Swine flu returns with a vengeance

There are no signs of panic like there were last year, but state health authorities confirm that the number of cases of swine flu in Norway is rising quickly with 35 persons now admitted to hospital. Eleven of them are or have been in intensive care. Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported Thursday that a  young boy [...]

State stuck with excess vaccine

Fears of a swine flu epidemic last year prompted state officials to stock up on vaccine, to a degree that’s since proven to be excessive. Three million doses of the vaccine are now stowed in refrigerated cabinets all over the country. ”There’s no point in trying to return any of it,” Dr Øystein Søbstad of the [...]

Group launches anti-vaccine campaign

A group of Norwegians who admit to having no medical background say they oppose the swine flu vaccinations now being made available to the general public, arguing they can be dangerous. Meanwhile, two more persons have died from swine flu in Norway, bringing the death toll to 20. A man in his 40s died at [...]

Swine flu claims more victims

A woman from Rogaland County in western Norway and a young woman from Askim, southeast of Oslo, have become the latest victims of swine flu. Health officials blamed their deaths at hospitals in Stavanger and Fredrikstad on the swine flu virus, which now is believed to have infected more than 600,000 Norwegians. A woman in [...]

Vaccinations now available to all

Norwegian health authorities have started offering swine flu vaccinations to the general population, just as the country marked its 16th death from the disease. The virus is spreading in epidemic proportions but officials claim it’s under control. The latest swine flu victim was a young boy from Oslo who died at Ullevål University Hospital over [...]

Another teen dies from swine flu

Norway logged its 15th swine flu fatality on Monday, after the National Hospital (Rikshospitalet) in Oslo reported the death of a teenaged girl from Hedmark County. Vaccination programs, meanwhile, continued to spark criticism and many people are aggressively trying to jump to the front of the lines.The latest swine flu victim died Sunday evening and [...]

Vaccination programs vary widely

Doctors, confused patients and state health authorities are discovering major differences in local townships’ organization of vaccination programs set up to combat swine flu. A shortage of vaccine and decentralized distribution of what’s available mean the programs vary widely around the country. Like many other countries, Norway hasn’t received nearly enough swine flu vaccine to [...]

Probe launched into flu fatalities

Health authorities are tracking all circumstances leading up to the deaths of the 13 swine flu victims in Norway recorded by Thursday morning. They’re investigating whether the swine flu virus circulating in Norway is a different strain than that in other countries, since the death rate among Norwegians is so high. On Thursday afternoon came [...]

Two more deaths tied to swine flu

Norway has suddenly emerged as among the countries in Europe hardest hit by the swine flu virus, and authorities don’t know why. The death count rose to 13 on Wednesday and many more flu patients have been admitted to intensive care units in local hospitals. The latest victims were a woman in her 30s from [...]

State now urges vaccination for all

Norway’s new Health Minister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen announced Friday that state health officials now recommend that all Norwegians, not just those in high-risk categories, be vaccinated against the swine flu virus. They’re concerned that only 20 percent of the population has appeared willing to accept the vaccine. Strøm-Erichsen said the vaccine, which arrived in Norway last [...]

Few willing to take swine flu vaccine

Only one in five Norwegians is willing to be vaccinated against swine flu, according to a new survey. The low response rate worries state health officials, who want people to protect not only themselves but others as well. One health care official went so far as to appeal to Norwegians on Tuesday that it’s their [...]

Swine flu found on local farm

Farmers’ organizations want their members to be allocated the first batches of swine flu vaccine that are arriving in Norway, after the disease was confirmed on a farm in Nord-Trøndelag. Around 1,400 animals will now be slaughtered. Meanwhile, both farmers and state officials were busy assuring Norwegians that it was still safe to eat pork. [...]

Swine flu claims first local victims

Norwegian health authorities have confirmed that a teenager near Larvik and a woman who died over the weekend in Akershus both succumbed to swine flu. The older woman also had heart and lung ailments, however, and officials are toning down the threat of a swine flu epidemic this autumn. The 16-year-old girl who died this [...]

Election campaign heads home

Politicians from all of Norway’s various parties have now started reaching out directly to voters, and many aim to ring thousands of doorbells in the weeks running up to the September 14 election. Campaign promises and proposals, meanwhile, are running thick. The politicians and their campaign workers freely admit they’re borrowing tactics from the successful [...]

Norway Cup tackles swine flu

It was, perhaps, inevitable. Nearly 30,000 youngsters from all over the world are in Oslo this week for the huge, international Norway Cup football (soccer) tournament. Now six of them have confirmed cases of swine flu, and tournament officials are doing all they can to stop the illness from spreading. It’s not easy at an [...]

Next Page »