Mysterious U.S. Swine Flu Probe Widens as Mexico Finds Swine Flu *updated*

A 26-year-old man has become the fifth person in Scotland to die after contracting Swine Flu.

The patient, who died in Glasgow's Victoria Infirmary, had significant underlying health problems, a Scottish government spokesman said.

The man contracted the virus on August 3 and was admitted to the hospital's three days later.
.

A young New York City police officer who lived in Blue Point died Friday after contracting swine flu, officials said.

Ryan Johnson, 27, of the 83rd Precinct in Brooklyn, is the eighth person in Suffolk whose death is linked to swine flu, the Suffolk County Health Department said.

"He fought valiantly over many weeks, often expressing his desire to return to the job," New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement Friday. "He was an impressive young man who will be missed by all who knew him."

Johnson joined the New York City police force in July 2004.

He was admitted to a hospital June 17, where he tested positive for swine flu, the Suffolk health department said. He had an underlying health condition, the health department said, but would not elaborate.

"On behalf of the entire department, I express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of police Officer Ryan Johnson," Kelly said.

The officer's family declined to comment Friday.

With Johnson's death, 10 deaths on Long Island have been linked to swine flu, including two in Nassau County.

New York City had 47 deaths as of July 7, when it stopped counting deaths attributed to the outbreak.

An unidentified 30-year-old woman from Yolo County has died from swine flu, the Yolo County Health Department reported late Friday night.
The woman is the first confirmed death in the county from swine flu. Specific information was unavailable from the Health Department as of late Friday or early Saturday morning..

Yolo County Health Officer Joseph Iser, however, reported the woman died at Woodland Memorial Hospital after being hospitalized with the swine flu virus..

The woman died on Friday..

"Our hearts and sympathies go out to the victim's family," said Iser. "Her death is a sad reminder of the serious threat posed by the H1N1 flu virus.".

The virus, officially known as Novel H1N1 Influenza, is a fairly new virus that combines swine, human and bird viruses. A vaccine to protect against Novel H1N1 Influenza is being developed. .

It is unknown if the latest case is related to the death of Jennifer Lee Zeka, 40, who was found dead last Monday in her Woodland apartment. Zeka's death was reported by UC Davis' John Madigan, a professor of veterinary medicine at UCD, who said she experienced flu-like symptoms prior to her death. .

The Yolo County Coroner is investigating the cause of death. It is unknown if Zeka died because of swine flu..

.

AHMEDABAD/PUNE/CHENNAI: The higly infectious H1N1 virus claimed its first victim in Gujarat when US-based NRI Pravin Patel (43) succumbed to the contagion at 1.15am on Sunday. This is the fourth death due to swine flu in the country. Unlike Pune and Mumbai, where the patients had contracted infection from a secondary source within the country, Patel died of an infection he probably carried from the US.

Indicative of the rising numbers, Pune reported 42 fresh H1N1 cases on Sunday - two of whom have been put on ventilator - while the condition of an infected four-year-old Chennai boy turned critical.

Patel's wife Naina, who too has tested positive, is in the Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. Doctors say her condition is stable but she has not been told about her husband's death.

The Patel couple run a store in Atlanta and had landed in Ahmedabad on July 31 to spend a month with the family. They took a Lufthansa flight from Atlanta to Mumbai and then came to Ahmedabad by Air India. Their three teenage children stayed back in the US to attend school and Patel's mother is with them.

Patel's relatives said a more intensive screening at the airport could have prevented his death.

Officials say a 46-year-old woman who died early Saturday at a Little Rock hospital is the state's first confirmed H1N1 flu fatality.

Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper says the woman was tested July 31 at an Arkansas hospital and was confirmed Monday to have H1N1. Camper says she died at about 5:45 a.m. Saturday.
Camper wouldn't release the woman's name or the hospital where she died.

Camper says officials are investigating how the woman contracted the virus and whether she'd traveled internationally recently.

As of late July, Arkansas had 131 confirmed cases of H1N1 in 42 of its 75 counties.

A WOMAN with no known underlying health conditions became the ninth Singaporean to die from the Influenza A (H1N1) virus.

The 27-year-old died yesterday morning. She was warded in Changi General Hospital more than two weeks ago in the intensive care unit.

Before she was admitted to hospital, she had been suffering from fever, cough and lethargy for four days.

The cause of death has been certified as acute myocardial infarction, with H1N1 infection and pneumonia as contributing factors, a Health Ministry statement said yesterday.
.

