WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) — U.S. President Barack Obama has declared the fast-spreading A/H1N1 flu a “national emergency,” the White House said on Saturday.

The White House said in a statement that the president signed a proclamation Friday night to make the declaration, saying it makes it easier for healthcare providers to “handle a surge in H1N1 patients.”

NATIONAL EMERGENCY

“In keeping with the administration’s proactive approach to H1N1 Flu, President Obama last night signed a proclamation declaring 2009-H1N1 Influenza a national emergency. The proclamation enhances the ability of our nation’s medical treatment facilities to handle a surge in H1N1 patients by allowing, as needed, the waiver of certain standard federal requirements on a case-by-case basis,” it said.

“The foundation of our national approach to the H1N1 flu has been preparedness at all levels — personal, business, and government — and this proclamation helps that effort by advancing our overall response capability,” the statement said.

In a separate statement sent to the Congress reporting the move, Obama said “the rapid increase in illness across the Nation may overburden health care resources and that the temporary waiver of certain standard Federal requirements may be warranted in order to enable U.S. health care facilities to implement emergency operations plans.”

The proclamation signed by Obama would make it easier for U.S. medical facilities to handle a surge in flu patients by allowing the waiver of some requirements of Medicare, Medicaid and other federal health insurance programs as needed, the White House said.

FLU WIDESPREAD

Since April, over 1,000 Americans have died and 20,000 more have been hospitalized by the virus, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.

Thousands more have gotten sick from the flu with the onset of fall, resulting in mass absences from school and work across the country.

The flu has become widespread in 46 of the 50 U.S. states, a level comparable to the peak of ordinary flu seasons but far earlier and with more waves of infection expected.

The A/H1N1 flu has hit young adults and children the hardest as CDC officials estimated that 1 in 5 U.S. children had symptoms of A/H1N1.

CDC Director Thomas Frieden told reporters Friday that “many millions of cases” have occurred in the U.S. since the outbreak began last spring.

VACCINE PRODUCTION SLOWED

More worrisome is that vaccine production is slower than anticipated and drugmakers are unlikely to hit the U.S. government ’s targets for delivery, Frieden said.

The amount of vaccine available as of Oct. 21 was 16.1 million doses, with 11.3 million doses shipped to doctors and clinics in local communities.

The nation won’t reach its target of 195 million doses by the end of the year because of productions delays at two drugmakers and GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s failure to gain regulatory approval for its product, said Nicole Lurie, Health and Human Services assistant secretary for preparedness and response.

But Frieden said “ultimately we have confidence there will be enough vaccine available for everyone who wants to be vaccinated.”

HOUSTON, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) — The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 507 more deaths caused by pneumonia and influenza (P&I) in the past week, bringing the death toll to 2,827 since the beginning of September.

The CDC said on its web site that from Aug. 30 to Oct. 17 there had been 8,204 laboratory-confirmed flu-related hospitalizations and 411 deaths, 21,832 pneumonia and influenza syndrome hospitalizations and 2,416 deaths nationwide.

Last Friday, the CDC reported 4,958 laboratory-confirmed flu-related hospitalizations and 292 deaths. Meanwhile, the pneumonia and influenza syndrome-based hospitalizations and deaths reached 15,696 and 2,029 respectively in the previous week.

Most notable figure the CDC released on Friday is that the proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report has crossed what is recognized as the threshold of epidemic.

“During the 41th week (last week), 6.9 percent  (comparing 6.7 percent in the previous week) of all deaths reported through the 122-Cities Mortality Reporting System were due to P&I. ” the CDC said, pointing out that “this percentage was above the epidemic threshold of 6.6 percent for week 40.”

The P&I mortality has been above the threshold of epidemic for three consecutive weeks since the 39th week, the CDC added.

Meanwhile, visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) continued to climb and has been much higher than expected for this time of the year.

Nationwide, 7.1 percent of visits to doctors reported through the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet) were due to influenza-like illness (ILI), comparing with 6.1 percent in the previous week.

This percentage is more than tripling the national baseline of 2.3 percent, the CDC experts explained.

