About 2,500 students at Washington State University have come down with possible cases of swine flu since classes began two weeks ago, CNN reports. “It takes about three to four days to get over the [H1N1] virus, so many of the people who have had it are already feeling better and are back in class,” said James Tinney, WSU director of media relations. He said that on Wednesday, 169 new suspected cases of the virus were reported among the nearly 18,000 students who comprise the school’s Pullman, Washington campus. Although Washington State University is no longer testing sick students to confirm whether they have the virus, it is following guidelines from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the local health department by “treating all patients with influenza-like symptoms as if they have H1N1,” according to CNN. Students who contact the school health services department complaining of symptoms of swine flu are urged to stay at home and drink fluids. None of the suspected H1N1 cases has required hospitalization so far, said a university news release. Despite the high number of possible cases, media director Tinney said the students and faculty are not alarmed. “The symptoms are fairly mild; some people have said milder than a regular case of the flu. I don’t see people walking around the campus wearing masks,” he said. But Tinney said officials were surprised that the long Labor Day weekend, when most students left campus, did not do more to interrupt the virus’ spread. “I guess we are an early test case of how this virus will spread over the population,” Tinney said.

Major Alzheimer’s Breakthrough Discovered
Scientists have found three new major genetic links to Alzheimer’s affecting up to 20 percent of people with the brain-wasting disease, and said on Sunday it was the most significant such discovery in 15 years, Reuters News reports. Two large studies found that the three new genes join the better-known APOE4 gene as significant risk factors for the most common cause of dementia. “If we were able to remove the detrimental effects of these genes through treatments, we could reduce the proportion of people developing Alzheimer’s by 20 percent,” Julie Williams, a professor of Neuropsychological Genetics at Britain’s Cardiff University, told a news conference in London. Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 26 million people globally, has no cure and no good treatment. The need for effective remedies is pressing, with the number of cases forecast to go beyond 100 million by 2050. Current drugs can only delay the symptoms endured by patients, who lose their memories, the ability to find their way around and to care for themselves. Williams, who led one of the two studies published in Nature Genetics, said that in Britain alone, eradicating the effects of the three new genes would mean almost 100,000 people could avoid the disease. She said the findings were the most significant genetic discoveries for Alzheimer’s in the 15 years since APOE4 was found to be linked, and said drug companies had shown a keen interest in their research.

At Scary Pace Swine Flu Deaths Rise
At least 625 people have been reported dead from swine flu in the last week, more than a fifth of the nearly 3,000 known deaths since the virus emerged in Mexico and the United States earlier this year, The Associated Press reports. There have been at least 254,206 laboratory-confirmed cases of the disease, according to the World Health Organization, even though experts say that this number likely understates the actual number of cases because countries are no longer required to report each infection as the caseload is so high. The United Nations agency is monitoring the strain to detect any mutation which might signal that it has become more deadly. And say the number of deaths is growing proportionately to the increase in number of infected people. “There is no sense that the virus has mutated or changed in any sense,” Hartl told a news briefing. “We are continuing to see increased number of deaths because we are seeing many, many more cases.” The virus could eventually infect 2 billion people, or a third of the world’s population, according to WHO estimates. “In the best case scenario we have today, we will still have a moderate virus that is projected to cause several million deaths,” Dr. Tammam Aloudat, senior health officer at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told a separate news briefing. “Which means that even in the best case scenario, we do have an emergency on our hands, an emergency of a scale different from what we have seen before in the modern era,” he said as the federation launched an information campaign to help the poorest communities reduce infection through simple hygiene measures. Drugmakers are racing to develop vaccines amid experts’ warnings that a “second wave” of the virus is approaching as weather cools in the northern hemisphere and the traditional flu season starts.

The alarming news earlier this week that as many as 90,000 people could die from the swine flu this year has even more ominous implications for Blacks and Hispanics, a new Chicago study shows. By looking at 1,500 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus reported to the Chicago Department of Public Health from late April through late July, researchers found that Blacks and Hispanics were four times more likely than their White counterparts to wind up in the hospital. But the wide disparity likely has very little to do with genetics, experts say. The fact that Blacks and Hispanics suffer disproportionately from diabetes, asthma is more likely the reason for the gap, they say. “We don’t have anything definitive to say one group is more affected than another,” said Dr. Daniel Jernigan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study relied on a relatively small sample group. Of the 1,500 lab-confirmed swine flu cases, Blacks were hospitalized at a rate of nine per 100,000, Hispanics at eight per 100,000. For Whites, the rate was two per 100,000, according to the study. The Chicago study isn’t the first time race has been mentioned in context with the swine fle. In early August, health officials in Boston found that three-fourths of residents hospitalized with the virus were Black or Hispanic. “It’s very disturbing,” Barbara Ferrer of the Boston Public Health Commission, told The Associated Press. “But intuitively it’s understandable, because we have tremendous inequities in most areas of health,” said Ferrer, the agency’s executive director.

