The Swine Flu Facts

providing the most updated news on the 2009 pandemic

  • news.update

    Keep swine flu drugs for serious cases, says WHO

    August 21st, 2009
    GENEVA (Reuters) - Healthy patients who get H1N1 swine flu without suffering complications do not need to be treated with antivirals like Tamiflu, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. But the drugs are strongly recommended for pregnant women, patients with underlying medical c

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  • news.update

    Swine flu death toll climbs to 59

    August 20th, 2009
    Another 10 swine flu deaths have been confirmed in the past week, bringing the total death toll in the UK during the pandemic to 59. But the estimated number of new weekly cases has fallen again, the Department of Health said. In England, there were thought to be 11,000 infections - down fro

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  • swine.info

    10 Things You Didn't Know About Swine Flu

    August 18th, 2009
    1. The most recent form of swine flu, known as the H1N1 influenza virus, was first detected in the United States in April 2009. 2. Scientists say the H1N1 virus contains a mixture of genes from four different flu viruses: two genes from flu viruses normally found in pigs in Europe and Asia a

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  • news.update

    In India swine flu panic spreads faster than virus

    August 14th, 2009
    NEW DELHI, India — The streets of the western city of Pune were half-empty, schools in Mumbai were ordered closed, and people suffering aches flooded hospitals across the country as India confronted dueling outbreaks of swine flu and swine flu panic. Twenty one people have died from the flu her

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  • news.update

    Swine flu cases climb among US soldiers in Iraq

    August 12th, 2009
    BAGHDAD — The number of American troops in Iraq diagnosed with swine flu has climbed to 67, making U.S. soldiers the largest group in the country to come down with the potentially deadly virus, Iraqi health officials said Wednesday. The figures were released by the Iraqi health ministry as

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  • news.update

    Swine Flu Panic Attack Reaches India

    August 11th, 2009
    MUMBAI -- Four months after the first outbreak of swine flu, India is discovering how deadly this virus can be. The country's first swine flu death, that of a 14-year-old schoolgirl on Aug. 3, followed by seven more patients succumbing to the disease in the span of a week, has set off a panic attack

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  • tsff

    Big vaccine makers take lead in swine flu fight

    August 10th, 2009
    As the fall-winter flu season approaches, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are racing tomake sure vaccines are available before swine flu can wreak havoc on the global population. The first line of defense against the pandemic – known scientifically as H1N1 influenza – will

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  • news.update

    Scientists investigate Mexican town's flu mystery

    May 21st, 2009
    AP reports:    MEXICO CITY – No one has identified ground zero in the swine flu epidemic. Just where or when the new strain of influenza first jumped from a pig and began infecting people is a scientific mystery — one that a group of flu detectives is determined to solve. Scientists are

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  • tsff

    Influenza A(H1N1) - update 28

    May 14th, 2009
    WHO reports:    14 May 2009 -- As of 06:00 GMT, 14 May 2009, 33 countries have officially reported 6497 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 2446 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection, including 60 deaths. The United States has reported 3352 laboratory confirme

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  • news.update

    Relatives grieve for Texas woman with flu who died

    May 6th, 2009
    AP reports: HARLINGEN, Texas – This week should have been a joyous time for Judy Trunnell, a 33-year-old schoolteacher who had just given birth to a healthy baby girl. But the friends and relatives whose cars lined the quiet street in front of her home in a quiet subdivision Tuesday instead we

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  • alert.update

    Influenza A(H1N1) - update 14

    May 4th, 2009
    WHO reports:   Influenza A(H1N1) - update 14 4 May 2009 -- As of 18:00 GMT, 4 May 2009, 21 countries have officially reported 1085 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection. Mexico has reported 590 laboratory confirmed human cases of infection, including 25 deaths. The United States has reported

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  • news.update

    New swine flu cases in Europe, US, Latin America

    May 3rd, 2009
    AP reports:   MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The swine flu epidemic spread deeper into the United States, Europe and Latin America - and in Canada, back to pigs - even as Mexico's health chief hinted Sunday it may soon be time to reopen businesses and schools in the nation where the outbreak likely began.

