It's official: flu epidemic in Netherlands

The Netherlands has been hit by a flu epidemic. A medical monitoring group confirmed on Thursday that the incidence of the disease has risen to 87 in 100,000, which is well above the epidemic threshold of 51 per 100,000.

Spokesman Carl Koppeschaar for the monitoring group emphasizes that it is difficult to tell which proportion of these cases are instances of A(H1N1) or swine flu.

The group, which is made up of general practitioners, statisticians and biologists, says it is impossible to predict how long the epidemic in the Netherlands will last. Other European countries are showing similar rises.


For more: It's official: flu epidemic in Netherlands

France joins neighbors in sell-off of swine flu vaccine

France has joined other European countries in selling swine flu vaccines that it does not need. The French government announced on Sunday that it had bought far more of the vaccine than required.

Along with neighbors, including Germany and the Netherlands, France has experienced less demand than expected for the flu inoculations.

The French health ministry spent 869 million euros ($1.25 billion) to buy 94 million doses for a population of 63.6 million. According to the ministry, Qatar had already bought 300,000 doses, and Egypt was negotiating to buy two million. Stocks could also be sold to Ukraine and Mexico.

For the complete report: France joins neighbors in sell-off of swine flu vaccine | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 04.01.2010

The Local: Sweden: Further deaths linked to swine flu vaccine

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Sweden - Further deaths linked to swine flu vaccine

Health investigators are under more pressure as two elderly women are reported to have died, days after receiving the swine flu vaccine. It brings the total number of deaths linked to the vaccine in Sweden to four. The two latest deaths were reported to the Swedish Medical Products Agency (Läkemedelsverket) on Friday. A 74-year-old woman from Sollefteå in northern Sweden died four days after receiving the swine flu vaccine. The woman, who suffered from heart and lung disease, was classified as a high-risk patient. Läkemedelsverket are currently investigating circumstances surrounding the deaths of two high-risk patients, a 50-year-old man with a serious heart condition and woman with an acute muscle disease. “It’s important to says that they had complicated illnesses,“ Gunilla Sjölin Forslund from Läkemedelsverket told news agency TT.

Sweden launched a mass vaccination programme in a bid to control the flu pandemic on October 12th. Cases of swine flu reached record levels last week with 198 new cases in comparison to 93 the previous week.

Natural News: Swine Flu Vaccine Dangerous And Untested - Ten Things You're Not Supposed to Know about the Swine Flu Vaccine - by Mike Adams

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Swine Flu Vaccine Dangerous And Untested - Ten Things You're Not Supposed to Know about the Swine Flu Vaccine - by Mike Adams

Let's not beat around the bush on this issue: The swine flu vaccines now being prepared for mass injection into infants, children, teens and adults have never been tested and won't be tested before the injections begin. In Europe, where flu vaccines are typically tested on hundreds (or thousands) of people before being unleashed on the masses, the European Medicines Agency is allowing companies to skip the testing process entirely. Back in Europe, of course, everybody gets to be a guinea pig since no testing will be done on the vaccine at all. Even worse, the European vaccines will be using adjuvants -- chemicals used to multiply the potency of the active ingredients in vaccines.

Notably, there is absolutely no safety data on the use of adjuvants in infants and expectant mothers -- the two groups being most aggressively targeted by the swine flu vaccine pushers. This leads us to the disturbing conclusion that the swine flu vaccine could be a modern medical disaster. It's untested and un-tried. Its ingredients are potentially quite dangerous, and the adjuvants being used in the European vaccines are suspected of causing neurological disorders.

Farm Focus: Russia cuts off pork and hog exports from NS Canada - by Jim Romahn

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Russia cuts off pork and hog exports from NS Canada - by Jim Romahn

Government officials in Nova Scotia Canada have confirmed that Russia has cut off pork and hog exports from Ontario, Alberta and Nova Scotia. Swine flu is the reason that has been given. The H1N1 virus that began in Mexico has spread around the world, and in Canada passed from a worker who visited Mexico to a herd of about 2,200 pigs in Alberta. That herd is under quarantine, even though the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has said it’s a mild form of the virus that is relatively common in pigs. They usually have the sniffles for a week to 10 days and fully recover.

Canada and World Health Organization officials say the virus in pigs poses no health risk to pork consumers. Russia is one of a number of countries, albeit none of them in North America or Europe, who have banned exports of Canadian hogs and pork since the first cases of H1N1 arose in Canada at the end of April.

