Pandemics Timeline

1928 Sep 28 Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin
"When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer, but I guess th..." —Sir Alexander Fleming
2009 Apr 13 First Swine Flu Death in Mexico
The first swine flu death in Mexico occurred on 13 April, but mucus samples were not sent to the US Center for Diseases and Control until five days later. If this process had been quicker...
2009 Apr 29 World Health Organization (WHO) Raises Pandemic Alert to 5, Second Highest Level
The World Health Organization on Wednesday raised its pandemic alert to 5, its second-highest level, warning of widespread human infection from the swine flu outbreak that originated in M...
2009 May 5 Swine Flu (H1N1) downgraded by US Health and Human Services Secretary
U.S. health officials are no longer recommending that schools close for two weeks over suspected cases of the A/H1N1 flu virus. Hundreds of schools around the country had followed the gui...
2009 Jun 11 World Health Organization raises H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) Alert to highest level
The World Health Organization has told its member nations it is declaring an H1N1 flu pandemic -- the first in 41 years. The move came Thursday as infections climbed in the United Stat...
2009 Sep 1 Mayor Bloomberg Announces that New York City will Offer all School-Aged Children H1N1 Flu Vaccine Free of Charge
All primary school-age children in New York City will be offered free vaccines for seasonal and H1N1 flu this year under a plan announced on Tuesday by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The vac...
2009 Sep 21 China Begins Mass H1N1 Flu Vaccinations
China kicked off mass vaccinations for swine flu Monday in Beijing, making it apparently the first nation in the world to start innoculating its population against the virus. The Asian...
2009 Sep 22 Officials Set up Tents in Austin to Accommodate Flood of Patients with H1N1 Flu Symptoms
In what some experts think may be a harbinger of things to come this fall, officials of Dell Children's Medical Center in Austin have set up tents outside the hospital to accommodate the ...
2009 Sep 24 Researchers Announce a New Vaccine that Could Cut Risk of HIV Infection by 30%
The vaccine trial, which was funded by the US army, involved a combination of two vaccines that individually had proved ineffective. The World Health Organisation says it offers the pr...
2009 Sep 29 New York Health Care Workers Rally to Protest Mandatory H1N1 Shots for State Medical Employees
Several hundred health-care workers, civil libertarians and members of anti-vaccine groups on Tuesday railed against a mandate that medical professionals get seasonal and swine-flu vaccin...
2009 Sep 30 United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Announces Arrival of H1N1 Flu Vaccine Amid Fears of Side-Effects
After all the waiting and worrying, the first of the swine flu vaccines will begin arriving in the United States next week. They are coming just in time, as doctors across the country, pa...
2009 Oct 5 Nationwide H1N1 Vaccination Campaign Begins in United States
Doctors, nurses and other health-care workers in Indiana and Tennessee will receive the first doses of swine flu vaccine Monday as the federal government launches the most ambitious vacci...
2009 Oct 7 H1N1 Flu Vaccine Arrives in DC Area
Thousands of doses of swine flu vaccine began arriving in the Washington region Tuesday night as a private high school in Laurel became the first in the area to close for disinfection aft...
2009 Oct 12 Centers for Disease Control Address Confusion and Fears Regarding H1N1 versus Seasonal Flu Vaccines
Buried on page 12 of Saturday's Sun is news that 76 U.S. children have died of the H1N1 virus. The front page has a story about a worried mom, throwing the baby out with the bath water ("...
2009 Oct 12 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Begin Distribution of Injectable H1N1 Flu Vaccine
Both the flu shot (in the arm) and nasal spray form of 2009 H1N1 vaccines have now been produced and licensed by the Food and Drug Administration. The federal government has purchased a t...
2009 Oct 23 Number of H1N1 Flu-Related Deaths in United States Surpasses 1,000
re Americans have been vaccinated against seasonal flu this fall than ever before by this time of year, federal health officials said Friday. Sixty million people have gotten the winter ...
2009 Oct 24 President Obama Declares H1N1 Flu a National Emergency
President Barack Obama has now declared H1N1 swine flu a national emergency. At the same time, areas of Indiana are experiencing shortages of the Obama Declares Swine Flu Emergency - H...
2009 Oct 26 Rhode Island Becomes First State to Electronically Track Spread of H1N1 Flu
Rhode Island health officials are tracking the spread of H1N1 flu through electronic prescription records. Rhode Island is thought to be the first state to use electronic pharmacy pres...
2009 Nov 4 Cat Diagnosed with H1N1 in First Known Case Involving Cats or Dogs
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine confirmed that a 13-year-old cat whose owners had experienced flu-like symptoms contracted H1N1...
2009 Nov 4 Federal Officials Say Nation Faces Shortage of H1N1 Flu Vaccine
U.S. health officials expressed frustration Wednesday with the nation's struggles to produce vaccines against the H1N1 flu strain and told lawmakers they cannot guarantee that supply prob...
2009 Nov 12 Centers for Disease Control Estimates 22 Million Cases of H1N1 Flu in US
At least 22 million Americans have come down with the H1N1 swine flu since the virus first surfaced in April and approximately 3,900 people have died, including an estimated 540 children,...