Both World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System (NREVSS) reported to CDC’s Influenza Division that all subtyped influenza A viruses being reported to CDC in recent weeks were 2009 influenza A/H1N1 viruses.

All these key figures indicate that the country as a whole has been in the second wave of the epidemic of A/H1N1 virus since early October.

Also on Friday, CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden admitted that the A/H1N1 flu was more widespread now than it’s ever been and had resulted in more than 1,000 deaths so far.

“Many millions” of Americans had acquired A/H1N1 flu so far, he said at a press conference in Atlanta. “The government doesn’t test everyone to confirm A/H1N1 flu, so it doesn’t have an exact count,” he explained.

“We are now in the second wave of pandemic influenza,” the CDC director said, pointing out that 46 states are reporting widespread flu activities.

The latest statistics released by the CDC on Friday show that the only states without widespread flu are Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey and South Carolina.

“What we have learned more in the last couple of weeks is that not only is the virus unpredictable, but vaccine production is much less predictable than we expected,” Dr. Frieden told reporters.

A CDC survey released on Thursday found that one in five U.S. children had a flu-like illness earlier this month, and most of the cases were probably A/H1N1 flu.

“We expect that influenza will occur in waves. We can’t predict how high, how far or how long the wave will go or when the next will come. ” Dr. Frieden predicted.

As nervous Americans clamor for the A/H1N1 flu vaccine, production of the vaccine is running several weeks behind schedule as the vaccine is growing more slowly in egg-based cultures than manufacturers have anticipated, resulting in fewer available doses.

“As of Friday, there have been 16.1 million doses on hand nationwide, up from 14.1 million on Wednesday,” Frieden said. “It’s frustrating to all of us. We are nowhere near where we thought we would be by now.”

Because of production delays, the government has backed off initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million vaccine doses would be available by mid-October.

The flu virus has to be grown in chicken eggs and the yield hasn’t been as high as was initially hoped, CDC officials explained.

The wide spread of the A/H1N1 virus epidemic plus the unpredicted delay of the vaccines are complicating the CDC strategy against the second wave of the epidemic.

“Whether this will continue through the fall into winter, whether it will go away and come back in the winter, only time will tell,” Dr. Frieden said.

HOUSTON, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) — Signs are growing that the United States is entering the first stage of a second wave of the A/H1N1 flu epidemic just as the country officially began the flu season on Oct. 4.

Some 37 U.S. states reported geographically widespread influenza activity; Guam and another 11 states reported regional influenza activity; two states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico Territory, reported local influenza activity, according to the latest statistics released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday.

The CDC warned last week the second wave of the A/H1N1 epidemic was imminent.

The most noticeable figure released on Friday is an increase in the proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report.

“During week 39 (last week), 6.5 percent of all deaths reported through the 122-Cities Mortality Reporting System were due to P&I,” the CDC said, adding that “this percentage was at the epidemic threshold of 6.5 percent for week 39.”

The CDC confirmed 405 more deaths in the past week, bringing the death toll to 1,784 since the beginning of September.

From Aug. 30 to Oct. 3, some 3,874 laboratory-confirmed influenza associated hospitalizations, 240 laboratory-confirmed influenza associated deaths, 12,384 P&I syndrome-based hospitalizations, and 1,544 P&I syndrome-based deaths were reported, the CDC’s latest statistics said.

Meanwhile, visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) continued to increase in the United States. Nationwide, 5.1 percent of patient visits reported through the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network were due to ILI, against 4.2 percent in the previous week.

“This percentage is above the national baseline of 2.4 percent,” the CDC experts said.

Both the World Health Organization and the U.S. National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System reported that 99 percent of all subtypes of influenza A viruses being reported to CDC in recent weeks were 2009 influenza A/H1N1 viruses.

All these figures indicate the country as a whole is entering the first stage of the second wave of the epidemic of A/H1N1 virus and the CDC and state officials and experts will accelerate the pace of vaccination around the country.

A nationwide campaign to inoculate at least half of the U.S. population or perhaps the entire country against the A/H1N1 virus started earlier this week in some states.

