DOH announces Low-level Outbreak of H1N1

MANILA, Philippines - Health Secretary Francisco Duque III confirmed yesterday there is now a “low-level community outbreak” of Influenza A(H1N1) virus in Metro Manila, even as 28 individuals were added to the list of cases in the country, raising the total to 473.

Duque said those affected by the low-level outbreak are mostly areas in Quezon City, Parañaque City and Manila.

But he clarified that there is no “huge clustering of cases” in any community in the metropolis.

He maintained that a majority of the schools with confirmed cases were situated in these cities.

Source: Yahoo News

Looks like there isn't any stopping this flu. And since most places have already run out of flu vaccine. There really isn't much hope. Let's just pray that this Swine Flu doesn't evolve much further than it already has. It's already been announced that there's outbreaks here in our city of Parañaque. Crap!

First H1N1 Death in Asia and in the Philippines

Turns out that the first H1N1 death in Asia has come from our country. And at the same time, the 49 year old woman who had a bad heart that got sick wasn't just any regular woman. She was a staff employee of the Congress. Now Congress will close for the meantime. There have been 2 confirmed infected with the Swine flu out of 3000 employees in the House of Congress.

Source: Yahoo News

First Swine Flu Death in the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines – Officials say the Philippines has its first swine flu-related death _ a 49-year-old woman who died from congestive heart failure but who also tested positive for the swine flu virus.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III says the woman's chronic heart disease was aggravated by severe pneumonia. She started to have flu-like symptoms such as dry cough, fever, chills and difficulty in breathing two days before her death on June 19.

A throat swab from the woman revealed she was infected with the A(H1N1) virus.

Duque says post-autopsy findings disclose that the death was caused by "congestive heart failure secondary to acute myocardial infarction aggravated by severe pneumonia either bacterial, viral or both."

Source: Yahoo News

That's some scary stuff. Let's hope it was just her bad heart that did her in. I wouldn't wanna get sick then die because of some flu from bad pork I ate. Nyahahahaha. =D

Swine flu, A pandemic WHO

GENEVA – Swine flu is now formally a pandemic, a declaration by U.N. health officials that will speed vaccine production and spur government spending to combat the first global flu epidemic in 41 years.

Thursday's announcement by the World Health Organization doesn't mean the virus is any more lethal _ only that its spread is considered unstoppable.

Since it was first detected in late April in Mexico and the United States, swine flu has reached 74 countries, infecting nearly 29,000 people. Most who catch the bug have only mild symptoms and don't need medical treatment.

WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan made the long-awaited declaration after the U.N. agency held an emergency meeting with flu experts and said she was moving to phase 6 _ the agency's highest alert level _ which means a pandemic is under way.

"The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century," Chan said in Geneva.

Source: Yahoo News

This doesn't bode very well worldwide. Not good, not good at all. This just reeks bad pig farming. Just like the bird flu a few years ago. Chickens mixed together with other animals and getting sick from all the other animals are sick in the first place. Bad farming, lack of proper know-how and training. There's already 1,700 cases of it worldwide. Which is shocking. The spread of this disease is just unstoppable. This is a very sad day for man.