America's North Shore Journal

New York State follows the example of the CDC and its reporting is at least a week behind at any given time. In the week ending November 7 2009, flu activity continued to explode in upstate New York.

As of 8 November 2009, worldwide more than 206 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including over 6250 deaths.

The CDC continues to release data on Fridays for the previous week. The data in this report is for the week ending November 7 and was released November 13, 2009.

Don’t miss my television interview on the Time Warner local new channel, YNN. I was asked to counterpoint the county medical society president.

Swine Flu is caused by one of the hundreds of influenza viruses that exist in nature. At this time there is no cure for any form of influenza. It can be treated in a number of ways that may shorten the length of the illness or reduce its severity.

Swine flu, pandemic H1N1, is spreading once again in the United States and the Northern Hemisphere. It continues to be infecting young people under the age of 24 in the highest numbers, closing schools and forcing cancellation of various events.

A comparison of the current swine flu outbreak to the annual seasonal flu shows many similarities and a few important differences. The many strains of the influenza virus produce the same symptoms and the same effects, as a general rule, but certain strains such as Swine Flu do behave slightly differently.

The symptoms of swine flu are very similar to those of seasonal flu. The different strains of influenza seem to affect people in pretty much the same ways.