Word: flu
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There is a way to get around this, by using adjuvants - chemicals added to a vaccine that boost the immune system's response. That could stretch the world's capacity to more than 2 billion doses. But the U.S. has never licensed an adjuvated flu vaccine, which could delay approval in America. And while Europe doesn't have that problem, if Washington demands pure vaccine from its suppliers, that would affect supply for the rest of the world. For now, adjuvants are seen in the U.S. as a last resort. "Adjuvant use would be contingent upon showing that...
Regardless, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services doesn't expect to receive its first vaccines until mid-October, when flu season is already under way, so additional measures will need to be taken to control H1N1/09. In New York, by far the hardest-hit city in the U.S., plans include setting aside space in hospitals and clinics to screen potential flu victims before they flood emergency rooms. During the initial weeks of the spring outbreak, legions of the "worried well" - those who mistakenly thought they had swine flu - overwhelmed New York hospitals, leaving fewer resources for the truly...
...Britain, the hardest-hit country in Europe, the government's chief medical officer caused a brief stir last week when he said that the National Health Service was preparing for a worst-case scenario of 65,000 deaths from the flu next winter. To prevent hospital overcrowding, the NHS is planning to allow people who think they might have swine flu to call a telephone line and answer a few questions; those whose answers indicate they might have it will be allowed to receive the antiviral Tamiflu or have a "flu friend" pick it up for them. (The system...
...simple fact that flu cases are still being recorded in the U.S. this summer, during a time when the virus should be virtually dormant, is a sign that things will get worse once the weather cools. The question is whether or not we'll be ready. "We're taking this virus very seriously, and I think it's important for the public to be thinking ahead," says Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This virus is not going away...
...pictures of the thermal scanners that look for swine flu...