WHO: Swine Flu Pandemic has Begun, 1st in 41 Years
June 12, 2009 by cd · 4 Comments
The World Health Organization declared a swine flu pandemic Thursday — the first global flu epidemic in 41 years — as infections in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere climbed to nearly 30,000 cases.
The long-awaited pandemic announcement is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. WHO will now ask drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine. The declaration will also prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus.
WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan made the announcement Thursday after the U.N. agency held an emergency meeting with flu experts. Chan said she was moving the world to phase 6 — the agency’s highest alert level — which means a pandemic, or global epidemic, is under way.
“The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century,” Chan told reporters. “The (swine flu) virus is now unstoppable.”
On Thursday, WHO said 74 countries had reported 28,774 cases of swine flu, including 144 deaths. Chan described the virus as “moderate.” According to WHO’s pandemic criteria, a global outbreak has begun when a new flu virus begins spreading in two world regions.
The agency has stressed that most cases are mild and require no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities — especially in poorer countries.
Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy — people who are not usually susceptible to flu. Swine flu is also crowding out regular flu viruses. Both features are typical of pandemic flu viruses.
The last pandemic — the Hong Kong flu of 1968 — killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.
Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.
The decision might have been made much earlier if WHO had more accurate information about swine flu’s rising sweep through Europe. Chan said she called the emergency meeting with flu experts after concerns were raised that some countries like Britain were not accurately reporting their cases.
After Thursday’s meeting, Chan said the experts agreed there was wider spread of swine flu than what was being reported.
Chan would not say which country tipped the world into the pandemic, but said all countries and experts were agreed that it was time to declare a global outbreak.
WHO said it was now recommending that flu vaccine makers start making swine flu vaccine. Drug giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC said they could start large-scale production of pandemic vaccine in July but that it would take several months before large quantities would be available.
Many health experts say WHO’s pandemic declaration could have come weeks earlier but the agency became bogged down by politics. In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would cause social and economic turmoil.
“This is WHO finally catching up with the facts,” said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota who has advised the U.S. government on pandemic preparations.
Despite WHO’s hopes, Thursday’s announcement will almost certainly spark panic about spread of swine flu in some countries.
Fear has already gripped Argentina, where thousands of people worried about swine flu flooded into hospitals this week, bringing emergency health services in the capital of Buenos Aires to the brink of collapse. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger on it had swine flu.
Chile has the most swine flu cases in South America, and the southern hemisphere is moving into its winter flu season.
In Hong Kong on Thursday, the government ordered all kindergartens and primary schools closed for two weeks after a dozen students tested positive for swine flu — a move that some experts would consider an overreaction. The decision affected over half a million students.
In the United States, where there have been more than 13,000 cases and at least 27 deaths from swine flu, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the move would not change how the U.S. tackled swine flu.
“Our actions in the past month have been as if there was a pandemic in this country,” Glen Nowak, a CDC spokesman, said Thursday.
The U.S. government has already taken steps like increasing availability of flu-fighting medicines and authorizing $1 billion for the development of a new vaccine against the novel virus. In addition, new cases seem to be declining in many parts of the country, U.S. health officials say, as North America moves out of its traditional winter flu season.
Still, New York City reported three more swine flu deaths Thursday, including one child under 2.
In Mexico, where the epidemic was first detected, the outbreak peaked in April. Mexico now has less than 30 cases reported a day, down from an average of 300, Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova told The Associated Press. Mexico has confirmed 6,337 cases, including 108 deaths.
Cordova said he is concerned that other countries are not taking drastic measures to stop its spread like Mexico, which closed schools, restaurants, theaters, and canceled public events after the government detected the epidemic in late April.
Many experts said the declaration of a pandemic did not mean the virus was getting deadlier.
“People might imagine a virus is now going to rush in and kill everyone,” said John Oxford, a professor of virology at St. Bart’s and Royal London Hospital. “That’s not going to happen.”
But Oxford said the swine flu virus might evolve into a more dangerous strain in the future. “That is always a possibility with influenza viruses,” he said. “We have to watch very carefully to see what this virus does.”
