Flu Fears Strike United States

There has been an outbreak in the United States of a new swine flu strain, according to the CDC.

There’s also been reports of a “flu like” illness that has struck a large number of people in New York, prompting one report to warn of an “epidemic hazard” in central New York.

The CDC is reporting on a new form of the H1N1 Swine Flu virus, called H3N2v, that has infected 12 people so far.

“While there is no evidence that sustained human-to-human transmission is occurring, all influenza viruses have the capacity to change and it’s possible that this virus may become widespread,” the CDC explainedthrough their website.

According to The Daily Mail, “the virus has been found in five states sprawled around the East Coast and Midwest since August of 2011, though in a late November report they listed the first as being in July.”

Meanwhile, an alert has been issued reading: “Epidemic Hazard in USA on Wednesday”

That alert comes from a service called the RSOE EDIS. They say they are he Hungarian National Association of Radio Distress-Signalling and Infocommunications (RSOE), which operates an Emergency and Disaster Information Service (EDIS).

Here’s a little of what they had to say in the alert:

Doctors’ offices across Central New York are packed with sick patients and ‘What’s Going Around’ might surprise you. It’s not influenza – at least not yet.

More than 500 people were treated before 4 p.m. Monday and the phones were still ringing off the hook Tuesday at CNY Family Care in East Syracuse. Amanda Carelli made a visit after coming down with a fever and sore throat. Turns out she’s far from alone.

“We are being inundated with phone calls for sinus infectious, bronchitis, infection of the stomach, bacterial infections, viral infections,” Family Physician Dr. Louis Bonavita said.

While the spread of the stomach bug and respiratory infections aren’t anything new at this time of year, the sheer number of people getting sick is different.