The Kevin Trudeau Show: 09-30-09

Don’t miss this special edition of The Kevin Trudeau Show! Today, Kevin gets on the other side of the microphone and discusses the truth behind food sensitivities and weight gain in America with Nerissa Oden on Food Powers.

Do a Candida Cleanse
Detox your Body
Start Eating Antibiotic-Free Meat
Improve Your Immune System
Proof of Government Controlled Media!

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Obama Reaffirms Power of Indefinite Detention

September 30, 2009

ABC News

The Obama administration reaffirmed its belief this week that it has the power to indefinitely detain prisoners at Guantanamo and said it would not reach out and ask Congress to craft legislation to give them the authority.

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said that when Congress on Sept. 18, 2001 gave President George W. Bush the authorization to use force against those behind the 9/11 attacks, lawmakers gave President Obama the power to indefinitely detain prisoners captured in that effort.

“Congress has already provided authorization through the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force to detain persons who the president determines planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, persons who harbored those responsible for those attacks, and persons who were part of, or substantially supported, Taliban or al Qaeda forces or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners,” Boyd said.

This is different than President Bush’s claim he had an inherent executive authority to detain people.
The decision was met with mixed emotions by civil liberties groups.

“We’re pleased that they’re not going to go to Congress to get legislation,” Chris Anders, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, told ABC News, saying that means it will be “less likely that we’re going to have a chaotic and harmful debate and legislative process in Congress.”

The ACLU feared that Congress might write laws granting authorities to President Obama than the ones he is asserting.
That said, Anders took issue with the fact that President Obama is continuing indefinite detention
of prisoners without charge.

“The Obama administration has continued to polices of the Bush administration of holding people at Guantanamo, Bagram, and elsewhere, and not trying them,” Anders said. “They should not be exercising that authority.”
Anders argues that there exists “no reason why this government cannot charge and try people suspected of terrorism crimes” since the statutes written for those who have aided and abetted terrorism are so broad it’s easy to convict someone of the crime.

In his May address on national security, President Obama described a category of detainees – those “who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, in some cases, because evidence may be tainted, but who, nonetheless, pose a threat to the security of the United States” — calling the dilemma of what to do with them the “toughest single issue that we will face.”

At the time, Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, hammered the decision, saying “allowing detention without trial creates a dangerous loophole in our justice system that mimics the Bush administration’s abusive approach to fighting terrorism.”

The president described these detainees as perhaps individuals who have “received extensive explosives training at al Qaeda training camps or commanded Taliban troops in battle or expressed their allegiance to Osama bin Laden or otherwise made it clear that they want to kill Americans.”

But perhaps the evidence against them is tainted because of use of brutal interrogation techniques. The president said his “goal is to construct a legitimate legal framework for the remaining Guantanamo detainees that cannot be transferred.”

The rules can’t “be based simply on what I or the executive branch decide alone. And that’s why my administration has begun to reshape the standards that apply to ensure that they are in line with the rule of law. We must have clear, defensible, and lawful standards for those who fall into this category. We must be fair procedures so that we don’t make mistakes. We must have a thorough process of periodic review so that any prolonged detention is carefully evaluated and justified.”

Boyd said today that since courts in Washington, D.C., continue to actively review habeas corpus cases of Guantanamo detainees, that counts as carefully evaluating and justifying detentions.

“The administration is not currently seeking additional authorization,” Boyd said.

Click here for the full report.

Minnesota Conducts Mass Vaccination Drill

September 30, 2009

Info Wars

By Kurt Nimmo

In preparation for the distinct possibility of a mandatory vaccination of the American public, a county in Minnesota will hold a mass vaccination drill today dubbed “Operation Big Shot.” County officials expect “300 volunteers to conduct the drill alongside about 200 health department staff members. They emphasized that staffers will not dispense actual vaccinations,” according to The Star Tribune.

“Operation Big Shot is one of several training exercises health officials in Ramsey County conduct each year and was scheduled prior to the emergence of the H1N1 flu pandemic,” the newspaper adds.

A number of sources have indicated the government may require mandatory vaccinations this autumn. “Nearly $8 billion will be spent to address a ‘potential pandemic flu’ which could result in mandatory vaccinations for no discernible reason other than to enrich the pharmaceutical companies that make the vaccine,” Ron Paul wrote on June 24, 2009.

