>>Swine flu shuts down nursery at Mt. Sinai hospital

No newborn babies have been infected with swine flu but a nursery at Mount Sinai Hospital has been closed after somebody who was in contact with the unit was confirmed to have a minor case of the H1N1 virus.

“I can tell you at the moment no babies have been infected, but obviously there’s a time period after exposure so the investigation is going to go on,” Dr. Alison McGeer, director of infection control at Mount Sinai Hospital, said.

Full Article: here.

>>Mystery Aborigine swine flu death

Officials in Australia are trying to determine how an Aboriginal man caught and then died from swine flu.

The 26-year-old man became Australia’s first person to die after testing positive for the virus.

He had been living in Kiwirrkurra, one of the country’s most remote Outback communities.

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In the past week the number of confirmed cases doubled in the Northern Territory, where Aborigines make up almost one-third of the population.

Full Article: here.

>>Vaccinate kids to control H1N1 flu – researchers

Targeting children for vaccination may be the best way of using limited supplies of vaccine to control the current H1N1 flu pandemic, British researchers said on Thursday.

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Researchers from the University of Warwick said that vaccinating children rather than adults would not only help protect a group at greatest risk of exposure to the virus, but would also offer protection to unvaccinated adults.

This so-called “herd immunity” effect would mean significantly less vaccine would be needed to help control the spread of H1N1, also known as swine flu, which was first detected in Mexico in April.

Full Article: here.

>>First batch of swine flu vaccine produced

Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis AG said Friday it has successfully produced a first batch of swine flu vaccine weeks ahead of expectations.

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The announcement comes a day after the World Health Organization declared swine flu, also known as the H1N1 virus, a pandemic. The move indicates that a global outbreak is under way. WHO says drugmakers will likely have vaccines approved and ready for sale after September.

Full Article: here.

>>WHO: Swine flu pandemic has begun, 1st in 41 years

The World Health Organization declared a swine flu pandemic Thursday — the first global flu epidemic in 41 years — as infections in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere climbed to nearly 30,000 cases.

The long-awaited pandemic announcement is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe.

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WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan made the announcement Thursday after the U.N. agency held an emergency meeting with flu experts.

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“The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century,” Chan told reporters. “The (swine flu) virus is now unstoppable.”

Full Article: here.

>>Australian swine flu spike could force WHO pandemic declaration

A sharp increase in the number of reported cases of the H1N1 virus in Australia may prompt the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the first global pandemic in over forty years.

The number of Australian cases of the virus, commonly known as swine flu, has reached more than 1,200, with state and federal medical officers set to hold an emergency meeting in Sydney to review the country’s swine flu protection measures.

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With over 26,000 H1N1 cases worldwide, the WHO could move to Phase 6, the highest on its pandemic alert system.

Full Article:  here.

Swine flu cases on remote Manitoba reserve a ‘wake-up call’: chief

The emergence of swine flu on a remote northern Manitoba reserve is a wake-up call for governments to address poor living conditions and improve health care for aboriginals, the community’s chief said Thursday.

David McDougall of St. Theresa Point First Nation said there are two confirmed cases of swine flu on the reserve. Another 21 people are in hospital suffering from flu-like symptoms.

As a result, some people in the community of 3,200 are wearing masks and most are avoiding large get-togethers, he said.

It’s still not clear how swine flu reached the reserve, McDougall said. But he added the spread of the illness has likely been exacerbated by the shortage of housing and cramped quarters.

Full Article: here.

>>Swine Flu Spam Spikes In May: McAfee

Swine flu spam was the attack du jour in May for spammers, who sent more than 5 billion swine flu spam messages a day in just six days, according to a McAfee June 2009 spam report released Monday.

Full Article: here.

The irony

Current definition of spam: Unsolicited e-mail sent to a large number of addresses.

Original meaning: A spiced canned pork product.

>>Swine Flu Vaccine Possible by October

A U.S. health official said a swine flu vaccine could be available as early as October, but only if production and testing run smoothly this summer.

Full Article: here.

>>Australia swine flu ship isolated

A cruise ship carrying 2,000 passengers has been ordered to stay at sea off the coast of Australia after three crew tested positive for swine flu.

Full Article: here.

>>New York City reopens schools shuttered by flu

Students have returned to more than two dozen New York City public schools that were closed because of swine flu.

Full Article: here.

>>Politician’s Novel Idea for Mexican Tourism:  Statue of Swine Flu Survivor

Édgar Hernández, the Mexican kindergartner who is the first person known to have contracted the swine flu now circling the globe, may soon have a statue erected in his honor in the mountain village where he lives.

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[Gov. Fidel Herrera] considers Édgar to be not “Patient Zero,” the source of a global outbreak, but rather the first person in the world known to have survived the virus. In an interview with local reporters on Sunday, the governor likened the statue, which might be made of concrete or bronze, to the Manneken Pis in Brussels, the sculpture of a little boy peeing in a fountain.

Full Article: here.

>>Toronto Man May Be GTA & Ontario’s First H1N1 Flu Death

Toronto appears to have its first case of a death from the H1N1 flu. Ontario Health Minister David Caplan confirms that a man died at his home on Saturday, and it’s believed he may have succumbed from complications of the disease.

Full Article: here.

UPDATED:  ‘Atypical’ Toronto swine flu victim had other medical condition: official