Flu infects 100,000 in past week By Nick Triggle Health reporter, BBC News
Sir Liam Donaldson: "In the last few days the numbers don't seem to be increasing so much" The number of new swine flu infections in England has doubled in the past week, the government says.
There were an estimated 100,000 new cases with the under 14s the worst hit.
It comes as the National Flu Service was launched, offering sufferers access to drugs on the phone and via the internet without the need to see a GP.
Calls have already started flooding in and in the first few hours the website was receiving 2,600 hits a second - or 9.3m an hour.
The government also released new details about deaths.
The latest death toll stands at 26 - the same as last week - but the Department of Health has reclassified the way it counts mortality.
While there has been a number of swine flu deaths in the past seven days, some of last week's total has been discounted after an investigation by the government suggested swine flu had not contributed to their death.
No breakdown of when and where the people died is being given.
There have been four deaths in Scotland, but they are not comparable to the English figures as officials there have not used the same criteria.
Meanwhile, a pregnant 26-year-old woman has been transferred from Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, to Sweden for specialised treatment after suffering rare complications.
Department of Health analysis suggested two-thirds of the deaths they had full data on were among people with severe health conditions, such as cancer.
Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson also said there may be "a little bit of possible good news".
While new cases have increased from 55,000 to an estimated 100,000, the number of people in hospital has not risen accordingly.
Some 840 patients are in hospital - 63 of which are in critical care - compared to 652 last week.
Sir Liam added: "There is no evidence to suggest it is becoming more virulent. Most people with no underlying conditions will get over the flu perfectly well."
The number of people contacting GPs over flu has also doubled with 155 consultations per 100,000.
But the figure is well short of the peak during the 1968-70 pandemic when more than 1,200 people per 100,000 were asking for help.
Checklist
Sir Liam also said the pressure on the health service - every area in England is now experiencing "exceptional" demand - should be relieved by the flu service which has now gone live.
There were reports of it crashing initially, although it seemed to be working well later on.
The flu service is not covering the rest of the UK as Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have all experienced much less demand.
They will be able to plug into it if they need to, although experts have said Scotland appears to be over the worst of this phase with 1,200 new cases reported in the past week. It is the first time the public has been given access to prescription drugs through phone or internet channels.
BBC medical correspondent Fergus Walsh said: "The government is hoping that people won't abuse the system but there isn't any danger of the UK running out of [anti-viral drug] Tamiflu.
"We've got enough for half the population and more on the way - more than virtually any country in the world."
People with underlying health problems, pregnant women and parents concerned for children aged under one are still being advised to contact a GP.
A checklist is being used by call centre staff and the website to decide whether people have swine flu.
If the virus is suspected, people will be given a voucher number to give to a flu friend to take to a collection point to pick up anti-flu drugs.
Dr Richard Vautrey, of the British Medical Association, which has helped to design the checklist being used by the flu service, said: "What we have to remember is that this is a unique situation.
"Some GP practices are receiving hundreds of calls a day and we have to prioritise so we can see the most seriously ill.
"So as long as the call handlers get the correct training we can be confident in this service."
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: "With pressure on the NHS continuing to escalate, there is still far too much confusion about access to diagnosis and treatment for swine flu."
And Liberal Democrat health spokesman Normal Lamb added the initial problems were worrying.
micjer Senior Member
Number of posts : 5325 Age : 62 Location : canada Registration date : 2009-01-23
Subject: Re: more swine flu stuff Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:49 am
Quote :
And Liberal Democrat health spokesman Normal Lamb added the initial problems were worrying.
ARE YOU SERIOUS. THIS IS THIS GUYS NAME!!!!
Hide the truth in the wide open.
shechaiyah Member
Number of posts : 118 Age : 80 Location : cyberspace Humor : could sure use some. Registration date : 2009-03-10
It’s been just a week since Monica Hankins first heard scientists were looking for volunteers to test an experimental vaccine to prevent the H1N1 swine flu, but the Festus, Mo., mom and her family already are signed up.
She wants her two young daughters, Isabella, 3, and Maya, 19 months, to be among the first to be protected against the previously unknown virus that has launched a global pandemic and claimed more than 800 lives worldwide, including more than 300 in the United States.
“I kind of jumped at the chance,” said Hankins, 28, a home health care worker. “The way that it’s sounding, it’s something that I’ve never experienced before. It’s really scary to me.”
micjer Senior Member
Number of posts : 5325 Age : 62 Location : canada Registration date : 2009-01-23
Ten things you're not supposed to know about the swine flu vaccine (At least, not by anyone in authority...)
