Saturday, September 26, 2009

Important CDC update regarding H1N! received by email

I have not posted much from these updates lately because I felt it was quieting down some...well I was wrong and here is the latest email that got my attention..

please take the time to read this!!!




Key Flu Indicators

Each week CDC analyzes information about influenza disease activity in the United States and publishes findings of key flu indicators in a report called FluView. During the week of September 13-19, 2009, a review of the key indicators found that influenza activity continued to increase in the United States compared to the prior weeks. Below is a summary of the most recent key indicators:

* Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) are increasing nationally. Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness are higher than what is expected during this time of year and have increased for six consecutive weeks now. This is very unusual for this time of year.
* Total influenza hospitalization rates for adults and children are similar to or lower than seasonal influenza hospitalization rates depending on age group, but are higher than expected for this time of year.
* The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report was low and within the bounds of what is expected at this time of year. However, 49 pediatric deaths related to 2009 H1N1 flu have been reported to CDC since April 2009, including three deaths reported this week.
* Twenty-six states are reporting widespread influenza activity at this time. They are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington. Any reports of widespread influenza activity in September are very unusual.
* Almost all of the influenza viruses identified so far are 2009 H1N1 influenza A viruses. These viruses remain similar to the viruses chosen for the 2009 H1N1 vaccine, and remain susceptible to the antiviral drugs oseltamivir and zanamivir with rare exception.

Learn more >>

U.S. Situation Update

Weekly Flu Activity Estimates



U.S. Patient Visits Reported for Influenza-like Illness (ILI)

U.S. Influenza-like Illness (ILI) Reported by Regions
U.S. Influenza and Pneumonia-Associated Hospitalizations
and Deaths from August 30 – September 19, 2009
Posted September 25, 2009, 11:00 AM ET
Data reported to CDC by September 22, 2009, 12:00 AM ET
Cases Defined by

Hospitalizations

Deaths
Influenza and Pneumonia Syndrome* 8,392 822
Influenza Laboratory-Tests** 690 114
Totals: 10,082 936

*Reports can be based on syndromic, admission or discharge data, or a combination of data elements that could include laboratory-confirmed and influenza-like illness hospitalizations.

**Laboratory confirmation includes any positive influenza test (rapid influenza tests, RT-PCR, DFA, IFA, or culture), whether or not typing was done.

This table is based on data from a new influenza and pneumonia hospitalizations and deaths web-based reporting system that will be used to monitor trends in activity. This is the third week of data from this new system. The table shows aggregate reports of all influenza and pneumonia-associated hospitalizations and deaths (including 2009 H1N1 and seasonal flu) since August 30, 2009 received by CDC from U.S. states and territories. This table will be updated weekly each Friday at 11 a.m. For the influenza season, states are reporting based on new case definitions for hospitalizations and deaths effective August 30, 2009.

CDC will continue to use its traditional surveillance systems to track the progress of the influenza season. For more information about influenza surveillance, including reporting of influenza-associated hospitalizations and deaths, see Questions and Answers: Monitoring Influenza Activity, Including 2009 H1N1.

The number of 2009 H1N1 hospitalizations and deaths reported to CDC from April – August 2009 is available on the Past Situation Updates page.

For state level information, refer to state health departments.

International Human Cases of 2009 H1N1 Flu Infection
See: World Health Organization.

For more information about the U.S. situation, see the CDC H1N1 Flu U.S. Situation Update page.

International Situation Update

This report provides an update to the international situation as of September 25, 2009. As of September 20, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) regions have reported at least 318,925 laboratory-confirmed cases of 2009 H1N1 with more than 3,917 deaths, which is an increase of at least 22,454 cases and more than 431 deaths since September 13th. The laboratory-confirmed cases represent a substantial underestimation of total cases in the world, as many countries focus surveillance and laboratory testing only on people with severe illness. The 2009 H1N1 influenza virus continues to be the dominant influenza virus in circulation in the world. From April 19 to September 12, 2009, 60.6% of influenza specimens reported to WHO were 2009 H1N1 viruses. In temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere, disease due to 2009 H1N1 is largely declining. In tropical regions, there is still substantial disease due to 2009 H1N1. In temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, there is increased influenza like illness (ILI) activity due to 2009 H1N1, including in most of the United States, parts of Mexico and some countries in Europe.

