Swine Flu

Questions and answers about swine flu from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For more, go to www.cdc.gov/swineflu . The Web site is updated regularly as new information becomes available. Can humans catch swine flu? Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans. However, occasional human infections with swine flu have occurred. Most commonly, these cases occur in people with direct exposure to pigs (for example, workers in the swine industry or children who come within three feet of pigs at a fair)

Excerpts from a press briefing on Monday, May 4, by Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: "While we're not out of the woods, we are seeing a lot of encouraging signs, and I want to share with you some of that information. "It appears things are leveling off in Mexico. They are reporting less activity in Mexico City. But as we're seeing here, they're seeing different things in different parts of the country. "I like to ... put this in context with seasonal flu. With seasonal flu, we see in the United States over 30 million cases (annually)

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- There have been five lab-confirmed cases of swine flu in Washington County since spring, a spokesman for the Washington County Health Department said Thursday. Rod MacRae said there were two lab-confirmed cases of swine flu in the spring and three more cases over the past few weeks. Washington County Public Schools announced its first confirmed case of swine flu on Monday. MacRae said the scope of swine flu's prevalence might be greater because flu as a whole often is underreported by doctors who don't test for it and by labs that don't always differentiate swine flu from other flu strains because the treatments for both strains are similar.

LARGO, Md. (AP) -- Maryland health officials have announced the state's seventh swine-flu related death. Monday's announcement comes as Gov. Martin O'Malley prepared to announce the launch of a computer tracking system that will allow all hospitals in Maryland to share data on admittances, diagnoses and treatments. The announcement was scheduled at Prince George's Community College in Largo. State health officials say the latest swine flu death involves an elderly adult from the Washington area who already had serious underlying medical conditions.

o More information is available at www.cdc.gov/swineflu . Related stories: o Possible case of swine flu in Michigan o Two South Bend patients being tested for swine flu o Agents screen for flu at ports o Officials Urge Calm In Wake Of Swine Flu Case At Notre Dame As the number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States continues to rise, local health officials are staying alert....

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- Summit Health officials confirmed Wednesday that a nasal swab was taken from an adult patient at Chambersburg Hospital and sent to the Pennsylvania Department of Health lab for swine flu testing. That patient since has been released from the hospital, according to a press release. "It is unclear if this patient's case is the same as the probable case of H1N1 in Franklin County," the press release stated, referring to the health department's announcement of a "probable case" on Tuesday.

HAGERSTOWN -- A patient at Washington County Hospital has died of H1N1, commonly referred to as swine flu, according to Washington County Health Department spokesman Rod MacRae. MacRae said Monday night the death was the first associated with swine flu in the county, as far as health officials know. MacRae said he was notified of the death Monday, but he did not know when the patient died or if the deceased was male or female. MacRae said communicable disease experts from his department will look into the death and more details will be gathered.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Maryland officials are urging common sense steps to avoid swine flu. State Health Secretary John Colmers says if people feel sick, they should stay home. Doctors are to monitor patients with flulike symptoms and send samples for testing. Colmers says there are no Maryland cases reported, although a few tests are pending. Dr. Frank Calia of the University of Maryland Medical Center says there's no reason to be concerned about contact with Mexican immigrants because the virus has an incubation period of one to three days.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration approved the new swine flu vaccine Tuesday, a long-anticipated step as the government works to get vaccinations under way next month. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the vaccine's approval to Congress -- and said she hopes to get the first limited supplies distributed early in October. The bulk of vaccine will start arriving Oct. 15, and Sebelius said it should be available at 90,000 sites around the country.

Health officials expect flu season to be milder than last season's pandemic, but as in any flu season, the public is still being urged to get vaccinated. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved vaccines that will protect against last year's seasonal flu, the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus and a new strain known as A/Perth/16/2009 (H3N2). The vaccine approvals reflected the recommendations made by the World Health Organization. People will receive protection from all three strains in a single formula, according to information provided by Shelly Burgess, an FDA spokeswoman.

Editor's note: The Herald-Mail invites readers to answer poll questions on www.herald-mail.com. Readers also may submit comments when voting. A sampling of edited reader comments will run on The Herald-Mail's Opinion page on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. The question posted Thursday was: What do you consider the top news story of 2009? Poll results (as of 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 29): The economy - 612 votes (36.1 percent) Health care overhaul - 128 votes (7.6 percent)

Berkeley County office building reopens today MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Berkeley County offices, including the tax, assessor, planning and engineering departments, will reopen as scheduled at 9 a.m. today, Berkeley County Commission President Ronald K. Collins announced on Thursday. "All you people that got four days off, Merry Christmas," Collins said. The closure this week of the Dunn Building at 400 W. Stephen St. was needed because of an ongoing roof replacement project that involves asbestos removal, officials had said.

ATLANTA (AP) -- Health officials are recalling hundreds of thousands of doses of swine flu vaccine after tests indicated they may not be potent enough to protect against the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified doctors about the recall Tuesday. The recall involves about 800,000 doses made by Sanofi Pasteur. The doses are pre-filled syringes intended for young children, ages 6 months to almost three years. Health officials recommend children those ages get two doses, spaced about a month apart.

BALTIMORE (AP) -- The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said the swine flu vaccine is now available to all Maryland residents. The vaccine was available at county health departments Tuesday and will be shipped to pharmacies, the department announced. The availability comes as the department says flu activity is declining from a peak in October. Still, department secretary John Colmers said many people are still experiencing serious symptoms and some will still die after what is normally a mild to moderate illness.

Health department appreciates patience on H1N1 vaccine To the editor: In the early spring of this year, it became evident to those of us who work in public health that this year's flu season was going to be different from any other that most of us have seen. It was in April that reports began to circulate that a new strain of flu, the H1N1 virus, or Swine flu, was emerging in Mexico and that death rates seemed higher than those traditionally seen associated with seasonal flu, especially among the young.

The Washington County Health Department will conduct a free walk-in vaccination clinic for H1N1 flu from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, in the annex in the rear of the Health Department's main building at 1302 Pennsylvania Ave. Only individuals included in one of the nationally established target populations will be eligible for vaccination. These groups include, pregnant women; people who live with or care for children younger than 6 months of age; health care and emergency medical services personnel; people between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old; and people between the ages of 25 and 64 who are at higher risk for 2009 H1N1 because of chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems.

The Washington County Health Department will hold an H1N1 flu vaccination clinic Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for all target groups recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. The vaccinations will be given on a walk-in basis in the annex at the rear of the health department's main building at 1302 Pennsylvania Ave. in Hagerstown, according to a news release from the health department. There is no charge for the vaccination. The target groups are: o Pregnant women o People who live with or care for children younger than 6 months old o Health care and emergency medical services personnel o People between the ages of 6 months and 24 years old o People between the ages of 25 and 64 years old who are at higher risk for H1N1, also known as swine flu, because of chronic health disorders or compromised immune systems This clinic is for distribution of H1N1 flu vaccine, which will not provide protection from the seasonal flu, according to the release.

o If you like reading Tim Rowland, you'll love watching him. See what else Tim has to say Egads, The Herald-Mail has canceled its pie and cookie contests out of concerns about the swine flu? I wasn't paying much attention to this disease before, but now it's personal. And to be clear, I am writing as an unbiased journalist, not as an occasional judge in these contests, who routinely gorged himself so badly that he had to be wheeled out of the room on one of those orange lumber carts you see at the Home Depot.