Flu, Swine Flu | featured news

The Obama administration forgot the first rule in a crisis: Never send Vice President Joe Biden to calm people's fears.

Humans have it. Pigs don't. At least not yet, and U.S. pork producers are doing everything they can to make sure that the new H1N1 virus, known around the world as the "swine flu," stays out of their herds.

A late afternoon tally by the U.S. Department of Education found that 298 schools around the country had shut down for a few days, triple the number that had been closed on Wednesday. The closings affected about 172,000 students, leaving parents scrambling to find alternative day care arrangements.

Following the outbreaks of SARS and Avian Flu earlier this decade, Sprint Nextel has taken the threat of a global flu pandemic very seriously.

Fear and skepticism on the streets of Mexico have led to panic buying and deep suspicions about the government.

Genetic data indicate this outbreak won't be as deadly as that of 1918, or even the average winter. As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked to swine flu inside U.S. borders, scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza -- at least in its current form -- isn't shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.

At least 74 elementary, junior high and high schools have closed across the country because of confirmed or probable cases of swine flu, the Department of Education said Wednesday.

The swine flu outbreak has claimed its first victim in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Contro and Preventionl: A 23-month old child who died in Texas.

The 5-year-old from a village in Mexico identified as the earliest swine flu case says, "I feel good."

The White House asked Congress for an additional $1.5 billion for pandemic flu preparations Tuesday as the head of the Republican Party defended its opposition to an earlier request.