Lyme disease. What's the big deal?

Flu Epidemic

Flu Epidemic.  Shortage On Vaccine.  Shortage On Tamiflu. 01/12/2013 0 Comments Flu Epidemic: Hospitals Crack Down On Workers Who Refuse Shots CHICAGO — Patients can refuse a flu shot. Should doctors and nurses have that right, too? That is the thorny question surfacing as U.S. hospitals increasingly crack down on employees who won't get flu shots, with some workers losing theirjobs over their refusal. "Where does it say that I am no longer a patient if I'm a nurse," wondered Carrie Calhoun, a longtime critical care nurse in suburban Chicago who was fired last month after she refused a flu shot. Hospitals' get-tougher measures coincide with an earlier-than-usual flu season hitting harder than in recent mild seasons. Flu is widespread in most states, and at least 20 children have died. Most doctors and nurses do get flu shots. But in the past two months, at least 15 nurses and other hospital staffers in fourstates have been fired for refusing, and several others have resigned, according to affected workers, hospital authorities and published reports. read more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/12/flu-vaccine-nurses_n_2464663.html Flu Epidemic: Officials, Drug Stores Say Call Ahead Before Getting Vaccine The heightened demand for the flu vaccine has caused some providers to run out of doses, however officials said there are still plenty to go around and are encouraging people to call ahead before driving to a local clinic to get immunized. National drug store chain Rite Aid is moving some of its supplies around to make sure each of their locations remain stocked, spokeswoman Ashley Flower said. "In select areas, just like everybody else, we are experiencing a reduced amount of shots," Flower told ABC News Radio. "We would certainly advise our customers to call their local Rite Aid before coming in to see what the status of the vaccine is at their location." read more at http://abcnews.go.com/Health/flu-epidemic-officials-drug-stores-call-ahead-vaccine/story?id=18198019 Flu Widespread Flu widespread in 47 of 50 United States, but eases off in some areasThe flu is rapidly spreading across the nation, widespread in all but three states: California, Mississippi and Hawaii. But there's a tiny bit of good news — it's backing off a bit. It may have already peaked in some parts, like the Southern states. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/flu-spreads-u-s-eases-areas-article-1.1238794#ixzz2Hp4yBwnD

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What Did The FDA Rule On Testing New Drug For Chronic Lyme?

So, if there isn't late-stage or chronic Lyme disease, why would the FDA rule on a new drug to treat chronic Lyme?  I have chronic Lyme or late-stage Lyme and we are literally dying to receive a drug treatment.  I have scoured the Internet and the following is the only information I could find.  I could not find the ruling anywhere.

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FDA to Rule on Testing New Drug for Chronic Lyme

PRWeb

Published 10:15 a.m., Monday, April 2, 2012

Researchers led by Time for Lyme grantee, M. Karen Newell-Rogers, Ph.D, have submitted a pre-IND briefing document to the US Food and Drug Administration, a preliminary step toward developing proposals for clinical testing of a new drug that could one day end the suffering of those with chronic, or long-term Lyme disease.

Stamford, CT (PRWEB) April 02, 2012

“To our knowledge this is the first novel drug candidate that has been proposed for study in the treatment of chronic Lyme Disease post-infection in some time,” said a representative of Viral Genetics, that submitted the proposal for its drug candidate, VGV-L, to the FDA. A response is expected in April.

Tests led by Dr. Newell-Rogers, a professor at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and Scott & White Hospital, and a scientific advisor to Viral Genetics, have been conducted for over two and a half years. The results were submitted this month to the FDA, along with a protocol for a proposed human clinical trial designed under the guidance of a leading Lyme clinician at one of the nation’s top medical centers. Testing to date was conducted by Dr. Newell-Rogers with significant contributions from other clinicians at the University of Colorado, Texas A&M Health Science Center and Scott & White Hospital in Texas.

Prior research had established the insight that certain immune characteristics may contribute to whether a person is susceptible or resistant to the development of chronic inflammation as a result of infection. Dr. Newell-Rogers theory proposes a “targeted” peptide to replace or remove the self-peptides and restore a healthy immune response in patients.

