India vs Windies ODI series under swine flu

The one-day cricket series between India and the West Indies has been put under "special swine flu surveillance" in view of the H1N1 virus spread here in Jamaica.

Responding to calls for the banning of public events, Jamaican Health Minister Ruddy Spencer has ordered for special measures to prevent the spread of H1N1 virus at events where the public gathers in large numbers, including the four-match ODI series.

Teams comprising more than 40 individuals will be assigned for the surveillance work during each match of the ODI series.

Such surveillance has also been ordered for the National Athletics Championships starting here tomorrow.

"So cricketers, those of you who like cricket go to cricket. But if you have flu like symptoms you should stay home and if you go there and there are people there with flu like symptoms you should stay away from those people," Spencer said.

"There are National Track trials on Saturday, we will be there. Over four dozen health workers will be there to ensure that the country is protected," he said.

There have so far been 21 cases of H1N1 in Jamaica.

India will play their second ODI here on June 28 while the third and fourth matches are scheduled at St Lucia on July 3 and 5.

Million swine flu cases In US

US health officials estimate that at least one million Americans have been infected with swine flu since the H1N1 virus emerged nearly three months ago.

The number is far higher than cases actually reported to the authorities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said many cases were mild, although 127 people had died.
The CDC based its figures on surveys, rather than laboratory evidence, but the numbers suggest the death rate from swine flu is lower than thought.
"We're saying that there have been at least a million cases of the new H1N1 virus so far this year in the United States," said Anne Schuchat of the CDC.
"Reported cases are really just the tip of the iceberg."
The CDC has based its estimate on mathematical modelling, based on surveys by health officials.
If the figures are correct, it is reassuring news, because it indicates that the fatality rate from swine flu is even lower than thought, says BBC medical correspondent Fergus Walsh.
However, Dr Schuchat warned that swine flu might exhibit higher infection rates than seasonal flu and could return in a more virulent form in the autumn.
Argentina election
According to the CDC, there have been 27,717 confirmed or probable cases; some 3,000 people have needed hospital treatment and there have been 127 deaths.

Argentina's hospitals are coming under pressure

Swine flu continues to affect mainly people under 50 years of age, with many of those worst affected having underlying health problems such as asthma or diabetes.
The average age of those who died in the US is 37.
Officials from the CDC and the World Health Organization are watching outbreaks in the southern hemisphere, in particular in Argentina, Chile and Australia, to see how the H1N1 virus has been spreading during the winter months and whether it is likely to become more virulent.
Argentina's health ministry has registered 26 deaths attributed to swine flu, and 1,587 cases. Officials are advising people to try to leave space between each other as they line up to vote in legislative elections on Sunday.
Chilean health authorities say there have been 6,211 cases and 12 deaths.
In Australia, there have been five swine-flu related deaths, all of patients with existing medical conditions, and 3,677 cases, according to official figures.
The H1N1 virus first emerged in April in Mexico, which has recorded 116 deaths and 8,279 cases, according to the WHO.
On 11 June, the WHO declared a global flu pandemic, meaning that swine flu virus was spreading in at least two regions of the world.
Officials stressed that this did not mean the virus was causing more severe illness or more deaths.
According to the latest figures from the WHO, there have been 263 deaths and nearly 60,000 cases in some 100 countries and territories.

Swine flu drug found

The first swine flu patient to show resistance to the anti-viral drug Tamiflu has been identified in Denmark.
Tamiflu is considered to be the most effective treatment for swine flu by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
A woman who had been in direct contact with a person suffering from swine flu was given a dose of Tamiflu as a preventative measure.
However, the woman still contracted the virus after her body resisted the treatment. Doctors then gave her another type of treatment, Relenza, made by GlaxoSmithKline.

According to the Danish Institute of Serology, the Danish woman is no longer suffering from the illness and is not displaying symptoms.
"It does not constitute a risk to public health and does not cause changes to the recommendations for the use of oseltamivir (Tamiflu)," the institute said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Roche, the company which manufactures Tamiflu, said the patient’s resistance was likely to be an individual case, and was within the 0.5% rate of case resistance to Tamiflu that had been established in clinical trials.

The WHO has reported 70,893 cases of the virus globally. More than 300 people have died from the virus. Three people have died in the UK from swine flu, including one nine-year-old girl, but all were said to have had underlying health problems.
This morning, it was confirmed that a woman died in Spain from swine flu. She was 20 years old, from Morocco and had a history of asthma. A statement said she had a respiratory disease caused by swine flu. The woman was 28 weeks pregnant and doctors performed a Caesarean section on Monday. The baby is healthy, Spanish authorities said. Spain has 717 confirmed cases of the virus.

In Ireland, the Department of Health has confirmed 41 cases of the virus, while Northern Ireland has 32 confirmed cases.

Suspects collected of swine flu Samples

A government health team collected samples of five persons suspected to be suffering from swine flu. The persons are relatives of one

Ashish Dhani, who tested positive to the pandemic on Monday. Director, health, Dr I S Srivastava said that the samples have been dispatched to National Institute of Communicable Diseases for investigation. The reports are expected in next 4 to 5 days.

Ashish is a native of Snehnagar in Alambagh and studies in Pune. As a part of some academic activity, Ashish had gone to America. Here he stayed for about a fortnight and returned to India. He first went to Mumbai and took a flight to Delhi to reach his native place, Lucknow. Here he stayed with his parents when flu like symptoms

came to light. Local health authorities got him examined but before the tests could confirm something, he went back to Pune. In Pune, he got himself checked thoroughly and the reports tested positive for swine flu.

Wimbledon fears of Swine flu

Some staff at the Wimbledon tennis championships have reported "flu-like" symptoms, but the competition will continue "as normal", organisers said on Monday.
Ian Ritchie, the chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, which runs the annual Grand Slam in southwest London, sent a message to staff to inform them of the situation.
Club sources told AFP that a handful of ball boys and ball girls were affected, but nobody had been confirmed as having contracted the A(H1N1) virus.
The club takes on approximately 4 600 extra staff to run the grass court championships, including 250 ball boys and girls recruited from local schools.
More than 4 300 swine flu cases have been diagnosed in Britain.
"A small number of our championships' personnel have reported a flu-like illness and have consequently been asked to stay at home," Ritchie said.
"Having consulted closely with the Health Protection Agency, we have been reassured that since the incidence is entirely in line with the wider London community, there is no particular extra risk to all those connected with the event, be they players, media, staff or spectators.
Monitoring situation
"We are able to continue with the championships as normal. We shall of course be monitoring the situation closely," Ritchie added.
Venus Williams, the defending Wimbledon ladies' singles champion, said she was not worried about the situation.
"I just got a letter. I haven't read it. But I guess there's sicknesses all around. Hopefully the players won't get sick," the US tennis champ said.
"Hopefully our immune systems are strong enough. That's what they're there for. We're going to all put ours in use, take vitamin C, keep playing, and call it a day."
The second Briton to die after contracting swine flu succumbed on Saturday, but authorities said the 73-year-old man had "underlying health problems".
Swine flu has infected more than 70 000 people worldwide with 311 deaths since late March, the World Health Organisation said on Monday.

