Dr. Andre Corriveau, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, announced the cases today in a statement from the provincial capital of Edmonton. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, has four confirmed cases, according to David Williams, the acting chief medical officer.

Ontario’s cases were “mild,” and the patients didn’t require hospitalization, Williams said. He said 20 more cases are being investigated.

Canada’s public health chief said yesterday that the other six Canadians with confirmed cases of swine flu have “recovered completely from their mild symptoms.” The first six cases were in Nova Scotia and British Columbia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Quinn in Ottawa at gquinn1@bloomberg.net; Reg Curren in Calgary at rcurren@bloomberg.net.

By Greg Quinn and Reg Curren

The proclamation orders all state agencies to use staff and equipment to help the Department of Public Health under coordination of the California Emergency Management Agency. “While there is no need for alarm, it is the governor’s top priority to limit the swine flu’s spread as quickly and effectively as possible and this action represents one more step being taken to strengthen California’s response capabilities,’’ according to a statement by the governor’s office.

The order also suspends rules requiring competitive bids for services, material, personnel and equipment needed to respond to this outbreak and waives some certification requirements for public health laboratories to help in the state’s expansion of testing capabilities.

“The spread of the virus poses a threat to property in the state due to illness-related absenteeism, particularly among public safety and law enforcement personnel and persons engaged in activities and businesses critical to the economy and infrastructure of the state,’’ Schwarzenegger said in the proclamation.

He added that this strain of the swine flu “constitutes a potential epidemic … that, by reason of its magnitude, is beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment and facilities of any single county, city … or regions to combat.’’

The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors also declared a local state of emergency today.

– Patrick McGreevy

In a letter to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the president made the request “at an abundance of caution,” and said the funds should be “provided with maximum flexibility to allow us to address this emerging situation.”

He also suggested the supplementing of anti-viral stockpiles, and assisting international efforts to stem the outbreak could be good uses of the funds. He added that his administration has “carefully been monitoring the situation, coordinating state and local responses, assessing the risk here in the United States and cooperating with international organizations and health officials around the globe.”

Robert Gibbs, Obama’s press secretary, read the letter to reporters at the beginning of Tuesday’s White House press briefing.

From CNN White House Producer Jamie Crawford
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/28/president-asks-congress-for-funds-to-fight-swine-flu/

Both individuals are male with a mild form of the illness. Neither was hospitalized.

One man from northern Alberta has fully recovered. A second man from Calgary is on the road to recovery.

Both men contracted the illness during recent trips to Mexico.

“These cases show that our monitoring and surveillance system is working as it should,” said Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. André Corriveau in a news release. “It was only a matter of time until cases of human swine influenza would show up in Alberta. These cases are both mild, similar to recent cases identified in Nova Scotia and British Columbia, and across the United States.”

The announcement brings the total confirmed cases in Canada to eight.

On Sunday, Alberta issued a public health alert and is joining other Canadian provinces in monitoring cases of the illness.

Alberta is planning to get its provincial laboratory ready to start diagnosing swine flu by the end of the week. Currently, the national lab in Winnipeg is the only place in Canada that can make a positive diagnosis of the illness.

In Mexico, at least 152 people are suspected to have died from a new strain of the swine flu virus. All the confirmed Canadian cases have been mild, so far.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/04/28/edm-alberta-swine-flu.html

During the visit, Obama spent time with a national museum director who ended up dying a few days later, reportedly after experiencing some flu-like symptoms. The White House released a statement on Monday afternoon confirming that the man, Felipe Solis Olguin, did not have swine flu. Gibbs also noted that the incubation period for swine flu is one to two days and the President’s visit to Mexico happened more than a week ago.

Spokesman Reid Cherlin says that the White House has been keeping a close eye on the so-called “swine flu,” which has already claimed 81 lives in Mexico, and there are 8 confirmed cases in the U.S. and several dozen more probable ones, including 8 students at a New York City private school. While initially transmitted by pigs, the virus can spread from human to human, raising fears of a flu pandemic.

from the Huffington Post
http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/18229

By JEREMIAH MARQUEZ
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h3kgMAkbLwyfxBdjzw8Pc4KZ7DhQD97RB1JO0

The current WHO phase of pandemic alert is 4

Influenza viruses circulate continuously among animals, especially birds. Even though such viruses might theoretically develop into pandemic viruses, in Phase 1 no viruses circulating among animals have been reported to cause infections in humans.

