Swine flu is expected to return when kids go back to school, and the government is hoping its new advice on when to shut down schools during an outbreak will prevent the panic and confusion that led to hundreds of school closures last spring. The government was to issue new guidance Friday for schools to follow when swine flu strikes. Unlike regular seasonal flu, this virus has not retreated during the hot and humid summer months and so far has infected more than 1 million Americans.

Swine flu is expected to return when kids go back to school, and the government is hoping its new advice on when to shut down schools during an outbreak will prevent the panic and confusion that led to hundreds of school closures last spring. The government was to issue new guidance Friday for schools to follow when swine flu strikes. Unlike regular seasonal flu, this virus has not retreated during the hot and humid summer months and so far has infected more than 1 million Americans.

The World Health Organization says up to 2 billion people could be infected by swine flu, if the current outbreak turns into a pandemic. WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda says the number wasn’t a prediction, but that past experience with flu pandemics indicated one-third of the world’s population gets infected.

The World Health Organization says up to 2 billion people could be infected by swine flu, if the current outbreak turns into a pandemic. WHO flu chief Keiji Fukuda says the number wasn’t a prediction, but that past experience with flu pandemics indicated one-third of the world’s population gets infected.

The private South Carolina school where the state’s first swine flu cases were confirmed is reopening, even as public schools in the area remain closed. Newberry Academy reopened Monday, after being closed all last week because students who had been in Mexico on a trip last month became ill. Newberry County public schools closed Friday and remained closed Monday because of the outbreak.

The new swine flu virus lacks genes that made the 1918 pandemic strain so deadly, a U.S. health official said Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the new virus is “a very unusual” four-way combination of human genes and genes from swine viruses found in North America, Asia and Europe.

The new swine flu virus lacks genes that made the 1918 pandemic strain so deadly, a U.S. health official said Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the new virus is “a very unusual” four-way combination of human genes and genes from swine viruses found in North America, Asia and Europe.

An attorney representing victims of the salmonella outbreak is set to tour the Peanut Corp. of America processing plant in southwest Georgia, Thursday, linked to the nationwide salmonella outbreak.

The House unanimously adopted changes to the state’s food safety guidelines in the wake of a deadly salmonella outbreak to a Georgia plant. The chamber voted to allow county health officials to report possible violations of safety rules to state and federal agencies. State Rep. Terry England, R-Auburn, said it allows the state to deputize local inspectors to get “another set of eyes” on food plants across the state.

Granola bars, cereals, cookies, nut mixes and peanut butter have long been a mainstay of food pantries because of their durability and long shelf life. Now, the food banks are throwing out thousands of pounds of food containing peanuts recalled in the salmonella outbreak.

The salmonella outbreak has made for a strange sport in the Georgia Capitol: Lawmakers are turning it into a contest of sorts over who can out-peanut each other.

A Detroit-area candy store is recalling some chocolate-covered peanuts because of salmonella fears. Gayle’s Chocolates of Royal Oak says it has no reports of illnesses. But the peanuts used in 10-ounce boxes of sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts came from Lynchburg, Va.-based Peanut Corp. of America.

The peanut processing company at the heart of a national salmonella outbreak has filed for bankruptcy. The Virginia-based Peanut Corp. of America filed Friday for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in bankruptcy court in Lynchburg, Va. The company’s attorney, Andrew Goldstein, says the filing was “regrettable” but inevitable.

The president of the peanut company accused of knowingly distributing salmonella-tainted peanut products and the manager of the company’s plant in Blakely, Ga., refused Wednesday to answer the questions of a congressional panel. Stewart Parnell of Lynchburg, Va., the president, and Sammy Lightsey, manager of the plant where investigators believe the contaminated peanut butter originated, took the Fifth. Each invoked his constitutional right not to incriminate himself, refusing to answer the questions of the investigations panel of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Amy Dominello has more.

A sweeping new food safety measure proposed in the wake of the salmonella outbreak has passed its first key legislative hurdle.