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I think this is interesting,[11] but let’s cut to the chase.

Welcome to Housing Doom blog’s curiously popular go somewhere else to learn about Novel H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu)  page.  I hope you will find some links to both general resources about the pandemic and at least a few official, media and privately maintained sites from your part of the world.

Table of Contents [link navigation works best when full article displayed]

Web Resources

International Organizations

Consultants

COUNTRIES

Argentina

Australia

Azerbaijan

Brazil

Canada

Cayman Islands

Chile

China

Cuba

Cyprus

Egypt

France

Germany

Hong Kong

India

Ireland

Israel

Japan

Kenya

Kuwait

Lebanon

Macao

Mexico

New Zealand

Peru

Philippines

Qatar

Singapore

South Africa

Spain

Switzerland

Taiwan

Thailand

Turkey

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

Venezuela

Acknowledgements

  • first, to Google, Yahoo, Bing, … and the mysterious ways of "search" that have sent so many readers here.
  • a commenter who contributed flutrackers and recombinomics
  • an e-mailer who contributed ProMED-Mail
  • Doom’s own twist for various Mexican states (and pointing out a page to the proper state abbreviations)
  • To the Communications folks at Nova Scotia’s provincial health department for some encouraging and kind words.  They also pointed me at Canada’s national level Public Health Agency, and NS’ own interactive map allowing Nova Scotians like me to rapidly locate their local District Health Authority.  I imagine a lot of provincial / state level authorities have these drill-downs.  Oh well, yet another space to explore ;)
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Update Message July 24, 2009

Thank-you for being one of the over 14,000 unique visitors from all over the world who have dropped by this article. We hope you’ve found the extra links we added in May useful. Over the next few days we hope to rebuild, expand and rationalize the links to resources.

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Original Post as Updated May 2009

UPDATE May 1, 2009: We seem to still be getting a steady trickle of readers from all over the world to this rather stale post. You probably don’t really want to read the week-old thoughts about Swine Flu from an amateur housing blogger (see below for the original post), so over the next while I’m planning to post some links below for sites and stories where you will find more relevant information and advice. 

I’ll throw up a few random things first, then try to organize them a bit.

First, the easy bit: [7]

 

We’re talking a respiratory illness here, so I can’t imagine ever getting it from meat.  That being said, you still have to cook the stuff to protect yourself from things like tric, as always.  I’m taking the liberty of stealing this image [4] from today’s (04 May 2009’s) C-H (my local).

PORK IS SAFE TO CONSUME (CDC advice page):

Can I get swine influenza from eating or preparing pork?
No. Swine influenza viruses are not spread by food. You cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork products is safe.

MAJOR MEDIA SUMMARIES

NEWS

"Swine flu hits international military music show in Halifax" 7/8 [10]

"The cracks opened up by the flu: As the swine-flu outbreak appears to subside, Mexico is left to contemplate the cost and to ponder the authorities’ response" 5/7 [9]

"Swine flu: Confirmed cases jump to 225 in Illinois — Only Chicago public school to close during outbreak reopens" 5/7 [8]

"Pork safe to eat despite WHO warning, Canadian officials stress: Mexico City to allow businesses to reopen" 5/6 [7]

"Slim odds for viruses to mix in pigs now, experts say" 5/4 [6]

"Feeling a bit better? Despite appearing less severe, swine flu could still pose a grave danger to the world" 5/4 [5]

"Pork still safe to eat, WHO says: Scientists, producers react to flu in pigs as Canada’s human cases near 100" 5/4 [4]

"WHO Likely to Declare a Flu Pandemic" 5/4 [3]

"Asia Reports First Case of Swine Flu in Hong Kong" 5/1 [2]

GENERAL INFORMATION SITES

AH1N1 on twitter

2009 swine flu outbreak (Wikipedia)

INFORMATIVE BULLETIN ON THE SWINE FLU EMERGENCY (Mexican government — English, PDF)

Swine Flu FAQ (Canadian Broadcasting Corp — CBC) I live not far from the Windsor NS cluster.  This story has a sidebar with additional info.