Swine flu in Scotland

The total number of swine flu cases in Scotland has topped the 1,000 mark for the first time.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said a further 196 cases were recorded over the past three days, bringing the total across the country to 1,118.
The overwhelming majority of new cases were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Lanarkshire NHS areas.
Meanwhile, new figures revealed that most of those affected by swine flu in Scotland are under the age of 24.
The statistics from Health Protection Scotland showed 10% of cases were aged four or under, with 32% between 5-14, and a further 21% aged between 15-24.
Only 4% of Scottish swine flu victims are over the age of 55, the figures showed.
'Some reassurance'
On Saturday, A 73-year-old man became the second person in Scotland with swine flu to die.
The pensioner's death followed that of a 38-year-old woman who gave birth prematurely while being treated at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
A young girl suffering from swine flu died at Birmingham Children's Hospital on Friday.
All three victims were said to have had underlying health problems.
Ms Sturgeon stressed: "The medical evidence and patterns seen in the early stages offer some reassurance that in the majority of cases symptoms are mild with recovery for people in otherwise good health generally straightforward.
"While the two deaths to date in Scotland from H1N1 have been regrettable and tragic for the families involved, underlying medical conditions were a factor in both situations."
An elderly man who was suffering from swine flu has died, health officials have confirmed.
The 73-year old was being treated at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley at the time. He died late on Saturday.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said he was suffering from underlying health complications.
The pensioner, from Inverclyde, passed away late on Saturday night. He is the second person in the UK who was suffering from swine flu to die.
The first death, earlier this month, was a 38-year-old woman who gave birth prematurely while being treated at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. She also had underlying health conditions.

Her death was the first connected to swine flu outside the Americas.
The pensioner who died had been in intensive care for 15 days.
Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the patient at this tragic and very sad time. The family have asked for the patient's identity to be kept private.
"Although it is concerning that the patient had swine flu, we are aware that the patient had very serious underlying health issues.
"It's important to remember that the vast majority of those who have H1N1 are suffering from relatively mild symptoms.
A family spokesperson said: "Our beloved relative was private in life and we would ask that his privacy continues to be respected as we try to come to terms with our loss."
Dr Harry Burns, Scotland's chief medical officer, said the death was a "tragedy" but also underlined that it was only the second death from swine flu in well over 4,000 cases in the UK.
Flu pandemic
He told the BBC: "It's a tragedy, but it doesn't change our view that this is no more serious than winter flu.
"In fact this is the second case in about four and a half thousand cases that we've seen in the UK and that makes it a lot less severe, much less aggressive than we would normally see with a winter flu virus.
"What happens with winter flu is there is no publicity," he added.
According to the latest available figures, there were more than 4,200 laboratory confirmed cases in the UK.
Of these, 3,364 cases are in England, 922 in Scotland and 24 in Northern Ireland.
Four new cases were confirmed in Wales on Sunday bringing the total to 17.
60,000 cases
It also emerged on Saturday that three people attending the Glastonbury Festival have been diagnosed with suspected swine flu.
Two students and a 10-year-old child from a family of four showed symptoms of the illness when examined by festival medical staff.
The students, from Exeter and Edinburgh universities, and the family were moved off the festival site and into an isolation facility.
They have since returned home.
The H1N1 virus first emerged in April in Mexico, which has recorded 116 deaths and 8,279 cases, according to the World Health Organisation.
On 11 June, the WHO declared a global flu pandemic, meaning that swine flu virus was spreading in at least two regions of the world.
Officials stressed that this did not mean the virus was causing more severe illness or more deaths.
According to the latest figures from the WHO, there have been 263 deaths and nearly 60,000 cases in some 100 countries and territories.

Swine flu scare

When Zil Shah and his friends received the invitation for a six-day programme at NASA, the swine flu outbreak in US didn’t deter them. But, the 15 kids made sure they took necessary precautions. Says Deepak Shah, Zil’s father who accompanied the students, “All of us were made to wear safety masks as soon as we landed at New York airport and we underwent a medical test there.”
NASA too took precautions and maintained a hygienic ambience on its premises. “NASA has air-purifiers installed at their station. Besides, food and water was pure and our living quarters were well-maintained,” says Sonam Shah, 18. When they landed in Ahmedabad, they had to undergo a check-up. Says Abhimanyu Tripathi, 11, “We were made to fill a medical form at the airport. We were checked for common cold and our travel details were looked into.”
Parents, however, are taking no chances. “We have collected blood samples of participants and will be sending them for tests to Mumbai within this week,” says Zil.