#1 - The vaccine production was "rushed" and the vaccine has never been tested on humans. Do you like to play guinea pig for Big Pharma? If so, line up for your swine flu vaccine this fall...
#2 - Swine flu vaccines contain dangerous adjuvants that cause an inflammatory response in the body. This is why they are suspected of causing autism and other neurological disorders.
#3 - The swine flu vaccine could actually increase your risk of death from swine flu by altering (or suppressing) your immune system response. There is zero evidence that even seasonal flu shots offer any meaningful protection for people who take the jabs. Vaccines are the snake oil of modern medicine.
#4 - Doctors still don't know why the 1976 swine flu vaccines paralyzed so many people. And that means they really have no clue whether the upcoming vaccine might cause the same devastating side effects. (And they're not testing it, either...)
#5 - Even if the swine flu vaccine kills you, the drug companies aren't responsible. The U.S. government has granted drug companies complete immunity against vaccine product liability. Thanks to that blanket immunity, drug companies have no incentive to make safe vaccines, because they only get paid based on quantity, not safety (zero liability).
#6 - No swine flu vaccine works as well as vitamin D to protect you from influenza. That's an inconvenient scientific fact that the U.S. government, the FDA and Big Pharma hope the people never realize.
#7 - Even if the swine flu vaccine actually works, mathematically speaking if everyone else around you gets the vaccine, you don't need one! (Because it can't spread through the population you hang with.) So even if you believe in the vaccine, all you need to do is encourage your friends to go get vaccinated...
#8 - Drug companies are making billions of dollars from the production of swine flu vaccines. That money comes out of your pocket -- even if you don't get the jab -- because it's all paid by the taxpayers.
#9 - When people start dying in larger numbers from the swine flu, rest assured that many of them will be the very people who got the swine flu vaccine. Doctors will explain this away with their typical Big Pharma logic: "The number saved is far greater than the number lost." Of course, the number "saved" is entirely fictional... imaginary... and exists only in their own warped heads.
#10 - The swine flu vaccine centers that will crop up all over the world in the coming months aren't completely useless: They will provide an easy way to identify large groups of really stupid people. (Too bad there isn't some sort of blue dye that we could tag 'em with for future reference...)
The lottery, they say, is a tax on people who can't do math. Similarly, flu vaccines are a tax on people who don't understand health.
Here is an email I received yesterday. It's a nice summary Swine Flu - Why the media needs to ask more questions
Sunday, July 26th, 2009 - For Immediate Release:
Swine Flu Fact Sheet: The only way to conquer fear is with information
Governments around the world are scrambling to find a solution to the potential problems that may be caused by the current H1N1 'swine flu' pandemic. From its origins in Mexico in April of this year, the panic caused by this virus - a hybrid of viral DNA from pigs, birds and humans - has grown to the point where logic and science have been forgotten in a mad race to do 'something' about this situation.
There is an adage that states, those who forget the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. In an effort to keep us from making the same mistakes we have in the past - mistakes which have been extremely costly in terms of financial burden and lives lost or health damaged - the Australian Vaccination Network has tried to gather together information to help you to ask the questions you need to find answers to and the knowledge necessary to make intelligent decisions about the swine flu vaccine. It is also an excellent idea to download the flyer from Pandemic Flu online. This web site is a great resource of constantly updated information on this topic.
History: Between 1918 and 1920, immediately after World War I, it is estimated that as many as 50 million people around the world may have died from Swine Flu. Most of those whose deaths were attributed to influenza - 95% and more - did not die from the flu but were victims of bacterial pneumonia - an easily treatable illness for which antibiotics are very effective.(1) Had this outbreak occurred today rather than almost 100 years ago, the mortality and morbidity statistics would have been very different.
In addition, the strain of flu which was in circulation at that time was completely different to the strain we are seeing now.
In 1976, a soldier at Fort Dix NJ (USA), Private Lewis, left his sick bed to go on a forced march - and collapsed and died from what was diagnosed at the time as swine flu. Initially, it was thought that up to 500 other soldiers at Fort Dix had also contracted the disease. That figure was revised down to 4 confirmed cases with no other deaths. In fact, there were no other cases reported anywhere else in the world.(2)
Only one person died of swine flu in 1976, but more than 4,000 were seriously injured by the vaccine with 25 confirmed deaths. That vaccine, like the current shot, was rushed through without proper testing. The result was more than $3.5 billion in compensation claims in the US - and this is for a vaccination campaign which was cut short only 10 weeks after it started which was meant to protect against an outbreak which never occurred. The only outcome to this vaccination campaign was a large number of permanently injured citizens and an enduring distrust of influenza vaccinations.(3,4)
The story today Prior to April of this year, nobody had heard of the H1N1 swine flu. Having gone through several scares over the past decade with other influenza viruses which were claimed to have the potential to kill or seriously injure millions around the world (SARS and Avian Influenza), the world's populations could have been excused for greeting this new outbreak with more then a touch of scepticism.
