WAYNESVILLE — Officials with the Haywood County Health Department are continuing to advise residents to get their H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines as well as a pneumonia vaccine.

While it continues to be in short supply, the Haywood County Health Department currently does have doses of seasonal flu vaccine, as well as H1N1 vaccine, both of which are free. The pneumonia vaccine is available for $45.

Infections due to influenza (commonly known as the flu) can lead to pneumonia. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, almost 45,000 Americans die each year from the flu and pneumonia, making it the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. In addition to flu vaccines, the Center for Disease Control is recommending that persons with existing indications for pneumonia also receive the pneumonia vaccine.

“Many people have been unable to get vaccinated against the seasonal flu due to a limited supply” said Haywood County Health Director Carmine Rocco. “So getting the pneumonia vaccine will help prevent getting pneumonia as a complicating illness if they should get the flu, especially those in the high risk category.”

Persons under the age of 2 and over the age of 65 are at an increased risk of contracting pneumonia.

Other high-risk persons who are encouraged to receive the pneumonia vaccine are:

All adults 65 years of age and older.
Anyone 2 through 64 years of age who has a long-term health problem such as: heart disease, lung disease, diabetes, alcoholism, or cirrhosis.
Anyone 2 through 64 years of age who has a disease or condition that lowers the body’s resistance to infection, such as: Hodgkin’s disease; lymphoma or leukemia; HIV infection or AIDS; damaged spleen, or no spleen; organ transplant.
Anyone 2 through 64 years of age who is taking a drug or treatment that lowers the body’s resistance to infection, such as: long-term steroids, certain cancer drugs, radiation therapy.
Any adult 19 through 64 years of age who is a smoker or has asthma.

While a pneumonia vaccine is considered safe for persons who are not at high risk for pneumonia, Rocco urged each citizen to consider his or her medical history and discuss the need for the vaccine with a medical provider. Typically, Medicare will cover the $45 fee for pneumonia vaccines. Residents without Medicare should contact the health department if they are unsure if their insurance will cover the fee.

Health department officials warn the public that there is still local flu activity in Haywood County and the flu season does not end until spring.

“Despite seeing fewer cases, it is still possible for anyone unvaccinated to get the flu,” Rocco said. “The only sure method for preventing infection or long term effects is to get vaccinated.”

Persons who have questions may call the health department at 452-6675 during normal business hours, which are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, and press 5 to access the phone triage system and help line to discuss H1N1/flu or pneumonia questions, or contact their primary healthcare provider.

Additional information, including links to current state and federal information, is available at www.haywoodnc.net

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Resource – http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100121/LOCAL/100121043

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) — The World Health Organization will clarify data on swine flu after media reports of a false pandemic hindered public health measures, India’s Health Secretary K. Sujatha Rao said.

Governments from the U.S. to Germany are curbing purchases of vaccine to fight the new H1N1 virus after cases declined and the first flu pandemic in 41 years appeared milder than initially feared. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe plans to debate the theme “Faked pandemics: a threat to health” at a plenary session in Strasbourg, France, next week.

At the United Nations agency’s executive board meeting in Geneva this week, Rao asked the WHO to explain media reports about a false pandemic, she said yesterday in a statement to India’s Press Information Bureau. Rao also called for greater transparency about terms and conditions on which international vaccine manufacturers were supplying the shots to countries, according to the statement.

“In response to this intervention by India, it was agreed that WHO would formally write to national focal points in all countries clarifying the factual position about the H1N1 pandemic to quell all doubts that had been created,” the statement said.

News reports were “adversely impacting upon the public health measures being undertaken by countries,” Rao said in the statement, without elaborating. Rao and Vineet Chawdhry, a joint secretary at India’s health ministry, weren’t immediately available for comment.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan acknowledged at the board meeting yesterday the need to support the agency’s member states, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in an interview today.

“For me, the best health news of the previous decade is the fact that the long overdue influenza pandemic has been so moderate in its impact,” Chan told the meeting on Jan. 18. “I believe we would all rather see a moderate pandemic with ample supplies of vaccine than a severe pandemic with inadequate supplies of vaccine.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Gale in Singapore at j.gale@bloomberg.net.