Swine flu patient under watch

The seven-year-old girl the first swine patient in Kolkata will remain under treatment at the Beliaghata ID Hospital for at least
two weeks. The medical team at Kolkata airport has, meanwhile, sent details of all 250 of her co-passengers on board the Thai Airways flight she arrived in early on Tuesday to the state government, said an airport medical officer.
Those among the 250 who hail from Bengal will be identified and monitored to see whether they have acquired the H1N1 virus from her. Details of the other passengers will be communicated to their respective state governments by Writers' Buildings.
Yet another passenger was quarantined on Thursday after he landed at the Kolkata airport on board an Air India Express flight. The 50-year-old man from Ghaziabad, UP, arrived after a three-year stint in Bangkok. On being medically examined, he was detected with fever and breathing trouble. The passenger was then sent to Beliaghata ID Hospital where he will be quarantined.
The girl detected with swine flu has congestion in her lungs and severe bodyache, even though her temperature has subsided. According to doctors at the hospital, she should recover in five days but will have to be confined to the isolation ward.
She, along with her brother and parents, was on her way back from Australia via Bangkok when Kolkata airport officials referred her to the hospital.
A day after swab tests at National Institute of Cholera and Communicable Diseases (NICED), Delhi, confirmed that she had the viral disease, ID Hospital authorities issued a warning for the city. "This is a highly contagious disease, so we need to be careful. We have asked her family to be alert. Her mother has been given a preventive medicine, as she is attending to her. In fact, all the passengers of the Thai Airways flight by which the family travelled to Kolkata should be warned," said Goutam Pal, associate professor at the hospital.
Special arrangements have been made at the ward to prevent infection. All employees and doctors attending to her have been given a special protection kit. Disinfectants, gloves, masks and shoe covers are being used. The patient has been prescribed Tamiflu the only recognized drug for H1NI, that causes swine flu.
The girl's family, however, said they were unhappy with the arrangements. Her mother expressed doubts whether she was indeed suffering from swine flu. "Nothing has happened to my daughter. She has been confined to this hospital without any reason. The conditions here are unhygienic. The isolation ward is extremely dirty," she said. The family is based in Jamshedpur.
But the hospital authorities refused to pay any heed to the allegations. "We have no doubt that she has the virus. The NICED report has confirmed H1N1 and we are not going to have any more tests. She will remain here till we are sure that the virus is not going to infect others. Even though for adults, the quarantine period is usually seven days, it is 14 days for children. She is responding to drugs, but we have kept a team of doctors from NRS Medical College ready for an emergency," said Pal.
It was not clear if the girl got infected in Australia, where she had gone with her family on a vacation. "They have said that all four of them had upper respiratory tract infection in Australia, where temperatures hovered around the five-degree mark," Pal said.
On Wednesday, NICED, New Delhi, informed the hospital over phone that the girl had tested positive for swine flu. In accordance with ICMR rules, the test results need to be confirmed by at least two institutes which include NICED, New Delhi and NIV, Pune.

Her father, who left for Jamshedpur with his three-year-old son, has been informed about the report.

Quarantine movies on Swine flu

What do you do? You’ve been sent home from work and ordered to stay there for a few days after coming down with a suspected case of swine flu.You’re probably going to head for the goggle box and chuck a disc in the DVD player to stave off the almost inevitable boredom.And if your copy of Point Break is too scratched to play anymore, or if you want to embrace the moment, here’s Stuff.co.nz’s top 10 movies to watch under swine flu quarantine. Warning: If you are of a delicate disposition or under the age of 18 some of these movies may not be for you. 
10. Outbreak (1995)
The military is trying to control a deadly virus rampantly spreading across the United States after being introduced by a smuggled monkey. This film pretty much embodies the pandemic freak-out scenario all those conspiracy theorists say the media is trying to convince you of. 
9. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Get bitten by a zombie, turn into a zombie - that’s how it usually works in the movies and it’s a pretty simple metaphor for disease spreading. George A Romero does zombie films better than anyone else, as you’d expect from a guy who’s been writing them for more than 40 years. Of course, there are other social issues worked in along with some chases, shooting and explosions. 
8. Cabin Fever (2002)
Five bright young things fresh out of university catch a flesh-eating disease after one of them drinks from a reservoir, where someone just dumped the body of a diseased hermit. 
7. The Thing (1982)
A team of scientists isolated in the Antarctic come under attack from an alien with the ability to take over other bodies, so no one knows who to trust/ It’s a bit like what your flatmates are going to be thinking when they come home and find that you might have swine flu.
6. Patch Adams (1998)
A story about healing through humour, as a former mental health patient goes against the methods of a cold and detached medical establishment. Starring Robin Williams.
5. Blade 2 (2002)
Vampires are almost as popular as zombies as a disease metaphor. This movie takes it a step further by introducing a new strain of mutant vampires. One of the selling points you might see on the back of the DVD case is that it’s "better than the original," thanks to the direction of Mexican sci-fi/fantasy geek Guillermo del Toro, who is currently residing in Wellington preparing to film The Hobbit.
4. Cast Away (2000)
Being stuck on your own on a desert island for four years isn’t quite the same as being quarantined in your apartment/ townhouse/ suburban home for seven days. If you want to see someone that has it worse than you, or just have some one-on-one company, then there’s Tom Hanks playing an on-the-go FedEx manager whose life comes to a standstill after a plane crash.
3. 28 Days Later (2002)
More rampant disease-induced zombie-ism - this time set in London. A virus causing murderous rage spreads through the population after animal rights activists free some infected chimpanzees from a top secret lab. Directed by Danny Boyle, who also helmed Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting.
2. Babe (1995)
A little piglet doesn’t quite know his place in the world but, with some help, finds success. Take home message: even if you do have swine flu, you’ll probably be okay.
1. Alien (1979)
"In space no one can hear you scream," is the tagline of this 1979 trapped-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-with-a-maniac-on-the-loose classic. If you want to look at it one way, it’s pretty much what will happen if humans manage to banish swine flu into space only to have it mutate and return as a lethal three-metre-tall, acid-blooded xenomorph.

Australia warn for high Swine flu risk

Australia on Tuesday warned Aborigines may be at high risk from swine flu and rushed medical supplies to remote indigenous communities, as the country announced its second death linked to the virus.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon said high disease rates among Aborigines, who suffer the country's worst poverty and ill health, could make them particularly vulnerable.
"We know many of the chronic diseases that they suffer from are indicators that swine flu may actually hit them harder than some others in the community," she told public radio.
A 26-year-old Aboriginal man with swine flu and other medical problems died in Adelaide on Friday, setting alarm bells ringing about the virus's possible impact on the indigenous community.
On Tuesday, officials said a non-Aboriginal man, 35, who had swine flu and "significant underlying medical problems" had died in Victoria of apparent respiratory failure at the weekend.
Despite the country's second swine flu-related death, Victoria's acting chief health officer Rosemary Lester said the virus, which has infected 2,733 people here, was not considered life-threatening in most cases.
"It is important to remember that in the vast majority of cases, human swine flu is a mild illness which many people recover from without any medical treatment," she said.
However, Health Minister Roxon said Aborigines may be a special case and authorities were working to boost their supplies of anti-viral drugs in the wake of the indigenous man's death.
An emergency medical response team was due to arrive in the dead Aboriginal man's isolated home settlement of Kiwirrkurra in Western Australia carrying anti-flu medicine, face masks and cleaning products to contain any infection.
Meanwhile in the Northern Territory, where Aborigines make up almost a third of the population, authorities said swine flu appeared to have gained a foothold in remote indigenous communities.
The number of confirmed cases in the Territory approximately doubled in the past week to 61, with three children hospitalised in Alice Springs.
Territory health minister Kon Vatskalis said the government was closely monitoring the situation in Outback settlements and town camps, the ghettos on the outskirts of urban areas where many Aborigines live.
"Anti-viral medications and personal protective equipment have been distributed to all remote health centres and general practices," he said.
"In remote communities where the infection has arrived or seems imminent, immediate testing and treatment is being offered to those people with influenza symptoms and established risk factors."
Australia's 520,000 Aborigines make up about 2.5 percent of the population, but have a life expectancy 17 years shorter than the national average. They also have higher rates of imprisonment, child mortality and alcoholism.
The rapid spread of the virus in Australia helped persuade the World Health Organization to declare the first global pandemic in 40 years this month.
Australia last week changed its swine flu alert level to "protect," meaning only the most vulnerable receive anti-viral treatments such as Tamiflu while those with mild symptoms must rely on over-the-counter medicines.

