Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

The H1N1 pandemic is over, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced this week. The strain of influenza killed about 18,500 worldwide since it emerged during the spring of 2009, and spurred a flurry of mass vaccination programs. The organization warns that the announcement doesn’t mean the H1N1 virus has gone away. Rather, it is expected to take on the behavior of a seasonal flu virus and circulate primarily during the winter months over the next several years. During the pandemic, the H1N1 virus spread into other seasons, dominating other seasonal influenza viruses.

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“We are now in a position never before experienced in the history of influenza,” said Dr. Margaret Hamburg, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, in a letter to health care providers about the safety and availability of the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine. Just as a new and serious virus is spreading widely around the country, causing hospitalizations and deaths, a vaccine is becoming available to help prevent infection and protect the public.”

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a public health alert Thursday after finding errors with the measurements on the dosing dispenser included in Tamiflu packaging. Tamiflu is the brand name of Oseltamivir, an antiviral prescription drug used to treat people infected with the influenza virus. Produced by Swiss global health care company F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., Tamiflu has been used extensively throughout the world during the last decade to help curb the spread of the flu virus within patients.

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