Results tagged “swineflu”

The Archdiocese of Boston urges Catholics to hold off on the consecrated wine, lest they catch transubstantiated swine flu.

The Commonwealth got its first shipment of H1N1 vaccine yesterday, according to this blog post. That's ahead of schedule, according to the state. Don't run out all at once to get your shots, though:

-- There's no need to guess when the leaves are peaking. [Yankee Foliage]

• Boston University set aside rooms for students exhibiting flu-like symptoms. Students are discussing the policy's strengths and weaknesses. [B.U. Daily Free Press]

• Consider this: Could fears about the swine flu be more disruptive than the actual flu outbreak? [Yahoo!News.com]

WBZ reports that the prison riot that left the Middlesex County Jail flooded over the weekend was caused by inmates' fears over swine flu and was not, as was originally reported, the result of wanton vandalism. The Middlesex Jail, located in Cambridge, has seen 11 inmates and 2 guards hospitalized with H1N1. The prison, which was built to hold 160 prisoners, boasts a population of 403.

The Globe reports that a 30-year-old woman died of swine flu yesterday.

The Boston Business Journal has alerted us to the existence of Replikins, a local biotech company claiming to have a swine flu vaccine ready for testing. The synthetic peptide H1N1 vaccine was created using sub-sequences of the virus and modern peptide synthesis techniques. CDC spokesman Tom Skinner told the BBJ, “We should know by the end of May which institution has the most success growing a seed virus.” Testing would take time, and a vaccine would probably not be available before fall. Replikins' vaccine is not currently undergoing testing. There have been 115 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus in Massachusetts thus far.

• Wellesley goes all H1N1. [Wellesley Townsman]
• As does Somerville.. [Somerville Journal]
• And the Public Garden goes swan (flu-free... we hope). [Globe]

• Four new cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Mass.; as many as nine Harvard students may have H1N1. [Globe]
• Some kind of horse race tomorrow. [NYT]
• A flight from Munich to Washington was diverted to Boston due to a passenger's flu symptoms. The passenger was deplaned and taken to MGH; the plane continued on to DC. [WBZ]

Officials have stopped calling swine flu "swine flu," switching instead to the disease's more official (but less catchy) moniker, H1N1, which better reflects its multipart human, avian, and porcine origins. Officials (at Northeastern, at least) have also issued a moratorium on handshakes in the interest of stopping spread of the disease. H1N1 may have spread to Boston and now there are six "probable" cases in Amherst as well as two in Brockton. When will it end?

SWINE FLU IN BOSTON?WCVB is reporting a "probable case" of swine flu H1N1 virus at the Harvard Dental School. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will hold a news conference Thursday night to discuss the case.

Two Lowell siblings who traveled to Mexico have tested positive for swine flu, marking the disease's first confirmed case in Massachusetts. The boys, ages 8 and 10, have not been to school since returning from Mexico, so it is not likely the virus has spread from them to classmates. Deval Patrick will give a press conference on the matter later this morning.

The CDC reports that the first death resulting from swine flu has occurred in the US. The victim, a 23-month-old child, died in Houston, where he was taken for treatment from Brownsville, a border town. Update: The child is said to have been from Mexico and only visiting the States.

Bostonist headed over to the Department of Public Health earlier today and found out a thing or two about swine flu. There are still no reported cases of the disease in Massachusetts; the CDC has announced 40 laboratory confirmed cases in the U.S. The DPH has received about two dozen reports of diseases with epidemiology matching that of swine flu. Most of these cases have tested negative, but the department is still investigating some reports.

The Massachusetts Department of Health offers the following information about the recent swine flu outbreak: