CDC sees signs flu has peaked

Although federal health officials decline to use the word "peaked," the current wave of H1N1 flu appears to have done so in the United States. Flu activity is coming down in all regions of the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday, though it is still rising in Hawaii, Maine and some isolated areas.

The World Health Organization said there were "early signs of a peak" in much of the U.S.

On Wednesday, the American College Health Association, which surveys more than 250 colleges with more than 3 million students, said new cases of flu had dropped in the week ending Nov. 13. It was the first drop since school resumed in the fall, and it was significant -- new cases were down 27 percent from the week before.

And on Friday, Quest Diagnostics, the nation's largest laboratory, said its tests of 142,000 suspected flu specimens since May showed the flu peaked in late October.

Nonetheless, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the director of immunization and respiratory diseases at the CDC, chose her words carefully, saying: "I wish I knew if we had hit the peak. Even if a peak has occurred, half the people who are going to get sick haven't gotten sick yet."

Privately, federal health officials say they fear that if they concede the flu has peaked, Americans will lose interest in getting vaccinated, increasing the chances of another wave.

MUTATED FORM FOUND IN NORWAY

Scientists in Norway have identified a mutated form of the H1N1 flu virus that is raising concern because it was found in two patients who died of the flu and a third who was severely ill with the disease, officials announced Friday.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health said the mutation "could possibly make the virus more prone to infect deeper in the airways and thus cause more severe disease," such as pneumonia.

Scientists have analyzed about 70 viruses from confirmed Norwegian H1N1 flu cases and found the mutation in only those three patients, said Geir Stene-Larsen, the institute's director general.

"Based on what we know so far, it seems that the mutated virus does not circulate in the population, but might be a result of spontaneous changes which have occurred in these three patients," the statement said.

Several flu experts said that the mutation should not cause widespread alarm. "Influenza is a mutable virus, and changes are to be expected," said Arnold S. Monto of the University of Michigan in an e-mail.

CLUSTER RESISTANT TO TAMIFLU IN N.C.

Four North Carolina patients at a single hospital tested positive for a type of H1N1 flu that is resistant to Tamiflu, health officials said Friday.

The cases reported at Duke University Medical Center over six weeks make up the biggest cluster seen so far in the United States.

Tamiflu is one of two drugs that help against H1N1, and health officials have been closely watching for signs the virus is mutating, making the drugs ineffective.

More than 50 resistant cases have been reported in the world since April, including 21 in the United States.

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