(ChinaPost.com.tw) – The bride wore white and a face mask. A Chicago couple married in surgical masks and latex gloves Sunday after learning less than 48 hours before that they both had swine flu. Ilana Jackson and Jeremy Fierstien went ahead with the ceremony after doctors assured them guests wouldn’t be at serious risk.

But to be sure, the 26-year-olds kept a 10-foot distance from family and friends at all times, even walking around the gathering instead of down the aisle at a Highland Park synagogue.

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(ChinaPost.com.tw) – Chinese authorities tracked down Los Angeles resident Mike Su recently at a networking banquet in Beijing. They forced him to pack his bags, then whisked him to a budget hotel on the edge of the city where they detained him for a week.

Su’s crime?

On his flight from Los Angeles, the Web-site director had the misfortune of sitting near someone alleged to have contracted H1N1 flu.

“I felt like I was going to prison,” said Su, 33. “I read the headlines in the news, but I never thought I’d be the guy who gets quarantined.”

The detention meant Su didn’t get a chance to strike deals in China for his company, Beverly Hills-based Break Media. He never exhibited signs of illness.

In the two months since H1N1 flu first emerged, China continues to wield some of the toughest controls to combat the spread of the recently designated pandemic. Those include denying visas to travelers from countries where the virus is prevalent, screening airline passengers and enforcing quarantines.

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A letter to the editor by Rhode Island Hospital infectious diseases specialist Leonard Mermel, DO, identifies characteristics of the outbreak of H1N1 in 1977 and speculates its impact on this pandemic. His letter is published in the June 20 edition of the journal the Lancet 2009 (vol 373 p2108-09). Mermel notes that in the late 1970s, an influenza H1N1 reappeared in humans. It had a pandemic-like spread that began in younger aged individuals. This strain, known as the “Russian flu” H1N1, was similar to H1N1 strains that circulated internationally between 1946 and 1957. The Russian flu spread rapidly across the former Soviet Union, initially affecting individuals between the ages of 14 and 20 in schools, as well as young military personnel, and later spread to preschool children. Individuals older than age 30, however, had dramatically lower attack rates and the overall mortality was low. The epidemic peaked rapidly, with a relatively short duration.

In the United States, the first outbreak of the Russian flu occurred in a Wyoming high school. The attack rate there was over 70 percent, however, it affected students only; no faculty were reported to have the illness. High attack rates were seen in schools as well as military bases throughout the United States, similar to the outbreak in Russia. There were few reports of the H1N1 strain in individuals older than age 26, and again, the mortality rate was low.

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Due to overriding concern for the health and safety of Jerry’s Kids, the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) announced today that it is immediately canceling the remainder of its annual summer camp program because of the H1N1 virus. “These children are much more vulnerable because of their weakened respiratory muscles, so we are taking this preemptive action to protect them from possible exposure to the swine flu,” said Dr. Valerie Cwik, MDA medical director.

Approximately 1,800 children have attended 33 MDA summer camps in the past month, with another 2,500 scheduled to attend the remaining 47 camps that have now been canceled. An equal number of volunteer counselors also attend each camp.

Out of 1,800 children who’ve attended MDA camps this year, 11 cases of swine flu were reported after the children left camp. Six suspected cases have been reported at the MDA Summer Camp in Worcester, Pa., which ends tomorrow.

One child from the Pennsylvania camp has been hospitalized and is in stable condition. Another child, who attended camp in Utah, was hospitalized, treated and released. In Minnesota, 10 cases of swine flu were reported after camp ended there June 12.

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The Boston Globe

ALTHOUGH Massachusetts recorded its first swine-flu death this month, the effect of the disease has not been as dire as many feared. As a result, public health officials have been able to view the health system’s response to the pandemic as a test case for an even more dangerous outbreak of flu. Among the lessons learned is the need for better coordination between the public-health sector and the private suppliers of the tools needed to contend with flu: face masks, swabs, and antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu.

Doctors, clinics, and hospitals need better, up-to-date information about the availability of commercial medicine stockpiles. Inevitably, an illness like flu that strikes patients with varying intensity will be treated in settings ranging from the home to hospital critical-care units. This increases the need for public officials to have a better fix on how quickly supplies of medicines, in particular, are being depleted and how best to blend public and private stockpiles. Officials should consider mandated reporting by commercial suppliers if necessary.

This month also saw the first swine-flu death outside the Western Hemisphere – in Scotland. So far, the disease has claimed fewer than 200 lives globally, far below the 250,000 to 500,000 who die annually around the world during a regular flu season. Still, the World Health Organization declared swine flu a pandemic June 11 because the virus is now undergoing communitywide transmission in both North America and Australia.