In fact, if there is a pandemic of this virus, it is very possible - some think even likely - that it is a man-made pandemic. Australian researcher, Adrian Gibbs, one of the researchers who created the influenza drug, Tamiflu, has stated that his investigations have indicated that this is a laboratory-created virus which has escaped into the population.(5) This hypothesis is of interest since the initial outbreak in Mexico City started in close proximity to Baxter Labs' vaccine facility.(6)
Baxter is now infamous for shipping batches of human influenza vaccines which had been contaminated with live Avian influenza (bird flu) virus to 18 European countries.(7) It was only due to the excellent due diligence of a lab in the Czech republic that this contamination was discovered prior to the vaccine being administered to millions of people. Had that occurred, we might now be looking at a pandemic of bird flu rather than swine flu.
How many cases - how many deaths?
Despite a very low mortality rate (to date, there have been less than 500 confirmed H1N1 deaths worldwide compared with between 500,000 to 1,000,000 deaths each year (8) which human influenza is credited with causing) and evidence suggesting that H1N1 causes very mild illness, the World Health Organisation raised the pandemic risk level to its highest possible point - level 6 - and governments around the world are pledging tens of billions of dollars to rush through an untested vaccine.
The tests being used to diagnose H1N1 are giving far too many false positive results (9) and what's worse, doctors are not submitting samples to laboratories for testing. Anyone with flu-like symptoms is now assumed to have H1N1 swine flu - a decision which has increased the number of cases exponentially.(10,11)
Swine flu vaccination - a shot in the dark Influenza vaccines are among the most ineffective shots in the vaccine armoury. In healthy adults, the estimates of effectiveness range from a low of 0% to a high of 96% - depending on the study. In the elderly and immune-suppressed, the figures seem to hover at between 21 and 25% effective. In addition, some influenza vaccines still contain mercury in the form of thiomersal while the new swine flu vaccines are being made with novel, oil-based adjuvants which have been linked in the past with severe long-term neurological and other adverse health effects.
These vaccines are not being properly tested and in fact, the vaccine manufacturers have been indemnified against litigation so even if you or your child has a bad reaction, the company that made and profited from the shots will not be held responsibly - morally, ethically or financially.(12)
Despite the lack of information about these vaccine's safety or effectiveness, it is planned that every man, woman and child will be vaccinated - both here in Australia and overseas. In fact, the first targets for these needles will be pregnant women and children.
This vaccine - like all vaccines - has never been evaluated for its effect on developing foetuses. In addition, if we follow the lead of the United States, when this vaccine is administered to children, it will mean 4 additional shots in one year for kids - 2 of the human influenza vaccine - 2 of the swine flu. Our children will now be facing in excess of 60 vaccines before they reach school age if 4 annual flu shots are added to the childhood vaccination schedule.
Will it be compulsory? On July 14th, the Rudd Government ordered 21 million doses of the totally untested swine flu vaccine - enough for everyone currently living in Australia.(13) It is the contention of the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) that the only reason they would buy this many vaccines is because it is their intention for all of them to be used. That would mean making the vaccination compulsory.
While we support everyone's right to choose vaccination should they wish to - we firmly believe that no medical procedure - least of all one which has such a long track record of ineffectiveness and risk - should ever be mandated. People must be able to choose not to get the vaccine if that is their wish. Should the government require it, we do not object to mandatory home quarantine in the event of a true epidemic breaking out.
It will be up to each of us to ensure that our rights and the rights of our children and loved ones are protected and that no vaccination is ever made compulsory. For further information about actions you can take to protect your rights and to stay informed about the current swine flu situation, please visit the AVN's web page on pandemic influenza - http://avn.org.au/library/index.php/table/pandemic-influenza/ or subscribe to our blog - http://nocompulsoryvaccination.blogspot.com/
From Health Canada website ; The Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory IT IS LOCATED IN WINNIPEG MANITOBA and acts much like the CDC in Atlanta http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/index-eng.php
The Government of Canada (GoC) is continually monitoring advances in science, research and knowledge that can strengthen our pandemic readiness capacity. The GoC has negotiated a long-term contract with Glaxo-Smith-Kline (GSK), a pharmaceutical company, to secure domestic capacity to develop and produce virus-specific vaccines in the event of an influenza pandemic. This arrangement ensures Canadians will have timely access to vaccines in a pandemic, while reducing the risk of border delays or embargos that may result from relying on foreign suppliers in a crisis.