Swine flu capture 8 yr boy

A suspected case of Swine flu that was reported here on June 20 has been found to be positive as per the results of throat swab test and culture medicum test carried out at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in New Delhi. The boy was quarantined and was being treated at the Government Rajaji Hospital here in A1 air-conditioned ward.The family with their eight-year-old son from New Jersey, US, was visiting India. On reaching Mumbai airport it was learnt that the boy had fever and on suspicion he was taken to a nearby private hospital for diagnosis.The family later decided to have further diagnosis at their hometown in Madurai. In Madurai, the boy was taken to a private hospital and was referred to the Government Rajaji Hospital for diagnosis. At Government Rajaji Hospital, the samples of the boy’s blood and urine were collected and sent to NICD for test.S M Shivakumar, Dean (in-charge) of Government Rajaji Hospital, said that the boy was normal without cough and fever. As the results came at night on Wednesday, tamiflu (drug to fight H1N1) was not administered and the medication would be administered during the day on Thursday.Another throat swab test would be taken on the third day after administering tamiflu to the boy.The boy was visiting India to spend time with his grandparents for three weeks and was expected to leave India in two weeks time. Though the results of the tests were out, the official announcement from the Centre might come on Thursday, he said.

Swine flu cases in uk reach 3000

Another 149 cases of swine flu have been confirmed in the UK, bringing the total to more than 2,900.

More than 100 patients under observation in England were confirmed with the virus on Tuesday, along with another 40 cases in Scotland.
The number of confirmed cases in the UK is 2,944, including 686 in Scotland.
The Health Protection Agency said a baby from County Durham has tested positive for swine flu at a hospital on Teesside and is in a stable condition.
About 30,000 cases of swine flu have so far been detected in 74 countries, and more than 140 people have died worldwide since March.
First fatality
A Department of Health spokesman said: "The cases of swine flu found in the UK have so far been generally mild in most people, but are proving to be severe in a small minority of cases.
"We are continuing to work to slow the spread of the disease and to put in place arrangements to ensure that the UK is well-placed to deal with this new infection."
The swine flu virus claimed its first victim in the UK last week, after a female patient died in a Scottish hospital.
The victim was a woman aged 38 who gave birth prematurely while being treated at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.
The baby with swine flu is aged less than a year and has been admitted to North Tees Hospital, in Stockton, and given anti-viral drugs.
As a precautionary measure, family members and staff who were in close contact with the baby have also been offered the Tamiflu drug.

No summer camp couse of swine flu

Thousands of Jerry's Kids won't be going to summer camp this year because of the swine flu.
The Tucson-based Muscular Dystrophy Association says it is canceling the remainder of its summer camps immediately because swine flu has been reported in camps.
The MDA says children with muscular dystrophy are particularly at risk from the flu, although none of the children sickened after camps in recent weeks have died. About 1,800 children have gone to camp this year, but another 2,500 set to go in 35 states will be affected by the cancelations.
MDA spokesman Bob Mackle said Tuesday that nine children and three adults were confirmed to have swine flu after attending three MDA camps in May or early June.

Swine flu new cases in India

Five more persons, including three in the national capital, tested positive for swine flu on Tuesday as the total number of cases nationwide rose to 68.
One case in Delhi is that of a human to human transmission while the others in the city who were detected with the virus are women, a senior Health Ministry official said. The other two cases are from Bangalore and Hyderabad.
The human to human transmission case is that of a 15- year-old man who got the infection from a family member who was earlier detected as positive.
The other cases in the city are that of a 58-year-old woman, who travelled from the US, and a 23-year-old woman, who reached from Canada.
With this, the number of cases in Delhi has risen to 29. Yesterday, two persons were tested positive for the virus from the city, which has reported the highest number of swine flu cases in the country so far.
The case from Bangalore is that of 25-year-old man who came to the southern city yesterday while a 30-year-old woman, who came from the US, tested positive for the disease in Hyderabad.
"Out of the 68 cases, 41 have been discharged. Rest of the patients are admitted to the identified health facilities across the country," the official said.
The WHO reported 52,160 laboratory confirmed cases of A/H1N1 influenza infection from 99 countries till yesterday. There have been 231 deaths due to swine flu.
In India, health screening of passengers coming from affected countries is continuing in 22 international airports.
Till yesterday, 45,493 passengers have been screened of which 27,906 passengers were from affected countries.
In Goa, samples of two suspected swine flu patients in have been sent for testing at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases in Delhi.
"The mother-son duo has been quarantined and the report of their samples is awaited," an official said.
The 32-year-old son had arrived from US on June 2 and developed flu-like symptoms after few days, the official said, adding his mother (50), who lives in Goa, also showed similar symptoms later.

In India swine flu cases

Six people including two children tested positive for the influenza A(H1N1) virus Friday, taking the total number of people affected with swine flu in India to 50. At least 16 of them have been discharged from the hospitals on complete recovery.

'Six new cases of swine flu have been reported - three from Delhi, two from Bangalore and one from Mumbai. All of them have been quarantined at identified health facilities and their contacts are being traced,' a health ministry statement said.

'Of the 50 cases, 16 have been discharged. Rest of the patients are all stable and remain admitted to the identified health facilities,' it added.

In Delhi, a nine-year-old boy who returned from the US June 11 tested positive. He reported himself to the hospital after he developed swine flu-like symptoms June 17. A 28-year-old man who travelled from Egypt June 13 also tested positive for swine flu.

In the third case, a 66-year-old mother contracted swine flu from her son, who had tested positive June 17.

'Delhi has reported three new swine flu cases, including one of human-to-human transfer. We now have 12 swine flu cases in various hospitals in the capital. We are now focusing on containing the secondary infection spreading in the capital,' Delhi Health Secretary J.P. Singh told IANS.

