Re: Swine Flu Outbreak
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/04/swine.flu.main/index.html
To be brief, more cases reported, even more suspected, many not even being examined, etc. Every measure is being taken to battle the flu - even taking measures to prevent a vengeful outbreak should the flu cease and then come back later on.
A full story on Hong Kong at the bottom where a hotel full of staff/guests are under quarantine. I didn't post any of the videos on any of this, you'll have to visit the link above to watch.
The number of confirmed cases of swine flu jumped to 1,025 on Monday, comprising 20 countries, the World Health Organization said.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 286 confirmed cases across 36 states, 60 more cases than were confirmed the day before.
Many of the cases are among children; the median age is 16, said Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC. The youngest confirmed case is a 3-month-old, he said.
There are also more than 700 probable cases across 44 states, Besser said.
"This likely represents an underestimation of the total number of cases across the country," he said, because not everyone with flu-like symptoms goes to the doctor and gets tested.
The U.S. Department of Education said that 533 schools were shut Monday, about 100 more than Friday and about half of 1 percent of all schools in the United States. The closures affect about 330,000 students in 24 states.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Marine Base at Twentynine Palms, north of Palm Springs, California, said two new cases of the flu were confirmed by the CDC. The two Marines show no symptoms but are being kept in isolation, spokeswoman Jennie Haskamp said. Previously, one other case was confirmed at the base.
The U.S. Defense Department also reported that a crew member stationed aboard the USS Dubuque in San Diego, California, was confirmed to have swine flu and is currently ashore. The department said there were 13 other "probable" cases among Dubuque personnel.
Even as health officials worldwide worked to battle the outbreak, intense efforts were under way to develop a vaccine -- with lessons from history in mind.
"In 1918, the Spanish flu showed a surge in the spring and then disappeared in the summer months, only to return in the autumn of 1918 with a vengeance,"
WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said Sunday. "And we know that that eventually killed 40 million to 50 million people."
Health officials are not making such dire predictions in this case. And they can't know for certain whether the swine flu will make a big return later in the year.
Still, they're taking no chances.
In Hong Kong, about 200 hotel guests and 100 staff members at the Metropark Hotel remain under quarantine until Friday after health officials determined that a guest there had contracted the H1N1 virus.
We go down to the lobby for food and then back to the room to eat your food," said Leslie Carr, a British man who is one of the 300 stuck at the hotel. "Not many people are downstairs hanging around to talk or discuss anything."
China has denied discriminating against Mexicans, saying it is exercising proper precaution to prevent the spread of the virus.
Hong Kong, in particular, is extra careful after a SARS outbreak in 2003 killed almost 300 people.
"In view of the lack of data ... we have to be very cautious," said Yuen Kwok-Yung of Hong Kong University. "I believe that as time goes by, we can change our strategy."
info from C.D.C.