EurActiv.com - 'Swine flu will kill Europeans', says EU official

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'Swine flu will kill Europeans', says EU official

Europe is braced for thousands of deaths from swine flu as member states launch pandemic action plans in an effort to combat the virus.EU health ministers are meeting today in Luxembourg in the wake of the World Health Organization's decision to raise the alert to level five on its six-point scale, warning that a pandemic is "imminent". Robert Madelin, director-general for health and consumer policy at the European Commission, said the EU expects fatalities as the virus spreads, but it cannot estimate how many people will be affected. "Yes, people will die from this. It is not a question of whether people will die, but more a question of how many. Will it be hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands," Madelin said in an interview with Reuters.

CBS: While WHO moves to level 5 - Swine Flu Is Bad, Creating Panic Is Dangerous

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While WHO moves to level 5 - Swine Flu Is Bad, Creating Panic Is Even More Dangerous

Unfortunately, government officials (and the Press) - never willing to let a good crisis go to waste - seem more prone to extreme statements and measures than the rest of us mortals. Like Lebanon's health minister discouraging customary friendly kisses on cheeks. France which wants a Europe-wide ban on flights to Mexico, contrary to the World Health Organization's recommendations, and even though Europe already has confirmed cases of swine flu. Egyptian farmers rioted after their government ordered the slaughter of up to 400,000 pigs, even though no cases have been reported in that country. And U.S. pork producers' lobbying to rename swine flu Mexico flu, now also seems perfectly understandable.The facts are that the regular influenza season causes more than 200,000 hospitalizations in the United States and about 41,000 deaths. By comparison, swine flu has caused only one confirmed death in the United States - in the case of a toddler visiting from Mexico, and seven confirmed deaths south of the border. Mexican Health Secretary Jose Cordova says he believes the situation is stabilizing, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the need for hospitalization in the U.S. is rare.

To his credit, President Obama struck a more even tone in his press conference on Wednesday evening, saying: "The most important thing right now that public health officials have indicated is that we treat this the same way that we would treat other flu outbreaks, just understanding that, because this is a new strain, we don't yet know how it will respond." Note EU-Digest: In Denmark Steffen Glismann, a doctor at Statens Serum Institute and in charge of monitoring the swine-flu outbreak, has said that there is no reason to fear swine flu. Glismann said that each year more than 1,000 Danes die of regular flu and that fewer people will die as a result of swine flu. He added that the media's depiction of the outbreak is disproportionate and insisted that most people if affected will only have normal flu symptoms for a week and then be fine. So folks, sit tight, don't panic and remember that when you listen to the politicians and journalists not to get carried away. Their motives are different from yours.

AGI News - SWINE FLU: GERMANY CONFIRMS THREE CASES

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SWINE FLU: GERMANY CONFIRMS THREE CASES

Swine flu continues to spread increasingly throughout Europe. Germany has announced that it has confirmed three cases, two women (22 and 37 years old) and a man around the age of 40. According to the Robert Kock Institute, the 22-year old in the hospital in Hamburg, and the other two are in a hospital in Bavaria. Germany is the 8th country where the virus has been found (the third in Europe, after Great Britain and Spain). The deadly H1N1, which has killed seven people in Mexico (according to the government, 159), has been verified in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Israel, Great Britain, Spain, and Germany.

Telegraph.co.uk: Swine flu cases confirmed in Britain

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Swine flu cases confirmed in Britain

A man and a woman in Scotland, who have been in hospital, have been confirmed positive for the virus. Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Health Secretary, said: "I can confirm that tests have demonstrated conclusively that the two Scottish cases of swine flu are positive." Ms Sturgeon also said that a further seven people among the 22 who had been in contact with the two infected individuals have developed "mild symptoms" which have not been confirmed as swine flu and are being "appropriately cared for".

Avoid going to US and Mexico if you don't have to says EU health chief

eu-digest

Avoid going to US and Mexico if you don't have to says EU health chief

(Reuters)Androulla Vassiliou, the European Union's health chief advised travelers on Monday not to go to areas affected by swine flu. Asked for details, she said: "They should avoid traveling to Mexico or the United States unless it's very urgent for them." The warning came as health officials in Spain confirmed that a man hospitalized in eastern Spain had tested positive for swine flu, becoming what appeared to be Europe’s first case of the disease. Health authorities were also testing 17 other suspected cases across Spain, a major hub for travel between Mexico and Europe.

The EU did not issue any formal instructions to travelers but said the bloc's health ministers would discuss ways to prevent the spread of the virus later this week and that EU foreign ministers would discuss the situation later on Monday. As Mexico struggled to contain its outbreak, the World Health Organization reported that the number of confirmed cases in the United States had doubled, rising from 20 to 40. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters in Greece: "It's too soon to speculate about the situation. We are following the situation very closely, together with the member states."
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