The Swine Flu Facts

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 conditions and children under 5, since they are at increased risk of more [...]

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 from over 100,000 at the [...]

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 and two found in [...]

LONDON — Since swine flu first emerged in April, it has sparked panic, vaccine production and now, a video game.
In an effort to raise awareness, Dutch researchers have created a game that challenges players to control a new pandemic.
“It is actually what is happening now, what is happening in the real world,” said Albert Osterhaus, [...]

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 here, the government said Friday, and 1,390 [...]

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s swine fluvaccination program is to start in October for at-risk groups, Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson said on Thursday, with most vaccines coming from drugs firm GlaxoSmithKline.
A first batch of 300,000 vaccines will arrive this month with 54.6 million expected by December, Donaldson said, adding that exact supply levels would depend on [...]

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 it detailed steps being taken to control [...]

CNN reports:
LONDON, England (CNN) – Treating flu-stricken children with anti-viral medication including Tamiflu and Relenza could do more harm than good, a new report has warned.
Researchers from the University of Oxford found that while the anti-virals reduced the duration of illness by up to one day and a half, they had “little or no effect” [...]

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 [...]

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 be a group of vaccines from established flu-shot makers, which are using [...]