For more information about the international situation, see the CDC H1N1 Flu International Situation Update page.

CDC Launches H1N1 Flu Mobile Texting Pilot

Get info on H1N1 flu & more. Text 'Health' to 87000. www.flu.gov Sign up now to have important CDC information about H1N1 flu and other topics delivered directly to your mobile phone! In September 2009, CDC launched a three-month text messaging campaign pilot to share important, timely health information directly to users.

To subscribe to the pilot, text HEALTH to 87000. Subscribers can expect to receive about three health messages a week during the three-month pilot. Standard text messaging rates will apply. For more information about the pilot, visit http://www.cdc.gov/mobile.

Recent Updates of Interest

* Flyer: 2009 H1N1 and Seasonal Flu: What To Do If You Get Sick (PDF)
* UPDATE: Brochure: CDC Says “Take 3” Steps To Fight The Flu (PDF)
* Weekly FluView Map and Surveillance Report for Week Ending September 19, 2009
During week 37 (September 13-19, 2009), influenza activity remained stable in the United States; however, there were still higher levels of influenza-like illness than is normal for this time of year.
* Questions and Answers: Use of Antiviral Medicines for the Treatment and Prevention of Flu among Pregnant Women for the 2009–2010 Season
Pregnant women who are healthy have had severe illness from the 2009 H1N1 flu (also called “swine flu”). Compared with people in general, pregnant women with 2009 H1N1 flu have been more likely to be admitted to hospitals. Some pregnant women have died. For this reason, CDC advises doctors to give antiviral medicines that treat 2009 H1N1 flu to pregnant women who have symptoms of flu.
* 2009 H1N1 Flu: International Situation Update
This report provides an update to the international situation as of September 25, 2009. As of September 22, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) regions have reported more than 318,925 laboratory-confirmed cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza virus (2009 H1N1) with at least 3,917 deaths.
* U.S. Influenza and Pneumonia-Associated Hospitalizations and Deaths from September 13-19, 2009
As of 11:00 AM ET on September 25, 2009, CDC is reporting 10,082 hospitalizations and 936 deaths. This is the third week of data from this new system. This reports all influenza and pneumonia-associated hospitalizations and deaths (including 2009 H1N1 and seasonal flu) since August 30, 2009 received by CDC from U.S. states and territories.
* Update: Translations for Action Steps for Parents if School is Dismissed or Children are Sick and Must Stay Home
Arabic, French, and Russian translations added.
* Update: Translations for Preparing for the Flu: A Communication Toolkit for Institutions of Higher Education
Arabic, French, and Russian translations added for "STOP! Do You Feel Sick?" poster.
* Update: Translations for Emergency Use Authorization of Tamiflu (oseltamivir)
Arabic, French, and Russian translations added for Fact sheet for patients and parents.
* Update: Translations for Action Steps for Parents to Protect Your Child and Family from the Flu this School Year
Arabic, French, and Russian translations added.
* Update: Translations for Action Steps for Parents of Children at High Risk for Flu Complications
Arabic, French, and Russian translations added.
* UPDATE Translations for School-Located Vaccination Planning Materials and Templates
Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Russian, and Vietnamese translations added.
* H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu): Preparedness Tools for Professionals
This page provides resources to help hospital administrators and state and local health officials respond to the H1N1 flu pandemic.
* Update: Questions & Answers: Antiviral Drugs, Flu Season
On September 22, 2009 CDC updated its recommendations for the use of influenza antiviral medicines to provide additional guidance for clinicians in prescribing antiviral medicines for treatment and prevention (chemoprophylaxis) of influenza during the flu season. These recommendations are intended to help clinicians prioritize use of antiviral drugs for treatment and prevention of influenza.
* CDC Launches H1N1 Flu Mobile Texting Pilot
Sign up now to have important CDC information about H1N1 flu and other topics delivered directly to your mobile phone! In September 2009, CDC launched a three-month text messaging campaign pilot to share important, timely health information directly to users.
* Brochure: "2009 H1N1 Flu and You"
How does 2009 H1N1 flu spread? How long can a sick person spread 2009 H1N1 flu to others? How severe is illness associated with this 2009 H1N1 flu virus?and more...
* Influenza Season: Information for Pharmacists
As of September 18, 2009 influenza activity is increasing in most of the United States with 21 states reporting widespread influenza activity. So far, most influenza viruses isolated are 2009 H1N1 flu (sometimes called "swine flu"), the virus that has been declared pandemic by the World Health Organization. CDC expects both 2009 H1N1 flu and seasonal flu to cause illness, hospital stays and deaths this influenza season and while influenza is unpredictable, it’s possible the United States could experience an early, prolonged and severe influenza season.
* Updated Interim Recommendations for the Use of Antiviral Medications in the Treatment and Prevention of Influenza for the Season
Includes updated guidance on the use of antiviral agents for treatment and chemoprophylaxis of influenza including 2009 H1N1 influenza infection and seasonal influenza.
* H1N1 Clinicians Questions and Answers
Who is recommended to receive the 2009 H1N1 flu vaccine? How should providers prioritize among the initial target groups recommended by ACIP? How will the 2009 H1N1 vaccine flow from manufacturers to providers? More...
* Updated: Questions & Answers Novel H1N1 Influenza Vaccine
New question added: What will be the recommended interval between the first and second dose for children 9 years of age and under? What will be the recommended interval between the first and second dose for children 9 years of age and under? Can seasonal vaccine and novel H1N1 vaccine be administered at the same time?

