Obama declares H1N1 a national emergency and other flu news

H1N1 virus handling more puzzling by the day.

The declaration is likely to add urgency to a situation already marked by strain on the part of health workers and fear among citizens who have been bombarded with warnings about the H1N1 virus since it first emerged last spring.

Citing delays in responding to the H1N1 outbreak, President Barack Obama today declared H1N1 a national emergency. The declaration will allow Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to bypass certain medical standards in order to make the vaccine available more quickly to a larger number of people.

It is not yet clear what the extent of those revised standards will be, but reference has been made to lessening the amount of information required of patients before vaccination and allowing reimbursement for shots given at hospital facilities not now elligible for reimbursement.

"As a nation, we have prepared at all levels of government, and as individuals and communities, taking unprecedented steps to counter the emerging pandemic," according to Obama’s declaration released Saturday by the White House.

While federal officials estimated that 120 million doses of vaccine would be available by mid-October, as of this week only 11 million doses had been shipped to states requesting them, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What’s taking so long?

A report published by the Chicago Tribune suggests the delay is due to multiple factors, the leading one being the “slow and antiquated process that relies on millions of chicken eggs” for its technology.

HHS Secretary Sebelius also blames the country's reliance on foreign-owned pharmaceutical firms that cannot meet U.S. needs. Four of the five manufacturers of H1N1 vaccines are foreign companies.

Other factors are pharmaceutical companies’ pressure to produce the new vaccine along with the seasonal flu vaccine, factories that put the vaccine into syringes being backed up, and the government’s delay in developing tests for the safety of individual vaccine batches before it is released to the public.

By the time the bulk of the H1N1 vaccines are available, it may be a moot point.

Pudue University researchers said in a study released last week that H1N1 infections would peak in late October, well before the next big surge in vaccine shipments due in mid-November and late December.  

Estimates of H1N1 are too high, according to CBS report

CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said Friday that "many millions" of Americans have had H1N1 so far. But that’s an estimate because most cases of H1N1 aren’t confirmed.

Only a small percentage of the cases diagnosed as H1N1 influenza are actually H1N1, according to an Oct. 20 report by CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson.

Attkisson analyzed state and federal data and found that H1N1 tests turn out results that are “overwhelmingly negative.”  

For example, of 8,853 Florida patient specimens presumed to be H1N1, just 17 percent were positive for H1N1 flu virus. Of 13,704 California specimens, 2 percent were positive for H1N1, 12 percent were positive for other flu, and the remaining 85 percent of specimens were negative for any flu virus. Among the 722 specimens tested in Alaska, health officials found 1 percent were positive for H1N1 and 5 percent were positive for seasonal flu.

The CDC announced in July that it would cease individual testing of suspected H1N1 cases and instead use extrapolated data based on a small sample of flu viruses.

Video of Attkisson’s report:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Two firsts in one: US lawmaker tweets he has H1N1

U.S. Representative Greg Walden (R-Oregon) announced Tuesday via Twitter that it was "likely" he had H1N1 influenza. He is believed to be the first federal legislator to have contracted the virus.

"Just diagnosed with likely H1N1. Ugh. Off to seclusion for awhile," tweeted Walden. (His office confirmed the message’s authenticity.)

"He's at home and he's resting," spokesman Andrew Whelan told AFP.

Whelan said Walden received the seasonal flu vaccine a few weeks ago, but did not get the H1N1 vaccine.

Flu.gov launches national Flu Shot Locator

Flu.gov, the nation’s official depository for flu-related information, has added a map where users can click on their state to get the latest information on where to get vaccinated against the seasonal and H1N1 viruses.

Unfortunately, there’s not much information to be had.

What happens when clicking on Minnesota?

Readers are told to check back in “two or three weeks.”

According to the state health department site, “So far, only a very limited number of doses of H1N1 vaccine have arrived in Minnesota. And only a randomly selected number of clinics have received some of these initial doses.” The health department says only a few "randomly selected clinics" have been instructed to give the available doses to a subset of the high priority groups.

Only about 15 percent of the doses needed for high priority groups (children, pregnant women, health care providers, and parents of infants under 6 months of age) are available, according to the health department.

First U.S. pig found with H1N1, formerly swine flu

USDA officials have said that at least one pig has been confirmed with the H1N1 virus. Officials said the confirmed pig, which did not show any signs of illness, likely contracted the virus from some of the nearly 1.8 million people who visited the Minnesota State Fair between Aug. 26. and Sept. 1.

The samples were taken as part of a university research project from pigs shown at the fair.

One pig in Minnesota has been diagnosed with H1N1 believed to have been acquired from humans at the state fair. Was this child responsible? Photo: KnOixki (CC)

Cheerleader gets flu shot, now only walks backwards

Kevin Jess, wrote in Canada-based Digital Journal about one individual’s unusual reaction to the seasonal flu vaccine.

A few days after receiving the shot the 25-year-old former Washington Redskins cheerleader developed dystonia, a rare side effect of the seasonal flu vaccination. One of her symptoms is an inability to walk, except when she is going backwards.