prevention

Swine Flu Vaccines May Begin in Three Weeks as U.S. Cases Spread, CDC Says

September 13, 2009

By Tom Randall and Jason Gale Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) — Swine flu vaccinations may begin in three weeks, earlier than previously anticipated, after the first U.S. tests found a single shot to be effective in eight to 10 days, U.S. health officials said. The first shots may be available by the end of this month and administered to patients the first week of October, said Nancy Cox, director of the flu division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Health officials had previously planned for vaccinations to begin in mid-October, requiring two shots administered three weeks apart. Swine flu outbreaks have rippled across U.S. schools and universities after pupils returned to classes in the past few weeks. Washington State University reported more than 2,500 cases, and the CDC last week reported a nationwide spike of influenza cases months earlier than the past three flu seasons. The test results are boosting hopes the vaccine may be available in time to curb the first pandemic in 41 years, Cox said. “We were anticipating that it would begin mid-October,” Cox told reporters today at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco. “This was a conservative estimate but it was a necessary conservative estimate. We now feel that we will have vaccine for more people earlier and this is extremely good news.” New Virus Health authorities in the U.S. and U.K. anticipated that two shots would be required because people were being exposed to the new virus for the first time. Critics said a multidose regime wouldn’t come in time to slow widespread outbreaks in the U.S. already triggered by the start of schools. Shots now also may be available in time to bring relief in the Southern Hemisphere, where swine flu recently peaked. The U.S. study was the first report from five government- sponsored trials initiated July 22 to test safety and proper dosing of a pandemic vaccine. They bolster similar results published by Melbourne-based CSL Ltd., said Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease in Bethesda, Maryland, in an interview. The CSL study found that more than 95 percent of 240 patients who were given a single shot had protective antibodies three weeks later. The successful test results may double anticipated stockpiles of the vaccine and make more shots available in developing countries, Cox said today. The U.S. is in “very active discussions” about donating some of its supply to countries that need it, she said. One Dose Effective The results of the vaccine studies suggest one dose of the formula used by drugmakers should offer H1N1 protection similar to the seasonal flu shot. Paris-based Sanofi Aventis SA , London- based GlaxoSmithKline Plc , and Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG are among the other companies making the vaccine. Vaccine supplies in early October will be limited and targeted at health-care workers and those most vulnerable to severe illness, such as pregnant women and children, Cox said. “We’re on track to have an ample supply rolling by the middle of October,” Kathleen Sebelius , U.S. secretary of health and human services, said today on ABC’s “This Week” program. “We’ll get the vaccine out the door as fast as it rolls out the production line.” Most shots in the studies of healthy adults ages 18 to 64 contained 15 micrograms of antigen, the same level as for seasonal flu vaccines. The vaccinations had similar side effects to regular flu shots, the most common being headache and pain at the injection site. CSL said it plans to donate the vaccine to developing nations in Asia and the South Pacific and is discussing a pilot program with the World Health Organization to start by providing as many as 100,000 doses. The vaccines in both studies didn’t use ingredients called adjuvants included by some countries in formulations to boost effectiveness. No serious side effects were reported, though the trials are too small to detect rare conditions. The shots are being studied further and will be closely monitored once vaccination campaigns begin, according to U.S. officials. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Randall in San Francisco at trandall6@bloomberg.net ; Jason Gale in San Francisco at j.gale@bloomberg.net .

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Clorox Says Swine Flu Outbreak May Drive Demand for Bleach, Adds Suppliers

