Tuesday 09-13-11

Source sought for novel swine flu cases

HARRISBURG, Pa., Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Several patients in Pennsylvania and Indiana are recovering from a unique type of swine flu, health officials say.

Influenza A viruses occur in many animals, including humans, swine (pigs) and wild birds. The virus in question is akin to previous H3N2 human infections, but also contains a genetic piece of the 2009 H1N1 virus, health officials in Pennsylvania said in a statement.

The first case occurred in Indiana and three more turned up in Pennsylvania. The three patients in Pennsylvania all reported attending the Washington County Fair Aug. 13-20. There appears to be no link between the Indiana and Pennsylvania cases, the health officials said.

Currently, it does not appear the new virus is spreading from person to person but health officials were investigating the cases to learn more about it.

"One patient has recovered and the other two are recovering. Our investigation will continue to focus on the seriousness of the virus," the health officials said.

"Currently, we don't have any evidence to support that this novel influenza A virus will lead to a pandemic, as we haven't yet been able to prove that it is being transmitted from human to human. As with any new influenza A virus, public health officials are working to learn more about the source of this particular strain and to determine how/if it can be spread from person to person."

These Pennsylvania cases were similar to that of seasonal flu, and included fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Other influenza symptoms may also include a runny nose, sore throat, eye irritation, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and anyone with flu symptoms should seek treatment from a physician, health officials said.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/09/06/Source-sought-for-novel-swine-flu-cases/UPI-24691315360695/?spt=hs&or=hn


Time for a different vacation? What to get the man that has everything for his birthday

Drive a bulldozer and shoot a machine gun for $525 in Vegas

What to do with all those empty construction sites in Las Vegas, where work on a handful of hotels and other projects has halted in the last few years due to the see-saw economy?

A company called Dig This has a solution, according to the Associated Press. Give tourists one of the most original outings ever: letting them get behind the wheel of heavy machinery including bulldozers and excavators so they can play construction worker. Moving sand and rock not far from the Trump International Hotel and Palace Station casino isn't for penny-slot players; it starts at $210 for an hour and a half on one machine and climbs up to $750 for hours of play on a bulldozer and an excavator.

And it's not just the male species fascinated by playing Bob the Builder. "Fifty percent of our clients are women," Dig This owner Ed Mumm tells me. "They're very good because they listen and they don't put as much pressure" on the machinery.

The AP article quotes Mary Fitzsimons, an emergency room doctor from Walnut Creek, Calif., who took the quick intro course and spent two hours digging a trench, stacking tires and picking up basketballs and placing them on the top of cones. "I thought it would be much clunkier, and the lighter you are with the controls, the easier it worked," she told the AP.

Mumm said he started Dig This after renting an excavator while building a house. "I thought to myself: 'If I'm having this much fun, imagine the amount of people that don't get to do this stuff that would love to do this,' " he said, according to the AP. Dig This is billed as "America's first and only heavy equipment playground."

One of the more unusual offerings is a "Dig and Destroy" package ($525). Participants work the heavy machinery, then are taken to a nearby shooting range to run through what's billed as "50 rounds of ammo-KRISS Super V (fully automatic Sub-Machine Gun); 10 rounds of ammo- Saiga 12 (short barrel Semi-Automatic shot gun); 20 rounds of ammo-M60 (fully automatic machine gun). Less expensive scoop-and-shoot packages are available.

Is it too rich for many visitors' blood?

"There are a lot of high net worth individuals here," Mumm says. "And so many people blow money at nightclubs ... and at the tables" without anything to show for it, he says. Dig This also employs construction workers, for whom times are hard in Vegas, as trainers.

http://travel.usatoday.com/destinations/dispatches/post/2011/09/Play-in-a-sandbox-in-Las-vegas-for-750-546462/546462/1