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Swine flu is spreading so far and fast in the U.S. that state health officials may soon stop counting individual cases, a federal health official said Monday. The novel H1N1 virus accounted for 40 percent of flu viruses logged in the U.S. in the past week and helped propel an uptick in overall flu-like illnesses, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, a deputy director with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC has confirmed more than 2,000 cases in 43 states and Washington D.C., with 94 hospitalizations and three deaths. Another 700 cases are suspected. Although the flu is...

Action 4 News has confirmed that a Cameron County woman has died from the H1N1 virus. Texas state health officials told Action 4 News that the Center for Disease Control confirmed her death after 1 p.m. today. Authorities said a female in her early 30s had contracted H1N1, or swine flu, and died at a local hospital. The Cameron County victim is believed to be second person to die in the United States from the disease. The woman’s name has not been released but health officials said there is no cause for concern.

A US health official on Saturday did not rule out the possibility that the A(H1N1) influenza virus outbreak may have originated in California. "As we do our investigations here in the US, we may find that there were cases earlier," US Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) spokesman Scott Bryan told AFP. Several cases of infection were reported in California before the outbreak in Mexico, the epicenter of the swine flu outbreak, where the government has confirmed 427 cases of the disease as well as 16 deaths. The number of confirmed US swine flu cases stands at 160 spread...

Much more detailed Google map of the progress of the H1N1 virus in the US: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=109496610648025582911.0004686892fbefe515012&ll=33.72434,-51.679687&spn=94.133822,172.265625&z=2&source=embed Original link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/147716.php

Swine flu: What's Obama to do? He's got a few options, which one do you think he'll take? NOTE: The author of this comic requests that you visit his web site and please refrain from copying the comic within this thread. Thank you very much!

A member of the U.S. delegation that traveled to Mexico City as part of the advance security team for Energy Secretary Steven Chu exhibited swine flu-like symptoms upon his return, and three members of his family have tested positive for the A H1N1 virus, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced on Thursday. The unnamed staffer tested negative himself, but Gibbs attributed that to the amount of time that had elapsed since the onset of his own symptoms. The staffer felt ill three days after his arrival in Mexico City, which was April 13th. On the following day (April 17th),...

WXYZ) What was labeled as a probable case of Swine Flu in Ottawa County has now been confirmed as the second case in Michigan. The state announced Thursday that the CDC now considers both the Ottawa County case and the previously identified Livingston County case as confirmed incidences of the Swine Flu. A statement issued by the State of Michigan noted, "The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) is ensuring the state has adequate medication for those most in need." The statement went on to say Michigan received a partial shipment from the nation's medical stockpile on Wednesday. As new...

“Containment is no longer a feasible option,” Dr. Keiji Fukuda, deputy director general of the World Health Organization, announced Monday night in Geneva after a meeting of the agency’s emergency committee on the spreading swine flu virus. “The world should focus on mitigation. We recommend not closing borders or restricting travel.” Many countries are still ignoring that advice. The globe is a confusing welter of bans, advisories and alerts on some pork and some people. On Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was heavily pressed in Congressional hearings to ignore the advice and close the border with Mexico. She defended...

Williamson County girl, Harding Academy.

Two probable swine flu cases in North Alabama

WASHINGTON – Virulent swine flu spread to 10 U.S. states from coast to coast Wednesday and swept deeper into Europe, extending its global reach as President Barack Obama mourned the first U.S. death, a Mexican toddler who had traveled with his family to Texas. Total American cases surged to nearly 100, and Obama said wider school closings might be necessary. The World Health Organization said the outbreak is moving closer to becoming a full-scale pandemic. Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the organization's top flu expert, told reporters in Geneva that the latest developments are moving the agency closer to raising its pandemic...

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2009 – The Marine Corps commandant today confirmed a suspected case of what the U.S. Homeland Security Council now is calling H1N1 flu, but has been known as “swine flu,” at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif. A male Marine reported to a medical clinic on base over the weekend complaining of flu-like symptoms. Initial test results indicate the H1N1 virus, and the service is waiting for further results from testing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway said. The Marine, along with...

Another case of swine flu was reported Wednesday just as the Geneva-based World Health Organization Wednesday raised its alert level for the fast-spreading swine flu to its next-to-highest notch, signaling a global pandemic could be imminent. There are now eight cases of human infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) in San Diego County,” Health & Human Services Agency spokesman Tom Christensen said. More details were expected to emerge about the latest case at a 3:30 p.m. news conference at which San Diego County Public Health Officer Wilma Wooten will provide an update on developments around the county. Watch the news...

More than 40 people in five states have been sickened by new strain of swine flu that doctors fear may cause a pandemic, U.S. officials said on Monday, promising more cases to come. Schools were ordered closed in California and Texas, while nervous investors sent U.S. stock prices tumbling on expectations that the flu outbreak could further undermine the economy, which is struggling in recession. President Barack Obama said he was monitoring the situation while bad news piled up from southern neighbor Mexico, where up to 149 people have died and more than 1,600 have been infected by the never-before-seen...

Jan 14, 2004 (CIDRAP News) – One of the worst fears of infectious disease experts is that the H5N1 avian influenza virus now circulating in parts of Asia will combine with a human-adapted flu virus to create a deadly new flu virus that could spread around the world. That could happen, scientists predict, if someone who is already infected with an ordinary flu virus contracts the avian virus at the same time. The avian virus has already caused at least 48 confirmed human illness cases in Asia, of which 35 have been fatal. The virus has shown little ability to...

GENEVA (Reuters) – The prompt resolution of a 15-year old dispute over access to U.S. roads by Mexican trucks could be another casualty of the deadly swine flu outbreak, international trade experts said on Monday. Increased health checks to control the virus, which has killed 103 people in Mexico and infected at least 20 in the United States, could also slow the passage of goods across the busy but troubled U.S.-Mexico border, they said. The United States imported around $216 billion of goods from Mexico in 2008, making its southern neighbor its third-largest trading partner after Canada and China, according...

Global race is on to contain swine flu outbreak U.S. declares state of emergency as 20 cases confirmed; 86 dead in Mexico Workers cleaned St. Francis Preparatory School in New York on April 26, 2009 after the swine flu was confirmed in eight students, prompting the federal government to declare a public health emergency across the United States. WASHINGTON - The world’s governments raced to avoid both a pandemic and global hysteria Sunday as more possible swine flu cases surfaced from Canada to New Zealand and the United States declared a public health emergency. “It’s not a time to panic,”...

Doctors in America are advising worried patients to buy painters’ masks as a precaution against the global outbreak of swine flu that appears to have spread from Mexico to the United States, New Zealand and possibly Europe. With the worldwide death toll standing at about 81 and with about 1,300 people infected, authorities across the globe are torn between the desire to slow down a potential flu pandemic and the need to avoid bringing major cities on every continent to an economic standstill. As of today, the US was still allowing people to cross the border from Mexico – where...

Napolitano declares public health emergency @ 1:01 pm by Eric Zimmermann The United States will declare the swine flu outbreak a public health emergency, Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano said today. Speaking at a White House press briefing, Napolitano said the declaration is not as severe it sounds. "It allows us to free up state and local resources" that otherwise would not be available, Napolitano said. The declaration does not necessarily convey the authority to initiate quarantines. "We're nowhere near that kind of decision," Napolitano said. Also at the briefing, the Director of the Center for Disease Control, Richard Besser,...

Swine flu outbreak suspected in NZ school children Anne Barrowclough in Sydney New Zealand health officials are investigating a possible outbreak of swine flu amongst a school group which recently returned from a trip to Mexico.