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By WILLIAM J. KEMBLE, Daily Freeman

KINGSTON — People should have a three-week supply of food on hand in the case the current swine flu pandemic worsens, the leader of a town supervisors’ group said last week, and he warned that 40 percent of the workforce could be kept away from their jobs this fall if the outbreak lasts that long.

John Valk Jr., the supervisor of the town of Shawangunk and the president of the Ulster County Supervisors Association, said a worsening pandemic of the H1N1 influenza strain means “our workforce would be slower. Deliveries to stores would slow down, and that is the point of stocking up on 21 days’ worth of supplies. … As things (get) backlogged, you’d have the things you need at the house.”

Greene County Public Health Director Marie Ostoyich has also advised readiness in the event the flu outbreak becomes more serious. She said briefings from state officials have emphasized that residents be prepared for the disruption of both municipal and commercial services.

“They did talk about (how) it won’t be business as usual,” Ostoyich said. “We don’t know about schools, businesses, whatever there may be — sort of like when we have a major snowstorm and we’re down to bare-bones basics and people aren’t to be out on the road traveling unless it’s absolutely necessary.

“We urged all the municipalities to come up with their plan,” she added, “but I don’t think I could, in any way, predict exactly what that’s going to look like when we’re there.”

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By Jonathan Owen, The Independent

Primary care trusts are to set up anti-viral drug distribution centres and swine flu testing clinics amid fears that the infection could spread out of control.

The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, wrote to health authorities last week urging hospitals to test all patients who show signs of flu-like symptoms. He wrote: “Transmission from person to person in this country is increasingly common. There is evidence that sporadic cases are arising with no apparent link either to cases elsewhere in the UK or to travel abroad.”

The letter followed an earlier warning from Sir Liam that millions of Britons could fall victim to swine flu in the coming months. Government officials admitted last night that illness rates from the virus could reach 50 per cent.

Primary care trusts are now being briefed to expect that the pandemic could affect as much as 40 per cent of the workforce before the end of the year, with many worried that there could be a surge of cases in the autumn, according to health industry sources.

The Department of Health sought to reassure the public last night. A spokesman said: “Previous pandemics have seen total illness levels of 25-35 per cent. So our plans are as robust as possible, we have based them on illness rates of 50 per cent, though we do not anticipate it being this high in the current pandemic. Based on this figure, the workforce could be reduced by 15-20 per cent at the pandemic’s peak. In the unlikely event that every school closed, this could rise to 35 per cent.” He said it was impossible to predict when the pandemic would peak, but added: “As part of ongoing planning, the NHS is being asked to ensure that antiviral collection points could, if needed, be put into action in a week.”

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Examiner

Infectious disease specialist, Dr. Leonard Mermel, suggested that older adults might have partial immunity to swine flu. A strain of H1N1 flu similar virus, dubbed “Russian flu”, spread across the United States in the late 1970s. It is possible that exposure to Russian flu could provide immunity against swine flu.

Russian flu circulated internationally between 1946 and 1957. It spread rapidly across the former Soviet Union, primarily affected students aged 14-20 and young military personnel. Pre-school children were affected in a subsequent wave. However, the epidemic affected far fewer individuals over age 30, and mortality was low in that group.

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China View

SUVA, June 21 (Xinhua) — The Pacific island nation of Fiji has recorded its first case of influenza A/H1N1, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.

A 36-year-old male Fiji resident, who recently returned home from Australia, showed symptoms of cough and fever. He was tested and it was confirmed on Saturday that he tested positive of A/H1N1virus, said Health Ministry officials.

“The man is currently under isolation at his home where our medical team is treating him,” the Fijilive website on Sunday quoted Ministry of Health public relations officer Iliesa Tora as saying.

Tora said the health ministry was working closely with UNICEF and the World Health Organization to manage the spread of H1N1 in the country and there were enough resources, including medications, to treat those infected.

All those who came in close contact with the man have also been tested for the virus.

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ZEENEWS

Santiago, June 21: An 18-year-old male has become the fifth person to die in Chile from the swine flu virus, local health authorities said.

The teenager was identified as Nelson Maldonado, from the southern city of Puerto Montt, 915 kilometres south of the capital Santiago.

Eugenia Schnake, a local health official, said Maldonado had a number of underlying health conditions related to morbid obesity, including respiratory problems.

Chile, in the midst of the southern hemisphere’s winter flu season, has been hard it by the A(H1N1) pandemic, reporting 4,315 cases of the virus.

On Wednesday, the country declared a state of emergency, giving the government more powers to deal with the outbreak.

Elsewhere in South America the virus continued its march.

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