WASHINGTON, Oct 24, (AFP): President Barack Obama has declared swine flu a “national emergency,” the White House said Saturday, as the United States reels from millions of cases of infection and over 1,000 deaths. The emergency declaration, signed by the president late Friday, enhances the ability of medical treatment facilities to handle a spike in influenza A(H1N1) patients by allowing medical officials to temporarily bypass certain federal requirements. “The 2009 H1N1 pandemic continues to evolve,” Obama said in the declaration. “The rates of illness continue to rise rapidly within many communities across the nation, and the potential exists for the pandemic to overburden health care resources in some localities.”

The declaration comes just days after Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius warned that demand was outstripping supply of vaccine for the novel flu strain. As Americans waited for more shipments of vaccine, 46 of the 50 states now report widespread swine flu activity — an unusually early uptick that ordinarily takes place in January or February at the peak of a normal flu season. “By rapidly identifying the virus, implementing public health measures, providing guidance for health professionals and the general public, and developing an effective vaccine, we have taken proactive steps to reduce the impact of the pandemic and protect the health of our citizens,” Obama said.

In a note to Congress, Obama said the move was implemented “in order to be prepared in the event of a rapid increase in illness across the nation that may overburden health care resources.” The declaration, he explained, will allow health officials “to temporarily waive certain standard federal requirements in order to enable US health care facilities to implement emergency operations plans to deal with the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States.” At least 4,999 people have died from swine flu infections worldwide since April, when an outbreak was first reported in Mexico before rapidly spreading to the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
In the United States, Sebelius first declared a public health emergency in response to the virus on April 26, and renewed that declaration on July 24 and Oct 1.

“We are nowhere near where we thought we’d be by now,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) chief Thomas Frieden said Friday of the amount of vaccine available. Because of the vaccine shortage, the state of New York on Friday suspended a contentious requirement for health care workers to be inoculated against swine flu by the end of next month, or risk losing their jobs. As of Friday, the CDC had 16.1 million doses of swine flu vaccine ready for shipping, and more than 11 million doses have been sent out to state health authorities. Around half of those were nasal mist, which can only be administered to healthy people between the ages of two and 49, and excludes those individuals particularly at risk of infection — pregnant women, people with chronic respiratory illness like asthma and very young children. Earlier this week, Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius confirmed that demand was outstripping supplies of the vaccine.

The shortfall was evident at a clinic in a Washington suburb on Wednesday, where several thousand people showed up in the hope of getting one of 200 injectable vaccines or 1,200 nasal spray doses. Because of the vaccine shortage, the state of New York on Friday suspended a contentious requirement for health care workers to be inoculated against swine flu by the end of next month, or risk losing their jobs. State Health Commissioner Richard Daines “has suspended the mandatory influenza immunization requirement for New York health care workers so that the limited vaccine supplies can be used for populations most at risk of serious illness and death,” Governor David Paterson said in a statement. The suspension was ordered because state officials had learned they would receive less than a quarter of the amount of vaccine they had been banking on distributing this month. As of Friday, the CDC had 16.1 million doses of swine flu vaccine ready for shipping, and more than 11 million doses have been sent out to state health authorities, said Frieden.

Spreading
Swine flu is spreading faster and claiming new fatalities in Europe, health officials said Friday, as the global death toll from the virus rose to nearly 5,000 victims. Since the A(H1N1) virus was uncovered in April, there have been over 4,735 deaths reported to the World Health Organisation as of a week ago, the WHO said. Most of the fatal cases — 3,539 — have been recorded in North and South America, the UN health agency said in its latest update on the flu pandemic. But with the winter flu season approaching in the northern hemisphere, swine flu deaths were reported in several European countries this week, with Dutch health officials saying the situation has reached an epidemic level. “The spread of the A(H1N1) virus in the Netherlands accelerated this week. It is now a small epidemic,” said the Dutch institute for health and the environment in a statement.

“Around 10 people infected with the virus were admitted daily to hospitals this week,” it said. A 14-year-old girl became the first otherwise healthy person to die from the virus, bringing to six the number of swine flu deaths so far in the Netherlands. In Britain, the worst hit country in Europe, new swine flu cases nearly doubled in a week, from 27,000 to 53,000, and the number of deaths now total 128, according to updated figures released this week. New deaths from the virus were also reported in Germany, its third fatality, and for the first time in the Czech Republic.

The Czech health ministry confirmed Friday that a 31-year-old woman who had the A(H1N1) virus, and also suffered from heart problems, was the country’s first fatality linked to swine flu. The Czech Republic is the 18th country in the European Union to report at least one death from swine flu, according to a top health official, Michael Vit. “The situation is under control. We have been one of the countries relatively spared, but the virus is spreading around Europe and is found among the population,” he added. Many of the 27 EU member states have begun or are set to start vaccination programmes. Greece announced Friday the first phase of its vaccination campaign will start in the middle of next month, Greece’s ANA news agency reported.

The first group to be vaccinated from November 10-25 will consist of people with chronic illnesses, pregnant women, people working in hospitals and those in charge of children less than than six months old, ANA said. British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) said Friday that, to date, more than 150,000 people have received its vaccine, Pandemrix, as part of government initiated vaccination programmes across Europe which started last week. Turkey reported its first swine flu death on Saturday, with the health ministry saying the (A)H1N1 virus had claimed the life of a 29-year-old. The patient, first diagnosed with pneumonia, had been under treatment in an Ankara hospital and died of a suddenly developed respiratory failure, a ministry statement said. Subsequent tests established the patient carried the A(H1N1) virus, it said, adding: “This case ... is the first person that we have lost in our country because of pandemic A(H1N1).”

The number of swine flu cases in Turkey stood at 958 on Saturday, the health ministry said, renewing appeals on citizens for strict precautions against the desease. Swine flu outbreaks forced the authorities this months to shut down schools in the capital Ankara and the southeastern city of Diyarbakir. Turkey received the first batch of swine flu vaccinations on Monday and the health ministry said it would do random tests on the 500,000 doses received before distributing them for use. The country plans to buy 43 million doses and vaccinate 28 million people, officials said. The vaccinations will start with medical workers and continue with people from at-risk groups, including pregnant women, young children and those who suffer from diabetes, heart conditions and immuno-deficiency diseases.