Fragile care worsened swine flu in Ukraine. A frenzy for care in Ukraine has drawn attention from experts bracing for the epidemic to hit Europe, and especially the flimsy health care systems of countries of the former Soviet Union. [News Source]

Swine flu infections starting to peak in some areas: WHO. H1N1 swine flu infections may be peaking in some parts of the northern hemisphere, but are still spreading fast in others, the World Health Organization said on Friday. But big sections of the United States are still experiencing "widespread and intense" flu infections, WHO said. [News Source]

Panic in Germany as swine flu spreads. Fear of swine flu is running rampant in Germany as the number of reported cases -- and deaths -- continues to grow. Doctors' offices are inundated by people wanting to get the vaccine, which is in short supply. But health professionals are divided over how dangerous the virus really is. [News Source]

Medical workers balk at mandatory flu vaccines. Even as they are forced to wait like everyone else for swine flu vaccines in short supply, thousands of nurses and other front-line healthcare workers are fighting mandatory flu immunization policies being put in place by some U.S. hospitals. [News Source]

FDA chief defends H1N1 vaccine supply. The head of the US FDA defended the agency's decision not to use an additive that could have stretched swine flu vaccine supplies, adding that doses should be coming more regularly. [News Source]

Ottawa clears H1N1 vaccine for pregnant women. The federal government has approved the Canadian version of the swine flu vaccine for pregnant women and will soon begin allowing some healthy kids and adults to get it too. [News Source]

US flu infections ‘unprecedented’ in 2009. H1N1 swine flu killed an estimated 3,900 Americans from April to October, including 540 children, US health officials said on Thursday. The flu pandemic has infected an estimated 22 million Americans and put 98,000 in the hospital, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said. [News Source]

Behind the CDC’s soaring H1N1 death totals. The new death toll represents a tripling of CDC estimates issued just last week; the number of deaths in children was quadruple last week's figures. But the increase does not mean that the disease has suddenly become more deadly or severe, according to health officials. [News Source]

Death toll from snow in North China rises to 40. Unusually early snowstorms in north China have claimed at least 40 lives in weather-related accidents and caused billions of yuan in damage, the Civil Affairs Ministry said yesterday. The snowfall is the heaviest recorded in the area in at least 50 years. [News Source]