Word: flu
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Since the new flu virus was officially declared a pandemic on June 11, the disease has spread faster in six weeks than past pandemics had spread in six months. Virtually every nation in the world has been infected, with the U.S. alone - which has 263 confirmed deaths, more than any other country - estimated to have logged more than 1 million cases. Although the good news is that most H1N1/09 illnesses have been extremely mild, the rapidity of its spread - and the fact that young people seem to be especially vulnerable - still worries global health officials. "We don't know...
...real test will come in the fall, however, when the Northern Hemisphere's flu season returns with a vengeance. (Southern Hemisphere nations are currently in the early weeks of their flu season, and H1N1/09 has caused real trouble in Argentina, which has more than 130 confirmed deaths - second only to the U.S.) There is always a chance that the virus could become more virulent when it returns in the fall - just as the deadly 1918 pandemic did. Key to the world's defense against the flu will be an effective vaccine, and vaccine companies have been gearing up to produce...
...vaccinemakers have already reported problems; the amount of antigen, the active ingredient in vaccine, reaped from each batch is only about 25% to 50% of the norm for seasonal flu vaccine. That means it will take longer to manufacture H1N1/09 vaccine - and since very few people have immunity to this flu strain, people may need two shots, which means annual global capacity would drop to a little more than 400 million doses...
...bigger than Malaysia's and Thailand's combined. Hong Kong, a major consumer, imported nests worth $276 million last year, up from $204 million in 2006, according to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. (See pictures of how Indonesia is complicating efforts to control the outbreaks of avian flu...
...think it is a good idea.' DR. RICHARD JARVIS, chairman of the British Medical Association's public-health committee, on reports that Britons are hosting "swine-flu parties" in an attempt to build immunity to the virus...