H1N1 Coming Back to U.S., Two Months Before First Vaccine August 31, 2009 (LPAC)—Reports from Alabama are an indicative marker of the worldwide "swine flu" pandemic sweeping back into the United States ahead of schedule.
H1N1 flu is spreading rapidly in Alabama in the last week of August, reported the Tuscaloosa Gazette. Absenteeism in Tuscaloosa schools is at 16% immediately after the opening of the school year (normal is 2%, and in flu season 5%). Authorities have begun shutdowns of schools, based on central tracking of the absentee rates. H1N1 has also hit hard already at the University of Alabama and elsewhere.
Hospital emergency room visits in Mobile, Alabama, are 50% higher than normal for August, all due to the flu.
This is occurring two months before the earliest possible date for the first beginnings of vaccination against the H1N1 flu, assuming all tests of the vaccine go well.
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