Much of the funding for the pre-clinical studies leading to the FDA filing was provided by Time for Lyme, acting in concert with Richard Gerstner, the ex-IBM Executive VP who saw the potential applicability of Dr. Newell’s work, to Lyme disease.

Time for Lyme has raised over $5 million since its founding in 1998 to fund research on Lyme and other tick-borne diseases at esteemed institutions across the U.S., including the establishment and endowment of Columbia University Medical Center’s Lyme and Tick-borne Disease Research Center.

“Time for Lyme is focused on its clear and single mission of promoting research into Lyme and tick borne diseases,” said Peter Wild, executive director of the organization. “At present there is no recognized treatment for Lyme once it has developed into its chronic, long-term state. We are hopeful that Dr. Newell-Roger’s work will provide the solution that long-term Lyme disease sufferers have been hoping for, for decades.”

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/business/press-releases/article/FDA-to-Rule-on-Testing-New-Drug-for-Chronic-Lyme-3452046.php#ixzz1v9bZwPXy

Press Release
Source: Viral Genetics, Inc.
Viral Genetics Publishes March 2012 Monthly Letter to Shareholders.
Cites Pre-IND Filing with FDA for Lyme Disease, Other Drugs in Pipeline & Progress in Algal BioFuel Subsidiary, VG Energy
Business WireSan Marino, CA (PRWEB) March 14, 2012
Viral Genetics (Pinksheets: VRAL.PK - News) today published its March 2012 Letter to Shareholders. Providing updates on the company’s progress, the letter discusses the recent Pre-IND filing for its Lyme Disease drug candidate, notes other drugs in the pipeline that have developed out of the company’s Metabolic Disruption Technology Platform, and talks about progress in proving the efficacy of the yield enhancement in the company’s algal biofuels subsidiary, VG Energy.
The letter is available on the company’s website at http://www.viralgenetics.com/shareholder-letters/Letter-to-Shareholders-Mar-12.PDF.
About Viral Genetics, Inc.
San Marino, California-based Viral Genetics discovers drug therapies from two platform technologies based on over 60 patents: Metabolic Disruption (MDT) and Targeted Peptides (TPT). Founded in 1994, the biotech company is researching treatments for HIV/AIDS, Lyme Disease, Strep, Staph and drug resistant cancer. A majority-owned subsidiary, VG Energy (www.vgenergy.net), is dedicated to exploring biofuel and agricultural applications for the MDT platform. For more information, visit www.viralgenetics.com.
About VG Energy
VG Energy Inc. is an alternative energy and agricultural biotech company that is a majority-owned subsidiary of Viral Genetics Inc. Using its Metabolic Disruption Technology (MDT), Viral Genetics' cancer research led to discoveries with major consequences in a wide variety of other industries, including production of biofuel and vegetable oils. VG Energy holds the exclusive worldwide license to the MDT patent rights for use in the increase of production of various plant-derived oils from algae and seeds. Application of MDT technology to the biofuel industry could potentially allow it to overcome its major obstacle in the area of production efficiency: namely, an increase in production yields leading to feasible economic returns on investment, allowing renewable biodiesel to be competitive with fossil fuels. For more information, please visit www.vgenergy.net.
SAFE HARBOR FOR FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties associated with financial projections, budgets, milestone timelines, clinical trials, regulatory approvals, and other risks described by Viral Genetics, Inc. from time to time in its periodic reports, including statements about its VG Energy, Inc. subsidiary. None of Viral Genetics' drug compounds are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or by any comparable regulatory agencies elsewhere in the world, nor are any non-pharmaceutical products of VG Energy, Inc. commercialized. While Viral Genetics believes that the forward-looking statements and underlying assumptions are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, including, but not limited to, the ability of Viral Genetics to establish the efficacy of any of its drug therapies in the treatment of any disease or health condition, the development of studies and strategies leading to commercialization of those drug compounds in the United States, the obtaining of funding required to carry out the development plan, the completion of studies and tests including clinical trials on time or at all, the successful outcome of such studies or tests, or the successful commercialization of VG Energy, Inc.’s non-pharmaceutical products. Therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this release will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by Viral Genetics or any other person that the objectives and plans of Viral Genetics will be achieved. 
Contact:BlueWater Advisory Group, LLCBryan Crane, 805-294-3723
Contact:Viral Genetics, Inc.Haig Keledjian, 626-334-5310 
Click here to return to our Press Release selection page. 