Once a particular strain of virus has been identified, it can take about six months for an influenza vaccine to be developed and tested. The following outlines the steps necessary to develop a virus vaccine and the measures Canada has taken to date with regards to the H1N1 flu virus vaccine development process.
Timelines for Vaccine Production, Testing and Authorization in Canada
Step 1: Identification of virus (as soon as 24 hours) The Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) is internationally recognized as one of a handful of laboratories in the world with the capacity to work with highly pathogenic viruses. The NML has developed a test that enables researchers to determine within 24 hours whether a particular sample specimen of influenza being tested is the current H1N1 flu virus. The NML has shared this test with some provinces, which are now responsible for testing their own specimens. The NML has completed the full genome sequencing on the Canadian and Mexican H1N1 viruses. The sequencing will provide valuable insights that can allow researchers to better understand the virus and its impact on populations.
Step 2: Development of a Primary Seed (approximately 4 weeks) Development of the primary seed strain – the base material for the development of a vaccine – is the next step undertaken by WHO Collaborating Centres. The WHO has developed a seed strain and is currently testing it for safety. While this is underway, the WHO has distributed the seed strain to vaccine manufacturers, including GSK-Canada, for use in the preliminary development of an H1N1 vaccine. The Government of Canada’s longstanding contract with GSK requires the company to develop and produce vaccines for every person in Canada in the event of a pandemic and gives Canada priority access to GSK’s vaccine production over that of any other potential purchaser of vaccines.
Step 3: Development and Production (approximately 12 additional weeks) In accordance with the terms of the longstanding contract, the Government of Canada is in discussions with GSK about the development and production of the H1N1 vaccine. After the safety testing and preliminary development work is completed, the production process for the H1N1 vaccine will take about 12 weeks. In the meantime, GSK is working through potential production process issues by developing trial vaccines.
Step 4: Testing (approximately 6 additional weeks) Because the current H1N1 strain has not been a component of any previous influenza vaccine, it presents unknown factors that could require changes to the standard manufacturing process for vaccines. Tests will be conducted to confirm basic information on the vaccine. A small clinical study with humans will also be conducted to establish the safety of the vaccine and that the vaccine produces an immune response.
Step 5: Review and Authorization (approximately 1 additional week) Health Canada is working to ensure that mechanisms are in place for review and authorization of a safe and effective vaccine for use in Canada within the shortest time frame possible, and that trained staff is available for the timely testing and release of pandemic vaccine lots after it has been authorized for use in Canada. Their review of data would be concurrent with production.
Total Production and Testing Time Total production and testing time from the initiation of the vaccine production (Steps 3 – 5 above) is approximately 19 weeks. Based on these timelines and a best case scenario, an H1N1 vaccine may be available in November.
micjer Senior Member
Number of posts : 5325 Age : 62 Location : canada Registration date : 2009-01-23
Well it reminds me of what my uncle always says when he is leaving to go home to London (Ontario). Now if you are ever in London.....Just try to find me!!! LOL
Same applies to this vaccination program.
In Ontario they have mandatory vaccinations for rabies for dogs and cats. Well if you can catch a couple of strays that live in my barn I welcome you to try to get them vaccinated. Nobody ever comes around to check. I think there will be a lot of stray cats of the human variety come October.
Northern Boy Senior Member
Number of posts : 1236 Age : 64 Location : Canada Registration date : 2009-01-26
They have yet to mention forced Vaccinations for Canadians
Yes let's hope it stays that way. What I am concerned about is that they require health workers and school kids to take it. Your wife is a nurse isn't she? Has she heard anything.
A friend of mine is an assistant and she had to sign something last year that if she didn't get a flu shot she was not entitled to sick days as a result of having the flu. ( or along those lines )
shechaiyah Member
Number of posts : 118 Age : 80 Location : cyberspace Humor : could sure use some. Registration date : 2009-03-10
Subject: Re: more swine flu stuff Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:11 pm
Look. ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY, when somebody tells you to accept a shot, is:
"Oh, we already had that flu!"
End of topic. No vaccine is appropriate for someone who already had the disease!
Yes, you have to lie. I'd lie to save my health, too.
Shech--
Linda Senior Member
Number of posts : 2496 Age : 76 Location : Sky Wanderer Humor : Of Course! Registration date : 2009-01-23
Subject: Re: more swine flu stuff Tue Aug 04, 2009 12:57 pm
These 3 stories can be read in full at links.