Via Yahoo
Rico Blanco, Raimund Marasigan and Aia de Leon: ‘Boto Mo iPatrol Mo!’ (BMPM)
June 11, 2009 by cd · 62 Comments
Three of the country’s most popular rock vocalists are joining forces with ABS-CBN’s “Boto Mo, iPatrol Mo: Ako ang Simula” movement to urge Filipinos to participate more actively in preparations for the 2010 Presidential Elections.
ABS-CBN is One of the 15 Firms Cited for Good Corporate Governance
May 25, 2009 by cd · 227 Comments
ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation is the only multimedia company to be included in the list of 2008 Top Performing Companies in terms of Corporate Governance in the 4th Corporate Governance (CG) Scorecard Project by the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD).
Are You Ready for the Vicki Belo - Hayden Kho Sex Video Scandal?
May 23, 2009 by cd · 52 Comments
The famous cosmetic surgeon Vicki Belo confirmed the rumors that there is indeed a Vicki-Hayden sex video.
Kris Allen - The Dark Horse Idol
May 21, 2009 by cd · 13 Comments
Even during auditions, Kris Allen wasn’t sure that he’s going to be the next American Idol. He’s accustomed to Simon’s criticism that he doesn’t have the best vocals this season. But his originality brought him to the top beating “better” singers like Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey.
Brangelina to Adopt a Pinoy Kid?
April 14, 2009 by cd · 31 Comments
The world’s most popular couple, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, are setting their sights on the Philippines as they plan baby number seven.
Two Men Catch Falling Baby
March 31, 2009 by cd · 3 Comments
Check out this amazing true story from Boston.com by Brian R. Ballou and Martin Finucane:
Two men were praised as heroes today after they caught an 18-month-old baby girl who plummeted at least 30 feet from the window of a triple-decker apartment building in Lawrence.
Alex Day, 23, of Lawrence joined Robert Lemire, 45, of Methuen in catching the baby as she hurtled towards the earth Sunday night.
“She looked at me and had a weird look on her face as if to say, ‘Wow, all of a sudden I’m down here,’ ” Day recalled in an interview today. He said he rushed the baby back upstairs to her home. On the stairs, he said, the baby actually started chuckling.
Lemire said he was walking down Haverhill Street at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, talking to a friend on his cellphone about softball practice, when he saw some toys falling out of the window of a three-decker.
“Next thing you know, I hear a baby cry, so I automatically looked there and there was a baby hanging out the window,” he said. “So I pretty much bolted across the street.”
Lemire opened the door of the house on Haverhill Street, yelled for help, then returned underneath the window and tried to call 911. Day, who had been in a Bible study session on the first floor, joined him and Lemire soon warned him, “Here she comes.”
The baby fell through the air and when she landed, “he pretty much got the top and I got the diaper end, or the bottom half, or whatever you call it,” Lemire said.
Lemire, a home remodeling contractor who is married with two children, 13 and 16, said, “I was nervous as heck, thinking of my own kids.”
Day, a trucking manager, said it was fortunate that he had started going back to the gym so he could help catch the baby, who weighed about 30 pounds.
He saw divine intervention at work in the baby’s rescue. “Yeah, I think God had a lot to do with this,” said Day. “Definitely, by God.”
Caliah Clark was taken to a hospital. but is expected to be OK. The two rescuers were “real heroes,” Police Chief John Romero said. The Department of Social Services was notified and was expected to investigate.
The child’s father, Randall Clark, said he was watching a 2-month-old baby in another room when the incident occurred, Romero said.
Romero said there was no child guard on the window.
“There are a number of things we are doing to investigate on our end,” he said. “At this point, we are investigating to determine what led up to this incident.”
Officials said the baby had fallen 40 feet, but Lemire said that was incorrect.
The fall was 28 feet, perhaps 30, he said. “Like I said, I’m a remodeling contractor so I’m pretty good at the heights.”
“I didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl. I was just happy we were lucky enough to catch her,” he said.
Source: Boston.com
RP Sets Guiness World Record for March vs Drug Abuse
March 24, 2009 by cd · 38 Comments
It’s official! The Philippines made it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the first nation to hold the biggest march against illegal drugs.