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Resource – http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=ahj0H_RH8U68

By John Lowman
The Facts

Published January 19, 2010

ANGLETON — The Brazoria County Health Department has thousands of doses of H1N1 vaccine and Thursday will start administering them to the public for free.

The county is working with cities and other organizations to offer the shots at locations in Freeport, Lake Jackson, Pearland, Angleton, West Columbia and Alvin. The state has made “plenty” of vaccinations available and the Centers for Disease Control has told county officials to give a shot to everyone who wants it, Health Department Director Leo O’Gorman said.

Although volunteers are welcome to sign up to help at any of the sites, officials will not be caught off-guard by any number of people seeking shots, he said.

“We don’t have any idea how many to expect, but we will be prepared,” he said, adding there will be enough staff and vaccine to deal with whatever comes.

“The vaccine is available and the CDC says to give it to everybody,” he said. “It’s their lucky day to get a free H1N1 shot.”

Vaccinations begin Thursday at Freeport’s RiverPlace and continue Saturday at Brazos Mall in Lake Jackson. Shots also will be given at Pearland’s Dawson High School on Jan. 20, Angleton High School on Feb. 6, West Columbia Civic Center on Feb. 9 and Alvin Community College on Feb. 13.

Forms required for the vaccinations are available at www.brazoriacounty flu.com. They must be printed, completed and brought to the vaccination site, according to a health department press release. Any updated or last-minute information will be posted at that Web site.

Before the program was made public, school children all over the county were vaccinated. County medical personnel already are giving follow-up shots to children younger than 10. People older than 10 only need one, O’Gorman said.

The Brazos Mall was a natural location for vaccinations since it’s central, out of the weather and people go there anyway, Mall General Manager John McGreevey said.

“The department of health needed a facility that could hold enough people in the Lake Jackson/Clute area and we felt it was a good idea,” McGreevey said. “It’s a way for us to help the community.”

Two people who might have had the H1N1 virus died in Brazoria County last year, but doctors no longer are keeping track of the number of people who might have the disease. Initially called “Swine Flu” in the spring of 2009, the virus caused serious concern worldwide.

“We started in April hearing bad things that could happen like people dying in the streets, but that never happened,” O’Gorman said. “It was not what we had expected.”

Symptoms of H1N1 are similar to the flu, including cough, fever, body aches and sore throat. Like any other strain of flu, complications such as pneumonia, meningitis and respiratory disease could set in. O’Gorman recommends anyone with flu-like symptoms see their doctor.

Anyone who hasn’t contracted the flu should take advantage of the free vaccination, he said. Cooperation of groups offering sites for those shots are helping now and laying the groundwork for any future needs, O’Gorman said.

“They’re really doing a great job,” he said. “And, we’re getting the contacts in case something big does happen in the future, we’ll be able to react very quickly.”

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Resource – http://thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=f8452dc9db784bad

GENEVA (Reuters) – The H1N1 flu pandemic appears to be easing, but a third wave of infections could yet strike, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

Health |  Swine Flu

“Pandemic infections are occurring in many countries but overall the pattern is decreasing,” Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s top flu expert, said at the start of a week-long meeting of the organization’s Executive Board.

He warned, however, that a new wave of infections could hit the northern hemisphere in late winter or early spring, saying: “This is probably the biggest speculation. We simply do not know.”

The H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, emerged last April and caused the first influenza pandemic in 40 years.

It initially sparked widespread concern about antiviral and vaccine supplies, especially in developing countries, but many nations have cut back their vaccine orders recently because the pandemic has not turned out as deadly as originally feared.

WHO director-general Margaret Chan told the meeting that the effects of the pandemic had been moderate and were probably closer to outbreaks experienced in 1957 and 1968 rather than the far more deadly 1918 version.

The 1918 pandemic, known as the Spanish flu, swept around the world at the end of World War One, killing some 40-50 million people.

Chan said H1N1 appeared to be easing in the northern hemisphere, but cautioned that it was too soon to say what would happen once the southern hemisphere entered winter and the virus became more infectious.