The federal government has spent two billion U.S. dollars to purchase about 250 million doses of vaccine and has pledged to buy enough to immunize every American.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius appealed for widespread inoculation against the A/H1N1 flu on Wednesday.

Special A/H1N1 flu vaccination clinics at schools are being planned in many states. Experts believe that children are the main spreaders of infectious disease, and if large numbers are coming down with the new flu, there are ripple effects for everyone else.

Thomas Frieden, head of the CDC, said the A/H1N1 vaccine was more effective than some seasonal shots because the new virus had not mutated and matched the vaccine.

Data show some 36,000 people die of influenza around the country each year.

Roundup: U.S. begins A/H1N1 flu vaccination with students, health workers

by Xinhua writers Wang Jiangang, Chen Ruwei

NEW YORK/HOUSTON, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) — Seven out of 396 students at Public School 40 in Brooklyn, New York received A/H1N1 flu vaccine shots on Monday, becoming the first recipients of the new flu vaccine in a highly-publicized vaccination campaign that began in a few states but will soon gain momentum across the United States.

“In the pilot, we have six schools participating,” Dr. Jane Zucker, Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of Immunization for the New York City Health Department, told Xinhua at the Brooklyn school, which was one of the first local schools selected for the pilot.

Some 700 students from New York public schools will receive A/ H1N1 flu vaccine injections in the next seven days.

BIGGEST EVER VACCINATION CAMPAIGN

In Marion County, Indiana, and at Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee, about 100 doctors and health workers on each site on Monday received Flu Mist, a nasal spray vaccine.

Local TV news footage showed that Indiana’s first dose was administered to Dr. Charles Miramonti, an emergency room physician at Wishard Memorial Hospital in Indianapolis. He was given the Flu Mist vaccine in front of a bank of television cameras at an event attended by Governor Mitch Daniels.

Marion County received a shipment of 5,200 doses of the H1N1 flu vaccine, which will be split among the county’s hospitals.

The Memphis medical center had witnessed three children die from the novel flu virus since it was first detected in April and quickly evolved into a global pandemic.

Monday’s vaccinations marked the beginning of a nationwide campaign to inoculate at least half the U.S. population — and perhaps the entire country — against the new A/H1N1 virus that has caused the first influenza pandemic in 41 years.

The U.S. federal government has spent 2 billion dollars purchasing about 250 million doses of vaccine, and has pledged to buy enough to immunize every American if there is enough demand.

States began ordering vaccine last week, and about 7 million doses are expected to be available by the end of this week. About 40 million doses of nasal spray and injectable vaccine will be available by the middle of the month, with another 10 million to 20 million to become available every week after that.

MEDICAL STAFF GO FIRST

Following months of preparations and promises, doctors, nurses and other health-care workers in the states of Indiana and Tennessee were among the first Americans to receive doses of A/ H1N1 flu vaccine on Monday, as the U.S. government launched the most ambitious vaccination campaign in history.

Initial shipments of the Flu Mist vaccine are so small that in most cases they’re being reserved for health workers to guarantee they remain healthy enough to care for and vaccinate others, said Bill Hall, spokesman for the U.S. Health and Human Services Department last week.

Healthcare workers, pregnant women and people with special health conditions including heart disease and diabetes are reportedly among the 160 million people the U.S. Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said should be the first in line to get the vaccine.

As for school children, parents seem to be worried that A/H1N1 flu is going to be more serious in fall as compared with that in spring.

A survey showed that 75 percent of parents planned to get their children vaccinated against H1N1.

According to the CDC, about 40 percent of young children aged 2 to 4 are usually vaccinated against influenza.

The picture is complicated by seasonal flu vaccination, which started last month. Officials say people need both vaccinations to be protected from both seasonal flu and the pandemic H1N1 strain.

VARIED ATTITUDES

The CDC chief, Thomas Frieden, has said the A/H1N1 vaccine is more effective than some seasonal shots because the new virus hasn ‘t mutated and matches the vaccine.