Tens of thousands of people have faked swine flu symptoms to persuade the NHS to issue them with antiviral drugs, government data suggests.

The number of people given Tamiflu is seven times higher than the number suffering the virus, with official figures showing there were 30,000 new cases of swine flu in the week up to 4 August, yet 30,000 doses of the drug were given out on average each day for the same period.

It is feared that – unless the Government has seriously underestimated the scale of the epidemic – many of those prescribed Tamiflu are stockpiling it to be sure of having access to the powerful drug if and when they or members of their family contract the illness.

Others are thought to be using the service to get themselves signed off sick for seven days, rather than having to go to work, and in some cases it is suspected the prescriptions are being sold. The data supports concerns that controls against misuse of the drug – which can have serious side-effects – are ineffective. Patients wanting the antiviral drug simply have to contact the National Pandemic Flu Service and provide – or fake – a few basic details about their symptoms on the phone or over the internet.
.

Our report today revealing that tens of thousands more people are likely to have received the antiviral drug Tamiflu than actually have swine flu should be a cause for concern for both the health authorities and also the wider public. This over-prescription is obviously a waste of National Health Service resources. But more damaging are the potential medical and social costs of a large number of people taking the antiviral drug when they show no symptoms of the illness.


Tamiflu is not, of course, a cure for swine flu. The drug inhibits the spread of the virus through the body and makes it less likely that the patient will transmit it to others. While we wait for a vaccine to be developed, it is one of our few defences against its spread.

Medical researchers have long warned of the danger that the mass prescription of antivirals could result in the swine flu virus becoming resistant to the drugs. If a large number of people without symptoms take them now we could be weakening our collective ability to deal with a future wave of the swine flu virus.

The risk of new more resistant strains developing is real. Health authorities in Denmark, Japan, Hong Kong and Canada have already reported cases of patients whose swine flu carried a mutation making it impervious to the influence of Tamilfu. It remains to be determined whether these were simply isolated cases, or part of a wider trend. But we do know that excessive use of Tamiflu (and the other main antiviral drug, Relenza) by populations will increase the likelihood of new resistant strains of the virus developing.
.

A TALENTED student who dreamed of becoming a doctor has died after catching swine flu on holiday.

Fitness fan Madelynne Butcher, 18, felt sick and breathless when she returned from Tenerife, where she celebrated finishing her A Levels with pals.

The teen spent three weeks in hospital but died shortly before her parents Beverley and Alan arrived for their regular visit last Thursday.

.

KOTA KINABALU: The number of Influenza A (H1N1) deaths rose to 26 nationwide yesterday with the Health Ministry confirming that eight more people had succumbed to the virus.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said some of the cases were post-reported due to post-mortems that needed to be carried out to confirm the cause of death.

One died on Monday, two on Wednesday, four on Thursday and the latest one on Saturday.

He said the latest eight deaths involved people in the high-risk group except for a 20-year-old college student, who was found dead at her hostel about a week after receiving outpatient treatment from a hospital.

.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A 45-year-old woman from Sierra County has died of swine flu, the first death New Mexico officials have confirmed from the virus.

The state Department of Health said Monday the woman died over the weekend.

The agency says the woman, who had been hospitalized since July 25, had end-stage liver disease.

.

Stacy Speegle Hernandez died Friday of complications from an infection of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu, according to the Yolo County Health Department.

"My baby's gone," said Tamara Brooks, Stacy's mother. "[She was] 30 years old. Healthy, healthy 30-year-old woman. Within seven days, my baby's gone."

Brooks said she was told Stacy had swine flu after her first visit to the Woodland Memorial Hospital emergency room on July 31st, but hospital staff told her on subsequent visit to the emergency room on Monday, August 3, that they never told her she had contracted the H1N1 virus.

By that time, Stacy had developed pneumonia, but Brooks said she was given antibiotics and sent home the same day. When Stacy's mother took her to an Esparto clinic on Wednesday, August 5, her condition was so critical that doctors immediately called an ambulance and had her checked into a hospital.

Their efforts came too late, and Stacy died from complications of the disease on Friday, August 7.

Brooks said Stacy's two children lost their father seven years ago and still don't fully understand that their mother is dead. She said she believes Stacy's death could have been prevented if her symptoms had been taken seriously.