Fukuda said the majority of people infected with H1N1 recovered without complications or special treatment, but children were being hospitalized at about twice the rate of adults.

Most deaths occurred in people with underlying conditions, including pregnancy, asthma, heart or lung disease, or diabetes. A total of 265 million doses of the vaccine had been distributed and 175 million of those administered to people, Fukuda said.

14,000 DEATHS

Chan, a former health director of Hong Kong, said nearly 14,000 official deaths had been reported by more than 200 countries since the virus emerged in North America last April.

But it will take at least 1-2 years after the pandemic ends to establish the true toll and WHO experts say the actual death rate could be much higher than the number of laboratory-confirmed cases so far.

Chan defended her Organization against accusations from some politicians that it exaggerated the dangers of the virus under pressure from drug companies.

“I believe we would all rather see a moderate pandemic with ample supplies of vaccine than a severe pandemic with inadequate vaccine,” she said.

Her United Nations agency has announced that it will launch an evaluation of how it handled the pandemic crisis and Chan said it would “withstand this scrutiny.”

A committee including independent experts will start to review the response to the pandemic of the agency and global community by May and present initial findings to health ministers that month.

This would include a review of the WHO’s pandemic alert scale and whether that should be broadened to reflect the severity of an attack as well as its geographical spread.

Sir Liam Donaldson, Britain’s chief medical officer, dismissed criticism the pandemic was exaggerated.

“It is extremely important that none of us be intimidated by these criticisms and become complacent,” Donaldson told the board. “This virus will drift and produce more serious outbreaks and deaths over time.

(Editing by Noah Barkin)

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Resource – http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BL2ZT20100118

By Michelle Rupe Eubanks
Staff Writer

Most Alabamians have not received their H1N1 vaccine, and state health officials say they need to do so as the traditional flu season approaches.

“Influenza is unpredictable, and we want the public to be protected,” said Dr. Don Williamson, the state health officer. “We continue to see disease in persons in all age groups, including otherwise healthy young people.”

The traditional flu season begins in mid-January and continues through the end of March. Williamson said vaccine efforts to protect against H1N1 have become widespread, but the number of people arriving with flu-like symptoms at emergency rooms and physician offices is still above baseline levels of

2 percent of the population.

“It’s good news in terms of the decline in flu activity overall compared with the peak, but the fact remains that we’re above the baseline and we’re just now entering the height of flu risk,” he said. “History should keep us alert to the fact that this problem hasn’t gone away, it’s likely to continue for several weeks and we could see a return to levels higher than we saw earlier in the season.”

The H1N1 virus, or swine flu, has claimed the lives of 40 Alabamians, two of whom are from the northwest Alabama region of six counties where Dr. Karen Landers serves as the area health officer.

More than 15,000 doses of the H1N1 have been given in the area that includes Colbert, Franklin and Lauderdale counties, but Landers said one of the reasons the virus hasn’t been more widespread is that people have practiced good hand and cough hygiene.

“It’s made a difference in morbidity because people have become more cautious and aren’t going to work or school when they feel sick,” she said. “That’s helped interfere with the transmission of the virus.”

What’s unclear, however, is if H1N1 will re-emerge during the regular flu season with a third, potentially stronger, wave.

“The virus isn’t mutating at this point, and we’re continuing our surveillance,” Landers said. “As we see an uptick in flu activity for the seasonal flu, which is going to come along, we’ll do studies and look at what the predominant virus is,” Landers said. “It’s still appropriate for people to get the vaccine.”

The H1N1 vaccine became available to anyone who wanted it in December, and the seasonal flu vaccine is available from private physicians as well as at local pharmacies.

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Resource – http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20100116/ARTICLES/1165020/1011/NEWS?Title=Officials-push-flu-vaccine

Atlanta, GA, January 17 — The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) on Friday released the latest statistics about swine flu fatalities, infection rates and inoculations covering the first eight months of the pandemic from April through mid-December.

According to the government estimates, after the availability of the vaccine in fall, the immunization rate works out to about 61 million Americans, roughly amounting to 20 percent of the U.S. population, receiving a shot against the lethal virus.

