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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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” [...]

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 [...]