Hughes411

Government Jumps The Gun With Swine Flu

2009-05-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

The government hit the gas a little TOO hard in making precautions for the impending swine flu pandemic. It turned out to be not quite as big of an issue as expected.

Schools are back in session after students across the country got an unexpected break. The government advised schools to shut their doors for two weeks if there was any suspicion of swine flu lingering in the hallways.

Hundreds of schools around the country have followed that guidance and closed schools. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday that the swine flu virus had turned out to be milder than initially feared and the government decided to change its advice. Sebelius says parents should still make sure to keep sick children at home. Those with flulike symptoms should stay home for seven days.

As a result, the government has decided that maybe the advice was premature. Health officials are no longer advising that schools close for cases of swine flu.

"We no longer feel that school closure is warranted," said Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Swine Flu Starts Pharmaceutical Show Down

2009-04-30T10:55:00.000-07:00

With the world buzzing about swine flu, pharmaceutical companies are looking to show off their new biotechnology.

Pharmaceutical company labs are kickin' it into high gear, since there is no vaccine available for the strain of swine flu. It typically takes 4 - 6 months before flu-specific vaccines are available.

Several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are experimenting with quicker ways to produce vaccines, cutting the incubation period down to as little as 10 weeks.

Investors are ready and willing to put their money into new flu vaccine biotechnology. In lieu of the tough economic times and a swine flu panic circling the globe, pharmaceutical companies aren't hurting as stocks have hit the roof.

Since the swine flu hit, the stocks of some anti-flu drugmakers soared; Roche and GlaxoSmithKline saw boosts because of Tamiflu and Relenza, while smaller vaccine creators like Novavax (NVAX) and BioCryst (BCRX) saw share prices rise more than 70% in one day.

With the current outbreak and no “swine flu specific” vaccine currently available, the only course of action is to use the flu antivirals that are already out on the market.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have 50 million treatment courses of such drugs as Tamiflu and Relenza. The agency says lab tests show the swine flu virus is "sensitive" to those treatments. The Department of Homeland Security has asked for $1.5 billion from the government to "acquire antivirals and invest in a vaccine," though officials haven't decided whether to produce a vaccine yet.

Swine Flu Starts Panic

2009-04-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

It seems that California is in panic mode a little too quickly. Sure, you should always be prepared but declaring a state of emergency with two reported deaths with a POSSIBLE link to the Swine flu virus.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Tuesday to respond to the swine flu outbreak after two fatalities in Los Angeles were being investigated for possible links to the virus.

It seems that California is jumping the gun a little and could induce an unnecessary state-wide panic.

With this "state of emergency" announcment, California is also requesting that federal funds be made available for preventative measures.

The declaration is accompanied by a request for federal funds to cover enactment of emergency "services, materials, personnel and equipment to supplement extraordinary preventive measures being taken across the state."

This is a new blog

2009-04-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

This is the new blog that I am writing for my Mass Comm. Media Writing Class.