I have received several questions about my assertion that the northern hemisphere is safe, at least until the fall, from an epidemic of A/California/09/2009 influenza virus. Here are two representative questions: If I recall correctly, Spanish flu hit hardest during the summer and fall. As for the swine flu, is it impossible (and why?) to …
Swine influenza, seasonality, and the northern hemisphere Read More »
A novel strain of H1N1 swine influenza virus has now also been isolated from cases of respiratory disease in Mexico City, New York City, and two locations in Canada. Clearly I was wrong in hypothesizing that the five mild cases in Texas and California reported last week were not a cause for alarm. In Mexico …
A new strain of swine influenza virus has been recently isolated from seven persons in the US. Is it time to break out the swine flu vaccine of 1976? Last week the CDC reported that swine influenza virus had been isolated from two children with respiratory illness in California. The cases were not linked and …
The death of a dozen pigs from swine influenza last week in the Philippines reminded me of an incident at Fort Dix, NJ in 1976. The infection of humans with a strain of swine influenza lead to a nationwide immunization campaign to curb a pandemic that never occurred. An explosive outbreak of febrile respiratory disease raced …