September 11, 2009

By Carol Wolf Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) — Clorox Co. may benefit from increased demand for the bleach and disinfectant wipes used to slow the spread of swine flu as the U.S. braces for the disease’s resurgence, a company executive said. The world’s largest maker of bleach sold at retail has secured additional suppliers and will increase production if needed, said Benno Dorer , 45, the senior vice president-general manager of Clorox’s cleaning division. Some retailers have already asked for more bleach, he said in a Sept. 4 telephone interview, declining to name specific companies. An outbreak of the flu may add 2 percent or more to Clorox’s per-share earnings for the duration of the outbreak, said Ali Dibadj , a New York-based analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. That benefit isn’t reflected in Clorox’s shares or analysts’ projections, he said. “Sales of bleach and wipes, which are about a quarter of Clorox’s profit , could grow in the high single digits or more,” Dibadj said in an e-mail. “It depends on how severe the outbreak might be, but the fear of an outbreak is enough.” Analysts are projecting profit for the quarter ending Sept. 30 of 96 cents a share, the average of 11 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Oakland, California-based Clorox earned 91 cents in the year-earlier quarter. Analysts predict quarterly sales will fall to $1.36 billion from $1.38 billion the year before. Clorox fell $1.14, or 1.9 percent, to $57.65 at 11:03 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading . The shares had gained 5.8 percent this year before today. Swine flu, caused by the H1N1 virus, has swept through 177 countries since it was identified in April, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Second Outbreak A second and possibly third outbreak is expected in coming months, according to the Geneva-based World Health Organization. As of Aug. 30, about 254,206 people worldwide had contracted the virus, and least 2,837 had died, the agency said. H1N1 may infect half of the U.S. population this year and cause as many as 90,000 deaths, according to a planning scenario released Aug. 24 by the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, outside advisers to the White House. The H1N1 strain is genetically related to the 1918 “Spanish” flu that killed an estimated 50 million people. Bleach shipments increased in the U.S. and Latin America during the quarter ended June 30, Dorer said. “There is a clear correlation to those sales and concerns about H1N1,” Dorer said. He declined to say if sales in the current quarter had risen due to swine flu. Clorox hasn’t increased inventory because it can quickly boost production at any of its seven U.S. bleach- related plants, Dorer said. Most products can go from factory to retailer in a week, he said. The company is working closely with the WHO, the American Red Cross and the CDC, he said. Clorox donated 18,000 cases of bleach to relief and government agencies during the first swine flu outbreak, he said. “We’re prepared to do that that again if the need arises,” Dorer said. To contact the reporters on this story: Carol Wolf in Washington at cwolf@bloomberg.net ;

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Swine Flu Vaccination Requires Just One Dose, Doubling Stockpile Estimates

September 10, 2009

By Tom Randall Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) — One dose of swine flu vaccine was enough to protect most people from contracting the pandemic virus, according to a study that may double the anticipated stockpiles and help people get immunized faster. A two-dose vaccine, administered three weeks apart, was widely anticipated to be necessary by scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and the World Health Organization in Geneva. Today’s results suggest one dose of the formula used by drugmakers including Paris-based Sanofi Aventis SA and London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc should offer swine-flu protection similar to the seasonal flu shot. Twenty-one days after a first shot was given, about 95 percent of the 240 patients had achieved levels of protective antibodies sufficient to fight off the disease, according to the study published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine . The study was conducted by Melbourne, Australia-based CSL Ltd., which makes 19 percent of the U.S. stockpile and Australia’s sole supplier of pandemic vaccine. “I’ve heard it referred to as jaw-dropping,” said Paul Perreault, president of CSL Biotherapies, CSL’s vaccine unit. “It’s pretty similar to the seasonal vaccine, which is very good news. There’s enough data here to indicate that it’s probably going to be one dose.” CSL has agreed to provide 21 million doses to Australia and 36 million doses to the U.S., Perreault said. The U.S., which contracts with five companies, anticipates 45 million doses of its 195 million available for use by mid-October. No Adjuvant The vaccine in today’s study didn’t use ingredients called adjuvants included by some countries in formulations to boost effectiveness. No serious side effects were reported in the study. Swine flu has become the world’s fastest-moving influenza pandemic, sweeping across 177 countries in the four months since it was first identified, the CDC said. More than 1 million people have already contracted the virus in New York alone, according to estimates by the city’s health department. “In our current global situation, in which demand for influenza vaccine greatly exceeds supply, dose-sparing strategies are needed,” said Kathleen Neuzil , an infectious disease specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle, in an editorial that accompanied the journal study. Today’s study was conducted in Australia, though U.S. regulators will use it as part of their evaluation of the vaccine, Perreault said. The U.S. National Institutes of Health is conducting separate studies. To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net

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Loan Modification – Part 3: Home Mortgage Bailout – Real Estate …

August 30, 2009

Loan Modification Attorneys Negotiate Home Mortgage Bailout – Foreclosure Assistance Plan – Real Estate Foreclosure Prevention Alternative To Fraud and Scams.