Additional Updates on the CDC H1N1 Flu Website

To learn about other recent updates made to the CDC H1N1 Flu Website, please check the "What's New" page on the CDC H1N1 Flu website.

Modify/Update Email Preferences | Unsubscribe | Send Feedback | Learn more about CDC Email Updates

To receive the latest news for your region, please update your profile with your country, state and zip code.

Questions or problems? Please contact support@govdelivery.com.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Department of Health and Human Services

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Check this Family Tree information out!!!

If anyone either wants to get the paid membership to http://www.onegreatfamily.org or give me a gift subscription then you or myself can get full details of what the website has been able to add to my family tree that I added a few years ago!!!

I recently logged on and found this additional information as seen when you go to the link provided by onegreatfamily below

its exciting because through one of the sample names added to the tree I been able to trace back to abraham and issac of the bible. by using www.familysearch.org this is no joke..the name that struck gold for me all the way back to Adam and Eve is Alberic Narbonne and there is many more names that have been added but in order to see the complete family tree beyond what i have personally inputed myself there needs to be a paid membership... either through my current free membership being upgraded or if someone wants to join and have their own membership upgraded I will give you all the information I have so that onegreatfamily will add on to your file the same information that was recently added to mine

if your interested then call me and we can get the details together!!

P.S. this would be a great gift to my father to give him more details then he has been able to find on his own!!!



Wednesday, September 16, 2009

please vote me for food network upcoming show

http://www.gotcast.com/casting-calls/Food-Network-Host/54968

I figure I have nothing to lose and everything to gain if the food network chooses me!!

please bring out the votes

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

America's Best Recipe

America's Best Recipe


Get out your pots and pans and turn up the kitchen heat!!!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Sunday, September 13, 2009

This Article was on Forbes Website!! Please Read!!

If you rather read this off Forbes website go here please

http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/10/health-care-speech-obama-economics-opinions-columnists-shikha-dalmia.html

Obama's Health Care Plan: Put Up And Shut Up
Shikha Dalmia, 09.10.09, 06:50 PM EDT
The president's speech was the policy equivalent of the middle finger.


For several months now, the American people--as if exhorted by the ghost of William F. Buckley (no particular hero of mine)--have been standing athwart the Democratic agenda of socialized medicine, yelling, "Stop!" But President Barack Obama showed them the policy equivalent of the middle finger Wednesday night.

If there was anything bipartisan about the speech it was that he embraced every bad big-government idea from both sides. If he prevails, the American public won't get "choice and competition" as he proclaimed, but a one-size-fits-all government-prescribed health care plan that it dare not refuse and dare not challenge.
Perhaps the most striking--and disturbing--thing about the speech was the unblinking confidence Obama exuded while breaking key campaign promises he made to voters. He had raked poor Hillary Clinton over the coals for admitting that her road to universal coverage was paved with an individual mandate. "Everyone would be forced to buy coverage, even if you can't afford it," warned Obama in an ad. "You pay a penalty if you don't."

