Closing the door on potential pandemics. As modern transportation is made available to more of the world, geographic boundaries that once protected us from remote disease outbreaks are nearly obsolete. And a major component of any strategy to protect ourselves must involve treating disease before it gets to us. [News Source]

US gears for huge swine flu vaccination push. Anxiously eyeing the approach of winter, US health officials are urgently gearing up for a huge vaccine campaign hoping Americans will swing behind efforts to protect them from swine flu. [News Source]

H1N1 flu spreads to remote corners of the world. There may be no escape from H1N1 pandemic flu, which according to the latest World Health Organization figures has spread to the most remote parts of the planet--including popular island getaways... [News Source]

Europe fast-tracking swine flu vaccine. In a drive to inoculate people against swine flu before winter, many European governments say they will fast-track the testing of a vaccine, arousing concern among some experts about safety and proper doses. [News Source]

Fast-tracked swine flu vaccine will be safe, officials insist. The World Health Organisation has raised concerns about the fast-track production of the swine flu vaccine in Europe, where the treatment is due to be made available at least two months earlier than in the US. [News Source]

Flu chief: Pandemic in early stages. The global swine flu epidemic is still in its early stages--even though reports of over 100,000 infections in England alone last week are plausible, the World Health Organization's flu chief said Friday... [News Source]

Swine flu in Britain: The guessing game. As the pandemic spreads, the National Health Service and other public services are preparing for the worst-case scenario – but they have no real idea of how bad the situation might get... [News Source]

Flu disproportionately targets the young and healthy. The median age of Canadians infected with pandemic influenza is only 18 and, among those hospitalized, is 21 years old, according to new government figures that paint a picture of just how disproportionately the H1N1 virus affects young adults. [News Source]

U.K. calculates fatality rate in a ‘worst-case scenario.’ A health department report said a "reasonable worst case scenario" would be a fatality rate anywhere between 0.1%-0.35%, similar to the fatality rate from influenza. This would mean 63,000 people could die in the first wave of the pandemic. [News Source]

Swine flu will be biggest pandemic ever, warns WHO chief. The H1N1 swine flu epidemic could ultimately infect 1.5 billion people, or 25% of the world's population, more than any other global flu pandemic, including the 1918 pandemic, warned Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organisation. [News Source]

Swine flu: health experts ’surprised’ by spread of virus in the UK. One of the world's most respected influenza scientists said today that health officials had been surprised by the spread of swine flu. [News Source]

Pandemic flu viruses brew for years before going global. Family trees for pandemic influenza have revealed that components of deadly flu viruses probably lurk in humans and other animals for years before they emerge as a worldwide threat to human health. [News Source]