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11/17/05
The Food and Drug Administration has determined that the deaths of 12 Japanese children who took tamiflu probably died from the flu, not from the medicine. The deaths occured between 2000 and 2005. (King 5 News)
11/18/05
France is stockpiling antiviral medicines and masks to protect all of it's citizens from a flu pandemic. (Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zackaria)
11/18/05
Senator Bill Frist (who is also a medical doctor) spoke at Princeton University today:
"Think of a fast moving, highly contagious disease that wipes out 5% of the world's population (50 million people). Half a million of them in the U.S....bodies pile up in the streets. There aren't enough morticians to bury the dead. Nor are there enough doctors and nurses to tend to the sick. The churches close, the schools shut. Telecommunications and transportation grind to a halt. The public succumbs to hysteria and panic. Police protection fails. Order decays. Productivity dives.
Sounds lika a scene from a science fiction film, doesn't it? But what if I told you it already happened? What if I told you it was the pandemic flu that swept across America and around the globe in 1918? Or if I told you that this glimpse into the past might be a preview to our future? An avian flu pandemic is no longer a question of if, but a question of when." (Meet The Press with Tim Russert)
12/18/05
U.S. Customs siezed 51 shipments of counterfeit Tamiflu today. The shipments were bound for Sam Franscisco from Asia and were sold over the internet. (King5 News)
12/18/05
The United States House of Representatives passed a defense authorization bill which included $3.5 billion for pandemic flu prevention (I think this is for stockpiling of tamiflu, masks, and vaccine development), half of what President Bush had asked for. (The Washington Post)
December 2005
Scientific American reported on an article in another journal (I think it was "Nature") which said that the pandemic flu of 1918 was an avian strain of flu, but that it did not mutate by combining with a human variety of flu. Instead, it mutated by itself to create a deadly and contagious flu virus.
12/21/05
Changed website: Added information on contact from Razei Bar to questions page.
Added links.
12/21/05
Tamiflu found ineffective in bird flu treatment.
12/22/05
Changed website: Changed links to Razei Bar to American supplier.
1/9/06
Bird flu is probably more widespread than previously thought and probably doesn't kill half of the people who catch it. (The Associated Press)
1/11/06
The United Nations requests $1.5 Billion to fight bird flu and protect against a pandemic in humans. (British Broadcasting Company)
1/12/06
Senator Harry Reid introduced the Panemic Preparedness and response Act (S. 1821) on October 5, 2005. This bill would create a new office within the Department of Health and Human Services to address and coordinate a federal response to pandemic outbreak. This bill would also provide funding to produce, develop, and distribute a vaccine for avian flu. To encourage U.S. pharmaceutical companies to resume producing vaccinations, this bill would establish a vaccine buy-back program. The Act has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions where it awaits further review. (Personal communication with Senator Maria Cantwell) (You can find out how to contact your Senators here and your Representative in the House here - to let them know you'd like them to support the bill, and any other legislation concerning pandemic preparedness.
Mid-January
I heard from a relative's healthcare provider that this year's flu shot was ineffective. My psychiatrist also caught the flu even though he had gotten a flu shot.
1/15/06
Two medicines commonly used to treat the flu have been found to be ineffective. See the Associated Press story here.