NEW YORK — The swine flu virus continues spreading in New York City — closing more schools and showing up in a jail — while the disease also reached further into Asia among travelers returning from the U.S.
An assistant school principal in New York remained hospitalized in critical condition Saturday and an inmate who entered the city’s jail complex on Rikers Island about a month ago was diagnosed with swine flu Friday.
The city Department of Correction said that the flu hadn’t spread to other inmates in the 13,200 inmate system. The inmate came into contact with about 70 other prisoners.
The Rikers Island jail canceled weekend visits for those inmates and advised any other inmates’ family members who were feeling ill not to come, he said. Surgical masks were passed out to those inmates and officers on the two housing units.
Internationally, Malaysia, India and Turkey have reported their first cases, all involving people who had traveled from the U.S. They are in addition to the 36 other countries where the World Health Organization says more than 8,000 cases of the disease have been confirmed.
by the associated press
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Showing posts with label Swine Flu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Swine Flu. Show all posts
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Flu fears change
ATLANTA — Thanks to swine flu, there’s a little less hugging and kissing in the United States.
About one in 10 Americans have stopped hugging and kissing friends or relatives because of concerns about swine flu, according to a survey released Friday. About the same number have stopped shaking hands.
Officials have emphasized other measures to prevent spread of the virus, like washing hands and using hand sanitizers. The survey found about two-thirds of Americans are taking such steps.
"This outbreak has permeated a lot of American life,” said Robert Blendon, the Harvard School of Public Health researcher who led the polling.
The survey also found about six in 10 Americans are not currently worried that they or someone in their immediate family will get sick from the virus.
However, parents of school-aged children were more concerned about swine flu infections.
More than 1,000 people participated in the telephone survey.
The survey was done Tuesday and Wednesday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
by the associated press
About one in 10 Americans have stopped hugging and kissing friends or relatives because of concerns about swine flu, according to a survey released Friday. About the same number have stopped shaking hands.
Officials have emphasized other measures to prevent spread of the virus, like washing hands and using hand sanitizers. The survey found about two-thirds of Americans are taking such steps.
"This outbreak has permeated a lot of American life,” said Robert Blendon, the Harvard School of Public Health researcher who led the polling.
The survey also found about six in 10 Americans are not currently worried that they or someone in their immediate family will get sick from the virus.
However, parents of school-aged children were more concerned about swine flu infections.
More than 1,000 people participated in the telephone survey.
The survey was done Tuesday and Wednesday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
by the associated press
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
FDA going against swine flu fraud
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration says it has found at least 20 Web sites that may be fraudulently marketing products with claims they guard against or cure swine flu.
The FDA on Monday publicly rebuked one such site — rebuildermedical.com — for offering a $199 "SilverCure Swine Flu Protection Pack” consisting of shampoo, lotion, conditioner and soap that supposedly deposit traces of silver.
The FDA says no silver-based products have been approved for swine flu treatment or prevention.
Alyson Saben, who heads a new FDA swine flu consumer fraud team, says Rebuildermedical will have 48 hours to take corrective action. A phone message and e-mail to Rebuildermedical were not immediately returned.
by the associated press
The FDA on Monday publicly rebuked one such site — rebuildermedical.com — for offering a $199 "SilverCure Swine Flu Protection Pack” consisting of shampoo, lotion, conditioner and soap that supposedly deposit traces of silver.
The FDA says no silver-based products have been approved for swine flu treatment or prevention.
Alyson Saben, who heads a new FDA swine flu consumer fraud team, says Rebuildermedical will have 48 hours to take corrective action. A phone message and e-mail to Rebuildermedical were not immediately returned.
by the associated press
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Swine Flu FEAR
NEW YORK (AP) -- The swine flu outbreak is unleashing a side effect the global economy is in no condition to handle: fear.