The capital accounts for four of the five human-to-human transfer cases in the country.

A two-year-old boy who travelled from the US and reached Bangalore June 14 has tested positive for swine flu. The second case in that city was of a 36-year-old man who travelled from Germany and reached Bangalore June 14. He reported to an identified health facility June 17 and has tested positive.

A 36-year-old male who travelled from New Jersey, US, and reached Mumbai June 15 has also tested positive with swine flu.

So far samples of 407 people have been tested, of which 50 have been tested positive. Among these people, 128 were identified through health screening at international airports, 15 through contact tracing and the rest were samples from people who self-reported.

Ministry officials said that among the 31 school children in Jalandhar who returned from the US, 14 children continues to be under medication. Eight of them so far tested positive. They have responded to treatment.

'The remaining children and at least 296 contacts are under chemoprophylaxis. Surveillance in the community for fever cases is on. As of now, no case has been reported among the contacts,' a health ministry official said.

Meanwhile, health authorities are likely to quarantine a family in Chandigarh as one of its members, who recently returned from the US, was suspected to have swine flu.

According to health officials, a 70-year-old woman, who returned from the US June 14 with her two grandchildren, approached the doctors with complaints of sneezing and a sore throat Thursday. Considering her travel history, she was admitted to the government hospital in Sector 32.

The World Health Organisation has reported 44,287 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection from 89 countries as June 17. There have been 180 deaths.

Swine flu vaccines produced by Chinese firm

China's first batch of vaccines for influenza A (H1N1), better known as swine flu, have been produced by a pharmaceutical firm, an official said on Monday.

The vaccines are expected to hit the market in September after safety tests in laboratories and clinical tests, said an official of Hualan Biological Engineering Inc.

The company received the seed virus from the World Health Organization (WHO) lab June 4.

According to the WHO website, over 44,000 people have been affected by swine flu all over the world and there have been 180 deaths.

World Health Organization report for Swine flu

The World Health Organization says the global tally of deaths from swine flu has increased by 51 to 231.
WHO says most of the latest deaths occurred in the United States.
It says Colombia, Chile and Canada have also reported fatal cases.
WHO says the number of reported cases reached 52,160 on Monday. This is an increase of 7,873 since Friday.
The global body says Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Fiji and Slovenia reported their first cases over the weekend.
Earlier this month, WHO declared swine flu a "moderate" pandemic that would likely continue for 1-2 years.
The World Health Organisation said more than 50,000 swine flu cases had now been reported worldwide, with 231 deaths, mostly in Mexico and the US.
It declared swine flu a pandemic earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Montenegro's health minister said the country's first case of swine flu has been confirmed in a student who returned from the US.
Health Minister Miodrag Radunovic said the 19-year-old student returned to Montenegro on Saturday after taking part in an exchange programme in the US
He declined to name the student but said he was feeling better after flying to Montenegro's capital Podgorica from New Jersey via Munich in Germany and Belgrade in Serbia.

Swine flu case in Pune

Pune has its first case of H1N1 virus (swine flu), a 24-year-old software engineer who hails from Uttar Pradesh and stays in the city. The case was confirmed by the National Institute of Virology (NIV) on Monday evening.
The engineer was detected with swine flu symptoms and had been quarantined at the Naidu Hospital since Saturday. His throat swabs were sent to the NIV on Sunday. Dr M S Chadda, Deputy Director, NIV, when contacted, confirmed that the samples had tested positive for H1N1 virus.
The techie had visited New Jersey and flown to Mumbai via London. He came to Pune and then went to Lucknow and Delhi before returning to the city on June 18. He has been travelling since June 13. After he showed swine flu symptoms, he volunteered to be admitted to the hospital on Saturday, said Dr D B Barathe, superintendent, Naidu Hospital.
Even as the state and local health officials were officially waiting for a confirmation from the Centre to declare the patient positive with the swine flu virus, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) medical officer Dr R R Pardeshi said Tamiflu medication will be given to the patient.

Swine flu reach in China

AUTHORITIES in southern China closed an elementary school after 30 students there fell ill from swine flu, Chinese state media reported, as infections from the virus continued to climb across the Asia-Pacific region.
The children, all from a primary school in Guangdong province's Dongguan city, fell ill with A(H1N1) flu at the end of last week, the provincial health department said in a statement posted on its website late on Sunday.

Authorities closed Shipai Central Primary School for a week, and have quarantined those in close contact with the patients. The health department said the students' symptoms were mild, but warned the risk of a partial epidemic was looming in the province. Guangdong neighbours Hong Kong, where many schools have been closed following H1N1 flu outbreaks.
The students were all reported in stable condition since their illness was mild. Authorities decided to close the school, which has 1,314 students, for a week after the cases were reported.
China's state broadcaster reported on Sunday that 58 more people were confirmed with swine flu, bringing the total on the mainland to 414.
The World Health Organisation has declared swine flu a pandemic.

Teenage patient died by swine flu

A 15-year-old boy in Buffalo, N.Y., who was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, has died of related complications, his grandmother says.
WIVB-TV in Buffalo reported the grandmother of Matthew Davis confirmed the teenage swine flu patient was taken off life support Saturday after he took a significant turn for the worse.
Lucretia Belton, mother of the eighth-grader, said her son's kidneys had failed, forcing him to be kept alive by machines.
Belton added her son had suffered from complications from the H1N1 virus, including a Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection and pneumonia.
Prior to her son's removal from life support at Women and Children's Hospital, Belton offered a heartfelt warning to parents about swine flu.
"This is no joke, this is really, really, really serious. Please get your kids, any kind of sign, get them there, don't wait until we get this far like my baby," Shelton said Friday.
WIVB reported a 9-year-old girl at the Buffalo hospital had also been diagnosed with swine flu. The girl, whose identity was not reported, was reportedly in critical condition.