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Consumer Bankruptcies in U.S. May Reach 1.4 Million in 2009, Study Says

August 11, 2009

By Linda Sandler and Andrew M. Harris Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) — Consumer bankruptcies show no sign of abating after rising more than a third this year and may hit 1.4 million by Dec. 31 as jobs are lost and loans are harder to get, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute . More than 126,000 consumers filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. last month, 34 percent more than in July 2008, the ABI said in its latest report on Aug. 4. The increase came after a 36.5 percent rise in personal bankruptcies nationwide in the first six months, to 675,351, according to the ABI research group, which interprets data collected by the National Bankruptcy Research Center. “Rising unemployment on top of high pre-existing debt burdens is a formula for higher bankruptcies through the end of this year,” ABI Executive Director Samuel Gerdano said in a statement. The group, composed of lawyers, accountants, bankers and judges, is based in Alexandria, Virginia. Debt problems don’t stop with sub-prime borrowers. Celebrities who filed for bankruptcy in July included movie actor Stephen Baldwin , who sought protection from creditors after lenders began foreclosure procedures against his home. Lenny Dykstra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a petition that says the former Major League Baseball All-Star owes between $10 million and $50 million. Banks Hurt Also last month, con man lawyer Marc Dreier ’s luxury Manhattan condominium sold for $8.2 million, 21 percent less than what he paid two years ago, in an auction at U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Proceeds will be used to pay creditors in Dreier’s bankruptcy case and victims of Dreier’s fraud, said Salvatore LaMonica, trustee in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case. Steeply rising filings by consumers are hurting commercial banks. JPMorgan Chase & Co. , the second-largest U.S. bank, predicted more losses on consumer loans last month even as it announced a rise in second-quarter profit on record investment banking fees. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said he doesn’t expect the credit card business to make a profit this year or in 2010, and the company increased its loss projections for prime and subprime mortgages. Credit Card Losses JPMorgan said losses in its Chase credit-card portfolio may be 10 percent next quarter and will be “highly dependent” on unemployment after that. Losses for cards issued by Washington Mutual, which the bank acquired in September, may reach 24 percent by the end of the year, the company said. JPMorgan’s credit cards lost $672 million, compared with income of $250 million in the second quarter last year. Home- equity charge-offs climbed to $1.3 billion, or 4.61 percent. Prime mortgage defaults rose to $481 million, or 3.07 percent, from $104 million, or 1.08 percent a year earlier. Dimon, 53, said the company supported “proper consumer protection” and that pending legislation setting up an agency to monitor consumer lending practices would hurt short-term profits in credit cards. Congress, in October 2005, enacted the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, a legislative reform package intended to make it harder for consumers to get court orders wiping out their uncollateralized debt. The act required debt counseling and a means test for would-be filers. To contact the reporters responsible for this story: Linda Sandler in New York at lsandler@bloomberg.net ; Andrew M. Harris in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net .

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Consumer Bankruptcies in U.S. May Reach 1.4 Million on Job Losses, Credit

August 10, 2009

By Linda Sandler and Andrew M. Harris Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) — Consumer bankruptcies show no sign of abating after rising more than a third this year and may hit 1.4 million by Dec. 31 as jobs are lost and loans are harder to get, according to the trade group American Bankruptcy Institute . More than 126,000 consumers filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. last month, 34 percent more than in July 2008, the ABI said in its latest report on Aug. 4. The increase came after a 36.5 percent rise in personal bankruptcies nationwide in the first six months, to 675,351, according to the ABI research group, which interprets data collected by the National Bankruptcy Research Center. “Rising unemployment on top of high pre-exiting debt burdens is a formula for higher bankruptcies through the end of this year,” ABI Executive Director Samuel Gerdano said in a statement. The group, composed of lawyers, accountants, bankers and judges, is based in Alexandria, Virginia. Steeply rising filings by consumers are hurting commercial banks. JPMorgan Chase & Co. , the second-largest U.S. bank, predicted more losses on consumer loans last month even as it announced a rise in second-quarter profit on record investment banking fees. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said he doesn’t expect the credit card business to make a profit this year or in 2010, and the company increased its loss projections for prime and subprime mortgages. Credit Card Losses JPMorgan said losses in its Chase credit-card portfolio may be 10 percent next quarter and will be “highly dependent” on unemployment after that. Losses for cards issued by Washington Mutual, which the bank acquired last September, may reach 24 percent by the end of the year, the company said. JPMorgan’s credit cards lost $672 million, compared with income of $250 million in the second quarter last year. Home- equity charge-offs climbed to $1.3 billion, or 4.61 percent. Prime mortgage defaults rose to $481 million, or 3.07 percent, from $104 million, or 1.08 percent a year earlier. Dimon, 53, said the firm supported “proper consumer protection” and that pending legislation setting up an agency to monitor consumer lending practices would hurt short-term profits in credit cards. Congress, in October 2005, enacted the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, a legislative reform package intended to make it harder for consumers to get court orders wiping out their uncollateralized debt. The act required debt counseling and a means test for would-be filers. To contact the reporters responsible for this story: Linda Sandler in New York at lsandler@bloomberg.net ; Andrew M. Harris in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net .