Travelers are canceling or delaying trips to Mexico, Cuba banned all flights to its neighbor and Argentina announced Tuesday a five-day ban on flights arriving from Mexico. China, Russia and South Korea have banned imports of some North American pork, despite assurances that the flu is not spread through meat. Investors just starting to regain their nerve have again caught the jitters.
The threat of a pandemic comes just as the world economy is showing the barest glimmerings of what analysts say might be the light at the end of what remains a long, dark tunnel. And now this.
"This is just another negative shock when the economy can least afford another negative shock," said Jay Bryson, global economist at Wachovia Corp.
So far, fear of the flu is at least as responsible for the economic disruption as the disease itself.
The number of confirmed cases in the United States climbed to 66, and federal officials warned that deaths were likely. In New York, the city's health commissioner said "many hundreds" of schoolchildren were ill at a school where some students had confirmed cases.
President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to fight the disease.
Economists remember well the financial damage the SARS outbreak inflicted in 2003. An epidemic of that scale or greater could inflict severe damage on a global economy already badly listing.
"On top of a synchronized global financial and economic crisis, an outbreak of swine fever is the last thing we need just now," Neil MacKinnon, chief economist at The ECU Group PLC, based in London, wrote this week.
There are already early signs that swine flu fear is taking an economic toll.
In Mexico City, canceled events and closed movie theaters, night clubs, museums and other establishments are costing at least $57 million a day, according to city's Chamber of Trade, Services and Tourism.
That's a 36 percent drop in revenue generated by tourism and services in the Mexican capital, chamber president Arturo Mendicuti said.
Royal Caribbean Cruises suspended stops at Mexican ports indefinitely, and Carnival Cruise Lines canceled Mexico port calls through May 4. Norwegian Cruise Line canceled the Norwegian Pearl's final two calls in Mexico this week and said its schedules do not include any other ports in Mexico until the end of September 2009.
In Chicago, traders bid down the price of pork futures Tuesday for a second straight day, reflecting what analysts say are consumer worries about catching the virus from meat. The drop in prices came even as China -- the third-biggest market for exports of U.S. pork -- banned shipments of the meat from California, Texas and Kansas, along with those from Mexico. Russia and South Korea have announced similar measures.
The bans caused consternation for U.S. pork farmers, despite assurances from public health agencies that the flu isn't spread by eating meat.
"We have everybody ... all saying pork is safe to eat and that this isn't in the swine herd, definitely not in the U.S. swine herd," said Dave Warner, of the National Pork Producers Council. "I think the economics right now is being driven by fear of what could happen, rather that what really is happening."
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack even pushed to change the name of swine flu to protect the hog market.
The danger of economic fallout helps explain the cautious stance of the World Health Organization, which has not recommended travel restrictions as it has in previous outbreaks.
WHO, accountable to its member countries, is a health agency, but its policies are driven at least partly by financial considerations. In recent years, the agency has shied away from actions that might upset member nations. Dr. Margaret Chan, the agency's head, has repeatedly said that her priority is to serve her countries.
That is in direct contrast to the strong action WHO took to contain the SARS epidemic in 2003, when it issued travel advisories that recommended postponing nonessential travel to cities including Hong Kong, Beijing and Toronto.
The economic impact was devastating as air traffic slowed to a crawl. Canada was so incensed it sent a delegation to WHO's Geneva headquarters to protest. But WHO's leader at the time, Gro Harlem-Brundtland of Norway, insisted the advisories were necessary to contain SARS.
Ultimately, world health experts say the travel advisories sharply cut the spread of SARS.
"There really is a careful balance between scaring people and downplaying it too much. And the reason why that's so important is that the various interventions that are available to public health authorities all have a cost associated with them," said Ross Hammond, part of a group at the Brookings Institution that builds computer models to study how pandemics and public fears interact.
On Monday, WHO increased its alert level from 3 to 4 -- out of 6. Its influenza chief, Keiji Fukuda, warned that "at this time containment is not a feasible option," rejecting calls for a travel ban or other restrictions on Mexico or the United States.