Swine flu reach in Delhi

Is Delhi losing the battle to contain swine flu? The statistics are certainly taking on an ominous hue. A new case of H1N1 influenza
was confirmed in the Capital on Sunday, taking Delhi's total number of swine flu cases to 22.Cases in Delhi now significantly outnumber Hyderabad, which has 15 confirmed cases and was initially said to be the hub of swine flu in India. Of the six human-to-human transmission cases reported in the country, five are in Delhi.
Sunday's case is of a 15-year-old boy, who traveled from New York to Delhi, and is admitted in Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital at present. Of the 22 confirmed cases in Delhi, 13 are undergoing treatment at various government hospitals. "There are eight patients in RML, three in Airport Health Organisation Hospital and two in Deen Dayal Upadhayay Hospital," said Dr Anjan Prakash, additional nodal officer for H1N1 influenza, Delhi government.
What's worrying is the sharp rise in the number of confirmed H1N1 influenza cases reported in the city in the last few days. The Delhi government's health department has now intensified its screening and contact tracing drive.
According to Delhi health minister Kiran Walia, "Delhi is one of the main cities in the country. We get a lot of people from abroad and generally people are traveling. Another reason for the sudden increase in the number is that we are doing aggressive contact tracing of people who have tested positive for H1N1 influenza. We had examined eight relatives of a 35-year-old woman, who tested positive, and had admitted four of them as they were showing flu-like symptoms. Four people from that family tested positive. All were human-to-human transmission cases. Once a case is tested positive, we sending our teams to track all the possible family members who had come in contact with the patient."
The health department has also intensified its public awareness campaign and is training more-and-more government hospital doctors to pick up H1N1 influenza in the initial stages. "There was a case reported from Tihar jail who was admitted in DDU hospital two days back. The man had traveled from US and was showing flu-like symptoms. He tested negative, but the doctor in jail was prompt enough to send him to our facility for testing. We are telling doctors to send patients to designated hospitals in case they come across any such patient. We are taking all measures to contain the spread of this infection," said Walia.

Swine Flu cases in New Zealand

The number of confirmed cases of swine flu in New Zealand has topped 300, the Health Ministry says.
Figures released today showed confirmed cases had risen to 303, up 45 from yesterday, with 219 active cases reported in the past seven days.

The greatest number of infected people came from Wellington, with 118 affected, followed by Auckland with 91 cases. Canterbury had reported 67 cases and the Bay of Plenty Lakes region, 13.
However, ministry officials have said the actual number of people infected was likely to be ''in the thousands'' as doctors had stopped testing every patient.
An infected 30-year-old woman, with pre-existing illnesses, remained in critical condition at Wellington Hospital.
More cases were expected as the pandemic continued over the coming months and the virus was expected to cause many more infections than ordinary flu because most people had little or no immunity to it.
However, there was no need for alarm, the ministry said.
Most of those who had contracted the virus were experiencing relatively mild to moderate symptoms, and most recovered from it without the need for medical care.
Health authorities were well-prepared should the outbreak became more severe, and they were preparing to manage the virus in the community, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, Auckland and the Bay of Plenty and Lakes region today followed the lead of Wellington and Christchurch and began focusing on managing swine flu cases rather than trying to contain the virus.
In Christchurch last night, the flu centre extended its opening time by six hours a day to cope with the number of people referred to it with flu symptoms.
Swine flu emergency operations centre incident controller Cathy Taylor said people with any flu virus, particularly swine flu, who were staying away from work or school should also not go to the supermarket, visit friends, or attend any sporting or community events.
''Anyone who thinks they may have influenza should stay home, keep warm and ensure they drink plenty of fluids,'' Ms Taylor said.
''Stay home doesn't just mean stay home from work or school, it means stay home from any place or activity where others are around.''

Swine flu cases in India

Three more people were confirmed to be infected with influenza A(H1N1) Monday, taking the number of swine flu cases in the country to 23. However, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the situation was under control as 11 of the infected had recovered.

He also said people who plan to visit the US should suspend their plans. The US is among the countries badly hit by the virus and most of the swine flu cases in India are those who arrived from that country.

'Medicine is available in plenty and the most important thing is that this disease is 100 percent curable. Of the total 23 cases, 11 have already been treated and discharged. So you are only left with 12 cases,' Azad told reporters in New Delhi.

He said keeping in mind the size and population of the country, 11-12 cases were nothing as compared to the huge numbers most developed countries have reported.

Chairing a review meeting at Nirman Bhavan, the minister, however, expressed concern over the spread of flu to smaller towns.

His concern was over the fact that nine children from Jalandhar in Punjab were quarantined after one of their classmates tested positive for the flu and was hospitalised in Delhi.

The quarantined students were part of a group of 31 students and three teachers of the Guru Amar Das Public school that had gone to New York and Florida on an educational trip to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

A team of four doctors from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in New Delhi has gone to Jalandhar to oversee the treatment of the students, the minister was told.

Azad said the director general of health services should immediately send a Rapid Response Team to Punjab and make available adequate quantities of Tamiflu tablets to help contain spread of the disease.

Azad also spoke to chief ministers of all the states urging them to gear up the state health machineries to tackle the possible spread of virus.

In Hyderabad, two sisters aged eight and four, and a 45-year-old woman were late Sunday confirmed to be infected, taking the total number of cases in Andhra Pradesh to 12, the highest in India. The confirmed cases include five children.

The two children and their mother arrived in Hyderabad from New York June 10 by Indian Airlines Flight IA-140. Their mother is among five air passengers kept under observation for suspected symptoms of swine flu.

Doctors at the Andhra Pradesh Chest Hospital said the samples of the suspected cases, including two children had been sent to the NICD in New Delhi.

Health officials said they would also screen passengers of IA-140 who sat three rows in front and three rows behind the two girls and their mother.

The 45-year-old woman, who also tested positive late Sunday, is staying in the hospital along with her 20-month-old grandson who was confirmed to be infected Friday.

Authorities have also sent for testing the samples of the grandfather of a six-year-old girl who tested positive last week. He has been staying with the girl in the hospital.

Health officials said all the infected persons came from abroad, majority of them from the US.

Meanwhile, the state authorities are set to launch an exclusive interactive voice response (IVRS) facility on influenza A(H1N1). The IVRS facility will provide information and clarify doubts among the general public with regards to the flu.