Public Health Agency of Canada Swine Flu Info Page (official Gov’t of Canada stuff)

World Health Organization (WHO) Influenza A(H1N1) page: "WHO is coordinating the global response to human cases of influenza A(H1N1) and monitoring the corresponding threat of an influenza pandemic. Information on this page tracks the evolving situation and provides access to both technical guidelines and information useful for the general public."

CDC — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US) H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) page

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BEGINNING ORIGINAL (April 25, 2009) POST (for what it’s worth)

The AH1N1 flu strain is quite unusual. Dr. Nancy Cox, chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said – it contained gene segments from North American swine, bird and human flu strains as well as one from Eurasian swine. Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of respiratory diseases for the CDCP, says although they don’t yet know the extent of the problem they think this is a time for major concern. [1]

The last time I worked in a lab was in the summer of ‘75, before we even knew lymphocytes came in tribes.  But let me tell you, when the 8AM World Report package came on and I learned this puppy had the snake-eyes designation my blood ran cold.

END ORIGINAL (April 25, 2009) POST

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[1]: "National Pork Board Urges Increased Bio-Security Plans: Swine Flu Confirmed in Southwest", Farm Futures, April 24, 2009.

[2]: "Asia Reports First Case of Swine Flu in Hong Kong", by Keith Bradsher and Sharon Otterman, New York Times, May 1, 2009.

HONG KONG — Swine flu spread to Asia on Friday, as Hong Kong authorities announced the continent’s first case, a 25-year-old traveler who came from Mexico via Shanghai, and immediately quarantined an entire hotel where the traveler had stayed on Thursday night.

[3]: "WHO Likely to Declare a Flu Pandemic", by Ben Harding and Laura MacInnis, Reuters / AOL, May 4, 2009.

[4]: "Pork still safe to eat, WHO says: Scientists, producers react to flu in pigs as Canada’s human cases near 100", Canadian Press / Halifax Chronicle-Herald, May 4, 2009.

[5]: "Feeling a bit better? Despite appearing less severe, swine flu could still pose a grave danger to the world", Economist (subscription?), May 4, 2009.

[6]: "Slim odds for viruses to mix in pigs now, experts say", May 4, 2009.

"The chances of this H1N1 virus infecting a pig at the same time it’s infected with another virus I think is very, very rare simply because we just don’t see that many pig influenza viruses occurring this time of year," Harding said.

There are flu seasons in pigs like in people, and influenza illness is short-lived in swine. The pigs in Alberta are already recovering.

[7]: "Pork safe to eat despite WHO warning, Canadian officials stress: Mexico City to allow businesses to reopen", CBC News, May 6, 2009.

[8]: "Swine flu: Confirmed cases jump to 225 in Illinois — Only Chicago public school to close during outbreak reopens", by Dahleen Glanton and Azam Ahmed, Chicago Tribune, May 7, 2009.

[9]: "The cracks opened up by the flu: As the swine-flu outbreak appears to subside, Mexico is left to contemplate the cost and to ponder the authorities’ response", Economist, May 7, 2009.

[10]: "Swine flu hits international military music show in Halifax", CBC News, July 8, 2009. [haven't updated this post lately, but this one was a bit hard to ignore :( ]

[11]: "The Persistent Legacy of the 1918 Influenza Virus", by David M. Morens, M.D., Jeffery K. Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., and Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., New England Journal of Medicine, July 16, 2009. [from NEJM's H1N1 Influenza Center, listed in the above Web Resources]

The 1918 influenza virus and its progeny, and the human immunity developed in response to them, have for nearly a century evolved in an elaborate dance; the partners have remained linked and in step, even as each strives to take the lead. This complex interplay between rapid viral evolution and virally driven changes in human population immunity has created a "pandemic era" lasting for 91 years and counting. There is little evidence that this era is about to come to an end.