"Border controls do not work. Travel restrictions do not work," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said. "There was much more economic disruption caused by these measures than there was public health benefit."
The SARS virus -- which killed nearly 800 people -- wreaked most of its damage in Asia. In Hong Kong, businesses shut and the number of tourists plunged by 70 percent. The local economy contracted by about 9 percent in the second quarter of 2003, when the epidemic was at its peak.
But the damage also sent wide ripples. In Canada, particularly greater Toronto, the outbreak sharply reduced tourism, and kept even residents home rather than out shopping. The city's economy lost about $950 million, a contraction of about 0.5 percent, according to The Conference Board of Canada.
The SARS outbreak was short-lived and came at a time of relative economic stability. Today's economy can ill afford such a setback. But the worry reflected in stock markets is about the possibility, still remote, that a new outbreak could erupt into something far more serious.
A report by the World Bank, updated last year, estimated that a severe pandemic -- like the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 that killed between 40 million and 100 million people -- would cause a nearly 5 percent drop in global economic activity, costing the world about $3.1 trillion.
"Even a mild pandemic has significant consequences for global economic output," a pair of Australian researchers wrote in a 2006 report cited by the World Bank.
In a global recession, a pandemic could present a greater threat. On Friday, the World Bank warned developing nations that slashing public health budgets could put their citizens' health at risk.
Meanwhile, economic markets are waiting to see the fallout.
Fear of a pandemic has to make people wonder. In the U.S., where unemployment is expected to top 10 percent before the end of the year, could the shock of a flu outbreak make it 12 percent instead? Think what that would mean to retailers, to people's ability to pay their mortgages, to companies' ability to get work done.
"When you're steaming full speed ahead and are hit by a torpedo, you can just keep going," Wachovia's Bryson said. "But you take a torpedo after four or five torpedoes which you've already taken, and this could be the thing that sinks the ship."
by the associated press
Travelers are canceling or delaying trips to Mexico, Cuba banned all flights to its neighbor and Argentina announced Tuesday a five-day ban on flights arriving from Mexico. China, Russia and South Korea have banned imports of some North American pork, despite assurances that the flu is not spread through meat. Investors just starting to regain their nerve have again caught the jitters.
The threat of a pandemic comes just as the world economy is showing the barest glimmerings of what analysts say might be the light at the end of what remains a long, dark tunnel. And now this.
"This is just another negative shock when the economy can least afford another negative shock," said Jay Bryson, global economist at Wachovia Corp.
So far, fear of the flu is at least as responsible for the economic disruption as the disease itself.
The number of confirmed cases in the United States climbed to 66, and federal officials warned that deaths were likely. In New York, the city's health commissioner said "many hundreds" of schoolchildren were ill at a school where some students had confirmed cases.
President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to fight the disease.
Economists remember well the financial damage the SARS outbreak inflicted in 2003. An epidemic of that scale or greater could inflict severe damage on a global economy already badly listing.
"On top of a synchronized global financial and economic crisis, an outbreak of swine fever is the last thing we need just now," Neil MacKinnon, chief economist at The ECU Group PLC, based in London, wrote this week.
There are already early signs that swine flu fear is taking an economic toll.
In Mexico City, canceled events and closed movie theaters, night clubs, museums and other establishments are costing at least $57 million a day, according to city's Chamber of Trade, Services and Tourism.
That's a 36 percent drop in revenue generated by tourism and services in the Mexican capital, chamber president Arturo Mendicuti said.
Royal Caribbean Cruises suspended stops at Mexican ports indefinitely, and Carnival Cruise Lines canceled Mexico port calls through May 4. Norwegian Cruise Line canceled the Norwegian Pearl's final two calls in Mexico this week and said its schedules do not include any other ports in Mexico until the end of September 2009.