Controls of swine flu

A new research has suggested that targeting children for vaccination could help control the spread of pandemics such as the current swine flu.
The study suggests that targeting kids is the best way of using limited supplies of the vaccine currently being developed.
Ever since the World Health Organization declared a pandemic global H1N1 swine flu, countries are looking at ways to control the spread of the disease.
These measures include the use of antiviral treatments, such as oseltamivir, social distancing (for example, closing schools and stopping public transport) and quarantining infected individuals.
Pharmaceutical companies have also stepped up production of vaccines effective against this particular strain of the virus.
However, if the spread of the disease increases significantly in the autumn, as some scientists predict, it is unlikely that supplies of the new vaccine will be sufficient to vaccinate entire populations.
Dr Thomas House and Professor Matt Keeling from the University of Warwick have used computer modelling to predict the spread of pandemic influenza and to look at ways of controlling it effectively, particularly where supplies of vaccine are not sufficient for universal coverage.
The researchers showed that the disease is likely to spread fastest in densely populated conurbations, suggesting that these should be priority areas for tackling the spread.
However, they showed that vaccinating entire households at random was an inefficient use of resources; instead, vaccinating key individuals offered sufficient protection to others in their household.
Although a simplification of the complex reality of pandemic flu transmission, the researchers believe their model provides a robust argument for vaccinating children.
"Our models suggest that the larger the household - which in most cases means the more children living at home - the more likely the infection is to spread," said Keeling.
"This doesn't mean that everyone in the household needs to be vaccinated, but suggests that vaccination programmes for children might help control a potential pandemic," Keeling added.
The researchers argue that targeting children for vaccination would not only help protect those at greatest risk of exposure to the virus, but would also offer protection to unvaccinated adults.
This so-called "herd immunity" effect would mean that significantly less vaccine would be necessary to help control the spread of the virus than if it were offered to everyone.

Swine flu symptoms in Punjab School

Five more students with swine flu symptoms were hospitalised in this Punjab city on Tuesday and their blood samples sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) in New Delhi for tests, officials said.
The students complained of high fever, sore throat and shivering. Nine of their schoolmates were quarantined in the hospital on Sunday.
The students were part of a group of 31 students and three teachers of the Guru Amar Das Public School that went to New York and Florida on an educational trip to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
"Five more students with suspected swine flu virus were admitted in Jalandhar on Tuesday. They had travelled along with other infected students in the same flight. We have sent their blood samples to Delhi," Roop Lal, Jalandhar district health officer, told IANS.
Of the nine students admitted to the civil hospital on Sunday, seven have tested positive for the infection while the reports of the other two are still awaited.
"A special OPD has been set up for those showing symptoms of the virus. The seven students who tested positive for influenza A (H1N1) yesterday (Monday) have been kept in isolation wards and are under constant observation," said Lal.
He said a list of people who came in contact with the infected students before being hospitalised was being prepared.
SS Walia, a surgeon at the civil hospital who is treating the infected students, told IANS: "The seven students with confirmed reports of swine flue are normal and recovering fast. There is no need to panic and the situation is under our control."
The 31 students of the Guru Amar Das Public School and their three escorting teachers returned from the US to New Delhi Saturday aboard a Qatar Airlines flight via Doha.
One of them, a Class 12 student, tested positive for the swine flu virus in New Delhi. He was admitted to a Delhi hospital on Saturday immediately after landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).
The rest of the group travelled to Jalandhar by road.
"The school administration and health authorities acted very irresponsibly in this matter. After the detection of the first case in Delhi, they should not have allowed the rest of the group to travel without properly diagnosing them," said a relative of a student in Jalandhar.
A health official said: "We have also identified eight other passengers of the Qatar Airlines flight, six of whom are from Punjab, who came in contact with the infected students. We have advised them to take required precautions and to immediately report to the doctor in case they detect any symptom of swine flu."
Blood samples of another person who landed at Amritsar airport from Birmingham Monday were also sent to the NICD after he showed the symptoms of the swine flu.

Swine Flu at school

Nine sixth form pupils at a Cornish boarding school are being treated for swine flu.

Bolitho School in Penzance remains open while the pupils receive anti-viral medication in the school's sanatorium.
They were diagnosed with the virus - described as "low grade" by the head teacher - after falling ill on 15 June.
It is the first outbreak of swine flu in Cornwall. A Cornish pupil at a school outside the region was diagnosed with swine flu in May.

Head teacher David Dobson

Anti-viral drugs are being given to all other sixth form pupils, teachers and families who have been in close contact with the confirmed cases.
Head teacher David Dobson told BBC News: "Most of the students who were feeling unwell are now almost fit and well again, certainly a vast improvement from how they felt on Monday.
"It is low grade because the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and the NHS have been in the school all day doing risk assessments.
"They have told us that no other actions other than giving medication to the affected students is necessary.
"The school is to remain open as usual."
It is a not known where the pupils are thought to have contracted the disease.
A total of 224 cases of swine flu were diagnosed in England on Friday, bringing the total number of laboratory confirmed UK cases identified since April to 1,984.

Mark of Swine Flu Cases in UK

The number of UK swine flu cases has risen to 1,759 after 145 more people in England were confirmed with the virus.

In Scotland seven more patients tested positive for swine flu. Six are in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area.
The overall UK total includes 1,207 cases in England, 537 in Scotland, 12 in Northern Ireland and three in Wales.
A Department of Health spokesman said UK cases have been "generally mild in most people, but are proving to be severe in a small minority of cases".
He said: "We are continuing to work to slow the spread of the disease and to put in place arrangements to ensure that the UK is well-placed to deal with this new infection."
'Best prepared'
Meanwhile, the Scottish Crown Office has confirmed that Jacqui Fleming, 38, of Glasgow, was the first person to die from swine flu outside North America.
Ms Fleming - who had underlying health problems as well as the virus - died on Sunday, two weeks after giving birth.
Her son Jack, who was born prematurely, died in hospital in Paisley, Renfrewshire, on Monday night, but not from the virus.
As well as the confirmed cases in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, a patient was also confirmed with the virus in Lanarkshire. There are 411 possible cases currently under investigation in Scotland.
Scottish Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "Laboratory testing is now resuming for all possible cases in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the number of confirmed cases in the area is likely to increase in the coming days."
She added: "Scotland remains amongst the best prepared countries in the world to deal with pandemic flu and we are continuing to plan and prepare for any future eventuality.
"Where new cases are being identified, public health officials are moving quickly to treat people appropriately."