Richard Quartarone, the spokesman from the CDC, said that, considering that the supply of the vaccine was limited and its availability made possible months after the outbreak, the numbers were promising.

He added, “From our point of view, this looks very successful.”

H1N1 related deaths, infections and hospitalizations
Simultaneously, the CDC also issued updates on the fatalities and estimates of swine-flu cases and hospitalizations since the pandemic broke in April.

The estimates are based on two nationwide telephone surveys, the National 2009 H1N1 Flu Survey and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, which took place from Dec. 27 to Jan. 2 and from Dec. 1 to Dec. 27, respectively.

According to the surveys, about 55 million people contacted the infectious virus, whereas nearly 246,000 needed hospitalization and around 11,160 succumbed to the flu.

On the impact of H1N1 “The Boston Globe” writes that “blacks, Hispanics, and Asians in the state experienced between two and four times the rates of H1N1, and have also borne the brunt of serious complications from the disease.”

The numbers reported in the CDC’s “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,” represent a middle range in estimates. The actual number of the cases in the eight-months could be as low as 39 million and as high as 80 million cases.

Initial supply of vaccine limited
Initially, the vaccine was in short supply; hence the health officials targeted those at the greatest risk of complications from the influenza because of chronic health conditions or a compromised immune system.

The vulnerable groups–that included kids, pregnant women, those with underlying medical problems, people caring for infants under 6 months as well as healthcare workers–also were given preferential treatment.

However, with the supplies of the vaccine in plentiful now, there is a need to get more of the population inoculated.

The CDC report stated, “Now there is ample supply of vaccine, efforts should continue to improve vaccination coverage among persons in initial target groups, as well as to offer vaccination to the rest of the U.S. population.”

“Efforts should continue to urge obstetricians and other healthcare providers to provide influenza vaccine to pregnant women,” the report said. “The current high percentage of unvaccinated healthcare workers highlights the need to strengthen measures to improve their influenza vaccination coverage.”

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Resource – http://www.themoneytimes.com/featured/20100117/cdc-releases-statistics-h1n1-deaths-infections-and-hospitalizations-id-1097410.htm

By Mike Stobbe

Saturday, January 16, 2010

ATLANTA — About one in five Americans has been vaccinated against swine flu, according to the government’s first detailed estimates of vaccination rates against the pandemic.

The estimate is based on two government telephone surveys done in December and early January. The surveys concluded that an estimated 61 million people — or about 20 percent of the population — got a shot or nasal spray vaccination against the H1N1 virus since the vaccine became available in the fall.

One spokesman from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the numbers are good, considering that it was a hurried campaign against a novel flu virus using a vaccine that did not become available to the public until early October, and then, only in limited supplies.

“From our point of view, this looks very successful,” said Richard Quartarone, the spokesman.

The report backs up a rough estimate used by health officials in recent weeks that more than 60 million Americans had been vaccinated.

It also shows that vaccination rates were a bit higher for people deemed to be especially vulnerable to the new influenza, including children, pregnant women and people with underlying health conditions

The results were released Friday through a CDC publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. One survey involved about 6,000 people. The number who responded to the second survey was not included in the report.

CDC officials also released on Friday new estimates of the numbers of Americans who were sick, hospitalized or died as a result of the virus.

An estimated 55 million became ill from swine flu from the time it was first identified in April through mid-December. About 246,000 Americans were hospitalized and 11,160 died.

The CDC last estimated that through mid-November, the pandemic had sickened 50 million Americans and caused 10,000 deaths.

Swine flu infections have been waning since late October, and no states were reporting widespread cases as of last week.

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Resource – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011503927.html

Drug-resistant strains of HIV could become more prevalent – even developing into mini-epidemics – in San Francisco over the next five years as patients live longer, healthier lives, according to a study by researchers at UCSF and UCLA.

San Francisco public health officials emphasized that drug-resistant HIV is not a health crisis and said that while the study is interesting, they don’t expect it to change how doctors treat people with HIV infections.

But the study’s authors and public health officers agree that it’s critical that new drug therapies continue to be developed as resistance to older treatments grows, and that funding be made available to test for resistance early so patients get appropriate care.

