According to the World Health Organization, the H1N1 virus is the fastest moving pandemic that has ever occurred. Usually the time period for pandemic flu viruses to spread around the world is more than six months, the H1N1 virus took less than six weeks to spread. Since there is such a rapid spread of the virus the World Health Organization has asked for specific case reporting requirements such as only severe cases of death or unusual or different patterns of the virus.
The United States is reported to having the largest amount of outbreaks of H1N1 cases of any country in the world. The last count that was done was said to have been a total 263 deaths that have occurred in the U.S. with 57 of them from New York alone. The World Health Organization had stated that worldwide the death rate has doubled just in the past 3 weeks from around 330 in July to over 700 presently.
Most people that do get the virus usually get over it within a week without seeking medical attention, but those with severe cases of the virus do need to receive the attention of a physician to get the treatment needed to recover.
There are trials being done in Australia, to determine if the H1N1 vaccine will provide the appropriate immune response to the virus. Vaxine is the name of the vaccine that is being used for the trial that contains 240 regular, healthy adults that run between the ages of 18 to 64. These participants will receive 2 shots every three weeks. The director of the research, Nikolai Petrovsky stated that the trial will take six to eight weeks before they can tell if there is any results. Petrovsky also stated that although there is no guarantee that this vaccine will be effective, there is hope.