1. Swine flu cases top 1,000
By: AFP
Published: 4/05/2009 at 11:56 PM
The number of swine flu victims topped the 1,000 mark on Monday as the UN's most senior health official warned that a second wave of the virus could be far worse.
Mexico raised its confirmed swine flu toll to 26 deaths on Monday, but said the epidemic appeared to be slow
ing. The previous toll, given late Sunday, was 22 dead and 568 infected.
The sense of alarm however grew in Britain when it emerged that another seven people who had not been to Mexico had the virus.
World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan told UN officials in New York that despite the continued spread it was not yet time to declare a pandemic.
"There are now 1,003 confirmed cases of H1N1 in 20 countries. We don't know how long we have till we move to phase six. Six indicates we are in a pandemic. We are not there yet."
Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the epidemic, which has left the tourism industry on its knees, had been contained as officials pledged to re-open businesses this week and get the country up and running again.
"We have been able to hold or at least reduce the rate of propagation of the virus to contain the epidemic," he said.
Authorities in Mexico City said restaurants would reopen on Wednesday and museums and religious centres the following day. Nightclubs, cinemas and theatres would remain closed until further notice.
Experts, however, cautioned the virus was far from defeated and could yet return with "a vengeance".
Chan said the end of the flu season in the northern hemisphere meant that while any initial outbreak could be milder, a second wave could be more lethal, reflecting a pattern seen with the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic that killed up to 50 million people.
Its re-emergence "would be the biggest of all outbreaks the world has faced in the 21st century", she told the Financial Times.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon echoed appeals for caution, saying at the UN talks: "There is still much that is not known about this new strain and the dangers it poses.
"We should not allow intense media coverage to alarm us. At the same time, we should avoid a false sense of security if such coverage declines.
"In the face of uncertainty, we must be vigilant."
Such vigilance was in evidence in Britain, where health officials announced nine new cases, including seven people who had not travelled to Mexico.
A school attended by five of the victims in Dulwich, London, became the fourth in Britain to be closed to prevent more infections.
Diplomatic damage from the epidemic also reverberated with China denying it had discriminated against Mexican nationals after dozens were placed under quarantine over the weekend despite showing no signs of the flu.
More countries are confirming cases every day with Portugal the latest to join the list, while France announced two new confirmed cases as did Italy, doubling its previous caseload.
Japan tripled the number of quarantine officers at Tokyo's Narita airport to try to detect cases at the start of a holiday week.
In the United States, the only other country to have recorded a death from the virus, officials said 36 of the 50 states had now confirmed cases.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius agreed the real test would come when the winter flu season hits.
"Even if this current situation seems to be lessening, if we are cautiously optimistic, we really don't know what's going to happen when real flu season hits (together) with H1N1 virus," she told CBS television.
In China, centre of the 2003 SARS outbreak, authorities have been accused of disc
riminating against Mexicans in a bid to keep out the virus.
Although no case of swine flu has been reported on mainland China, one Mexican who stayed in a hotel in Hong Kong has tested positive.
A Mexican embassy official in Beijing said nearly 70 Mexicans had been quarantined across China including in Beijing, Shanghai and the southern city of Guangzhou even though they had no flu symptoms.
Some 250 recruits and personnel at an army camp in the western Swiss canton of Fribourg were also placed under quarantine after two recruits were suspected of contracting the virus.
Egypt pushed ahead with a mass slaughter of the country's quarter of a million pigs, a day after clashes erupted with protesting pig farmers.
Swine Flu news from Aidsmap website
2. Health authorities in the United States have issued guidance concerning swine flu and people with HIV.
By Michael Carter,
Published: Friday, May 01, 2009
Swine flu and HIV: guidance issued by US health authorities
On April 30th, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published information on what is currently known about the symptoms of swine flu, along with recommendations concerning its treatment and prevention.
Because there are limited data on swine flu, some of the guidance is based upon what is known about seasonal outbreaks of flu in people with HIV.
Cases of swine flu (influenza A H1N1) in humans were first identified in April 2009. Much is still uncertain about the epidemiology of the infection and its clinical course.
There is not currently enough information to say which groups of patients will be at greater risk of complications caused by swine flu. However, it is known that people with HIV, especially those with a low CD4 cell count, have an increased risk of lower respiratory tract infections caused by both viruses and bacteria, or recurrent chest infections, as a consequence of seasonal flu.
Some studies examining the impact of annual winter outbreaks of flu on people with HIV have found that rates of hospitalisation are increased, that flu symptoms last for longer, and that there is increased mortality.
Although information from these studies is limited, the CDC is cautioning that it is “possible” that individuals with HIV, especially patients with a low CD4 cell count, may have a “higher risk for swine-origin influenza complications”.
However, in some patients with HIV, especially those with a low CD4 cell count, the infection may progress more rapidly, and could be more likely to be complicated by secondary bacterial infections, for example pneumonia.
HIV-positive individuals in whom infection with swine flu is suspected should have appropriate laboratory tests to diagnose the infection.
It is recommended that “persons with HIV infection should remain vigilant for the signs and symptoms of influenza”. Patients who develop symptoms, or who come into contact with individuals who have confirmed, probable, or suspected cases of the infection, are recommended to consult their doctor “for evaluation and for possible anti-influenza treatment or prophylaxis”.
