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(CIDRAP News) – Vice President Joe Biden today told Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today" show that he has advised his family not to fly on airlines or ride subways to avoid exposure to the swine flu virus, a message that goes well beyond the government's current travel advice for Americans to avoid nonessential trips to Mexico.

The World Health Organization's (WHO's) global count of confirmed swine flu cases stands at 257 cases in 11 countries today. The United States has 109 cases and 1 death; Mexico has 97 cases and 7 deaths. [WHO update 6]

After seeing the pandemic alert level sit at phase 3 for years, suddenly witnessing the World Health Organization (WHO) accelerate from phase 3 to phase 5 in mere days feels terribly unnerving. Unfortunately, it's the nature of the beast—literally.

Apr 29, 2009

(CIDRAP News) – To confront the spreading swine influenza H1N1 virus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) today raised the agency's pandemic alert level to phase 5, one notch below a full-fledged influenza pandemic, signaling that it's time for all countries to prepare.

The move comes just 2 days after the WHO raised the alert from phase 3, where it had been for several years, to phase 4.

(CIDRAP News) – Top US officials responsible for managing the nation's response to the swine influenza outbreak today faced increasing pressure to implement more aggressive measures at the Mexico border and reveal more details about the status of a vaccine.

(CIDRAP News) –At an emergency hearing today of the Senate appropriations committee, Sen Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said the Obama administration will ask for $1.5 billion to fight the swine influenza epidemic, as committee members sought to get a handle on the elements and cost estimates of the public health response.

Editor's note: Today we are launching a daily digest of the latest developments concerning the swine influenza H1N1 virus. This digest will be updated more than once a day as news developments dictate.

(CIDRAP News) – As the official count of US swine influenza cases rose to 64 today, top federal health officials said it's becoming increasingly clear that the virus is spreading beyond people who recently traveled to Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak.

(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.

Editor's note: Includes two new sections, on phase change considerations and on possible impact.

(CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today raised its official pandemic alert level from the current phase 3 to phase 4 on its 6-phase scale, saying the newly identified swine influenza virus has made a pandemic more likely but not inevitable.

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 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) – 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) – 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.

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.

(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.

Apr 23, 2009