Canada: New political powers to quarantine, invoke other measures, may be tested in flu outbreak --
The top health official can now quarantine the ill, interview anyone who has been in contact with a sick person and do anything else that could help prevent the spread of a virus. 02 Aug 2009
A resurgence of swine flu anticipated this fall could test new provincial powers that include being able to place sick people under quarantine in their homes and shut down schools.
If Arlene King, Ontario's chief medical health officer, believes people's health is at risk, she has the power to "investigate the situation and take such action as he or she considers appropriate to prevent, eliminate or decrease the risk." That could include closing schools, isolating the ill and forcing others to undergo medical exams.
British Columbia brought in a new public health act last year which was described as giving health officials "stronger powers to protect the public against communicable diseases such as pandemic influenza." Under the new act, the province can order vaccinations or examinations and quarantine people. Health officials can also enforce the act using peace officers, warrants and even court orders. [See: Refuse and Resist Mandatory Flu Vaccines (Petition about to hit 2,000 signatures - please add yours!).]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Entire S. Korean military to be vaccinated against new flu:
official 03 Aug 2009 South Korea plans to start vaccinating its entire 655,000-strong military against type-A influenza at the end of November, a defense official said Monday.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Entire town in quarantine after two die from the plague in China 03 Aug 2009
An outbreak of pneumonic plague has killed two people in China and forced authorities to seal off a remote town of 10,000 to halt any further spread of one of the world’s deadliest diseases... Investigating the disease that had infected so many people so quickly, medical authorities soon established that all had caught pneumonic plague.
Those infected were undergoing treatment in isolation in a local Tibetan hospital while all 10,000 residents of Ziketan were placed in quarantine to try to halt the spread of one of the deadliest and infectious diseases in history. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6736993.ece
mntruthseeker Member
Number of posts : 698 Location : Blaine Humor : I got some Registration date : 2009-01-26
Subject: Re: more swine flu stuff Tue Aug 04, 2009 2:40 pm
Makes me more concerned than ever about our men and women in the armed forces. I figured damaging their minds was enough. Surely they have done a job on them.
I know what it did to my sons father when he returned from Viet Nam.
this is frightening to me but not entirely a big surprise...................I just watched a video regarding a hghway patrol officer complaining about the vaccine is also carrying the RFD chip.
So I guess I shouldn't be so surprise that they would vaccinate the S Korean army
Last edited by mntruthseeker on Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:38 am; edited 1 time in total
Linda Senior Member
Number of posts : 2496 Age : 76 Location : Sky Wanderer Humor : Of Course! Registration date : 2009-01-23
Subject: Re: more swine flu stuff Tue Aug 04, 2009 2:49 pm
No, we shouldn't be surprised at anything anymore.
We just have to be aware and continue to stay in the right frequency despite the evil agenda that they are so keen on carrying out.
micjer Senior Member
Number of posts : 5325 Age : 62 Location : canada Registration date : 2009-01-23
Subject: Re: more swine flu stuff Tue Aug 04, 2009 3:51 pm
So do we all make signs to put on the sides of our residences that read
STAY AWAY HOUSE UNDER QUARANTINE -----> SWINE FLU
mntruthseeker Member
Number of posts : 698 Location : Blaine Humor : I got some Registration date : 2009-01-26
Subject: Re: more swine flu stuff Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:06 pm
micjer wrote:
So do we all make signs to put on the sides of our residences that read
STAY AWAY HOUSE UNDER QUARANTINE -----> SWINE FLU
What a brilliant Idea, do you think it will work? or possibly backfire and the neighbors will be evacuated to the camps?
micjer Senior Member
Number of posts : 5325 Age : 62 Location : canada Registration date : 2009-01-23
Subject: Re: more swine flu stuff Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:37 pm
Health workers urged, not forced, to get flu vaccine Andrew Mayeda And Sharon Kirkey, Canwest News Service Published: Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Public Health Agency of Canada has no plan to deal with front-line health-care workers who refuse to be vaccinated against swine flu, a scenario that some infectious-disease experts believe could accelerate the spread of the flu pandemic in the coming months.
The question of whether doctors and nurses should be forced to take flu vaccines has long been a contentious issue in the public-health community.
In 2002, the Ontario government withdrew legislation that made it mandatory for paramedics to get flu shots, after the paramedics' union launched a legal challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Canadian Medical Association, which represents tens of thousands of doctors nationwide, will introduce a resolution at its annual meeting next month that encourages physicians to get the swine-flu vaccine, which is expected to be ready in the fall. But the association will stop short of endorsing mandatory vaccinations, said CMA president Dr. Robert Ouellet.
"We think there should be informed consent," Ouellet said in an interview. "Everyone should have the right to refuse a vaccination if they think it's not right for them."
Sun Jul 26, 2009 8:51 pm
