over who will be in charge during a major medical emergency.</p>
<p>• There is no consistency among states on vaccine prioritization or the best infection-control polices.</p>
<p>• At the family level, too few of us have drawn up emergency plans or stocked up on essential supplies at our homes.</p>
<p>In short, our national leaders would be doing us a disservice if they fail to channel the recent public anxiety over Mexican Swine flu into a national campaign to improve our preparedness.</p>
<p>Here is what needs be done right away:</p>
<p>• The federal government should survey states and localities and make emergency funding available to restore staffing at public health departments. Our first line of defense is the disease surveillance, reporting, and contingency planning these public health officials provide. On the current perilous trajectory, the public health workforce is projected to be 9 percent smaller than in 2005 when the pandemic flu risk first started generating serious concern.</p>
<p>• Hospitals with state and local government support need to have plans and incentives in place to make sure the health care workforce is adequately trained and available to help during a major infectious disease outbreak. Every hand will count, especially since we are already experiencing a nationwide shortage of approximately 100,000 nurses. An April 2009 report of an AFL-CIO survey of 104 health care facilities in 14 states reinforced the findings of earlier studies that many medical professionals and workers may not show up for work during a disease outbreak. The reasons include the need to stay at home to provide childcare during school closures or attending to sick loved ones. Equally worrisome, the AFL-CIO survey found that only 43 percent of the facilities have provided pandemic flu training to their employees.</p>
<p>• Managing a lethal pandemic will require innovative action to meet the surge in demand for medical care, including setting up temporary triage centers outside hospitals and using alternative care sites. These auxiliary facilities will be needed to separate the “worried-well” from the truly sick, and to provide spill-over space to isolate those with contagious disease from other bed-ridden patients. The alternative of having an estimated 45 million Americans seeking emergency outpatient services during a pandemic will not work. Today, more than half the nation’s 4,000 emergency rooms are operating at or over capacity. One reason why the emergency care system is under such stress is that it has become the only medical care option for the nearly 50 million unfortunate Americans who do not possess health insurance. The severe recession is making this situation worse.</p>
<p>• The federal government needs to provide states with firm guidelines, matched with funding support, and work to resolve the liability issues associated with using locations like conference centers and hotels as temporary mass emergency facilities.</p>
<p>• To help deal with expected staffing shortfalls, Washington also needs to work with state governments to quickly adopt pre-credentialing systems and to clear away the legal barriers so qualified volunteers can help out during a public health emergency.</p>
<p>• Over the next three months, distribution plans must be tested nationwide at the community level to ensure that vaccines or antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu and Relenza can reach an at-risk or infected population in time to be effective. Antivirals need to be taken no later than 48-hours after the appearance of flu symptoms, with some experts suggesting that a 24-hour window would be far better. Our large national stockpile of drugs will be of no help if communities don’t have the means in place to rapidly distribute them. One good idea is to turn to the U.S. Postal Service for help, but first we need to make sure that the mail carriers receive training and have early access to antiviral drugs and protective gear.</p>
<p>• Organizations like the American Red Cross that play such an important support role during times of disasters need a helping hand by corporate and individual donors. Like many charitable organizations, the Red Cross has seen recent and dramatic drops in giving, forcing them to make significant staff reductions.</p>
<p>• Finally and most importantly, as individuals we need to take responsibility for keeping ourselves informed about what we can do to stay healthy during a disease outbreak. We also need to make ourselves more self-reliant. Families should have in place a family emergency plan to include storing a supply of food, medicines, facemasks, and alcohol-based hand rubs. Whether healthy or sick, we might have to confine ourselves to our homes for several days while a pandemic plays itself out.</p>
<p>By skillfully managing the risk communications associated with the Mexican Swine Flu pandemic, the Obama Administration has earned public credibility for dealing with a national medical emergency. This asset now must be investing into providing the galvanizing leadership the nation requires to think creatively and to act quickly on correcting our dangerous deficit in national pandemic preparedness.</p>
<p>Lawrenceville has decided to close a week early for summer break due to the flu epidemic.</p>
<p>Exeter just confirmed two cases of the H1N1 flu. One student has left the campus, the other has been quaranteened in the health center. With three days of school remaining they haven’t cancelled anything, but they are moving all assemblies outdoors.</p>
<p>German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk By Reuters
Tue Jun 23, 10:47 AM PDT-</p>
<p>[German</a> authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk on Yahoo! Health](<a href=“Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos”>Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos)</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Expert sees autumn risk in northern hemisphere</p></li>
<li><p>Merkel says Germany is prepared, coordinating with others</p></li>
</ul>
<p>BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s federal agency for infectious diseases said on Tuesday there were signs the H1N1 swine flu virus had started to mutate and warned it could spread in the coming months in a more aggressive form.</p>
<p>Experts were concerned about how the flu was developing in Australia and South America, said Joerg Hacker, head of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.</p>
<p>“It’s possible the virus has mutated. In autumn the mutated form could spread to the northern hemisphere and back to Germany,” Hacker told a news conference in Berlin.</p>
<p>The World Health Organization raised swine flu to pandemic status earlier this month. According to its latest figures, more than 230 people have been killed by the flu worldwide from 52,000 confirmed cases, mostly in the United States and Mexico.</p>
<p>Symptoms of swine flu are typically fairly mild, but doctors have said the virus could evolve into something more aggressive.</p>
<p>According to WHO figures, Germany has the third highest rate of swine flu infection in Europe with 275 confirmed cases.</p>
<p>German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the conference that Germany was as prepared as it could be for any surge in cases.</p>
<p>“We are in contact about it internationally,” she said. “Now all we have to do is coordinate internationally who should be vaccinated and how we should do it, in case things get worse.”</p>
<p>The WHO has advised governments to prepare for a long-term battle against the new pandemic it officially calls A(H1N1).</p>
<p>WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said recently the virus is currently “pretty stable,” but warned it could still change into a more deadly form, perhaps mixing with the H5N1 bird flu virus circulating widely in poultry.</p>
<p>My school was closed after there was an outbreak of swine flu in the lower years. What was worse was we all went home one day on a Thursday, and then were told Thursday night that the school was suspended for 2 weeks (with 1 week left before the end of term), meaning that Thursday night was inevitably many of our last days of school. 