Health Officials Admit Swine Vaccine Could Cause Deaths

Burning question...will the Swine Flu Vaccine cause dealths like it did in the '70s? Like adding fuel to the already out-of-control, burning fire, here is the answer...

"Czech Republic Refuses Baxter Swine Flu Vaccine On Safety Grounds
Health officials admit fast tracked shots could cause deaths

Government health officials in the Czech Republic have refused to buy H1N1 flu vaccines from US pharmaceutical firm Baxter International, citing safety concerns.

According to a report by the Czech News Agency CTK, one of the largest English language news outlets in the country, the Czech Health Ministry has halted talks with Baxter citing “the firm’s inability to guarantee that the vaccine is safe and who will bear the risks for possible side-effects.”

The country plans to buy vaccines to cover 25 percent of its population of ten million, but has said it will not buy swine flu vaccine from Baxter before it has acquired a European registration.

“It is a pity, but, unfortunately, at the moment when we accepted the bids, Baxter was unable to confirm that it will deliver a registered vaccine,” Health Minister Dana Juraskova said.

Instead, the country will likely buy its supplies from Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, but only after the vaccines have undergone regular clinical tests and gained European Medicines Agency registration.

In another CTK report, Deputy Health minister Marek Snajdr was quoted as saying the vaccine “may have side effects and it may even cause death if used”.

Confirmed cases of H1N1 flu in the country remain below 150, according to all estimates, and no one has died from the virus."

Source Here

Epidemic Defined.

adj.
1. Spreading rapidly and extensively by infection and affecting many individuals in an area or a population at the same time: an epidemic outbreak of influenza.
2. Widely prevalent: epidemic discontent.
n.
1. An outbreak of a contagious disease that spreads rapidly and widely.
2. A rapid spread, growth, or development: an unemployment epidemic.

Source: Answers.com

********************************************

Epidemic \Ep`i*dem"ic\, Epidemical \Ep`i*dem"ic*al\, a. [L. epidemus, Gr. ?, ?, among the people, epidemic; ? in + ? people: cf. F. ['e]pid['e]mique. Cf. Demagogue.]

1. (Med.) Common to, or affecting at the same time, a large number in a community; -- applied to a disease which, spreading widely, attacks many persons at the same time; as, an epidemic disease; an epidemic catarrh, fever, etc. See Endemic.

2. Spreading widely, or generally prevailing; affecting great numbers, as an epidemic does; as, epidemic rage; an epidemic evil.

It was the epidemical sin of the nation. --Bp. Burnet.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Swine in 1976. Did we learn a lesson that will carry over to 2009?

1976: Fear of a great plague
By PAUL MICKLE / The Trentonian

On the cold afternoon of February 5, 1976, an Army recruit told his drill instructor at Fort Dix that he felt tired and weak but not sick enough to see military medics or skip a big training hike.

Within 24 hours, 19-year-old Pvt. David Lewis of Ashley Falls, Mass., was dead, killed by an influenza not seen since the plague of 1918-19, which took 500,000 American lives and 20 million worldwide.

Two weeks after the recruit's death, health officials disclosed to America that something called "swine flu" had killed Lewis and hospitalized four of his fellow soldiers at the Army base in Burlington County.

The ominous name of the flu alone was enough to touch off civilian fear of an epidemic. And government doctors knew from tests hastily conducted at Dix after Lewis' death that 500 soldiers had caught swine flu without falling ill.

Any flu able to reach that many people so fast was capable of becoming another worldwide plague, the doctors warned, raising these questions:

Does America mobilize for mass inoculations in time to have everybody ready for the next flu season? Or should the country wait to see if the new virus would, as they often do, get stronger to hit harder in the second year?

