Health Department again runs out of H1N1 vaccine

The recent shipment of 200 doses of H1N1 flu vaccine is now gone, the Coweta County Health Department reports.
"The most recent shipment is now out," said Alice Jackson, nursing director for the health department, located at 137 Jackson St. 
"We will advise everyone of our next shipment," she said. 
The Coweta County Health Department received a 200-dose shipment late in the day Nov. 9 and announced the shipment's arrival on Tuesday, just before it closed for the Veteran's Day holiday. When the health department re-opened on Thursday, demand was high and the shipment was quickly depleted. Half of the shipment was "spoken for" almost immediately, Jackson reported.
Meanwhile, it appears that criminal gangs are making millions of dollars out of the H1N1 flu pandemic by selling fake flu drugs over the Internet, a web security firm told Reuters on Monday.
Sophos, a British security software firm said it had intercepted hundreds of millions of fake pharmaceutical spam advertisements and Web sites this year, many of them trying to sell counterfeit antiviral drugs like Tamiflu to worried customers.
Tamiflu, an antiviral marketed by Switzerland's Roche Holding and known generically as oseltamivir, is the frontline drug recommended by the World Health Organization to treat and slow the progression of flu symptoms.
The pandemic H1N1 flu virus has now spread to 206 countries since it was first discovered in March. There have been more than 6,250 deaths to date, mostly in the region of North and South America, according to the latest WHO toll. However, death percentages are apparently no worse than those which occur from regular seasonal flu.
Some people developed increased concerns when news broke last week that pets may be affected by H1N1. 
Early this month, officials revealed that a 13-year-old cat in Iowa contracted H1N1 from her owners. While this development surprised some at first, experts note that pets have been known to come down with strains of human influenza. It has also been confirmed that two ferrets from Nebraska and Oregon also contracted H1N1 from their owners. 
''We've known certainly it's possible this could happen,'' said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Tom Skinner in an interview with The New York Times, which was carried by Associated Press. ''This may be the first instance where we have documentation that transmission occurred involving cats or dogs.''
Fortunately, it seems that transmission of the flu still only occurs one way. There is no evidence that people can contract H1N1 from pets. 
The cat in Iowa recovered, but both ferrets died from the disease.
The Coweta County Health Department is encouraging people when the next shipment of the vaccine arrives to call for an appointment to reduce the waiting time and to facilitate parking, which is often a problem, Jackson said.
The wait may be longer than usual at the health department, she said.
The vaccine may be available at times from other providers, which are listed on the state provider list, located at http://health.state.ga.us/. Availability of the vaccine may vary from day to day. Phone numbers for the various locations that signed up to become providers are available on the locator on the state Web site, and anyone seeking the vaccine is urged to call the provider(s) ahead of time.
"We believe additional vaccine will continue to be distributed to local providers," said Jackson.