“Unless things change significantly, what we see is that one of the major drug classes we use to treat patients will have a rise in resistance. If that happens, that’s just one less way that we can effectively treat patients,” said Dr. James Kahn, an author of the study and a professor at the UCSF Positive Health Program at San Francisco General Hospital.

Drug resistance in HIV treatment emerged more than two decades ago, but as the virus evolved and became resistant to more drugs, new therapies were developed.

Resistance occurs as a drug loses its effectiveness over time, usually because the patient doesn’t follow strict treatment protocols. But drug-resistant strains can be transmitted too.

Increasingly, say the UCSF and UCLA scientists, drug-resistant strains are improving their ability to transfer from person to person. According to their research, about 60 percent of the drug-resistant strains circulating in San Francisco are infectious enough that they could create mini-epidemics among HIV-positive patients.

“Drug-resistant strains are generally less infectious, but we’ve found they’re not much less infectious,” said Sally Blower, a study author and director of UCLA’s Center for Biomedical Modeling. “For some of these strains, they’ve reached a threshold at which they’re generating their own epidemic.”

Part of the reason resistance is growing, say the study authors, is the aggressive way HIV is treated in developed countries like the United States. New standards recommend that people who are infected be treated early to keep them healthy. But the longer a person is on a certain drug, the greater his or her chances of developing resistance.

That doesn’t mean the protocol for treating individuals should change, said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of HIV prevention and research with the San Francisco Public Health Department.

“What I’m concerned about is that people will use this paper either to not treat or to delay treatment,” Colfax said. “Resistance should figure into clinical decisions. But you have to consider the huge benefits of early treatment for the individual and for society.”

The study authors say doctors should be well-trained and prepared with backup plans to treat their patients if they develop resistance. That can be a particularly challenging task in developing countries, where access to the newest drug therapies might be limited.

“We’re able to treat people with alternative medications. But within the developing world, they don’t have as many treatment options,” Kahn said. “Where we see huge potential for a problem is if there’s no plan for the drugs that need to be used when treatment fails. And the treatment fails. It’s not curative.”

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Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/14/BA5H1BHUSM.DTL&type=health#ixzz0cfR8girD

By Rob Stein

Friday, January 15, 2010

A top World Health Organization official dismissed charges Thursday that the agency exaggerated the threat posed by the H1N1 virus and that it had been unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry to issue dire warnings about the swine flu pandemic.

“The world is going through a real pandemic. The description of it as a fake is both wrong and irresponsible,” Keiji Fukuda, the special adviser to the WHO director general on pandemic influenza, told reporters during a briefing. “WHO has been balanced and truthful in the information it has provided to the public. It has not underplayed and not overplayed the risk it poses to the public.

“We did take very great care that the advice it received is not unduly influenced.”

Fukuda’s defense of the Geneva-based arm of the United Nations came as the agency has received increasing criticism, primarily in Europe, that it overstated the threat posed by the virus, which emerged last spring in Mexico and the United States. The criticisms have prompted the Council of Europe to launch an investigation of the WHO’s actions.

The agency estimates that the pandemic has directly killed at least 13,000 people worldwide already, and that number could eventually turn out to be “much larger” once the pandemic is over, Fukuda said.

Although so far the pandemic has turned out to be relatively mild, Fukuda warned that it is not over. The number of cases is dropping in many countries, but the virus continues to spread and activity is increasing in some parts of the world, including areas of northern Africa, southern Asia and Eastern Europe.

Another wave could come in the Northern Hemisphere in late winter or early spring, as has occurred in previous pandemics, Fukuda said, and more illness and deaths could occur in the Southern Hemisphere.

Finally, Fukuda said the agency has strict rules in place requiring anyone who provides advice to the WHO to disclose any financial conflicts of interest, including any ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

“Has the WHO been influenced by industry? The answer is no,” he said. “To protect the integrity of the advice given to WHO and remain free from undue influence, WHO has had in place routine protections against conflict of interest. This is true for a long time but also during this particular pandemic.”

The WHO’s aggressive defense comes as several countries in Europe have announced plans to cut back on vaccine orders, partly because only one vaccination is needed instead of the two anticipated, but also because of the relative mildness of the illness.