Thus was born what would become known to some medical historians as a fiasco and to others as perhaps the finest hour of America's public health bureaucracy.

Only young Lewis died from the swine flu itself in 1976. But as the critics are quick to point out, hundreds of Americans were killed or seriously injured by the inoculation the government gave them to stave off the virus.

According to his sister-in-law, John Kent of President Avenue in Lawrence went to his grave in 1997 believing the shot from the government had killed his first wife, Mary, long before her time.

Among other critics are Arthur M. Silverstein, whose book, "Pure Politics and Impure Science," suggests President Gerald Ford's desire to win the office on his own, as well as the influence of America's big drug manufacturers, figured into the decision to immunize all 220 million Americans.

Still, even the partisan who first branded Ford's program a fiasco, says now that it happened because America's public health establishment identified what easily could have been a new plague and mobilized to beat it amazingly well.

To understand the fear of the time you have to know something about the plague American soldiers seemed to bring home with them after fighting in Europe during World War I.

The Great Plague, as it came to be called, rivaled the horrid Black Death of medieval times in its ability to strike suddenly and take lives swiftly. In addition to the half million in America, it killed 20 million people around the world.

It got its name because it was a brand of flu usually found in domestic pigs and wild swine. It was long thought to have come, like so many flus, out of the Chinese farm country, where people and domestic pigs live closely together.

Recent research has shown, however, that the post-WWI flu was brought to Europe by American troops who had been based in the South before they went to war. Medical detectives, still working on the case in the 1990s, determined that a small group of our soldiers took swine flu to Europe and that it spread to the world from there.

How the swine flu got to Fort Dix in 1976 still hasn't been tracked down. At the time, Dix military doctors knew only that a killer flu had made it to the base and that they were lucky more men hadn't died or been sickened seriously.

Weeks after Lewis died, doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and other federal public health officials were meeting in Washington, trying to decide if they should recommend the government start a costly program of mass inoculations.

One doc later told the authors of "The Epidemic that Never Was" that he and others in on the meetings realized there was "nothing in this for the CDC except trouble," especially because a decision had to be made fast to get the immunizations manufactured by the fall.
"...The obvious thing to do was immunize everybody," the doctor said. "But if we tried to do that ... we might have to interrupt a hell of a lot of work on other diseases."

The doctors knew they faced complaints if the epidemic broke out and vaccines weren't ready, as well as criticism if they spent millions inoculating people for a plague that didn't happen.
"As for 'another 1918,' 1 didn't expect that," the doctor continued in the book. "But who could be sure? It would wreck us. Yet, if there weren't a pandemic, we'd be charged with wasting public money, crying wolf and causing all the inconvenience for nothing ... It was a no-win situation."

By mid-March, CDC Director Dr. David J. Sencer had lined up most of the medical establishment behind his plan to call on Ford to support a $135 million program of mass inoculation.

On March 24, one day after a surprise loss to Ronald Reagan in the North Carolina Republican presidential primary, Ford decided to make the announcement to the American public.

Congress still had to appropriate the money, of course, and that wasn't going to be easy. Even before official congressional consideration of the plan was taken up, there were forces arguing against it.

Another big hurdle was the drug makers, who were insisting the government take liability for any harmful side effects from the vaccine. During congressional hearings in the spring and early summer, lawmakers heard some naysayers who noted that the swine flu of last winter never got beyond Dix and that only one death had been reported.

The president and his experts prevailed, however, and on Aug. 12 Congress put up the money to get the job done. The mighty task was put into the hands of a charismatic 33-year-old physician for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Dr. W. Delano Meriwether, a world-class sprinter who still competed in track meets.

Now he was in a race for life, or so he thought. Meriwether was given until the end of the year to get all 220 million Americans inoculated against swine flu.

By Oct. 1, the makers had the serums ready and America's public health bureaucracy had lined up thousands of doctors, nurses and paramedics to give out the shots at medical centers, schools and firehouses across the nation.