However, only 53 percent of adults said they plan to get vaccinated, with 41 percent saying they won’t and six percent saying they’re not sure, according to a telephone poll of 1,042 people conducted by Harvard University School of Public Health from Sept. 14 to Sept. 20.

Eugene Ferrerll, an 11th-grade student at Public School 40 of New York, told Xinhua on Monday that he does not want to “get sick, ” so he will definitely have a shot if “it is free.” “We are going to have one. But it’s not serious. It’s kind of sickness that people have to deal with,” he added.

AROUND-THE-CLOCK WORK FOR VACCINE

The vaccine will reportedly trickle in at a rate of about 20 million doses a week, and officials are unsure how many Americans will actually get them. The U.S. government is providing them for free, but clinics and retailers may charge to administer them.

Inoculations won’t gear up in earnest until mid-October, when at least 40 million doses against what scientists call the 2009 H1N1 flu will have rolled out, with more arriving each week after that.

The U.S. government has ordered about 250 million doses from five companies, namely Sanofi-Aventis SA, CSL Ltd., Novartis AG, GlaxoSmithKline and MedImmune.

Some officials predicted that an ample supply of the injectable form will be available by mid-October.

CDC Spokesman Jay Butler has told reporters that there will be enough supply of vaccine for anyone who wants it. He said vaccine makers will ship 10 million to 20 million doses per week over the next couple of months.

As some people are worried about the safety of the vaccine, federal and local governments have once and again told them that the new vaccine is safe to be administered.

According to media reports, the H1N1 vaccine is made in the same way as the regular winter flu vaccine that is used with very few, minor side effects by nearly 100 million Americans each year.

PREPARE FOR THE WORST

Statistics show that from Aug. 30 until Sept. 26, the CDC tallied 16,174 hospitalizations of the H1N1 flu cases nationwide and 1,379 deaths associated with the H1N1 virus infection.

Dozens of children and at least 28 pregnant women in the United States have died from the virus and at least 100 pregnant women were sick enough to be hospitalized in intensive care, the CDC said.

The A/H1N1 virus infection was first identified in the United States in late April. By August, 555 people had died of the new virus with 8,842 hospitalizations. More than 40,000 confirmed and probable cases had been reported and more than 1 million infections were estimated to have occurred in the country.

On Friday, the CDC said that latest data showed 27 states had geographically widespread influenza activity while 18 states had regional influenza activity in the past week, and 443 people had died of influenza and pneumonia-associated complications in the same week, bringing the death toll to 1,379 since the beginning of September.

All these key figures indicate that influenza activity — 99 percent of all subtyped influenza A viruses being reported to the CDC last week were the new A/H1N1 virus — has remained elevated in the United States and the second wave of the pandemic of A/H1N1 flu is imminent.

“This is uncharted territory for an influenza season, we’ve already had many millions of cases, and we will have many millions of cases more,” Frieden told members of Congress on Sept. 29. ” Over the next several weeks, there will be some vaccine in the system, but there will also be some roughness as it gets distributed.”

Each year, influenza kills about 36,000 people around the country. The majority of deaths are in people older than age 80, according to the CDC. In contrast, the A/H1N1 flu attacks children hardest, while older people have some immunity, probably from exposure early in life to a virus that was genetically similar to the new A/H1N1, according to the National Institutes of Health, which conducted the vaccine tests.

However, most American adults have to wait for massive A/H1N1 flu immunizations in the middle of the month when more vaccination programs are set to start up across the country over the next couple of weeks.

TOUGH WORLD SCENARIO

The number of A/H1N1 flu cases worldwide has jumped by at least 24,000 in two weeks to exceed 343,000, while deaths from the A/ H1N1 virus edged up to more than 4,100, according to a Monday report from U.S. health agencies.

The World Health Organization (WHO) regions have reported over 343,298 laboratory-confirmed cases of 2009 H1N1 with at least 4, 108 deaths, which is an increase of at least 24,373 cases and 191 deaths since Sept. 20, the CDC said.

The sharp increase in the number of cases was only “the tip of the A/H1N1 pandemic iceberg,” as many countries focus surveillance and laboratory testing only on people with severe illness, the CDC added.