Some 90,000 people in the United States could die by the time the swine flu gets through with its deadly rampage, according to a new report. Hardest hit by the flu, also known as the H1N1 virus, would be children and young adults, a presidential advisory panel said in the report, released Monday. If the flu resurges this fall, as anticipated, between 30 percent and 50 percent of the U.S. population could be infected by winter, flooding the nation’s hospitals with as many as 1.8 million patients, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology reported. A “plausible scenario” projects that  30,000 to 90,000 Americans would die as a result of large outbreaks at schools, inadequate antiviral supplies and the virus peaking before vaccinations have time to be effective. Up to 40,000 U.S. deaths are linked to seasonal flu each year, with most of the fatalities occurring among people over 65. With seasonal flu and H1N1, this fall is expected to bring more influenza deaths and place “enormous stress” on intensive care units nationwide, which normally operate near capacity, the report says. The presidential panel advises government agencies to prepare several “planning scenarios” to determine demand for supplies and care; set up surveillance systems to track information about influenza-like illnesses; develop plans to protect the public’s most vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women and those with pre-existing medical conditions; speed up the production of the H1N1 vaccine and have an initial batch – enough to vaccinate up to 40 million people, especially those who are at risk of serious disease – by mid-September.

Even the most vulnerable people in society won’t be vaccinated against the swine flu until Thanksgiving, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She urged parents and school officials to make backup plans for potential victims of the H1N1 virus. “We’re playing out a whole variety of scenarios,” Sebelius said on CNN’s State of the Union. “We’re preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.” She said that the Obama administration believes that a vaccine will be available around mid-October. “But the regimen will take about five weeks,” Sebelius said, “A first shot, three weeks delay, second shot, and then about two weeks for full immunity. So we’re really need to work between now and Thanksgiving with lots of social mitigation – keeping kids home from school if they’re sick. I would urge every family have a back-up child care plan.” She continued, “If a parent gets sick, what is the plan? because we know the disease spreads quickly and we will not have fully immunized even priority populations until about Thanksgiving. We’re looking at schools as great partners for possible vaccine programs beginning in the fall to get kids immunized as quickly as possible because this is a children’s flu.”

Power and wealth is no protection from the swine flu. On Tuesday, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias confirmed that he, too, has been infected with the H1N1 virus. “The pandemic makes no distinctions,” said Arias, 69. “I am one more case in this country and I am being submitted to the recommendations that health authorities have established for the entire population.” The Nobel Peace laureate, whose age and asthma places him at greater risk than most, said in a statement that he is quarantined at home and is being treated with the anti-flu medicine oseltamivir. “Aside from the discomfort of the fever and sore throat, I feel in good shape and in full capacity to carry out my work by telecommuting,” Arias said, whose symptoms emerged on Sunday.

Hundreds of Americans in eight cities are lining up for experimental swine flu shots in a race to get a vaccine out in case the new flu virus regains strength this fall and winter. Sharon Frey, who is leading the government-financed testing at Saint Louis University, said scientists have been working late nights and weekends to organize the studies and recruit volunteers. “Typically it takes a year to do this,” said Frey, an infectious diseases expert. “I can tell you we’re working at breakneck speed.” About 2,800 people will participate in the government-led studies. Saint Louis University will test 200 adults and 200 children. Also under way are separate studies by five flu vaccine manufacturers under contract with the government. Health officials expect to have about 160 million doses available this fall, with the first batch sometime in September. The studies will test the safety and effectiveness of vaccines developed by drug makers and help determine dosage and whether it can be given with a seasonal flu shot. Participants will be given different combinations of two swine flu vaccines made by drug makers Sanofi Pasteur and CSL Limited and a seasonal flu vaccine.

Because of the swine flu, most folks will require three separate flu shots instead of one, experts say. An initial shot is for the regular seasonal flu, but two will be needed to protect against the new H1N1 virus. As for that initial shot, you should get it as early as this month, they say. “We’d like to get to Job 1 and get most of it done,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University flu expert, referring to seasonal flu vaccinations. “Get it done before we start to tackle Job 2,” the more complex task of swine flu vaccinations, he added. The five vaccine manufacturers that supply the United States are finishing up production of seasonal flu vaccine earlier than usual. Health officials say they expect about half of the more than 120 million doses of seasonal vaccine to be available by the end of this month. Most of the rest are due out by the end of September. Some manufacturers report that distributors are quickly buying up supplies.

With the number of swine flu deaths doubling over the past few weeks, health officials the world over are pulling out all stops to halt the spread of the virus. In Europe, for example, school officials are extending students’ summer vacations; in several Muslim nations, authorities are telling pregnant women not to attend the hajj, and China is quarantining hundreds of foreign students, The Associated Press reports. The fact that the death toll from the H1N1 virus has risen from 330 in early July to its current level of 700 is reason enough for a new round of dramatic measures, officials say. “We expect to see more cases and deaths in the future,” World Health Organization spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi told The Associated Press in Geneva. While the group offered no breakdown of deaths, last week, the United States reported 263 deaths, Canada had 45 deaths and Britain had 29. According to WHO’s last update on July 6, Mexico reported 119 deaths. The fear among experts, however, is that the seemingly astronomical figure of 700 deaths may be far fewer than the actual number of those who’ve died from the virus. “The race is now on to develop and produce a vaccine that is effective against the global swine flu strain, but estimates for when such a jab will be available range from September to December,” according to AP.

Haiti Sees First Swine Flu Case
Haiti has seen its first confirmed swine flu case. A United Nations peacekeeper who came to Port-au-Prince earlier this month had flu symptoms and was quarantined, a U.N. spokesman said. Soon after, it was confirmed he had swine flu. After he was treated for a week and a half, the soldier returned to work. While this is the first confirmed case, it is believed there might be others that slipped through the cracks of a broken health care system, the BBC reports. Forty-four cases have been confirmed in the nearby Dominican Republic.