Jim Florio, then an ambitious rookie Democratic congressman supporting Jimmy Carter for president, didn't use the situation to take a shot at Ford. He lined up and was the first Jersey resident to take the inoculation.

Within days, however, several people who had taken the shot fell seriously ill. On Oct. 12, three elderly people in the Pittsburgh area suffered heart attacks and died within hours of getting the shot, which led to suspension of the program in Pennsylvania.

Jersey pressed on with inoculations, however. Through the fall, even as more bad reports about the side effects of the vaccine came out, thousands of mostly older people in Greater Trenton lined up outside health centers, schools and firehouses to get the shot, sometimes waiting for an hour.

One of them was Lawrence's Mary Kent, a 45-year-old mother of two teenage boys who couldn't tie the ribbons on Christmas presents only days after she got her shot at the Trenton War Memorial in early December.

On Dec. 16, increasingly concerned about reports of the vaccine touching off neurological problems, especially rare Guillain-Barre syndrome, the government suspended the program, having inoculated 40 million people for a flu that never came.

By year's end, Jack Kent knew his wife was seriously ill and started reading all about the side effects of the president's flu inoculation, especially nerve problems like those his wife was experiencing.

Even before Mary Kent died an invalid at age 51 in January 1982, Kent had joined the hundreds of Americans who filed suit against the government on behalf of children left without a parent due to fatal side effects from the swine flu vaccine.

Kent's sister-in-law, also named Mary Kent, recalled the other day that Jack Kent died in 1997 still angrily blaming the government for giving his wife Guillian-Barre, leading to her death.

The swine flu case of 1976 forever reduced confidence in public health pronouncements from the government and helped foster cynicism about federal policy makers that continues to this day.

Citing the swine flu fiasco, for instance, one scholar recently authored a report suggesting the threat of AIDS has been similarly overblown.

Yet Joseph Califano, one of the earliest to use the word "fiasco" in describing the swine flu affair, came to the conclusion that it all couldn't have been avoided. Califano, whom President Carter appointed Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare after beating Ford in the November election, said the doctors had no choice but to err on the side of the caution.

In "The Epidemic That Never Was," Califano said that faced with the threat of another killer plague with the potential to end millions of lives, the doctors were right to seek an inoculation program. Capital Century

Diversionary Tactics? Economy Worse.

Now that you have comparative data (prior post), showing that the true resistant flu is not the Swine Flu (H1N1), but instead H3N2, you may want to see the newest twist.

First, by now you may have already read or heard the we had our first "American" death from the Swine Flu. Well, while I have sympathy for anyone who loses a loved one, the toddler wasn't really "American". It happened on our soil, yes. However, the child was visiting from Mexico.

While any spread of illness is a serious issue (and I am certainly of the opinion that you should be prepared), flu illnesses are not uncommon and that includes new strains.

I still wonder why there is so much attention being paid when a simple warning could be put into place for prevention measures (i.e., washing hands which everyone should do anyway).

When you read the story below (along with the fact that $1.5 billion has been pulled off by Obama as an emergency fund even though we have strategic reserves of antivirals) you may wonder why the economy has not been touted the main story of the day...

Economy shrinks at 6.1 percent pace in 1Q

Jeannine Aversa, Ap Economics Writer
WASHINGTON – The economy shrank at a worse-than-expected 6.1 percent pace at the start of this year as sharp cutbacks by businesses and the biggest drop in U.S. exports in 40 years overwhelmed a rebound in consumer spending.

The Commerce Department's report, released Wednesday, dashed hopes that the recession's grip on the country loosened in the first quarter. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a 5 percent annualized decline.

Instead, the economy ended up performing nearly as bad as it had in the final three months of last year when it logged the worst slide in a quarter-century, contracting at a 6.3 percent pace. Nervous consumers played a prominent role in that dismal showing as they ratcheted back spending in the face of rising unemployment, falling home values and shrinking nest eggs.

In the January-March quarter consumers came back to life, boosting their spending after two straight quarters of reductions. The 2.2 percent growth rate was the strongest in two years.

