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Big news today: The World Health Organization (WHO) ended days of speculation and finally bumped the pandemic alert level to phase 4. What's more, it did so after releasing revamped definitions and meanings yesterday.

(CIDRAP News) – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed 20 more swine influenza cases, all connected to previous cases at a New York City high school, and said federal officials will issue new travel advice urging against nonessential travel to Mexico.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal health officials yesterday warned consumers not to eat raw alfalfa sprouts, including blends that contain the sprouts, until further notice, because the seeds used by growers around the country may be contaminated with Salmonella.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today held to its position that more information is needed before a decision can be made about changing its pandemic influenza alert status from the current phase 3 to phase 4. Moving to phase 4 would mean that the new virus is transmissible enough to cause large outbreaks.

(CIDRAP News) – Federal officials, speaking at a White House briefing on the swine influenza outbreak today, said the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is declaring a public health emergency, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed 9 more human cases.

(CIDRAP News) – Health officials from Kansas and New York today announced more confirmed and probable swine influenza cases, as an emergency panel of the World Health Organization (WHO) met but stopped short of raising the global pandemic alert level.

(CIDRAP News) – Samples from a deadly respiratory illness outbreak in Mexico match swine influenza isolates from patients in the United States who had milder illnesses, an official from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today, fueling speculation that the World Health Organization (WHO) could be on the verge of raising the global pandemic alert level.

Vietnamese woman dies of H5N1 infectionVietnam's health ministry announced today that a 23-year-old woman from the northern part of the country died on Apr 22 from an H5N1 avian influenza infection, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Officials said they haven't determined the source of her infection. If the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms her illness and death, it will bring the country's official H5N1 toll to 111 cases and 56 deaths.

In yesterday's Special Edition, we reported on two potentially alarming developments: a novel swine flu outbreak in California and Texas that had infected seven people, who all recovered; and a much more severe respiratory disease outbreak in Mexico, with 120 reported cases, including 13 deaths.

Reports are emerging rapidly about a new strain of influenza that has infected seven adults and children in the southwest region of the United States. This swine influenza strain of H1N1 is different from the human strain of H1N1, and the current human vaccine would likely offer little protection.

(CIDRAP News) – Five more cases of an unusual swine influenza virus infection have surfaced, officials from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today, bringing the total to seven and raising more concerns about human-to-human transmission.

Apr 23, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – Swine influenza viruses have never been documented as the cause of a human influenza pandemic, but in 1976 they generated pandemic fears strong enough to trigger a nationwide vaccination campaign.

The reporting of swine flu cases in two California children this week stirred memories of the 1976 episode, which caused major embarrassment for public health authorities when the pandemic never materialized.

Apr 22, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – Two California children who had not had contact with pigs recently recovered from infections with "unique" swine influenza viruses, raising concern about possible human-to-human transmission and putting health authorities on alert, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

Apr 21, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – Health officials in the Washington, DC, area today said they were working to identify people who may have been exposed to a patient with measles, as officials in other states, including Virginia, Iowa, and Pennsylvania, were responding to three other recent measles exposures.

Apr 20, 2009

(CIDRAP News) - Egypt's state media reported two new H5N1 avian influenza infections within 2 days of each other, in a 25-year-old woman and an 18-month girl.

The state-run paper Al Ahram, quoting the country's health ministry, reported on Apr 17 that the woman is from Qalubia governorate and was hospitalized in critical condition, according to report from Agence France-Presse.

Apr 17, 2009