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  • alert.update

    WHO update of A(H1N1) infected numbers

    May 2nd, 2009
    According to the World Health Organization, the count of A(H1N1), aka swine flu,  virus infections have been confirmed in 15 countries with 615 swine flu cases.  Earlier this week, other news sites where telling of unconfirmed (not laboratory tested) reports with confirmed cases upwards of 1500 ou

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  • news.update

    Hong Kong confirms Asia's 1st swine flu case

    May 1st, 2009
    AP reports:   HONG KONG – A Mexican tourist visiting Hong Kong has become Asia's first confirmed swine flu case, authorities said Friday, as they quarantined about 300 people at a hotel where he stayed and began searching for those he may have contacted. With memories of 2003's deadly SA

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  • news.update

    AP: Mexico's epidemiology boss faults WHO

    May 1st, 2009
    Associated Press reports:    MEXICO CITY – A top Mexican medical officer accused the World Health Organization of being slow to respond to the country's warning about a health crisis that turned into a global swine flu scare. The WHO disputed the claim. Hong Kong's leader said Friday th

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  • news.update

    WHO to stop using term ‘swine flu’

    April 30th, 2009
    msnbc reports:   As worldwide cases of swine flu climbed to 257 on Thursday, the World Health Organization announced it will would stop using the term “swine flu” to avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs. The policy shift comes a day after global health authorities warned that swine

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  • news.update

    President Obama acts fast on Swine Flu

    April 29th, 2009
    from yahoo.com WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama tries to learn from his predecessors' mistakes, and some see his fast, wide-ranging response to the swine flu threat as a lesson learned from George W. Bush's much-maligned handling of Hurricane Katrina. With one confirmed flu death in the

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  • news.update

    Egypt to slaughter pigs over swine flu

    April 29th, 2009
    yahoo.com reports: CAIRO – Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precautionary measure against the spread of swine flu even though no cases have been reported here yet, the Health Ministry said. The move immediately provoked resistance from pig fa

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  • news.update

    Mexico struggling to find source of killer flu

    April 28th, 2009
    Yahoo reports:   MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico first noticed a strange new flu virus after a woman died in the southern state of Oaxaca on April 13, but investigators are far from discovering the origin of an outbreak that has spread throughout the world. Possible cases of the new H1N1

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  • news.update

    Deaths to be expected, states CDC

    April 28th, 2009
    Richard Besser, acting director for the CDC said, "I fully expect we will see deaths from this infection" [swine flu infected cases] ATLANTA – A U.S. health official said at least five people are hospitalized with swine flu in the United States and deaths are likely. "I fully expect we

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  • news.update

    Cuba halts Mexico travel; flu crosses new borders

    April 28th, 2009
        MEXICO CITY – Cuba suspended flights to and from Mexico on Tuesday, becoming the first country to impose a travel ban, as the fast-moving swine flu strain extended its reach overseas and in the United States. World health officials in Geneva said they believed the virus ap

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  • news.update

    U.S. scientists racing "100mph" in hopes for a swine flu vaccine by May-2009

    April 28th, 2009
    according to Lauran Neergaard (AP) from Yahoo! news.. WASHINGTON – U.S. scientists hope to have a key ingredient for a swine flu vaccine ready in early May, but tell The Associated Press that the novel virus grows slowly in eggs — the chief way flu vaccines are made. Even if all goes wel

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  • alert.update

    WHO Pandemic Alert Level

    April 28th, 2009
    Current pandemic alert level as set by the World Health Organization (updated frequently):

  • swine.info

    5 Important things to know about the Swine Influenza

    April 28th, 2009
    According to the World Health Organization, the SWINE influenza is a pandemic, and at the time of this post, they have a pandemic alert of 4. The rest of this post is from yahoo news: 1. Is this a flu pandemic? The influenza virus is constantly mutating. That's why we can't get full immunit

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