The map above shows green dots at the approximate centers of counties
that were listed as active by FluWatch.com* at least once during the 2001-2002 flu
season. For large counties, the dots are placed according to their zip code locations as
determined from MapQuest.com®.
Display of the FluWatch.com active areas does not imply that influenza was
absent in other areas.
* I have been unable to find the Oklahoma City based FluWatch.com reports since the end of the 2004-2005 flu season.
Below is a seasonal histogram of U.S. Fluwatch activity levels as defined in the
next paragraph.
The ZymeTx, Inc.
rapid throat swab test, used as a basis for FluWatch reports, checks for
influenza A and B, but does not differentiate them. FluWatch uses the following
levels of flu activity in a given area. Watch: Positive flu results have been
reported. Alert: Positive flu results are being reported as consistently as
every other day in moderate numbers. Warning: Positive flu results are
being reported consistently on a daily basis in high numbers. Epidemic:
Flu is widespread in the area.
*U.S. World Health Organization and National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System.
See
Centers for Disease Control - National Center for Infectious Diseases.
Influenza Summary Update
New Strain of Influenza A found this season.
A similar strain (same name) hit China in 1988-1989 but did not spread.
Please go to Influenza A(H1N2)
The H1N2 page also shows a graphical comparison of FluWatch.com data for the
2000-2001 versus 2001-2002 flu seasons. The comparison is done on a states
basis rather than by zip codes. The graph is near the bottom of the document.
[Modified 12 July 2002]
USA Influenza Activity 2001-2002 - Part 2
On the following three charts, the horizontal bars represent flu histories for
geographical areas around the country which are identified by Postal Zip Codes.
A Microsoft™ Excel™ Spreadsheet (423 Kilobytes) was
used to keep track of the daily changes in activity. On the graphs below states are
placed in the chronological order of their "appearance" on FluWatch.com. For each
state the "stacking" (by zipcodes) is earliest on bottom - latest on top.
The reason that the unexplained
school rashes
(which have occurred in 14 states, beginning in October 2001)
are being noted on the influenza histories is because, in the opinion of the author,
the rash outbreaks may be related to a new kind of influenza or
influenza-like-illness. See the non-prediction prediction
about that possibility in the beginning section of the
Global Developments - Spring-Summer 2001 page.
Yellow asterisks mark the approximate dates that the new influenza A(H1N2) strain
has been identified in states in the continental United States.
The following index shows where to locate state info in the graphs.
The two numbers listed after each state name represent the applicable graph, 1,2 or 3,
followed that state's position on the graph.
Kentucky 3 / 9
Louisiana 1 / 3
Maine 3 / 21
Maryland 3 / 6
Massachusetts 3 / 12
Michigan 2 / 13
Minnesota 3 / 19
Mississippi 3 / 14
Missouri 3 / 1
Montana 3 / 8
Nebraska 2 / 5
Nevada 1 / 5
New Hampshire 3 / 17
New Jersey 1 / 2
New Mexico 3 / 22
New York 1 / 9
North Carolina 2 / 2
North Dakota 2 / 14
Ohio 3 / 5
Oklahoma 3 / 2
Oregon 3 / 15
Pennsylvania 2 / 6
Rhode Island 1 / 7
South Carolina 3 / 13
South Dakota 2 / 7
Tennessee 1 / 6
Texas 1 / 12
Utah 2 / 9
Vermont 3 / 20
Virginia 2 / 11
Washington 2 / 15
West Virginia 3 / 7
Wisconsin 2 / 1
Wyoming 2 / 12
USA Influenza Activity Summer 2002
Latest text/format update 22 December 2004.
(This info was originally in the USA Influenza 2002-2003 page.)
The Summer "Bump"
Sir Fred Hoyle (1915-2001) and
Chandra Wickramasinghe have long claimed that influenza is delivered to Earth
by comet dust. With that in mind, it may be of interest to note that the
5 July influenza activity surge occurred 2 months and
five days following the closest approach to Earth (60 million km or 0.4 AU) by comet
Ikeya-Zhang. (Added 22 September 2002.)
See the two-frame-loop that shows the FluWatch.com
active areas on 4 and 5 July 2002. (Frame alternations occur every three
seconds.) The nine zip codes with new activity, which "popped up" on
5 July, are circled in red.
Perhaps, even more important than the comet's closest point of approach, is
that back on 29 March 2002, plus or minus a few days, the comet's tail may have
been in direct contact with Earth's atmosphere. That event would have preceded the
5 July surge of U.S. influenza activity by three months and a week. See
the graphs of FluWatch activity for 2000-2001 and
2001-2002 and note the "surge" in "Alert" activity around the 29th of March 2002.
That particular surge may be more likely related to a trans-Pacific dust storm from Asia.
See:
U.S. landfall of big Asian dust storm a washout.
(While viewing the flu activity graphs, check out the "Alert"
surge that occurred in early April of 2001. That surge coincided with the arrival of the
2001 trans-Pacific dust storm.)
To really put oneself out on a limb, it is suggested that what looks like a post
season surge in flu activity, which began on 2 May 2002, was the initial
result of the comet contact of 29 March, and that two months later (5 July)
some of the alien drop-ins (in eight states) got themselves repaired enough to
do some serious damage. The idea is that the comet-to-Earth journey is "rough" on
the viruses (radiation damage primarily) and that it takes a few months (two months
in this case) for them to recuperate to their full battle-strength.
(Added 23 September 2002 - Modified 28 Sep 2002 and 25 Oct 2002.).
No specific virus strain information is currently available to connect the 2002 flu
activity surges (end of March, 2 May, and 5 July 2002) with the comet or the dust storm.
The ZymeTx rapid throat swab tests (on which this analysis is based) are not strain
specific and the CDC doesn't generally publish findings during the summer months.
(Modified 25 October 2002.)
"In mid-July 2002, Madagascar health authorities were notified of a substantial number
of deaths attributed to acute respiratory illness (ARI)... The Madagascar Ministry of Health
(MOH) and the Intitut Pasteur, Madagascar (IPM) initiated an investigation, which found
an attack rate of 70% for ARI, with 27 deaths in Sahafata" Quoted from:
CDC MMWR
for November 15, 2002 [Three separate areas were hit with influenza like illnesses].
The Madagascar outbreaks may have had a global connection with the
05 July 2002 splatter of influenza activity in the United States, as discussed above.
(Added 04 December 2002.)
Notes on Long-Distance Dust Storms
It is hypothesized that long distance dust storms can be triggered by excess electrical charge
delivered to planets by the solar wind via comet tails and/or by the extended magnetospheric
(the author prefers the word electrodynamic*) tails of "sunward" planets. (Venus is
sunward of Earth, Earth is sunward of Mars, etc.)
*Electrical charges are the real actors. Magnetism can be viewed as a conceptual
by-product of charges in motion.
Excess electrical charge which penetrates a planet's atmosphere should eventually spread out
over the planet's surface. Where a fraction of this excess charge builds up in desert regions,
dust and perhaps "hibernating biotic forms" can be electrically lifted into the atmosphere.
Normal air movements can then carry the dust and microbes for long distances. (Until it is
bled off, the excess planetary charge will tend to keep the traveling combination
airborne.) See the 17 July 2001 comments by Bruce Kite, of Columbus Mississippi, and the
1 August 2001 comments by Amy Acheson, of Seattle, Washington, in the
Global Developments, Spring - Summer 2001 section. (Added 25 October 2002.)
* * *
The ZymeTx, Inc.rapid throat swab test, used as a basis for FluWatch reports, checks for
influenza A and B, but does not differentiate them. FluWatch uses the following
levels of flu activity in a given area. Watch: Positive flu results have been
reported. Alert: Positive flu results are being reported as consistently as
every other day in moderate numbers. Warning: Positive flu results are
being reported consistently on a daily basis in high numbers. Epidemic:
Flu is widespread in the area.
