Swine Flu Goes to the Dogs

Hey, the experts say it's so, and who are we to question experts? Well, except for economic, political and climate experts, that is.

A dog in suburban New York is the first in the nation confirmed to be carrying the same strain of swine flu that is infecting humans, experts said Tuesday.

The 13-year-old mixed breed male, which is recovering, apparently caught the virus from his owner. But Michael San Filippo, a spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association, said there’s no evidence that the flu strain can be transmitted from a pet to a person.

“In theory it could happen, but so far it’s really looking like a dead end in pets,” he said.

Dr. Anne Schuchat of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that animals can carry and spread flu viruses, but such cases are rare and people should not be afraid to enjoy their pets.

The CDC reported this month that swine flu appears to be waning among humans. It said infections were widespread in 25 states, down from 48 in late October.

San Filippo said the diagnosis of the 2009 H1N1 virus was confirmed at two labs, including Iowa State University’s.

The dog, suffering breathing problems, was taken to the Katonah Bedford Veterinary Center in Bedford Hills, N.Y., on Dec. 13.

Public health expert Barack Obama declared a swine flu emergency a couple of months ago. Of course, none of the media experts seem to remember that.

We're in the Best of Hands: 800K Swine Flu Vaccines Recalled

How's this for government efficiency? It took these bumbling boobs far too long to get ample vaccines on the market and now they're recalling 800,000 of them. Sure, let's put the entire healthcare industry under government control.

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.

On the upside, it does appear as if the cases of H1N1 are well below what the "experts" forecast earlier this year.

The current wave of the swine flu pandemic appears to be relenting, and new research is projecting that deaths from the virus likely will be well below original estimates.

But the good news, delivered between alarming reports of drug-resistant strains of H1N1, presents public health officials with a problem: Avoid sensationalizing fatal cases of H1N1 while still convincing the public to get vaccinated.

Two months ago the fearmongering hit fever pitch when Barack Obama declared it an emergency. Ironically, he's the same guy who told Republicans to “stop trying to frighten the American people” over healthcare.

I'll give a D+ on handling the swine flu outbreak.

Guess Who He Was Talking About

The following article from the WSJ has just a few editorial changes made.

Sen. John F. Kerry jumped on the flu-vaccine shortage yesterday with a new television ad blaming the situation on the President.

In the ad, a narrator says: "Three years ago, medical experts warned that a dangerous shortage loomed. Instead of fixing the problem, production of the vaccine was sent to a factory overseas -- the vaccines were contaminated. Now he wants Canada to help, even though his own policies make it illegal for us to import medicine from Canada.

"Seniors and children wait. Not enough vaccines for pregnant women. A mess."

Want to see the original, which is from 2004 or have you already guessed he wasn't talking about the current leader of the socialist free world

A Child's Death Is a Tragedy, Not a Talking Point

The death of a child is a tragedy; however, when I saw the story as reported by AP there was this information included.

Columbia County school board member Roxanne Whitaker said the girl's parents lost their jobs and had no health insurance to pay medical costs. She said the family has "lost their home and everything else."

It just sounded too convenient, so I went to some sources closer to the story and found this.

The Columbia County Coroner tells NBC Augusta 26 News a girl from Harlem died of complications from H1N1.

Vernon Collins says 10-year- old Summer Rockefeller died Saturday in an Atlanta hospital.

Rockefeller went through four surgeries this summer.

The coroner says her H1N1 led to pneumonia.

Do you see anywhere in the story reported at the local level that this child was denied any sort of healthcare? The story as reported by the national news attempts to paint an image of some poor child dying because of lack of health insurance, when in fact the family may not have had insurance, but she certainly wasn't denied healthcare.

In fact, this child has been in the hospital since at least September 7, which is the date she was transferred from a hospital in Augusta, GA, to one in Atlanta.

Columbia County Coroner Vernon Collins confirms Summer Rockefeller died early Saturday morning at an Atlanta hospital from complications of the flu, possibly swine flu. Collins says she was transferred to Atlanta, from MCG, on September 7th.