Donates Doses of Swine Flu Vaccine

Sanofi-Aventis SA will donate 100 million doses of swine-flu vaccine to the World Health Organization.
Once production of a vaccine begins, Sanofi will reserve 10 percent of output for the donations, the Paris-based company said today in a statement. The donation will help ensure that the poorest countries have access to the shots, Sanofi said.
“ It’s a call for collective action,” Sanofi Chief Executive Officer Chris Viehbacher said in a telephone interview from Seattle today. “We all have to play our part. It can’t be only the rich countries having access to the vaccines, in case of a pandemic.” GlaxoSmithKline Plc also plans to donate 50 million doses to the WHO, spokesman Stephen Rea said in an interview today.
The decisions by Sanofi and Glaxo contrast with that of Novartis AG, which said this week it wouldn’t donate the vaccine. The Basel, Switzerland-based company may look at pricing and other ways to assure access, spokesman Eric Althoff said today in a telephone interview. Donations won’t address the current pandemic or create sustainable access, Althoff said.
“In principle, I agree that you don’t want to rely on donations, they are not a sustainable model,” Viehbacher said. “But a pandemic is an exceptional event, it’s not on-going. We have to do what we can to help the WHO fight it.” The decision won’t affect Sanofi’s margins, he said.
H1N1 Cases
The spread of the swine flu virus, formally known as H1N1, helped push the WHO on June 11 to declare the first flu pandemic in four decades, and the agency is urging drugmakers to begin producing shots. The agency said today that 35,928 cases of the virus, including 163 deaths, have been reported in 76 countries.
In most cases H1N1 causes little more than a fever and cough. Still, governments have ordered millions of vaccine doses as health officials watch for signs the virus could mutate into a more dangerous form in the Southern Hemisphere’s winter.
Wealthy nations need to ensure that poor countries have access to vaccine during the pandemic, Margaret Chan, the WHO’s director-general, said last week at a press briefing.
Sanofi said it will also consider a tiered-pricing policy for developing countries should its vaccine plants become fully committed to the production of swine-flu vaccine.
Australian drugmaker CSL Ltd. and Baxter International Inc. of Deerfield, Illinois, also are producing shots to prevent the virus.

Cruise ship over Swine flu fears

Add Venezuela's Isla Margarita to the list of Caribbean islands turning away cruise ships with suspected cases of the H1N1 swine flu.
Pullmantur's 1,350-passenger Ocean Dream arrived as scheduled at the island Wednesday, but most passengers and crew were not allowed to disembark due to an outbreak of flu among crew on the ship.
The Associated Press reports several hundred Venezuelan passengers who had previously been scheduled to depart the island as their final destination were the only passengers allowed off.
The island is the third this week to deny entry to cruisers from the ship. Grenada and Barbardos turned away the ship earlier on Monday and Tuesday, respectively. Two other Caribbean islands, St. Lucia and Antigua, have turned away a cruise ship this month over swine flu fears.  
As of Wednesday, three crew members on the Ocean Dream had tested positive for the H1N1 swine flu, and 11 more crew members have reported flu-like symptoms. Pullmantur says no passengers have fallen ill.
Several news outlets are reporting Venezuelan officials initially had planned to quarantine the Pullmantur ship for 10 days at Isla Margarita. The Associated Press says Pullmantur has denied that was the case, contradicting a Venezuelan health official quoted by the news agency.
The Ocean Dream is now sailing to Aruba where it is scheduled to arrive today.

Swine Flu in island of Aruba

A Spanish cruise ship hit by an outbreak of the H1N1 flu virus among its crew headed for its final stop at the Caribbean island of Aruba on Thursday, the ship operator said.
The Ocean Dream, owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises, was on a week-long cruise due to end on Friday but its itinerary was limited after several crew members came down with the swine flu.
Venezuela confirmed three cases of H1N1 flu among the ship's crew when the boat arrived at the island of Margarita and more than 300 Venezuelan passengers were allowed off, Royal Caribbean subsidiary Pullmantur said.
The ship's remaining 900 passengers and crew are expected to disembark late on Thursday in Aruba, the cruise's final stop.
The ship made stops earlier in the week in Barbados and Grenada, but authorities there refused to let passengers leave the ship.
Pullmantur denied reports by Venezuelan health authorities that the boat had been quarantined for a week along with its passengers, who are mainly from Spain, Colombia and Venezuela but also include Brazilian, British and French citizens.
"The boat is continuing its itinerary in the direction of Aruba, where the rest of the passengers and the affected crew will disembark," the company said in a statement.
Barbados refused to let the ship dock on Tuesday because 43 crew members exhibited flu-like symptoms, the Barbados Ministry of Health said in a statement.
Many of the small island states in the eastern Caribbean depend on cruise ship arrivals as an important source of foreign exchange for their vulnerable economies.
A number of Caribbean states have reported confirmed cases of the H1N1 swine flu, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization last week. Venezuela has confirmed at least 45 cases, with no deaths. One person died from the virus in nearby Colombia.
Royal Caribbean Chief Executive Richard Fain said last week the flu outbreak had "a short, but highly disruptive impact to our operations," although he added vessels were returning to their original itineraries.
The launch of a Pullmantur cruise ship targeting Mexican nationals, the Pacific Dream, had to be canceled because of the H1N1 outbreak in Mexico, the epicenter of the pandemic.

Agency review on Swine Flu

Although it is fading in much of the nation as warmer weather comes on, swine flu is causing outbreaks in summer camps just as it has in schools, federal officials said Thursday.
The illness has hospitalized 1,600 Americans, most of them young, and is blamed in 44 deaths, the officials said. It is most persistent in the Northeast, and nearly 90 percent of the flu cases that are tested nationally are the new swine H1N1, not seasonal flu.
The advice to camp administrators and parents is basically the same as for schools, said Dr. Daniel B. Jernigan, deputy director of the flu division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Camps should be on the alert for sick children, who should be kept home for a week or until 24 hours after symptoms have finished. (Not all camps offer refunds, the American Camp Association noted.) Parents should be prepared to take sick children home on short notice.
Religious camps in Clayton, Ga.; Santa Rosa, Calif.; and Cleveland, Ga., and a Boy Scout camp near Asheville, N.C., all reported probable swine flu cases in local newspapers this week. The C.D.C. also said that many hospitals and clinics were not doing enough to prevent the spread of flu within their walls.
Preliminary analysis of 26 cases of swine flu among health care workers in April and May showed that too few hospital staff members wore masks and other protection, and that patients with the flu were not being identified quickly enough.
“Infectious patients should be identified at the front door,” said Dr. Michael Bell, chief of infection control for the agency. “Identifying them up front is essential.”
When that is done correctly, Dr. Bell said, hospitals act appropriately by putting infectious patients in single rooms, covering their mouth and nose with masks, alerting staff members to wear protection and wash their hands, and doing some procedures in rooms pressurized to make sure no air escapes into corridors.
As if to emphasize the potential risks in hospitals, The Associated Press reported Thursday that 33 premature infants in a hospital in Greensboro, N.C., were getting precautionary flu treatment because a respiratory therapist had worked in the neonatal intensive-care unit after treating an older patient who later tested positive for the virus. None of the children had flu symptoms, a hospital administrator said.