"They tell us first that she has swine, and then the second time they tell us she doesn't," Brooks said. "Then she gets pneumonia, and now my baby's dead."

"First of all, sending her home with pneumonia… yeah, I think [her death] could have been prevented," she added. "I think my baby would be here."

Brooks said she has hired a lawyer, but is not planning to pursue litigation until Stacy is buried.

Officials with Woodland Memorial Hospital declined to comment on Stacy's case, citing privacy laws. They also declined to comment on the typical way they would handle a swine flu case.

SANFORD, Fla. -- An 18-year-old woman from Seminole County has died after contracting the H1N1 virus, the county Health Department said on Monday.

"We wish to extend our deepest sympathies to the family. Our hearts go out to them in this difficult time. Whereas cases of H1N1 swine flu are mild, there are exceptions like this tragic case," said Mike Napier, administrator of the Seminole County Health Department.

The department released no other details, but encouraged people with respiratory illness to stay home from school or work to avoid spreading the disease..

Two residents of Fairbanks, Alaska have been diagnosed with tularemia, a potentially fatal bacterial infection more commonly found in animals.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game veterinarian Kimberlee Beckmen learned of the outbreak from state public health authorities late last week.

The disease can be transmitted to humans from snowshoe hares, and the hare population has been high in the interior. It's unclear how the Fairbanks residents contracted it.

Beckmen says people are usually infected through the skin by handling sick hares, but they can also get it when bitten by ticks, flies, or mosquitoes that fed on sick hares.

A Fish and Game spokeswoman says the Fairbanks patients were treated with antibiotics and are doing well.

ST. PETERSBURG — A 36-year-old man stricken with swine flu has become the first confirmed fatality from the disease in Pinellas County.

Officials at the Pinellas health department, which learned of the death on Monday, said the victim had underlying medical conditions. He died within the last four days, said Andrea Dopico, an epidemiologist there.
.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu recorded its first swine flu death on Monday when a four-year old boy fell victim to the illness at a private hospital here. Its authorities said he died of multiple organ failure following the flu.

Sanjay Balakrishnan, who had been ill for about a week, was moved through two private hospitals before he was finally shifted to Mehta Hospital, where his A(H1N1) infection was finally detected. However, Sanjay’s condition had already deteriorated by the time he was given Tamiflu on Saturday.

As in the case of Reeda Shaikh (14), who died in Pune last week, Sanjay’s illness went undiagnosed, though he was in hospital, until his condition became serious.

Sanjay was prone to asthma attacks. Last week, after a bout of severe diarrhoea and respiratory infection, he was taken to a local hospital close to his house at Velachery. From there he was shifted to Sooriya Hospital at Vadapalani, where his condition is said to have deteriorated.

When his kidneys failed, he was shifted to Mehta Hospital for dialysis. There, Sanjay was put on ventilator and a gastric sample was taken to test for A(H1N1). Though an unconventional sample (usually it is a nose/throat swab), this test result was positive.
.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients with potentially deadly drug-resistant bacteria that they pick up in the hospital often carry the infection to home health care settings after hospital discharge, and transmission occurs in about one fifth of household contacts, according to a report published today.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections can range from boils to more severe infections of the blood, lungs and the sites of surgery. Such infections can often be treated only with expensive intravenous antibiotics.

"Patients with major health problems are increasingly discharged to home health care, which creates new opportunities for the transmission of hospital-acquired MRSA," Dr. Jean-Christophe Lucet, of Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital, Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris, and colleagues note in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

They studied 1501 adult patients in French hospitals who were screened for MRSA before discharge to home health care between February 2003 and March 2004.

Dr. Lucet's team determined that 191 of the 1501 patients had MRSA (12.7%) before hospital discharge. Of 148 MRSA carriers who were followed up, 75 (50.6%) got rid of the infection within 1 year of hospital discharge.

Among 188 household contacts of the 191 MRSA patients, 36 (19.1%) acquired MRSA during the follow up period, although none developed an infection. People can carry the bacterium without getting sick from it
.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- Avoiding masturbation and homosexual activities are among preventive measures one could take against Influenza A (H1N1), according to an eminent practitioner of complimentary therapy.

Dr. V. M. Palaniappan said that such activities caused the body to develop friction heat which in turn, produced acid and made the body hyperacidised.

"Thus, the body becomes an easy target for H1N1 infection," he told Bernama, emphasising however, that normal sexual union between members of the opposite sex was absolutely safe..