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Pregnant Women Account for One of Eight Swine Flu Fatalities, Lancet Says

July 29, 2009

By Jason Gale July 29 (Bloomberg) — Swine flu in pregnancy can cause life-threatening disease and warrants treatment with antiviral drugs as soon as possible, a study in the medical journal Lancet found. The study, to be published in the Aug. 8 issue, found about one in eight people who died after contracting the new virus was pregnant

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White House: TARP Money Might Not Be Traceable

July 21, 2009

The White House is downplaying a government watchdog’s harsh assessment about the lack of transparency in the financial industry bailouts by arguing that the money they are lending is, in many ways, untraceable. On Tuesday, Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), and several congressman on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform criticized the Treasury Department for not adequately accounting for the hundreds of billions of dollars it has loaned to troubled banks. In particular, Barofsky testified that Treasury has failed to institute rudimentary of reforms including requiring bailout recipients to track just where, exactly, they are spending taxpayer funds. The hearing acknowledged some of TARP’s successes, including the prevention of an even worse financial downturn

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Robert Siciliano: Fox Anchor’s Email Hacked, Leads to Identity Theft

July 18, 2009

I recently appeared on Fox and Friends to discuss email hacking. Dave Briggs, a FOX & Friends Weekend co-host, lost access to his Hotmail email account when hackers were able to guess either his password or his qualifying question. (He admitted that his password was not as strong as it should have been.) The hackers locked Briggs out of his own account and spammed all of his contacts with a fraudulent email that appeared to be written by Briggs himself, claiming that he was trapped in Malaysia and requesting that someone help him by transferring money via Western Union

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Foreclosure Stats for June; MLS Sales Go Negative

July 14, 2009

Year-over-year change NOD: 6.9% NTS: -26.0% From ForeclosureRadar : [California] Notices of Trustee Sale dropped…with the timing of the drop indicating that it was in response to the California Foreclosure Prevention Act. This law was widely believed to have little or no impact on foreclosure filings, as it exempted the majority of large lenders that operate in the state. “A number of lenders appear to have self-imposed California’s latest foreclosure moratorium on themselves, despite having received an exemption from it,” says Sean O’Toole, founder and CEO of ForeclosureRadar. “Given the number of exempt lenders it was quite surprising to see Notice of Trustee Sale filings drop by nearly 50 percent the day the new law went into effect.” … Notice of Trustee Sale filings were climbing late in the month so it remains unlikely this law will have any longterm impact on foreclosure activity. Of note this month, June MLS sales were down year-over-year for the first time since January 2008. Also worth a look (hat tip readers): Sacramento: 70 Percent Distressed Sales in June Economists say recovery is on the way, but it will take awhile 13%+ Sacramento Regional Unemployment Rate Likely in 2010 [pdf] Industry searches high and low for signs of hope Delta town struggles to hang on with 25 percent out of work Sacramento asking prices flatlining Movin’ on Up: Mortgage defaults spread as even ‘safe’ borrowers falter High-end Immunity Alert: East Sacramento tops for reduced-priced listings Rare East Sac Million Dollar Bank Repo For Sale Low sales for high-end Beyond ZIndex : Zillow adds charts of sold price per sqft, median sold price, list price and more. Some of the data goes back 10 years and can be segregated by metro, county, city, and neighborhood as well as by home type and configuration. (Note: data lags several months)

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