According to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, 42 states have mandatory vaccine policies. “Rampant conflicts of interest in the approval process has been the subject of several Congressional hearings, and a recent Congressional report concluded that the pharmaceutical industry has indeed exerted undue influence on mandatory vaccine legislation toward its own financial interests,” the AAPS notes.

The UN’s WHO supports mandatory vaccinations. On July 13, a World Health Organization (WHO) Global Alert suggested universally mandated vaccines are coming.

“During a pandemic, it may be necessary to overrule existing legislation or (individual) human rights,” states a 2005 WHO document. “Examples are the enforcement of quarantine (overruling individual freedom of movement), use of privately owned buildings for hospitals, off-license use of drugs, compulsory vaccination or implementation of emergency shifts in essential services. These decisions need a legal framework to ensure transparent assessment and justification of the measures that are being considered, and to ensure coherence with international legislation (International Health Regulations).” (Emphasis added.)

WHO “recommendations” are binding on all 194 member countries in case a pandemic emergency is declared under the 2005 International Health Regulations Act and April 2009 WHO pandemic plan.

In August, the WHO recommended a mandatory global vaccination. “The global pandemic vaccination program will begin somewhere around the end of September and last about two months. Many countries are in the process of acquiring from Baxter, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and other pharmaceutical companies enough doses of vaccine to vaccinate their entire population twice. They remain quiet about mandatory vaccination, simply saying they will make vaccination ‘available’ to all on a priority basis,” the Columbia Valley News reported.

“We hope that the whole world will have some access to the vaccine,” Marie-Paule Kieny, director of WHO’s Initiative for Vaccine Research, told the Washington Post today. “In some countries it will be possible to vaccinate the whole population and in some countries only 10 percent.”

In the United States, any mandatory vaccination program will likely be the responsibility of the states. “Historically, the preservation of the public health has been the responsibility of state and local governments, and the authority to enact laws relevant to the protection of the public health derives from the state’s general police powers,” explains a CRS Report for Congress. “With respect to the preservation of the public health in cases of communicable disease outbreaks, these powers may include the institution of quarantine or the enactment of mandatory vaccination laws.”

Massachusetts recently passed the “Pandemic Response Bill.” It suspends virtually all Constitutional rights of Massachusetts citizens and forces anyone “suspected” of being infected to submit to interrogations, “decontaminations” and vaccines, according to Mike Adams. “It’s also sets fines up to $1,000 per day for anyone who refuses to submit to quarantines, vaccinations, decontamination efforts or to follow any other verbal order by virtually any state-licensed law enforcement or medical personnel.”

Infowars and Prison Planet have documented numerous instances of the states preparing for mass vaccinations.

In the last few weeks, states and municipalities around the country have mandated seasonal flu vaccinations for health care workers. In response, health care workers in New York are taking to the street in opposition. “Under what circumstances can government officials order mandatory vaccination? And could the general public be ordered to roll up their sleeves for injections, even if there might be side effects beyond a sore arm or mild fever? The concern in New York also comes as skepticism of vaccination in general seems to be on the rise,” Declan McCullagh writes for CBS News today.

The drill in Minnesota is yet another indication the government is ramping up to vaccinate the entire population, either through a massive propaganda campaign and scare tactics now well underway through the corporate media, or through legal mandate backed up by the cops and the military.

“Get ready because that’s precisely what’s coming — universal orders to risk toxic vaccine hazards. In the coming weeks, the dominant media globally will get into high gear fear-mongering mode to convince people voluntarily to submit to jeopardizing their health and well-being. It’s essential to refuse and be safe and international law absolutely allows it,” warns Stephen Lendman.

Click here for the full report.

Football May Cause Dementia

September 29, 2009

New York Times

By Alan Schwarz

A study commissioned by the National Football League reports that Alzheimer’s disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league’s former players vastly more often than in the national population — including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.

The N.F.L. has long denied the existence of reliable data about cognitive decline among its players. These numbers would become the league’s first public affirmation of any connection, though the league pointed to limitations of this study.

The findings could ring loud at the youth and college levels, which often take cues from the N.F.L. on safety policies and whose players emulate the pros. Hundreds of on-field concussions are sustained at every level each week, with many going undiagnosed and untreated.

A detailed summary of the N.F.L. study, which was conducted by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, was distributed to league officials this month.

The study has not been peer-reviewed, but the findings fall into step with several recent independent studies regarding N.F.L. players and the effects of their occupational head injuries.

“This is a game-changer — the whole debate, the ball’s now in the N.F.L.’s court,” said Dr. Julian Bailes, the chairman of the department of neurosurgery at the West Virginia University School of Medicine, and a former team physician for the Pittsburgh Steelers whose research found similar links four years ago. “They always say, ‘We’re going to do our own studies.’ And now they have.”

Sean Morey, an Arizona Cardinals player who has been vocal in supporting research in this area, said: “This is about more than us — it’s about the high school kid in 2011 who might not die on the field because he ignored the risks of concussions.”

An N.F.L. spokesman, Greg Aiello, said in an e-mail message that the study did not formally diagnose dementia, that it was subject to shortcomings of telephone surveys and that “there are thousands of retired players who do not have memory problems.”

“Memory disorders affect many people who never played football or other sports,” Mr. Aiello said. “We are trying to understand it as it relates to our retired players.”

As scrutiny of brain injuries in football players has escalated the past three years, with prominent professionals reporting cognitive problems and academic studies supporting a link more generally, the N.F.L. and its medical committee on concussions have steadfastly denied the existence of reliable data on the issue. The league pledged to pursue its own studies, including the one at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Ira Casson, a co-chairman of the concussions committee who has been the league’s primary voice denying any evidence connecting N.F.L. football and dementia, said: “What I take from this report is there’s a need for further studies to see whether or not this finding is going to pan out, if it’s really there or not. I can see that the respondents believe they have been diagnosed. But the next step is to determine whether that is so.”

The N.F.L. is conducting its own rigorous study of 120 retired players, with results expected within a few years. All neurological examinations are being conducted by Dr. Casson.

According to a 37-page synopsis of the study furnished to the league, the Michigan researchers conducted a phone survey in late 2008 in which 1,063 retired players — those who participated from an original random list of 1,625 — were asked questions on a variety of health topics. Players had to have played at least three or four seasons to qualify. Questions were derived from the standard National Health Interview Survey so rates could be compared with those previously collected from the general population, the report said.

Some health issues were reported by N.F.L. retirees at normal rates (kidney and prostate problems), while others were higher (sleep apnea and elevated cholesterol) and others lower (heart attacks and ulcers), the summary said.

The researchers also asked players — or a caregiver for those who could not answer — if they had ever been diagnosed with “dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, or other memory-related disease.”

The Michigan researchers found that 6.1 percent of players age 50 and above reported that they had received a dementia-related diagnosis, five times higher than the cited national average, 1.2 percent. Players ages 30 through 49 showed a rate of 1.9 percent, or 19 times that of the national average, 0.1 percent.

Click here to continue reading the full report from the New York Times

Internment Camp to Open in Montana

September 30, 2009

Prison Planet

By Paul Joseph Watson

Following our earlier report about a paramilitary security force occupying a town in Montana, it has now become clear that the purpose of American Police Force is to boss a state of the art internment camp that some fear will be used to incarcerate American citizens, as reports come in of the private paramilitary unit setting up roadblocks and harassing citizens in Hardin.

A CNN report on the $27 million dollar facility in Hardin Montana states that it could become “Gitmo West” and be filled with detainees from Guantanamo Bay and other terrorists. Since a majority of the American people have now been designated as potential domestic terrorists by the federal government, fears are growing that the prison camp will be used to incarcerate citizens against their will during a flu pandemic or any other declared emergency.

The Two Rivers Detention Center is a state of the art facility, festooned with surveillance cameras and surrounded by razor wire and open land to prevent escape. The camp is also filled with riot equipment such as gas masks, riot helmets, shields and batons, as well as guns.

Since the camp is currently empty, a private paramilitary unit calling itself American Police Force has been hired by local authorities to boss the facility. However, as we reported earlier, APF, which has all the hallmarks of being another Blackwater, has virtually occupied the town, festooned their vehicles with police decals and started carrying out law enforcement duties.