Sucks cause we couldn’t say our proper goodbyes… such an abrupt end to the year…</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about your loss.
Currently, H1N1 is practically benign in the US and the public has dually overreacted. The last link I posted will just keep you on your toes for this Fall. Keep washing your hands and be aware of the people around you who seem sick.</p>
<p>My hubbie flies to China at least 3 times a month. When the flight lands guys in white hazard suits board the plane and check every passengers and crew members temperature, using the forehead thermometer.</p>
<p>About a month ago they found a baby on his flight to Shanghai that had a fever. They quarantined everyone in the row the baby was in plus the row in front and behind and threw in one of the flight attendants for good measure! When he left to come home 24 hours later they were still quarantined.</p>
<p>I don’t know if China’s response is good or bad, just interesting.</p>
<p>China is hugely populated. The seemingly overreaching precautionary measures may prove wise. A pandemic would spread much faster in China as well as other populated countries such as Japan or India. Even the disease is curable, the hospitals would be overloaded and could see chaos.</p>
<p>I’m glad I turned a few more of us here into “Flubie’s” :)</p>
<p>[The</a> Flubie Brigade](<a href=“http://afludiary.blogspot.com/2007/05/flubie-brigade.html]The”>Avian Flu Diary: The Flubie Brigade)</p>
<p>“Watch what they do, not what they say.”</p>
<p>My younger son is scheduled to attend Duke University’s lacrosse camp next week. Yesterday I received an email from the camp. Here’s the first paragraph:</p>
<p>Dear Lacrosse Parents,</p>
<p>We’re writing to alert you that eleven confirmed cases and more than a dozen suspected cases of H1N1 flu have been reported among students and counselors participating in summer programs on Duke’s East Campus. All of the patients are doing well, with only mild to moderate disease. None have required hospitalization.
No documented cases have been reported in Duke-affiliated camps on West campus, although this situation is being watched carefully and may change. There have been no incidents associated with lacrosse (or any sports) camp. Our camp is exclusive to West Campus.</p>
<p>what about flu vaccine for the upcoming school year. I have never received a flu vaccine, nor have I authorized it for my children. I wonder if this year’s vaccine will be specific to the H1N1 strain, or if scientists will wait to see if they expect another strain to be more prevalent during the winter months.</p>
<p>There’s going to be a standard flu vaccine, like always (which everyone in my family always gets—I can’t see why anyone wouldn’t want their family protected from this sometimes lethal disease by a harmless and inexpensive vaccine). It’s made against what are predicted to be the prevalent strains of flu. (Once in a while, the prediction is wrong and there’s more severe flu around.) This will not protect against H1N1. Companies are racing to have something ready against H1N1, but I’m not sure about the status yet for the upcoming season.</p>
<p>[Swine</a> Flu?s Multi-Shot Vaccine May Overwhelm State-Run Clinics - Bloomberg.com](<a href=“Politics - Bloomberg”>Politics - Bloomberg)</p>
<p>Swine Flu’s Multi-Shot Vaccine May Overwhelm State-Run Clinics</p>
<p>By Tom Randall</p>
<p>June 26 (Bloomberg) – The vaccine being developed to combat a pandemic of swine flu will require multiple shots to provide immunity from the new virus and the added immunizations may overwhelm U.S. state agencies, health officials said.</p>
<p>Two injections will be required three weeks apart for swine flu, also known as H1N1, and a third will be needed for seasonal flu, health officials said at a meeting today at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta. Children younger than 9 years will need four shots, the CDC said.</p>
<p>The U.S. government has taken the unusual step of purchasing all of the swine flu vaccine, and the shots will probably be administered through vaccine clinics set up by state health organizations, the CDC said. The agency estimates that at least 50 million vaccine doses will be available in the U.S. by October 15, and enough vaccine to immunize everyone in the country will be available later in the season.</p>
<p>“Public health departments are under-funded and will get fatigued,” said William Schaffner, an influenza expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, in an interview at the flu conference. “One shot probably gives you very little immunity, 10 to 20 percent at most.”</p>