CDC Lags Behind CNN

CNN is already reporting that health officials in North Carolina and Pennsylvania have confirmed the first cases of swine flu. Plus, Louisiana's governor said his state had seven confirmed cases of swine flu. These have not shown up on the CDC chart which was last updated today at 11 am Eastern.

Gregory Hartl, the WHO spokesman for epidemic and pandemic diseases, made this these comments in a briefing today (quotes appeared on CNN): "I ... would like to remind people that in 1918 the Spanish flu showed a surge in the spring, and then disappeared in the summer months, only to return in the autumn of 1918 with a vengeance... And we know that that eventually killed 40 million to 50 million people." Image source: CNN

Are Computers Helping Patients Self-Manage Their Diseases?

Most patients these days have a household computer. In fact, they may have two or three computers at home. However, do they use it for their health? Are computers making a difference in the way patients manage their chronic conditions?

Read about this interesting topic here: Health and Computers

Global Hysteria?

I've been writing about swine flu for several days and I wish to make one thing very clear: It is not my intent to increase national or global hysteria about swine flu. However, I want people to be aware of the POSSIBILITIES that may be associated with a true pandemic (which is another way of saying global epidemic).

Right now, we haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg. We're only seeing a tiny ice cube floating on the ocean. If things stay that way, then we have nothing to worry about. However, if things erupt around the world, then we'll see a massive iceberg come out of the sea.

I've been following swine flu on CNN and the latest is that there are 787 global cases of confirmed H1N1 and places like South Korea are sanitizing airports after a single identified case.

Meanwhile, the CDC is tracking the number of cases in each state. As of May 3, there are 226 cases. This means that almost 1/3 of the confirmed cases are in the USA. Why is that a big deal? Because people from all over the world travel to and from the USA. We are a major international travel hub. As the summer approaches, we will see a rise of tourists and other travelers. New York now has 63 confirmed cases. Yesterday, NY had 50. If there's one US city that attracts international tourists, it's NYC. We're already in May and schools are about to enter summer break. College students will be traveling home. We're about to see a major surge in domestic travel as well.

Anthrax was a scare, but it isn't transmitted as easily as the flu. SARS was a really big scare (especially because I knew friends living in Hong Kong), but Hong Kong isn't the type of major international travel hub like the USA.

Here in the U.S., we have a large supply of anti-viral therapies like Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and Relenza (zanamivir). Do other countries have the supply like we do? How much do these anti-viral therapies impact the course of the disease? It's probably too early to know the answer to that question. However, it may not be unreasonable to think that anti-viral therapy may be one of the reasons why mortality in the U.S. hasn't been as high as Mexico (but I don't have any scientific evidence to support that statement).

Swine Flu Discussions on Sermo

I've been following some of the swine flu discussions on Sermo. It's always interesting to hear what physicians have to say about these types of public health events. Since Sermo physicians are only US-based physicians, we don't get a global perspective. I'd really like to know what physicians in other countries are saying right now about swine flu. My guess is that they're telling all their patients to avoid travel to the U.S.

On Sermo, you'll find something called the "Sermo Swine Influenza Central." You have to be a US-based physician to join Sermo, but since it's free to join, why don't you?