My collected information about the Swine Flu
From wikipedia
According to the article from Wikipedia website, “2009 outbreak in humans”.
On May 2, 2009, H1N1 was reported in pigs at a farm in Alberta, Canada, with a link to the 2009 swine flu outbreak in Mexico. The pigs are suspected to have caught this new strain of virus from a farm worker who recently returned from Mexico, then showed symptoms of an influenza-like illness. These are probable cases, pending confirmation by laboratory testing. As of May 3, 2009, the new strain has not been reported in pigs in the UK.
Swine Flu or the complete name of “Swine Influenza”, this virus usually infects in pig commonly in 
Mexico as the initial place where the infection occurred.
Actually this type of virus has had its own identity in laboratory test as the other type of influenza. It is rarely able to transmit or infect from pig to human. But the possible rate of transmission has been slightly increased since the mid-20th Century.The risk group is a people or farmer who usually work with pigs. And it seldom transmits from human to human. But if the infection is occurred, in human the symptoms are similar to the normal influenza illness- chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.
For a couple weeks ago, World Health Organization declared about the evolution of this type of influenza virus that virus has mutated and become outbreak due to its new combination between three viruses. It has mutated from the developed combination which including one strain endemic in humans, one endemic in birds, and two endemic in swine. Finally it became a new type of virus H1N1.
My own experience
In Thailand, I had ever seen the panic like this since the situation of SARS and Bird Flu. It was very frightening when I was ordered to stay at home due to the de
claration of government that suggested people to avoid being in crowded place.
That mean the cinema and department store weren’t allowed of us to go by our parents. Once I had ever travelled to Hong Kong while the SARS was massively spreading in Asian region. I saw a lot of temperature test which were both of portable type and a big machine that were used by the officers in the Airport.
It has been stuck in my memory when I saw one Thai traveller was ordered to check his health because of his over temperature at the Airport. Actually he was the passenger of the same flight with me. Finally I had a chance to meet and talk to him again at the at the Hong Kong airport on the flight back. He was fine. And he told us that his five days trip had been limited by checking health checking at the Hong Kong hospital for two days.
It was very terrible if he got a SARS virus. Actually there were more than twenty people per day that were leaded to have a checking at Hong Kong Hospital. And the officer told my family that it was a normal situation for that period and asked us for coming again. Sometimes I thought it was a bad joke of the officer because I was quite not sure and confused about how bad the situation was occuring in that time.
After that the followed panic had come. It was a Bird Flu crisis. Government and the Department of Livestock had killed a large number of chicken and bird. In order to know and evaluate information, I read 
newspaper everyday in that time.
Bird Flu or Bird Influenza-H5N1 initially happened and infected among the group of immigrated bird from China. In Thailand, it infects and transmits from the immigrated bird in winter to the chicken in farm.
It caused a down turn of the chicken and egg consumption. The panic happened by citizen that had absorbed the news of there was an infected patient and a number had slightly increased.
But the patients who got the H5N1 virus were only in a group of people who worked and had touching with bird or chicken. And after the poor and down turn of chicken and egg consumption had occurred, it leaded a popular campaign of safe guarantee with chicken and egg consumption.
We would be safe if we did a well of properly cooked chicken and egg. Virus would be killed by heat as an ordinary cooking. That mean it was unnecessary to be panic anymore.
And the panics in both of SARS and Bird Flu have been almost disappeared since we know how to prevent the risk and take care of our health. And the rate of infected patient seldom happens at all.
But the Swine Flu is different from both of SARS and Bird Flu due to it ability of rapid mutation and cross infection both from animal to human and from human to human.
Because the Swine Flu now mutates to combine itself to other type of virus as it initial occuring from combination of 3 types of influenza viruses.
Especially if it is going to combine itself with the HIV virus, this would be a new crisis of our world.
My Conclusion about the Swine Flu Evolution.
This crisis of Swine Flu has leaded a terrible impact in all around the world. It is harming to the pork price in market. World citizen are being in panic of this new type of virus due to a rapid increasing rate of victims.
A couple weeks ago, the swine flu has damaged to many parts of market price of pork consumption and hit on a pig farm business due to a latest mutation of virus that can infect from animal to human and finally from human to human. Many countries have processed the preventive measure of killing a pig in farm especially in Egypt that destroyed more than million of pigs at only one time on several days ago. But the latest report from US health authorities is the Swine Flu has mutated to adapt itself with HIV. It means HIV patients could be more easily infected and developed the virus in their body due to their weak immune system.
This makes a horrible impact to the country where get a high rate of HIV infected patient. Including Thailand, if the Swine Flu virus could perfectly mutated to combine with HIV. It will never be similar to SARS and Bird Flu anymore. It will be a new type of virus that is stronger and more difficult to fight with.
By these reasons, even the Swine Flu has still not reached to Thailand yet. But the international damages have stepped over the crisis of pork price in market and pig farm already. But now the mutation between HIV and Swine Flu will be the new crisis of the world history. It's going to be the new bio-diaster of all world citizen if we don't have any more efficiency and stronger preventive measure to fight with this virus yet.