In Chicago, traders bid down the price of pork futures Tuesday for a second straight day, reflecting what analysts say are consumer worries about catching the virus from meat. The drop in prices came even as China -- the third-biggest market for exports of U.S. pork -- banned shipments of the meat from California, Texas and Kansas, along with those from Mexico. Russia and South Korea have announced similar measures.
The bans caused consternation for U.S. pork farmers, despite assurances from public health agencies that the flu isn't spread by eating meat.
"We have everybody ... all saying pork is safe to eat and that this isn't in the swine herd, definitely not in the U.S. swine herd," said Dave Warner, of the National Pork Producers Council. "I think the economics right now is being driven by fear of what could happen, rather that what really is happening."
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack even pushed to change the name of swine flu to protect the hog market.
The danger of economic fallout helps explain the cautious stance of the World Health Organization, which has not recommended travel restrictions as it has in previous outbreaks.
WHO, accountable to its member countries, is a health agency, but its policies are driven at least partly by financial considerations. In recent years, the agency has shied away from actions that might upset member nations. Dr. Margaret Chan, the agency's head, has repeatedly said that her priority is to serve her countries.
That is in direct contrast to the strong action WHO took to contain the SARS epidemic in 2003, when it issued travel advisories that recommended postponing nonessential travel to cities including Hong Kong, Beijing and Toronto.
The economic impact was devastating as air traffic slowed to a crawl. Canada was so incensed it sent a delegation to WHO's Geneva headquarters to protest. But WHO's leader at the time, Gro Harlem-Brundtland of Norway, insisted the advisories were necessary to contain SARS.
Ultimately, world health experts say the travel advisories sharply cut the spread of SARS.
"There really is a careful balance between scaring people and downplaying it too much. And the reason why that's so important is that the various interventions that are available to public health authorities all have a cost associated with them," said Ross Hammond, part of a group at the Brookings Institution that builds computer models to study how pandemics and public fears interact.
On Monday, WHO increased its alert level from 3 to 4 -- out of 6. Its influenza chief, Keiji Fukuda, warned that "at this time containment is not a feasible option," rejecting calls for a travel ban or other restrictions on Mexico or the United States.
"Border controls do not work. Travel restrictions do not work," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said. "There was much more economic disruption caused by these measures than there was public health benefit."
The SARS virus -- which killed nearly 800 people -- wreaked most of its damage in Asia. In Hong Kong, businesses shut and the number of tourists plunged by 70 percent. The local economy contracted by about 9 percent in the second quarter of 2003, when the epidemic was at its peak.
But the damage also sent wide ripples. In Canada, particularly greater Toronto, the outbreak sharply reduced tourism, and kept even residents home rather than out shopping. The city's economy lost about $950 million, a contraction of about 0.5 percent, according to The Conference Board of Canada.
The SARS outbreak was short-lived and came at a time of relative economic stability. Today's economy can ill afford such a setback. But the worry reflected in stock markets is about the possibility, still remote, that a new outbreak could erupt into something far more serious.
A report by the World Bank, updated last year, estimated that a severe pandemic -- like the Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 that killed between 40 million and 100 million people -- would cause a nearly 5 percent drop in global economic activity, costing the world about $3.1 trillion.
"Even a mild pandemic has significant consequences for global economic output," a pair of Australian researchers wrote in a 2006 report cited by the World Bank.
In a global recession, a pandemic could present a greater threat. On Friday, the World Bank warned developing nations that slashing public health budgets could put their citizens' health at risk.
Meanwhile, economic markets are waiting to see the fallout.
Fear of a pandemic has to make people wonder. In the U.S., where unemployment is expected to top 10 percent before the end of the year, could the shock of a flu outbreak make it 12 percent instead? Think what that would mean to retailers, to people's ability to pay their mortgages, to companies' ability to get work done.
