Archive for October 31st, 2009

H1N1 spreads in U.S., Lack of vaccines

CDC said on Friday, H1N1 spreading even as supply of vaccine grows, “more vaccines needed while which is impossible.” an CDC official said.

As the new H1N1 flu virus keeps spreading, more vaccine is available to fight it, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

h1n1 vaccine

Forty-eight states are reporting widespread flu activity, two more than a week ago, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden said at the CDC’s weekly briefing.

There have been 114 pediatric deaths since April, when the H1N1 virus first emerged, with 19 reported to the CDC in the past week, he said.

Frieden also told reporters on Friday that in the past two months, more people younger than 65 have been hospitalized than would be expected in a full season of more common strains of flu.

He urged people with underlying illnesses who exhibit flu symptoms to seek medical attention promptly, saying that only half of the people in this high-risk group appear to be doing so.

To prevent getting H1N1, health officials continue to urge vaccination, and that might be becoming easier, Frieden said.

The CDC had hoped to have 40 million doses of vaccine by the end of October, but H1N1 vaccine – manufacturing delays forced them to revise that number down to 28 million.

The experts met Wednesday to review the current status of the H1N1 pandemic vaccines, including the results of clinical trials.

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Afghan election talks failure

CNN News: Talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his election opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, have broken down, a Western source close to the Afghan leadership told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Friday.

According to the source, Abdullah will likely announce this weekend that he will boycott the runoff presidential election slated for November 7, a runoff that had been scheduled after intense diplomatic arm twisting by the United States.

In a Thursday interview with Amanpour, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad had predicted that the country would soon be governed under a power-sharing deal.

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