According to an article carried on the Steve Quayle website, 75% of the APF agents will be foreign mercenaries after training is completed and the organization’s ultimate goal is to establishment a permanent presence in the town while scouting out another 30 U.S. towns for a similar occupation-style mandate. The writer claims that APF agents are already harassing citizens, setting up roadblocks and that they told a local business owner that they had a register of all the gun owners in the town.

All of this is of course completely illegal and unconstitutional. A private army cannot pose as a police force unless we’re talking about a third world dictatorship or a banana republic, which is what the U.S. has seemingly become.

It seems that Obama’s promise of a “national civilian security force” is being implemented as private mercenary armies are brought in to occupy American towns and set up internment camps for dissidents and people who resist a federal government takeover under the pretext of a swine flu outbreak or similar pandemic

We will have reports directly out of Hardin Montana over the next few days as we track this shocking development.

Click here for the full report.

Welcome to McDonalds, Here’s Your Vaccine

September 29, 2009

Associated Press

By Marilynn Marchione

Fast-food places have them. Banks and pharmacies do, too. Now hospitals are opening drive-thrus and drive-up tent clinics to screen and treat a swelling tide of swine flu patients.

Call it McTriage. And yes, you can get Tamiflu with that — if you’re sick enough to need it. Most people aren’t.

The idea behind these efforts is to keep coughing, feverish people out of regular emergency rooms, where they can infect heart attack victims and other very sick patients. The need has soared in recent weeks as flu has spread among schoolchildren before vaccine is available.

In Austin, Texas, Dell Children’s Medical Center had nearly 400 ER visits on Sunday alone, mostly kids with swine flu. Dozens were diverted to two tents outside, and there are plans to add a third.

In Memphis, Tenn., Le Bonheur (pronounced luh-BAHN-uhr) Children’s Hospital has had more than 5,500 kids with flu-like illness seek emergency care since Aug. 1. The hospital set up tents outside its ER on Sept. 11 and already has treated more than 900 cases in them.

Hope and Billy Howard took their 3-year-old daughter, Emma Smith, to one on Sunday. The little girl had a fever that would not break with over-the-counter medicine, complained of belly pain and refused to eat, and her parents could not reach her pediatrician.

“I didn’t know what to give her, and I didn’t want to take any chances,” her mother said. At the tent ER, “we were in and out in 15 minutes.”

Entire families who are sick have shown up at Bayne-Jones Army Community Hospital in Fort Polk, La., near the Texas state line.

“They just drive up in their pajamas,” said Henry Johnson, a physician’s assistant who helped start a tent system there. People pull up, park and go through three tents, where they undergo an exam that includes having their temperature taken. They are usually sent home, with prescriptions if needed.

“It’s working out for us — nothing but rave reviews,” he said.

Very few patients have needed to be admitted, doctors running these programs say.

Jim Bentley, policy chief at the American Hospital Association, said many hospitals are trying novel ways to care for more people than their emergency rooms can handle, especially children.

“You’re dealing often with anxious patients who want to know is it OK to care for them at home” versus the hospital, he said. “One thing a tent offers is a less intimidating atmosphere to the child,” as opposed to an emergency room with its beeps and other noises and scary trauma cases, he said.

These programs can be part of disaster plans that each hospital must have, said Dr. Pat Crocker, chief of emergency medicine at Dell Children’s in Austin.

“It’s working great for flu, but it can be a model for hospitals all over the country to use for emergency surge capacity for other things,” such as natural disasters or explosions, he said.

Under a program at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., many flu patients will not even have to leave their cars.

Stanford Hospitals and Clinics and Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital share an ER, and recently tested a drive-thru system for flu patients in a parking ramp. Forty Red Cross volunteers played the parts of actual patients who sought emergency care in April and May, when swine flu first emerged.

Doctors in the drive-thru drill correctly “admitted” the six volunteers who needed to be hospitalized, and correctly sent the 34 others home, said Dr. Eric Weiss, medical director of disaster planning for the hospitals.

The drive-thru shaved 80 minutes off the typical two-hour wait in the regular emergency room. The plan is to put it into action whenever swine flu patients swamp the ER.

