China's size and population density mean a swine flu outbreak could be catastrophic.
That could be the scariest quote of the story about the Canadian students. Mexico City is one thing, but imagine if people start getting severe cases in Beijing.

Runnin', if they believe that those people have H1N1, then I don't see anything wrong with them keeping them locked a hotel. We wouldn't exactly just let people who are believed to have it roam free, let alone leave the country and possibly spread it elsewhere, in Canada either. If anything China is taking measures to make sure it doesn't get out of control.

Mexico City is one thing, but imagine if people start getting severe cases in Beijing.Ummmm.....the twenty million people living in close proximity to one another in Mexico City isn't scary enough for you? Really, I don't think there's much difference between Mexico City and Beijing in terms of a pathogen's ability to move from host to host if it has the stamina to do so.

Isn't Mexico City still the world's largest city?

No Mumbai (formerly Bombay) has about 50% more people in a smaller area, Mexico City is about 10th.

After I checked Mumbai is number 1, followed by Shanghai. I had thought someone said Beijing was the biggest back during the Olympics. Beijing is number 9 and has about 2 million more than Mexico City.

Mexico City scares me too, but with all the people traveling for business in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, London, NYC etc., they scare me even more.

It depends on how you measure the size of a city. If you google it, you will see different numbers. Same for Canadian cities.

http://www.citymayors.com/features/largest_cities1.html#Anchor-Cities-49575

The above link has Mexico City being larger than Beijing.

A friend who works in the health administration field told me about memos received this week from Health Department and the WHO, reinforcing that this virus may not peak till the fall when the weather will be a factor and as many as 5 million Ontarians may get it.

yeah its not going any where. You will get this flu sooner or later. Maybe later this year, maybe next year or the year after. Stay healthy in preparation just as always.

So barter i take it your a muslim? or jewish? or vegitarian? cause those are the only groups of people that i can think of that knowingly don't eat pork products for there own reasons. Thinking or implying that you can catch h1n1 from eating any pork product, with all the info we are being bombarded with and is available to you is just well, sad.

Yes the health department makes things clear in this question and answer segment of their web page.
Does the annual influenza vaccination protect me from H1N1 flu virus (human swine flu)?

This year’s annual influenza immunization, or flu shot, protects against the human strain of H1N1 influenza. The human swine influenza H1N1 strain is different than the human strain. It is unlikely that the seasonal flu shot will provide protection against H1N1 flu virus (human swine flu). The flu shot will protect against the seasonal influenza, which is still circulating in Mexico.
http://www.fightflu.ca/prot-eng.html
Unfornutaly protection does not mean you can't die from this influenza,flu, virus.

I am not sure you are reading that correctly. To be clear - the existing flu shot does NOT immunize against the H1N1 strain that you are hearing about in the news.

The CDC scientists discovered that the H1N1 virus had pieces of its RNA genetic material that matched a human flu first seen in New Caledonia in 1999, two swine types that had been circulating in Asia and Wisconsin for several years and an unknown avian-flu virus.

From The Path of a Pandemic (http://www.newsweek.com/id/195692)

Interesting cover story from Newsweek. Written by Laurie Garrett. Garrett is the senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. She is the author of "The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance (http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?t=dighomcan-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&asins=0140250913&md=07AN74PQXHR1PJRCZ582&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr)" and "Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health."

Her book, the Coming Plague is very good. I read it when it first came out in 1995

WHO announced today they have raised the pandemic alert to level 6 (out of 6).

"Organization acknowledges that raising the pandemic level might create some confusion and concern, but stresses the move doesn’t mean the virus is becoming more virulent."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/who-announces-it-is-declaring-a-swine-flu-pandemic/article1177456/

..And clearly there is plenty we don't understand about this particular virus - like why it seems so virulent in a few clusters.

"In Manitoba, one first nations chief described his flu-stricken community as a “war zone” and decried the lack of government support that many remote towns are receiving in the face of a pandemic that has taken a disproportionate toll on aboriginal people in the province."

-Mike

Just out of curiosity, what kind of contingency plans are companies doing just in case? I am working on our plan right now and trying to find more ideas to that I may have missed in planning so other angles may produce better plans

ctown, I think one of things people are missing/forgetting about is making plans for those employees who are not sick but are still not at work. If everyone else in their family is sick they need to stay home to take care of the family.

In that case if possible/appropriate having the infrastructure in place to do things like full VPN access. Also getting employees to start thinking about how they can do some of their job from home if needed.

Thanks Mike that is a great point about taking care of the sick, I totally overlooked that aspect!

I am working on setting up vpn but mostly just setting up remote desktop for the computers that I can that way they have full access to everything. I still need to test out the router under heavier load from remote accessing at the same time. Ive been "planning" to set up this type of access for years but its always been put aside, but now I can really see we really might need it.

Ive got hand sanatizer stations and germicide spray coming in this week for the just in case we need it. and have written out a lengthy plan that we will refine over then next week or so.

Very mixed feelings about the H1N1 vaccine that the province is getting. In the paper today it reported great results from Phase I clinical trials. PHASE I!!!

I don't know how you can say anything is ok and safe while it is in Phase I, I guess there is no need for the Phase II and III trials.

This is the norm:

PHASE I TRIALS: Initial studies to determine the metabolism and pharmacologic actions of drugs in humans, the side effects associated with increasing doses, and to gain early evidence of effectiveness; may include healthy participants and/or patients.

PHASE II TRIALS: Controlled clinical studies conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the drug for a particular indication or indications in patients with the disease or condition under study and to determine the common short-term side effects and risks.

PHASE III TRIALS: Expanded controlled and uncontrolled trials after preliminary evidence suggesting effectiveness of the drug has been obtained, and are intended to gather additional information to evaluate the overall benefit-risk relationship of the drug and provide and adequate basis for physician labeling.

PHASE IV TRIALS: Post-marketing studies to delineate additional information including the drug's risks, benefits, and optimal use.

As a physician, I agree with what Spensar has to say. I am a strong advocate of immunization but ,while I will have it available, I will NOT reccomend it to my patients, my children or my grandchildren.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/swine-flu-virus-resistant-to-tamiflu-in-alberta-case/article1289349/
The H1N1 virus has shown resistance to Tamiflu in an Alberta woman, the second time in Canada that the antiviral drug has not worked.

Antiviral drugs are effective against swine flu if taken within days of the first symptoms. But some people have become sick despite taking them.

The case in Alberta was a lab-confirmed H1N1 infection, and the woman later recovered. But a blood sample taken in mid-August while the woman was being treated for another condition showed the virus was still in her system and was resistant to Tamiflu. Further testing at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg confirmed that the virus was Tamiflu-resistant.