4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, MAY 4, 2009
HEALTH
Swine flu numbers jump in U.S. from lab test backlog
BY MALCOLM RITTER
Associated Press
NEW YORK — The government's tally of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States jumped Sunday to 226 in 30 states, but officials said that's largely from catching up on a backlog of lab tests rather than a sudden spurt in new infections.
The new count, up from 160 in 21 states on Saturday, reflected streamlining in federal procedures and the results of tests by states, which have only recently begun confirming cases, said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Because states are now contributing their results, and because there are many cases to analyze, "I expect the numbers to jump quite a bit in the next couple days," she told reporters Sunday.
Beyond eating into the backlog, the new number also reflects that "we do think this virus is fairly widespread," she said.
"Virtually all of the United States probably has this virus circulating now. That doesn't mean that everybody infected, within the communities, the virus has arrived."
Later Sunday, a few more states reported their first confirmed infections.
Mexico's health secretary said Sunday that his country's outbreak is "now in its declining phase" but Schuchat noted that the United States got off to a later start. "We believe we are just in the upswing here," she said.
Scientists are still gathering information on how severe the nation's 30 hospitalized cases are.
she said. They are mostly older children and young adults, in contrast to ordinary flu, which tends to send the elderly and very young to the hospital, Schuchat said.
"Virtually all of the United States probably has the virus circulating right now."
The only swine
"The good news is when we look at this virus right now, we're not seeing some of the things in the virus that have been associated in the past with more severe flu. That's encouraging, but it doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet," said Dr. Richard Besser, acting CDC chief.
Kathleen Sebelius, health and human services secretary, and Dr. Richard Besser, centers for disease control and prevention acting director, appear on "Face the Nation" at the BS studs in Washington. They discussed preventative measures against swine flu.
Local authorities announced more school closings Sunday, including all 24 schools in a district west of Detroit after a high school student came down with an apparent case of the illness.
flu death in the U.S. is that of a Mexican toddler who was visiting Texas.
Karin Cooper/ASSOCIATED PRESS
With swine flu, or the H1N1
ANNE SCHUCHAT Doctor of CDC
On Sunday's talk shows, U.S. health officials said they were cautiously optimistic that the swine flu isn't as dangerous as first feared, but urged people to keep taking commonsense precautions. They said they couldn't predict if the virus will roar back in the fall.
flu as the government prefers to call it, now in more than 30 states and counting, authorities say it's spreading just as easily as regular winter flu. But, as Besser appeared on talk shows with the president's health
and homeland security chiefs, they said that it didn't seem to cause as severe a disease as it did in Mexico.
A big concern is whether the virus will return, perhaps harder, when regular influenza begins its march here. Flu season in the Southern Hemisphere is about to begin, and U.S. authorities will watch how the swine flu circulates there over the coming months as they prepare the first vaccine and then decide whether to order that large amounts of it be produced in the fall.
Production of regular winter flu vaccine is going full-tilt, "to make sure we kind of clear the decks," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.
"We are testing the virus strain for H1N1 virus so that we're ready to go into production later, in a month or two, when we make sure
that we have the right dosage and the right tests. So we'll be ready for both," she said.
Even if the swine virus didn't prove as potent as authorities first feared, Bessard said that doesn't mean the U.S. and World Health Organization overreacted in racing to prevent a pandemic, or
worldwide spread, of a virus never before seen.
With a new infectious disease, "you basically get one shot, you get one chance to try to reduce the impact," Besser said. "You take a very aggressive approach and as you learn more information you can tailor your response."
POLITICS
John Edwards investigated for use of campaign funds
BY MIKE BAKER Associated Press
The two-time Democratic presidential candidate acknowledged Sunday that investigators are assessing how he spent his campaign funds — a subject that could carry his extramarital affair from the tabloids to the courtroom. Edwards' political action committee paid more than $100,000 for video production to the firm of the woman with whom Edwards had an affair.
RALEIGH, N.C. — His once-prominent political career is buried and the turmoil of his marriage is playing out in public. Now, John Edwards is facing a federal inquiry.
The former North Carolina senator said in a carefully worded statement that he is cooperating.
"I am confident
Edwards acknowledged the affair with Hunter last year, months after dropping his presidential bid.
nonprofits and a poverty center at his alma mater — that have come under scrutiny.
At the time of the 2007 payment,
Chief among them was the PAC that paid Rielle Hunter's company for several months in 2006 for Web videos that documented Edwards' travels and advocacy in the months leading up to his 2008 presidential campaign. The committee also paid her firm an additional $14,086.50 on April 1, 2007.
"I am confident that no funds from my campaign were used improperly."
that no funds from my campaign were used improperly." Edwards said in the statement. "However, I know that it is the role of government to ensure that this is true. We have made available to the United States both the people and the information necessary to help them get the issue resolved efficiently and in a timely matter."
While Edwards focused his comment on campaign funds, he also had a range of other fundraising organizations — including two
JOHN EDWARDS
Former N.C. senator
the PAC only had $7,932.95 in cash on hand, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. That day, according to the records, Edwards' presidential campaign paid the PAC
$14,034.61 for what is listed as a
"furniture purchase."
The furniture money was one of just five contributions to the political action committee between April 1 to June 30, 2007. The other four were on June 30, the last day of the reporting period, including a $3,000 contribution from the wife of Edwards' finance chairman, Fred Baron.
Willfully converting money from a political action committee for personal use is a federal crime.
Baron, Edwards' national finance chairman and a wealthy Dallas-based trial attorney, said last year that he quietly began sending money to Hunter to resettle in California. He said no campaign funds were used and that Hunter was not working for the campaign when he started giving her money.
Edwards has said he was unaware of the payments. Baron died of cancer in October.
U. S. Attorney George Holding had declined to comment.
Kate Michelman, a former head of the abortion-rights group NARAL who advised the Edwards campaign, said she hoped there was no wrongdoing.
"All of us remain very saddened by what has happened to John, because he was right on the policies," Michelman said Sunday. "It remains a very sad occurrence for all of us. It's sad for John and Elizabeth, and this is just one more problem for them to deal with."
Edwards, 55, powered onto the national scene in 1998, when he won a seat for the U.S. Senate in his first political campaign. With smooth speech and good looks, the former trial lawyer ran for the White House in 2004 and was tapped as Sen. John Kerry's running mate. He returned to the campaign trail in a 2008 presidential bid but was largely overshadowed by a duel between Hillary Clinton, vying to be the first female president, and Barack Obama, who did become the first black president.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards speaks at Indiana University in Bloomington, ind. Edwards, who has acknowledged a federal inquiry into his campaign funds, said in a statement obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday, that he was confident no campaign funds were used improperly. He said he had made people and information available to resolve the issue in a timely manner.
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