It works like this:

A nurse near the ER stops cars and sends appropriate cases to the drive-thru. Signs tell families to tune the radio to a public broadcasting station that describes what happens next.

“The patient’s automobile acts as a self-contained isolation compartment, a moving exam room,” Weiss said. “The hoods of the cars make excellent places to write notes,” and medical records are slid under the windshield wipers.

Through the car window, a doctor uses a device that clips on a finger to measure blood pressure, pulse and breathing rates. Fingerstick blood tests can be done.

In nearby tents, diabetics can get a urine test for blood sugar, and heart patients can get an EKG. Portable X-rays are available, too. The last stop has a pharmacy to get vaccine, medicines or a prescription to fill.

Weiss has a grant to develop a handout of the plan to give to other hospitals and recently described it at a California Hospital Association meeting.

All hospitals must find ways to handle the crush of swine flu patients, Weiss said.

“When all of these people start showing up in emergency departments, we’re going to lose our safety net pretty quickly,” he said. “We can’t have our ERs completely overwhelmed with patients with infectious diseases.”

Click here for the full report from the Associated Press

Americans Aren’t Eating Enough Fruits and Vegetables

September 30, 2009

Health Day News

Most Americans don’t eat the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, says a U.S. government study released Tuesday. And no state has achieved national objectives for consumption of fruits and vegetables, it found.

The goal for the Healthy People 2010 program is to get at least 75 percent of Americans to eat the recommended two or more daily servings of fruit and for at least 50 percent of Americans to consume three or more daily servings of vegetables.

But surveys from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that only 33 percent of adults meet the fruit consumption target and only 27 percent eat the recommended amount of vegetables. The statistics are worse for high school students — only 32 percent eat the recommended amount of fruit and 13 percent meet the goal for vegetables.

“A diet high in fruits and vegetables is important for optimal child growth, maintaining a healthy weight, and prevention of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, all of which currently contribute to health care costs in the United States,” Dr. William H. Dietz, director of the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, said in a CDC news release.

“This report will help states determine what is taking place in their communities and schools and come up with ways to encourage people to eat more fruits and vegetables,” Dietz said.

The report — the State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, 2009 — is the first to detail state-by-state data about fruit and vegetable consumption and policies that may help boost fruit and vegetable consumption.

It spotlights three important policy and environmental areas associated with fruit and vegetable consumption: healthier food retail, availability of healthier foods in schools, and food system support.

Food stores that stock a variety of high-quality fruits and vegetables can play a key role in residents’ health, the report notes. But only eight states have a policy for healthier food retail improvements that can increase the number of full-service grocery stores in areas where they’re lacking, increase the availability of healthier foods in small food stores, and promote healthier foods by providing information to consumers in food stores.

Schools can influence better eating by students, staff, parents and other members of the community. But the report found that only 21 percent of U.S. middle schools and high schools offer fruits and non-fried vegetables in vending machines, school stores or snack bars. Fewer than half the states (21) have policies to support farm-to-school programs that can increase access to fruits and vegetables and teach students about nutrition and agriculture.

The report also mentioned food policy councils, which are organizations that look at access to fresh produce at the community and state levels. Food policy councils make recommendations about policies and programs such as community gardens, farmers’ markets, availability of fresh produce in supermarkets and farm-to-school programs. Currently, 59 local food policy councils operate across the United States, and 20 states have a state-level food policy council.

“We have seen the tremendous benefit of state and local officials, health professionals, employers, food store owners, farmers, school staff, and community members working together on food and nutrition issues,” CDC epidemiologist Heidi Michels Blanck said in the news release. “Their efforts can help to increase the availability of affordable healthier food choices such as fruits and vegetables.”

Click here for the full report from HealthDay News

Governator Ordered to Shut Down London Prostitutes

September 30, 2009

Guardian

Deborah Summers

Harriet Harman today urged movie star and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to “terminate” a website which allows people to rate prostitutes.

The Labour deputy leader told delegates at the Labour conference: “There is now a website… where pimps put women on sale for sex and then men who’ve had sex with them put their comments online. It is PunterNet and fuels the demand for prostitutes.”

Harman said the site was based in California but had “pages and pages” of women for sale in London.

“I’ve raised it with the US ambassador to London and I’ve called on California’s governor, Arnie Schwarzenegger, to close it down.”