I am trying to get more information on what she was originally hospitalized for and what the previous surgeries are for, but the family does need help paying the bills.

All I wanted to make clear was that this child did not die because of lack of medical care and the lack of insurance had nothing to do with the treatment she received, so please don't let this case be used as some sort of talking point in the government takeover of healthcare debate. In fact, it wasn't just any hospital in Atlanta, it was Egleston Childrens Hospital. There is no better medical facility.

My deepest condolences go out to the family.

Hmm: NY Mets Affected by Swine Flu?

Considering their best player, Carlos Beltran, has been sidelined for several days by a reported stomach virus, this news could be ominous.

The Mets, undermined by persistent injuries and, more recently, by illness, now confront a potential medical issue that could have greater consequences. An SNY employee, a producer who accompanied the team on its charter flight from New York to Pittsburgh on Sunday, has been sent home because he has flu symptoms.

No fear of swine flu exists, but an awareness does. The club's trainer, Ray Ramirez briefed the team about the symptoms of swine flu Tuesday. Assistant general manager John Ricco said the club is confident that the illness bothering Carlos Beltran and John Maine is not a form of the flu but rather a stomach virus.

"Right now no one on our team feels any of those types of symptoms" -- high fever, joint aches and fatigue, Ricco said.

Ricco said the SNY producer -- the employee's name was not released -- was to be examined. But the club didn't anticipate knowing the results of any tests for about a week.

Beltran, who hasn't played since he was removed from Saturday afternoon's game, underwent more tests Tuesday and, as the club awaited results of those tests, he returned to the team's hotel. Maine, ill since Sunday when he was removed from his start, said he felt marginally better. He did some of his normal between-starts conditioning work. The club still believes he will be ready to make his next start, scheduled for Friday night in Washington.

Consdiering Queens has been ground zero for New York's swine flu cases, it's quite plausible some members of the team could be infected. For a squad already ravaged by injuries, this could potentially be a crushing blow if indeed anyone is infected.

Vice President Paris Hilton

It's bad enough Clueless Joe Biden is a national laughingstock, but it gets even worse as the boob is drawing comparisons to nitwit heirhead Paris Hilton.

Paris Hilton says "I don't eat that" when asked about swine flu in an online video. She's not the only one confused about the outbreak.

Others have vowed to stop eating pork. Some, worried about germs spreading in confined spaces, won't fly — anywhere. Or they think petting zoos and farm visits are off limits.

Like the swine flu itself, misinformation is spreading like a virus across the Internet, around the watercooler and across the backyard fence.

It doesn't help when the Vice President urges New York City to shut down.

This begs the question: Who's dumber, Paris Hilton or Joe Biden?



Here's Gaffemaster Joe with a blast from the past:



Update: Hey, why not take a poll?

Swine Flu Fear Grips Egypt, Pigs Hardest Hit

Nothing like a calm, reasoned response to the flu outbreak.

Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precaution against swine flu even though no cases have been reported here, infuriating farmers who blocked streets and stoned vehicles of Health Ministry workers who came to carry out the government's order.

The measure was a stark expression of the panic the deadly outbreak is spreading around the world, especially in poor countries with weak public health systems. Egypt responded similarly a few years ago to an outbreak of bird flu, which is endemic to the country and has killed two dozen people.

At one large pig farming center just north of Cairo, scores of angry farmers blocked the street to prevent Health Ministry workers in trucks and bulldozers from coming in to slaughter the animals. Some pelted the vehicles with rocks and shattered their windshields and the workers left without killing any pigs.

"We remind Hosni Mubarak that we are all Egyptians. Where does he want us to go?" said Gergis Faris, a 46-year-old pig farmer in another part of Cairo who collects garbage to feed his animals. "We are uneducated people, just living day by day and trying to make a living, and now if our pigs are taken from us without compensation, how are we supposed to live?"

Most in the Muslim world consider pigs unclean animals and do not eat pork because of religious restrictions. One Islamic militant Web site carried comments Wednesday saying swine flu was God's revenge against "infidels."

Pigs are banned entirely in some Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Libya. However in other parts of the Muslim world, they are often raised by religious minorities who can eat pork.