Fukuda warned against second-guessing the decision to buy vaccine and urged people to continue to get vaccinated, especially those at high risk of severe illness from the virus.

“There are still a large number of people out there at high risk for serious complications from this infection,” he said.

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Resource – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR2010011401784.html?hpid=sec-health

By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 14, 2010; 10:25 AM
A top World Health Organization official Thursday dismissed charges that the agency exaggerated the threat posed by the H1N1 virus and that it had been unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry to issue dire warnings about the swine flu pandemic.

“The world is going through a real pandemic. The description of it as a fake is both wrong and irresponsible,” Keiji Fukuda, the special adviser to the WHO director-general on pandemic influenza, told reporters during a briefing. “WHO has been balanced and truthful in the information it has provided to the public. It has not underplayed and not overplayed the risk it poses to the public.

“We did take very great care that the advice it received is not unduly influenced.”

Fukuda’s defense of the Geneva-based arm of the United Nations came as the agency has received increasing criticism, primarily in Europe, that it overstated the threat posed by the virus, which emerged last spring in Mexico and the United States. The criticisms have prompted the Council of Europe to launch an investigation of the WHO’s actions.

Fukuda addressed several allegations, including the charge that there was no real pandemic.

“The allegation that this is not a pandemic is scientifically wrong and historically inaccurate,” he said, tracing the history of the emergence of the virus and its eventual spread around the world, which prompted the WHO to gradually increase the phases of its pandemic alert system before formally declaring a pandemic.

“It is this spread which caused WHO to call for increased phases and a pandemic,” he said.

Fukuda also dismissed charges that the agency had changed its definition of a pandemic. Although the agency had updated the international regulations it uses to declare and respond to a pandemic, the basic definition never changed, he said.

“The basic definition is the same: There is worldwide spread of a disease,” he said.

Fukuda disputed charges that the WHO had “overplayed the pandemic,” arguing that the agency had repeatedly said the pandemic could be mild or severe.

“From the very beginning, WHO has gone out of its way to let everyone know that the future course of the pandemic was uncertain, that we did not have a crystal ball and we could not tell you which way it was going to go,” he said. “WHO has always been very balanced and sober in providing its assessment. We have tried very hard to neither overplay or underplay the situation.”

The agency estimates that the pandemic has directly killed at least 13,000 people worldwide already, and that number could eventually turn out to be “much larger” once the pandemic is over, he said.

Although so far the pandemic has turned out to be relatively mild, Fukuda warned that it was not over. The number of cases is dropping in many countries, but the virus continues to spread and activity is increasing in some parts of the world, including areas of northern Africa, southern Asia and Eastern Europe.

Another wave could occur in the northern hemisphere in late winter or early spring, as occurred in previous pandemics, Fukuda said, and more illness and deaths could occur in the southern hemisphere.

He also said part of the reason for the relative mildness of the pandemic has been the unprecedented response by countries around the world that were prompted by the WHO’s warnings.

“We don’t know how many deaths and infections have been averted or prevented by some of the actions of these countries,” he said. “We firmly believe these actions shouldn’t be discounted.”

Finally, Fukuda said the agency has strict rules in place requiring anyone who provides advice to the WHO to disclose any financial conflicts of interest, including any ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

“Has the WHO been influenced by industry? The answer is, ‘No,’ ” he said. “To protect the integrity of the advice given to WHO and remain free from undue influence WHO has had in place routine protections against conflict of interest. This is true for a long time but also during this particular pandemic.”

WHO’s aggressive defense comes as several countries in Europe have announced plans to cut back on the number of doses of vaccine they had ordered. Part of the decision was based on the fact that only one instead of the anticipated two doses of vaccine were needed, but part is also due to a reduced demand because of the relative mildness of the pandemic.

Fukuda warned against second-guessing the decision to buy vaccine and urged people to continue to get vaccinated, especially those at high risk of severe illness from the virus.

“There are still large number of people out there at high risk for serious complications from this infection,” he said.

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Resource – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR2010011401784.html?hpid=moreheadlines