Much stronger demand for big-ticket "durable" goods, including cars, furniture and household appliances led the increase. That spending rose at a 9.4 pace, the most in a year. Consumers also boosted spending on clothing, shoes, recreation services, medical care, gasoline and other energy products. But not on food, where spending dipped slightly.

Still, the consumer rebound was swamped by heavy spending cuts in virtually every other area.

Businesses cut spending on home building, commercial construction, equipment and software, and inventories of goods. Sales of U.S. goods to foreign buyers plunged as they retrenched in the face of economic troubles in their own countries. Even the government trimmed spending. It was the first time that happened since the end of 2005.

All told, the economy logged its worst six-month performance since the late 1950s.

The sharp cuts underscore the toll the housing, credit and financial crises — the worst since the 1930s — are having on the country. The recession, which began in December 2007, has taken a big bite out of national economic activity and snatched 5.1 million jobs.

To cushion the impact of the downturn, the Federal Reserve has slashed a key bank lending rate to a record low near zero and rolled out a string of radical programs to spur lending. The Fed at the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday is expected to keep its key rate near zero and probably hold it there well into next year.

Wall Street shook off the weak gross domestic product reading as it awaited the Fed's assessment of the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average added more than 155 points in midday trading and broader indices also rose.

President Barack Obama is counting on his $787 billion stimulus of tax cuts and increased government spending on big public works projects to help bolster economic activity later this year. The administration also has put forward programs to rescue banks and curb home foreclosures — big negative forces weighing on the economy.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs called the first-quarter's showing a "pretty severe contraction," but added that some more up-to-date signals on the economy have been more encouraging. "We continue to get, as the president said, some glimmers of hope," he said.

Even in the face of Wednesday's weaker-than-expected report, some analysts stuck to predictions that the economy would shrink less in the current April-June period — at a pace of 1 to 2.5 percent — as Obama's stimulus begins to take hold. Those analysts also continue to hope the economy would start to grow again in the final quarter of this year.

"The recession was bad in the first quarter but won't be as bad going forward," said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia. "I don't think this lessens the expected pattern that the economy will be entering a recovery by the end of this year."

However, the recent outbreak of the swine flu, which started out in Mexico and has spread to the United States and elsewhere, poses a new potential danger. If the flu stifles trade and forces consumers to cut back further, those negative forces would worsen the recession.

Before the flu outbreak, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the recession could end this year if the government succeeds in stabilizing the shaky financial system and getting banks to lend again.

In recent weeks, Bernanke and his colleagues had cited "tentative signs" of the recession easing in some consumer spending, home building and other reports. Finance officials from the U.S. and other top economic powers meeting here last week also saw some hopeful signs for the global economy.

Fresh glimmers of hope emerged in the U.S. Tuesday. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose far more than expected in April, jumping more than 12 points to 39.2, the highest level since November. And a housing index showed that home prices dropped sharply in February, but for the first time in 25 months the decline was not a record.

However, in the first quarter there was much weakness in those areas and others.

Spending on home building fell at a 38 percent annualized rate, the most since the second quarter of 1980. Businesses cut spending on equipment and software at a 33.8 percent pace, the most since the first quarter of 1958.

Inventory reductions shaved 2.79 percentage points off overall first-quarter economic activity. But with stockpiles slashed, any pickup in business sales would help increase production and bolster the economy in the current quarter.

Still, U.S. exports plunged at a rate of 30 percent, the biggest drop since the first quarter of 1969, reflecting the crimped appetite of struggling foreign buyers. The government also cut spending 3.9 percent, the most since the end of 1995.

Even if the recession were to end this year, the economy will remain feeble and unemployment will keep climbing, government officials and analysts say.

The Labor Department on Wednesday said that all 372 metropolitan areas tracked saw their jobless rates rise in March from a year earlier. The rate in Indiana's Elkhart-Goshen region soared to 18.8 percent, up 13 percentage points, which was the biggest gain in the country.

