19 December 2013 (13:14 UTC-07 Tango)/15 Safar 1435/28 Azar 1392/17 Jia-Zi (11th month) 4711

U.S.A., Florida: A Pasco County woman died from H1N1.  It took only hours for the H1N1 to kill her.  The 27 years old mother of three drove herself to the hospital, then within a few hours was dead. She posted on Facebook “I’m riding shotgun with death.”

“Right now in Houston, there are two outbreaks of respiratory illness and both can cause death.”-Pedro Piedra, Baylor College of Medicine

“I think that there is something going on that they are not telling people. I just wonder if they are related, do they work together? What do they have in common? They haven’t mentioned any of that.”-Laura Bentoe, Texas resident concerned there is a connection between H1N1 and RSV

U.S.A., Texas: In Montgomery County, one of eight people with a mystery disease has been confirmed to have H1N1.  Four of those people with the mystery disease have died.  Tests for two surviving patients indicate they do not have H1N1, test results for a third surviving patient are not in, yet.  All patients had flu like symptoms, but initial tests did not show any influenza infection.  This proves that current medical tests for H1N1 are not reliable.  Medical officials in Texas say H1N1 (aka Swine Flu) is turning out to be the dominant flu in the Lone Star State.  One health official pointed out that it’s good luck that this flu season’s flu shot just happens to cover H1N1.  In fact the H1N1 that’s going around is the exact strain of H1N1 in the new flu shot. I wounder……?

U.S.A., Colorado: Weld County reports one person has died from H1N1.  They are not releasing anymore details.

U.S.A., Georgia: Hundreds of people coming into hospitals sick with flu, including H1N1.  Four people have died.  Health officials say the people getting hit hardest are middle agers: “The cases we’ve had that have been really sick have been the middle aged people, where they get this pneumonia type pattern…..I don’t recall having this many patients as in prior years. A lot of people are requiring the ICU care and going on the ventilator and they’re the ones that have the chance of dying.”-Kenneth Horlander, Emory Clark-Holder Clinic

U.S.A., Mississippi: Health officials say the only flu strain hitting the Magnolia state is H1N1: “The only type of flu identified in Mississippi so far this year is the 2009 influenza A H1N1 strain, which has in past years primarily affected those under 65 years of age. This year, we’ve received reports of serious complications and some deaths associated with influenza infection in those under 65. During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, 80% of the deaths were in people younger than 65, unlike a typical flu season in which the majority of deaths occur in those 65 and older.”-Thomas Dobbs, Mississippi State Department of Health

U.S.A., California: According to a new study by the Stanford University School of Medicine, H1N1 can cause narcolepsy (sleeping sickness, people falling asleep uncontrollably at anytime) in people with specific genetic traits.  A protein in the virus mimics a protein called hypocretin in the human brain.  This mimicry causes the human immune system to attack the hypocretin protein of the brain. Hypocretin is what helps you stay awake and alert.  This problem first showed up in 2009, when it was noticed that some people developed narcolepsy after getting an H1N1 flu vaccination!

U.S.A., Utah: Hospitals in northern Utah are asking people who think they’re sick with flu to stay away!  Hospital officials don’t want people sick with flu visiting patients.  Of course, if you’re real bad off with flu and need to be admitted as a patient they’ll take you.  Obama Care anyone? Oh, that coverage doesn’t start ’till next year, and not even for everyone. Reports say 44 Utahans have been hospitalized with flu, so far this season.

Canada, Alberta: Officials with AHS South Zone report 97 confirmed flu cases, with a spike in H1N1 in the past three weeks.

Canada, Ontario: The Middlesex-London Health Unit reporting that H1N1 is dominant flu strain.  At least 12 confirmed cases of A(H1N1)pdm09.  Even though 11 of those did not get vaccinated, one of them did get the flu shot.

Canada, British Columbia: Health officials on the western side of Canada are pointing out that this season’s H1N1 is the same strain that spread around the World in 2009.   They also point out that this season’s flu shot contains the very same H1N1, and they think people need to get vaccinated now: “The H1N1 virus will appear to most people like the regular flu. Most people will recover. But hospitalizations and death are possible and with H1N1 that’s most likely for young people with chronic conditions.”-Danuta Skowronski, BC Centre for Disease Control

Grenada: The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) reporting three confirmed H1N1 cases.  The first case was confirmed in November.  They’re telling people to watch for symptoms of sudden high fever, dry cough, headache, muscle/joint pain, severe malaise, sore throat and runny nose (better hurry up and catch it before it runs away).

France: At the end of November 47 people were finally freed from their imprisonment, after arriving at the airport of Toulouse-Blagnac.  They were quarantined after other airline passengers reported they were showing signs of H1N1, like coughing.  All were found to be flu free.

Mexico: Mexican news media revealing that H1N1 was a topic of discussion at the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) meeting held on 13 December in Rome, Italy.  Mexican officials say they’ve been preparing for this new H1N1 pandemic since 2005!  They also revealed plans to build new Level 3 labs in Mexico.

Also, at the 13 December GHSI meeting, the British empire country of Canada announced their full support: “Our government is committed to protecting the health and safety of Canadians by sharing Canada’s expertise with global health experts. International collaborations such as the Global Health Security Initiative help Canada stay ahead of emerging public health threats and respond more effectively when epidemics emerge.”-Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health

The UN World Health Organization has revised their death toll numbers from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.  At least 203-thousand people were killed, that’s ten times more than first reported.  Researchers said that because of the way deaths are reported the actual 2009 H1N1 death toll could be 400-thousand. And the Americas were hit hardest: “This study confirms that the H1N1 virus killed many more people globally than originally believed. We also found that the mortality burden of this pandemic fell most heavily on younger people and those living in certain parts of the Americas.”-Lone Simonsen, George Washington University