Democrats expect healthcare overhaul to pass 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leading Democrats on Sunday said they expect Congress to pass a major healthcare reform backed by President Barack Obama, but supporters may have to accept legislation that falls short on some issues.
The U.S. Senate on Monday is set to begin debate on the sweeping overhaul of the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system amid growing concerns about the cost of the legislation that aims to provide medical coverage for millions of the uninsured.
"We want to cover the uninsured, yes, but we don't want to do it in a way that's going to drive up the costs for folks who currently have it," said Senator Evan Bayh, one of a number of centrist Democrats whose support will be crucial to pass the overhaul in the face of solid Republican opposition.
GOP senator says health care bill can't be fixed
WASHINGTON — The No. 2 Republican in the Senate is urging his Democratic colleagues to start over in crafting a bill to overhaul the health care system.
But that's not likely given that debate on the bill is set to begin this week.
Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona says the Senate bill doesn't actually deal with the problems facing Americans. He says there's no way to fix the bill.
Saudi official: 5 dead from swine flu at hajj
MINA, Saudi Arabia — Five people died from swine flu during the hajj, Saudi Arabia said Sunday, a relatively small number considering the event is the largest annual gathering in the world and is seen as an ideal incubator for the virus.
But some experts warned the true extent of the virus will not be known until pilgrims return to their home countries around the world.
Speaking on the final day of the Islamic pilgrimage, Abdullah al-Rabeeah said authorities recorded 73 cases — including the five deaths — of H1N1, commonly known as swine flu. He said only 10 percent of the some 2.5 million pilgrims were vaccinated against the virus.
The Ballistics of the Health Care Shootout
“Victory has a thousand fathers,” John F. Kennedy said, “defeat is an orphan.” The U.S. Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, soon will rediscover this wisdom.
If the Nevada Democrat gets a health care bill through the Senate by Christmas, his holiday stocking will be full of success and praise. If he fails, there will be nothing but coal and criticism.
The stakes are huge for the Obama presidency and the Democratic Party.
Is there a history lesson from the swine flu of '76?
As more and more people receive the H1N1 shot, an earlier vaccine is casting a mysterious shadow over the attempt to immunize 200 million people in the next few months.
A vaccine made in 1976 in response to a different strain of H1N1 influenza led to an outbreak of a rare form of paralysis. Of the 43 million people who were vaccinated, about 400 developed Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), and 25 died.
Whether an equally unexpected surprise might be lurking in this year's swine flu shot is a big -- although not publicly acknowledged -- question hanging over the current immunization effort. That possibility is why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention routinely reports, as it did Wednesday, on whether any notable side effects to the new vaccine have been discovered. (None have.)
Experts Say Swine Flu Mutations Do Not Warrant New Alarm
The World Health Organization tried this week to dampen fears about mutations seen in the swine flu virus in several countries, noting that both mutations had been found in very few people.
A change that created Tamiflu resistance has been found in about 75 people around the world, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, chief flu adviser to the W.H.O.’s director general. Two clusters, in cancer units at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina and a hospital in Wales, were both among patients whose immune systems had been severely suppressed by cancer treatment; some had had their bone marrow, which produces infection-fighting white blood cells, wiped out so that replacement blood stem cells could be injected.
Such patients are more likely to develop resistant viruses when on Tamiflu because they can not clear a virus on their own. But the mutant strain appears not to spread easily in people with normal immunity, like hospital workers.
Greater Use of Vaccine for Infection Is Urged
There has been a “worrisome spike” in secondary bacterial infections among Americans with swine flu, federal health officials said Wednesday, urging more people at risk to get the underused vaccine that prevents some of those infections.
Bacterial infections are a common and sometimes deadly flu complication for the elderly, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of immunization and respiratory disease for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But in this pandemic, they are becoming more common among children and younger adults.
For example, Dr. Schuchat said, Denver, one of 10 cities where her agency monitors circulating bacterial strains, has 20 serious cases in a typical October. Last month it had 58, two-thirds in adults under age 60.
Drug resistant H1N1 no major change in virus-WHO
* Drug-proof flu hits some with suppressed immune systems
* But seems to pose no threat to those with HIV
* Flu expected to continue for weeks in northern hemisphere
CDC: Swine flu vaccine safe; no big problems seen
ATLANTA — U.S. health officials say there's no evidence that the swine flu vaccine is causing any serious side effects.
They say the vast majority of reports have been for minor things like soreness, redness or swelling where the shot was given. From early October through mid-November, about 22 million people were vaccinated.
Officials have been watching whether the new vaccine would cause a rare paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre syndrome. That condition was seen in higher numbers than usual during a swine flu vaccination campaign in 1976. But there have been only 10 such reports so far in those who got the new swine flu vaccine.
College Swine Flu Rates Drop 37% as Infections Peak
Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu infection rates at U.S.colleges and universities fell 37 percent last week, adding moreevidence that the second wave of pandemic flu has peaked.
The drop followed a similar decline a week earlier,according to a survey of 243 college and universities by theAmerican College Health Association. In the latest report, theattack rate decreased to 13.4 cases per 10,000 students from21.3 cases, the group said in an e-mail today. The proportion ofcolleges with outbreaks fell to 90 percent from 95 percent.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Nov.20 that H1N1 infection rates had declined in all U.S.populations for the third consecutive week. It was the firstsustained drop since children and college students returned toschool in August. The next few days may test the retreat asfamilies gather for the Thanksgiving holiday.