The national jobless rate is now at a quarter-century high of 8.5 percent and is expected to hit 10 percent by the end of this year. It will probably rise a bit higher in early 2010 before starting to slowly drift downward. Still, the Fed predicts unemployment will stay elevated into 2011, and economists don't think it will return to normal — around a 5 percent jobless rate — until 2013.

More layoffs were announced this week. Textron Inc. said it will expand layoffs, eliminating 8,300 jobs, or 20 percent, of its global work force as the recession weakens demand for corporate planes. The maker of Cessna planes, Bell helicopters and turf-maintenance equipment earlier this year said it would reduce its work force by 6,200 jobs, or 15 percent, mostly at Wichita, Kansas-based Cessna.

General Motors Corp. laid out a massive restructuring plan that includes cutting 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by next year. Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest owner of U.S. radio stations, said it's cutting 590 jobs in its second round of mass layoffs this year amid pressure from the recession and evaporating advertising budgets. And bearings and specialty steels maker Timken Co. indicated it will cut about 4,000 more jobs by the end of this year after earlier suggesting about 3,000 jobs already had been targeted.

Swine Flu Update.

Swine Influenza (Flu)

Swine Flu website last updated April 28, 2009 11:00 AM ET

U.S. Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection
(As of April 28, 2009 11:00 AM ET)

California 10 cases
Kansas 2 cases
New York City 45 cases
Ohio 1 case
Texas 6 cases
TOTAL COUNT 64 cases

The human swine flu outbreak continues to grow in the United States and internationally. Today, CDC reports additional cases of confirmed swine influenza and a number of hospitalizations of swine flu patients. Internationally, the situation is more serious too, with additional countries reporting confirmed cases of swine flu. In response to the intensifying outbreak, the World Health Organization raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 4. A Phase 4 alert is characterized by confirmed person-to-person spread of a new influenza virus able to cause “community-level” outbreaks.” The increase in the pandemic alert phase indicates that the likelihood of a pandemic has increased.

CDC has activated its emergency operations center to coordinate the agency’s emergency response. CDC ’s goals are to reduce transmission and illness severity, and provide information to help health care providers, public health officials and the public address the challenges posed by this swine influenza virus. Yesterday, CDC issued a travel warning recommending that people avoid non-essential travel to Mexico. CDC continues to issue interim guidance daily on the website and through health alert network notices. CDC’s Division of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) is releasing one-quarter of its antiviral drugs, personal protective equipment, and respiratory protection devices to help states respond to the outbreak. The swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is susceptible to the prescription antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir. This is a rapidly evolving situation and CDC will provide updated guidance and new information as it becomes available.

WebMD...
What is swine flu?
Like people, pigs can get influenza (flu), but swine flu viruses aren't the same as human flu viruses. Swine flu doesn't often infect people, and the rare human cases that have occurred in the past have mainly affected people who had direct contact with pigs. But the current swine flu outbreak is different. It's caused by a new swine flu virus that has spread from person to person -- and it's happening among people who haven't had any contact with pigs.

What are swine flu symptoms?
Symptoms of swine flu are like regular flu symptoms and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills, and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. Those symptoms can also be caused by many other conditions, and that means that you and your doctor can't know, just based on your symptoms, if you've got swine flu. It takes a lab test to tell whether it's swine flu or some other condition.

If I think I have swine flu, what should I do? When should I see my doctor?
If you have flu symptoms, stay home, and when you cough or sneeze, cover your mouth and nose with a tissue. Afterward, throw the tissue in the trash and wash your hands. That will help prevent your flu from spreading.

If you've got flu symptoms, and you've recently been to a high-risk area like Mexico, CDC officials recommend that you see your doctor. If you have flu symptoms but you haven't been in a high-risk area, you can still see a doctor -- that's your call.

Keep in mind that your doctor will not be able to determine whether you have swine flu, but he or she would take a sample from you and send it to a state health department lab for testing to see if it's swine flu. If your doctor suspects swine flu, he or she would be able to write you a prescription for Tamiflu or Relenza. Those drugs may not be required; U.S. swine flu patients have made a full recovery without it.