Yet, there he was last night scolding "individuals who can afford coverage but game the system by avoiding responsibility." Never mind that the prime gamers are not the uninsured (whose unpaid bills cost "the system" less than $40 billion every year) but the underinsured covered by Medicare and Medicaid (whom private insurers cross-subsidize to the tune of over $90 billion annually because the government refuses to pay the full cost of their care). Still, he hectored: "Improving our health care system works only if everybody does their part."

Obama didn't say exactly how he would make "everyone do their part"--a question he posed repeatedly to Hillary. But his buddy Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., has some rather well-developed ideas on that score. Baucus has proposed a bill that would force the uninsured to pay fines on a sliding scale of income, with those making 300% of the poverty level having to cough up as much as $3,800 a year. In short, Americans would have to pay Uncle Sam for the privilege of remaining uninsured. If there were truth-in-labeling laws for Congress, it would be required to call this bill TonySopranoCare.

Which brings us to the second promise Obama broke Wednesday night: That he would impose no new taxes on anyone making less than $250,000. The penalties that the uninsured--all of whom, I would wager my grandma's life support, make under $250,000--would face are certainly a tax.
He also endorsed a business tax--err, fee--on employers who don't provide adequate coverage that, under a House bill, would be about 8 % of payroll. They will pass this on to their employees in lower wages. And he signed up for an excise tax on high-end insurance plans--many of which are enjoyed by plain union folk, not those rich and famous making over $250,000. Under the Baucus bill, this tax would be as much as 35% of the cost of the plan. One would have thought that if the shame of breaking an explicit promise didn't prevent Obama from imposing this last tax, then the logical absurdity of trying to reduce soaring insurance costs by taxing insurance plans would.

It gets worse. In exchange for these bitter tax pills, Obama promised Americans would get eternal health care "security and stability." To deliver that, he would of course ban insurance companies from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions--tantamount to forcing fire insurance companies to write coverage on a burning building. He would also prohibit insurers from putting any limits on the coverage they offer and cap what they can require patients to pay out-of-pocket.

In other words, Obama would encourage unlimited health care consumption by patients while eliminating the last vestige of price consciousness. But the reason America is facing unsustainable health care cost increases is precisely because its third-party system of insurance doesn't encourage prudent consumption by patients. Indeed, if Obama really can tame health care costs by making patients even less cost-conscious, I have an even better idea for him: Simply pass a law banning anyone from falling sick and mandate good health for all. If he can suspend the laws of economics, perhaps he can also transcend the laws of physiology.

The fact of the matter is that not too many health care underwriters will survive such crippling mandates. Many of them will fold, causing further consolidation in the insurance marketplace--not more competition and choice. Last night the president declared--in the spirit of grand compromise--that he would be willing to wait a few years to give private insurers a chance to make more affordable plans available to all Americans. Only if they fail would the so-called public option, the government-run insurance plan so beloved of the left, be triggered. But that's a rigged deal: The same legislation that sets up the trigger is putting in place the conditions that will eventually pull it. Obama is not backing off on his goal of eliminating private insurance--only offering a brief deferment.

The one Republican idea that Obama did endorse--caps on medical malpractice awards or tort reform--will actually hurt rather than help patient choice. Big medicine has long blamed the unnecessary tests and procedures these awards encourage for rising health care costs. But several studies have shown that this so-called practice of defensive medicine is a smaller driver of costs than excess physician salaries. By capping these awards, Obama will leave patients even less recourse against physician negligence--hardly the American way.

Obama lambasted the critics who claim his reform plan amounts to a government takeover of the health care system. But the plan he laid out Wednesday night will control every aspect of the medical transaction. It will tell patients when, what and how much coverage they must buy; it will tell sellers when, what and how much coverage they must sell. This is not a government takeover of health care? Then Tony Soprano is just a decent, hard-working businessman.

Shikha Dalmia is a senior analyst at ReasonFoundation and a biweekly Forbes columnist.

Monday, September 7, 2009