Harman said it should not be difficult for the star to “terminate PunterNet”.

“And I’ve got news for him: if he doesn’t, I’ll be back,” she quipped.

Harman said the British government had made “determined progress towards equality” in the past 12 months.

“It’s been a year of promises made and promises kept,” she said. “For us, for Labour, equality is not just a slogan it’s what we’re about.

“It’s a way of life … It’s about the right of a disabled person to work on equal terms. It’s about the right of a woman who works part-time not to be excluded from the pension scheme. Its about the right not being written off as too old. Equality matters to us because it’s a fundamental human right to be treated fairly.”

Harman said the 22% pay gap between men and women was “just not acceptable in this day and age”.

“We will make every employer publish on average how much they pay their women and how much they pay their men,” she said. “I know this is controversial but good employers will have nothing to fear and bad employers will have nowhere to hide.”

The government remains committed to extending maternity rights from six months to a year, she said. And the party was fighting back against the British National party.

Turning her fire on the Tories, Harman accused David Cameron’s party of “pretending to be progressive” but warned it would actually turn the clock back.

“They opposed gay rights, they opposed tax credits and the plan to cut childcare. They oppose the new equality bill,” she said. “We’ve built up support for families – don’t let the Tories wreck it.”

Harman branded this Labour’s “fightback conference” and vowed the party would fight for fairness and equality “and – most importantly – fight to win”.

Click here for full report.

Get Ready…Mandatory Vaccinations Begin Next Week!

September 30, 2009

ABC News

By Courtney Hutchison

After all the waiting and worrying, the first of the swine flu vaccines will begin arriving in the United States next week.

They are coming just in time, as doctors across the country, particularly in the hard-hit Southern states, report sharp increases in the number of swine flu patients.

Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News’ senior health and medical editor and the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, said the nasal spray will be distributed first, at the beginning of next week, with shots arriving by week’s end.

“It’s going to be rocky early on, as more people want the vaccine than is available,” Besser said.

He also expressed concern about the rise in deaths, especially among normally healthy children and teens. Besser said his sons will be in line for their vaccine when it’s available to them.

“We need to have a healthy respect for this infection,” Besser said.

For more information about the H1N1 flu in your state click here.

Health officials across the country were concerned not with the availability of the vaccine, but the organization of vaccine distribution and public awareness of the need for high-risk patients to be vaccinated.

Ed Barham, at the Arkansas Department of Health, said “people are frightened of swine flu, but they’re also frightened of the vaccine. We’re worried parents won’t allow their kids to get the vaccine, since it’s optional.”

Texas has seen the worst of the swine flu outbreaks, with the Northwestern states seeing rising numbers.

Dr. Ari Brown, an Austin-based pediatrician, told ABCNews.com that her office alone, which consists of seven doctors, is seeing “about 300 to 350 patients a day, many of which have swine flu.”

Brown said her office has been inundated with swine flu cases for the past two weeks but, fortunately, “no one is very sick [and] we have had just one hospitalization.”

Given the rise in swine flu cases, the Texas Department of State Health Services has created a 211 number that people can dial for medical guidance if they or a family member should come down with swine flu.

Dr. Daniel McCarter, who directs clinical affairs at the University of Virginia, said there are 20 staff members with flu, and the student health center at the university has 242 affected patients.

Virginia State Health Commissioner Dr. Karen Remley said, “We are seeing a lot of disease in schools and colleges, more in southern rather than northern parts of the state.”

In Alabama, Dr. David Freedman, director of the UAB’s Traveler’s Health Clinic, said he expects cases in the state to peak this week or the next. And, in North Carolina, Dr. David Weber of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill said H1N1 cases have been increasing in the past two weeks.

Tennessee state epidemiologist Dr. Tim Jones told ABCNews.com that “almost 100 percent of flu cases we’re testing are swine flu — if they have flu, they have swine flu.”

California, Northeast Faring Better With Swine Flu

He said there have been 13 confirmed deaths and the “western side of the state is hardest hit, particularly Memphis, where we’re seeing 450 kids a day and had to set up triage tents.”

Further south, at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Dr. Curtis Stine said there has been “quite a bit [of swine flu] in the community and quite a bit among students at the colleges,” although he has seen few hospitalizations.