2009 Nov 17 Swiss Pharmaceutical Maker Novartis Announces Study Results Suggesting Half-Dose of Its H1N1 Vaccine Sufficient for Protection Against Flu
The vaccine against the H1N1 influenza remains effective at half doses, according to a study by Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer Novartis (NYSE:NVS) International AG released on Tuesday....
2009 Nov 19 Santa America Requests Consideration for Priority H1N1 Vaccination
Santa wants the swine flu vaccine. Many of the nation’s Santas want to be given priority for the vaccine and not just because of those runny-nosed kids. There’s also the not-so-little ...
2009 Nov 20 Drug-Resistant Strain of Swine Flu Identified
Drug-resistant strains of swine flu are cropping up around the globe - with four cases confirmed at a North Carolina hospital on Friday. The virus reported at Duke University Medical C...
2009 Nov 23 CDC Reports that H1N1 Flu Activity is Down
Although 43 states have reported widespread influenza activity for the week ended Nov. 14, numbers appear to be dropping, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted Friday. I...
2009 Nov 23 Saudi Arabia Advises H1N1 Flu Vaccination for Hajj Pilgrims
About 2.5 million Muslims are converging on Mecca this week to take part in the annual Hajj. This year many pilgrims are adding extra step to their preparations for the ritual - getting ...
2009 Dec 3 WHO Says H1N1 Flu Pandemic May Be Declining in Some Countries
H1N1 swine flu has not peaked yet but seems to be waning in Canada and the United States, signaling that the end of the pandemic may be on the horizon, the World Health Organization (WHO)...
2009 Dec 7 Health Officials Announce H1N1 Vaccine Soon to Become Widely Available
Restrictions limiting the H1N1 flu vaccine to high-risk groups could be lifted in many U.S. states now that production of the vaccine has increased, state health officials said Monday. ...
2009 Dec 10 CDC Estimates that the H1N1 Flu has Killed 10,000 Americans since April
H1N1 swine flu killed 10,000 Americans, sent 213,000 to the hospital, and sickened 50 million -- a sixth of the population -- by mid-November, the CDC estimates. The CDC's new estimat...
2009 Dec 15 800,000 Doses of Swine Flu Vaccine Recalled for Lack of Potency
Vaccine manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis is recalling 800,000 doses of vaccine against the pandemic H1N1 virus meant for children younger than 3 because the vaccine has lost potency since it w...
2009 Dec 15 Illinois Begins Offering Swine Flu Vaccination to General Public
Doctors in Illinois can now offer swine flu shots to Illinoisans without high-risk conditions, with state health officials' blessing. The Illinois public health department's restrictio...
2009 Dec 21 President and First Lady Obama Get H1N1 Flu Shots
Declaring that the H1N1 vaccine is safe, President Obama says he and the First Lady got their swine flu shots on Sunday. If it wasn't safe, he said he would not have allowed daughters...
2009 Dec 23 More H1N1 Flu Vaccine Recalled Due to Loss of Potency
Another 63,500 doses of H1N1 flu vaccine in Minnesota have been recalled by the manufacturer because tests found it was losing effectiveness, state officials reported Wednesday. That i...
2009 Dec 23 New England Journal of Medicine Publishes Research Suggesting Postpartum Women Among Most Vulnerable to H1N1 Flu
Women with suspected or confirmed H1N1 influenza who are pregnant or who have delivered within the previous 2 weeks should receive prompt and aggressive antiviral treatment and be closely...
2009 Dec 30 WHO Director-General Margaret Chan Vaccinated Against H1N1 Flu Virus
World Health Organisation chief Margaret Chan has been vaccinated against the swine flu, a spokeswoman said Tuesday, adding that the UN health agency recommends vaccination for everyone. ...
2010 Jan 5 France Cancels 50 Million Orders of Swine Flu Vaccine Amidst Decrease in Number of Cases
A bunch of European countries ordered too much swine flu vaccine, so after months of waiting around for the flu shots to show up, they now find themselves canceling orders. The French ...
2010 Jan 8 Quebec-Based Jean Coutu Group Announces Expansion Program Following Swine Flu Vaccine Revenue Windfall
Jean Coutu Group hopes its expansion program will help the Quebec-based pharmacy giant maintain its upward sales momentum, which got a short-term boost last fall from concerns over the H1...
2010 Jan 11 President Obama Declares National influenza Vaccination Week
"NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby procla..." —Barack Obama
2010 Jan 26 WHO Denies Claims that Swine Flu Threat was Overblown
The World Health Organisation (WHO) denied on Tuesday that it was unduly influenced by drugs companies to exaggerate the dangers of the H1N1 flu virus. Pharmaceutical firms picked up m...
2010 Feb 18 World Health Organization Recommends H1N1 Virus be Added to 2010-2011 Flu Vaccine
The H1N1 virus should be included in the 2010-2011 flu season -- northern hemisphere -- vaccine, World Health Organization officials in Switzerland said.
2010 Jun 30 40 Million Unused Doses of Swine Flu Vaccine Expire
About a quarter of the swine flu vaccine produced for the U.S. public has expired — meaning that a whopping 40 million doses worth about $260 million are being written off as trash. "I...