Residents of Utah will be the first ones to receive shots of a new H1N1(Swine) flu vaccine. Volunteers are being called to take part in clinical trials for the new vaccine. Focus is being given on volunteers from the 6 month to 9 years age groups as well as those that are 65 and older.

The blind study will involve administration of the real vaccine to the participants 75% of the time and the placebo to 25% of the time. None of the participants will know if they were given the placebo or the real vaccine. The company will conduct four different studies involving the vaccine.

A health screening will be administered on the volunteer to determine if the person has any medical condition that will prevent the applicant from participating in the trials. Those who qualify will be given the list of requirements as well as the consent documents that they need to sign. Applicants will also be given documents that detail the potential side effects of the vaccine. Blood will be drawn and a brief physical examination will be conducted. The patient will also be requested to provide a brief medical history. After all these are completed, applicants will be given an injection and observed for 30 minutes. A second appointment is then scheduled and then another one will be scheduled after that.

The volunteers will be asked to keep a diary of any illness, swelling or pains they experience for seven days after being injected.

A fourth patient has died from the A( N1H1) flu in Australia.  The patient was a 71-year-old woman from Melbourne.  The patient’s death was reported last Thursday, June 25. While the A(H1N1) flu in Australia is mild, it can affect patients who have pre-existing medical conditions before contracting the disease. The family of the patient did not want the medical records of the patient to be released.  Australia has 1,509 recorded cases of A(H1N1) as of Friday , June 26.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised the health warning of the Swine flu to 6, the highest alert level for a pandemic. The alert level was raised after an emergency meeting was conducted by the WHO experts. This is the first time in the last 41 years that the WHO has had to declare a global flu pandemic.

The travel warning to Mexico issued by the US government because of the Swine Flu has been canceled. The waning of the swine flu in Mexico has prompted the US State Department and the US Centers for Disease Control to lift the travel warning against Mexico last Friday, May 15.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised US travelers to avoid non-essential travels to Mexico to avoid contracting the A/H1N1 infection, more popularly known as the Swine Influenza. As of April 27, 2009 there have been 18 laboratory confirmed cases of swine influenza in Mexico.