Northwestern states are also seeing steady increases in swine flu cases. Dr. Scott Fields of Oregon Health and Sciences University said he’s just seeing a high rate of viral illness.

Dr. Frank James of the University of Washington said he has seen 14 swine flu deaths so far and that daily school absenteeism last week reached 10 percent in one school in each district, “so the number of cases & is definitely rising.

In contrast, California and the northeast seem to be faring better.

Dr. Amy Kaji of UCLA said H1N1 cases have dropped off since April-May, and Dr. Andrew Racine of the Montefiore Medical Center in New York said “we’ve seen very, very little flu activity so far — which is in keeping with the information we’re receiving both from the New York City Department of Health and from the CDC, which is showing only sporadic flu activity in New York.”

Racine said all indications are that the first shipments of H1N1 vaccine will only be about 18,000 doses for New York City.

But given the low incidence rates thus far, he said, “ultimately the city will have more flu vaccine than it probably needs.”

Click here for the full report from ABC News

British Columbia Says NO to Flu Shot

September 28, 2009

The Vancouver Sun

By Jonathon Fowlie

British Columbia is suspending its annual seasonal flu shot program amidst emerging concerns the vaccination could make people more susceptible to catching H1N1.

The suspension — which limits the seasonal flu vaccination mostly to the elderly — puts B.C. in line with many other Canadian provinces, but means most people will not have access to any type of influenza vaccination until at least mid-November.

The decision was announced Monday morning by provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall, who characterized this year’s flu season as an “emerging and complex scenario.”

“Obviously this is a complex decision,” Kendall said, adding it was “not one that is being taken lightly.”

Kendall said the decision rested in part on a new Canadian study — which has not yet been peer reviewed or published —that found those who receive the seasonal flu vaccine become two times more likely to get H1N1.

Kendall added there were other factors as well, including early data showing H1N1 to be the predominant strain of influenza circulating in B.C.

“We … need to consider the possibility that the novel H1N1 flu virus will be the predominant strain of influenza circulating this fall,” he said.

Kendall said the change in direction means most British Columbians will not have easy access to either the seasonal flu shot or the H1N1 vaccination until weeks after the flu season is expected to have begun.

“In an ideal world you would have had vaccines in advance of the influenza virus coming around,” he said.

“We won’t be able to see our vaccine available until the first or second week of November, unless the minister of health should issue an interim order under an emergency blanket, which would give us earlier access to vaccine, potentially in October,” he added.

Kendall said the delay comes because officials had widely believed the best approach was to vaccinate against seasonal flu first, and then offer vaccinations against H1N1.

The recent change in direction, he said, came too late for the domestic producer of vaccinations to alter its production schedule.

Kendall said the province will start offering the seasonal flu vaccine beginning Oct. 13, but only to those over the age of 65 and to those living in long-term care homes.

He said the elderly are most at risk of seasonal flu, and therefore need added protection. He added that people over 65 have mostly all been exposed to a similar strain of H1N1 early in their lives, and therefore are believed to be at a lower risk of contracting the virus now.

“Delivering the vaccine campaign in this fashion allows us to best protect those British Columbians most at risk of seasonal flu — a group who also are at least risk from the novel H1N1 virus,” he said.

Kendall also said that, despite the delays in production of the H1N1 vaccine, halting the widespread release of the seasonal flu shot allows public health officials to focus on getting the H1N1 vaccine distributed as quickly as possible.

Minister of Healthy Living and Sport Ida Chong said once the H1N1 vaccine arrives, there will be enough available for every British Columbian who wants or needs to be vaccinated.

Kendall said the seasonal flu vaccine will be circulated widely to all who need it beginning in early 2010, once the H1N1 vaccine has been mostly distributed.

On Monday, Dr. David Patrick, B.C. Centre for Disease Control director of epidemiology services, said the province is now starting to see “the very beginning of a fall wave” of influenza, most of which he said is H1N1.

“It seems that things are beginning to pick up,” Patrick said.

Since April, British Columbia has had 52 confirmed severe cases of H1N1, according to numbers released last week.

Of those, 21 people have been admitted to intensive care units, and six people have died.

Click here for the full report from the Vancouver Sun

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