In Phase 2 an animal influenza virus circulating among domesticated or wild animals is known to have caused infection in humans, and is therefore considered a potential pandemic threat.

In Phase 3, an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus has caused sporadic cases or small clusters of disease in people, but has not resulted in human-to-human transmission sufficient to sustain community-level outbreaks. Limited human-to-human transmission may occur under some circumstances, for example, when there is close contact between an infected person and an unprotected caregiver. However, limited transmission under such restricted circumstances does not indicate that the virus has gained the level of transmissibility among humans necessary to cause a pandemic.

Phase 4 is characterized by verified human-to-human transmission of an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus able to cause “community-level outbreaks.” The ability to cause sustained disease outbreaks in a community marks a significant upwards shift in the risk for a pandemic. Any country that suspects or has verified such an event should urgently consult with WHO so that the situation can be jointly assessed and a decision made by the affected country if implementation of a rapid pandemic containment operation is warranted. Phase 4 indicates a significant increase in risk of a pandemic but does not necessarily mean that a pandemic is a forgone conclusion.

Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.

Phase 6, the pandemic phase, is characterized by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5. Designation of this phase will indicate that a global pandemic is under way.

During the post-peak period, pandemic disease levels in most countries with adequate surveillance will have dropped below peak observed levels. The post-peak period signifies that pandemic activity appears to be decreasing; however, it is uncertain if additional waves will occur and countries will need to be prepared for a second wave.

Previous pandemics have been characterized by waves of activity spread over months. Once the level of disease activity drops, a critical communications task will be to balance this information with the possibility of another wave. Pandemic waves can be separated by months and an immediate “at-ease” signal may be premature.

In the post-pandemic period, influenza disease activity will have returned to levels normally seen for seasonal influenza. It is expected that the pandemic virus will behave as a seasonal influenza A virus. At this stage, it is important to maintain surveillance and update pandemic preparedness and response plans accordingly. An intensive phase of recovery and evaluation may be required.

Health officials in Washington were quick to point out Sunday that none of the 20 cases identified in the U.S. so far has been fatal; all but one of the victims has recovered without needing to be hospitalized. Officials also noted that only one American has been infected so far who had not recently traveled to Mexico — a woman in Kansas got sick after her husband returned from a business trip in that country, where he became ill — but that could change as more intensive disease surveillance begins. “As we continue to look for more cases, I expect we’re going to find them,” said acting Centers for Disease Control (CDC) director Richard Besser.

In the U.S., where cases have also been found in California, Texas, and New York City, the declaration of a public-health emergency is part of what federal officials termed an “aggressive response” to the outbreaks. In addition to releasing from the national stockpile some 12.5 million doses of the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza — which scientists say has so far been effective against the H1N1 swine flu virus — the Department of Homeland Security will begin “passive surveillance” to screen people entering the U.S. Any traveler coming from a country with a confirmed human swine flu infection will be questioned, checked for symptoms and potentially isolated if they are found ill. Though the CDC has issued public warnings about the more serious outbreak in Mexico, there are no recommendations from Washington against traveling to the neighboring country. (Read about the vaccine being prepared in case of a pandemic.)

That is in contrast to the more extreme actions of some other governments, including Hong Kong, where officials on Sunday urged residents to avoid going to Mexico. Hong Kong officials also ordered the immediate detention in a hospital of anyone who arrives with a fever above 100.4 F, respiratory symptoms and a history of traveling over the past seven days to a city with a confirmed case of swine flu infection.

But Washington officials Sunday did their best not to overstate the situation and emphasized that their response wasn’t out of the ordinary. “I wish we could call it declaration of emergency preparedness, because that’s really what it is in this context,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. “We’re preparing in an environment where we really don’t know ultimately what the size or seriousness of this outbreak is going to be.”

By BRYAN WALSH
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1894029,00.html