"When you're steaming full speed ahead and are hit by a torpedo, you can just keep going," Wachovia's Bryson said. "But you take a torpedo after four or five torpedoes which you've already taken, and this could be the thing that sinks the ship."
by the associated press
U.S. Fights Swine FLU
WASHINGTON — Confirming at least 40 cases of swine flu in the U.S., the Obama administration said Monday it was responding aggressively as if the outbreak would spread into a full pandemic. Officials urged Americans against most travel to Mexico as the virus that began there spread to the United States and beyond.
President Barack Obama urged calm, saying there was reason for concern but not yet "a cause for alarm.”
Yet just in case, administration officials said that they were already waging a vigorous campaign of prevention, unsure of the outbreak’s severity or where it would show up next.
U.S. customs officials began checking people entering U.S. territory. Millions of doses of flu-fighting medications from a federal stockpile were on their way to states, with priority given to the five already affected and to border states. Federal agencies were conferring with state and international governments.
"We want to make sure that we have equipment where it needs to be, people where they need to be and, most important, information shared at all levels,” Janet Napolitano, head of the Homeland Security Department, told reporters.
Her briefing came shortly before the World Health Organization raised the severity of its pandemic alert level to four from three on a six-point scale.
Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that so far the disease in the United States seemed less severe than the outbreak in Mexico, where more than 1,600 cases had been reported and where the suspected death toll had climbed to 149. No deaths had been reported in the U.S.
President Barack Obama urged calm, saying there was reason for concern but not yet "a cause for alarm.”
Yet just in case, administration officials said that they were already waging a vigorous campaign of prevention, unsure of the outbreak’s severity or where it would show up next.
U.S. customs officials began checking people entering U.S. territory. Millions of doses of flu-fighting medications from a federal stockpile were on their way to states, with priority given to the five already affected and to border states. Federal agencies were conferring with state and international governments.
"We want to make sure that we have equipment where it needs to be, people where they need to be and, most important, information shared at all levels,” Janet Napolitano, head of the Homeland Security Department, told reporters.
Her briefing came shortly before the World Health Organization raised the severity of its pandemic alert level to four from three on a six-point scale.
Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that so far the disease in the United States seemed less severe than the outbreak in Mexico, where more than 1,600 cases had been reported and where the suspected death toll had climbed to 149. No deaths had been reported in the U.S.
Six Flags to close Mexico Park , cause of Swine Flu
NEW YORK — Six Flags Inc. confirmed Monday that it shut down indoor facilities — including restaurants and show venues — at its Mexico City theme park over the weekend at the recommendation of Mexican health officials working to contain the spread of swine flu.
Spokeswoman Sandra Daniels said the park will continue to cooperate fully with the Mexican government on the swine flu outbreak, which is suspected of causing up to 149 deaths in Mexico.
Daniels noted that the entire park is closed today as part of its normal operating schedule unrelated to the health scare.
Other U.S. companies are also curtailing operations in Mexico City — the epicenter of the swine flu outbreak.
Starbucks Corp. said Monday it has shut down 10 of its cafes in Mexico City in response to the swine flu outbreak. One of its employees in the city is being treated for flu symptoms, although it is unclear if the worker has swine flu.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. said restaurants at its hotels in Mexico City will have limited operations and close at 6 p.m. to comply with a requirement by the Mexico City government. The company noted that all bars and night clubs in the city are closed by order of the government.
Spokeswoman Sandra Daniels said the park will continue to cooperate fully with the Mexican government on the swine flu outbreak, which is suspected of causing up to 149 deaths in Mexico.
Daniels noted that the entire park is closed today as part of its normal operating schedule unrelated to the health scare.
Other U.S. companies are also curtailing operations in Mexico City — the epicenter of the swine flu outbreak.
Starbucks Corp. said Monday it has shut down 10 of its cafes in Mexico City in response to the swine flu outbreak. One of its employees in the city is being treated for flu symptoms, although it is unclear if the worker has swine flu.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. said restaurants at its hotels in Mexico City will have limited operations and close at 6 p.m. to comply with a requirement by the Mexico City government. The company noted that all bars and night clubs in the city are closed by order of the government.
by the associated press
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