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Swine flu cases resistant to Tamiflu are becoming more common, say scientists | World news. Increasing numbers of cases of swine flu are being detected that are resistant to Tamiflu, the drug the UK and rest of the world stockpiled to fight a pandemic, according to scientists calling for greater global monitoring. Even more worryingly, these strains of flu are appearing in patients who have never been treated with the drug, which means the strains are able to pass from one human to another. Tamiflu, generic name oseltamivir, is one of the few treatments available for pandemic swine flu, although it is thought to be of limited effectiveness. The reluctance of the manufacturer Roche to release all the trial data has made it difficult to ascertain how limited. Nonetheless the drug can save lives if used early in the course of the illness. Resistance to the drug has been shown before, but the new Australian data on its steady growth and the apparently easy transfer from one person to another of Tamiflu-resistant flu strains will alarm public health experts.

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A history of major flu pandemics | World news. Patients crowd into an emergency hospital near Fort Riley, Kansas. The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic killed at least 20 million people worldwide. Photograph: AP Annual flu epidemics kill 250,000-500,000 people each year and cause severe illness in 3 million to 5 million. But new strains that jump from animals to humans can be even more devastating if the global population has no immunity to the virus. • 1918 "Spanish flu" The most devastating flu pandemic in recent history was caused by a strain of H1N1 influenza that killed 20 million to 50 million people worldwide. . •1957-58 "Asian flu" First identified in China, this H2N2 virus caused roughly 2 million deaths worldwide. . • 1968-69 "Hong Kong flu" The pandemic was first detected in Hong Kong. . • 1997 "Bird flu" For the first time, an influenza virus was found to spread directly from birds to people.

. • 2009 "Swine flu" One of the new strains was the H1N1 "swine flu" virus that originated in Mexico in 2009. NIAID Video: How Influenza Pandemics Occur. Flusurvey: Home. Influenzanet: Home. Online Newsroom - "Have You Heard?" Archive: 2011 - Influenza A Variant Virus. Archive: 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 CDC Confirms Detection of A Different Influenza A Variant Virus December 23, 2011 -- An influenza A (H1N1) virus that is known to circulate in U.S. swine but not humans has been detected in an adult in the state of Wisconsin. The patient reported occupational contact with swine prior to illness onset.

No human-to-human transmission with this virus has been identified. The virus identified in Wisconsin has genes from avian, swine and human influenza viruses, making it a so-called “triple reassortant” (tr) virus. A recently adopted naming convention for viruses that commonly circulate in swine uses a “v” (for “variant”) when these viruses infect humans, regardless of whether the virus contains the 2009 H1N1 M gene. The 2009 H1N1 virus was likely transmitted to swine from humans during and after the 2009-2010 pandemic and now is commonly spreading in both humans and in swine. Return to the top. NIAID. Holy influenza, batman! : Aetiology. Typically when we think of flying things and influenza viruses, the first images that come to mind are wild waterfowl. Waterbirds are reservoirs for an enormous diversity of influenza viruses, and are the ultimate origin of all known flu viruses. In birds, the virus replicates in the intestinal tract, and can be spread to other animals (including humans) via fecal material.

However, a new paper expands a chapter on another family of flying animals within the influenza story: bats. I’ve written previously about the enormous diversity of microbes that bats possess. This shouldn’t be surprising–after all, bats are incredibly diverse themselves, encompassing about a fifth of all known mammalian species. This new research expands our knowledge of bat viruses a bit. Though they weren’t able to culture out the flu viruses, the authors did do some molecular work suggesting that these novel bat viruses could combine with human viruses and form a functional recombinant virus.

Reference. Hopkins researchers find 'Google Flu Trends' a powerful early warning system for emergency departments. Public release date: 9-Jan-2012 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Mark Guideramguider1@jhmi.edu 443-898-2320Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions Monitoring Internet search traffic about influenza may prove to be a better way for hospital emergency rooms to prepare for a surge in sick patients compared to waiting for outdated government flu case reports. A report on the value of the Internet search tool for emergency departments, studied by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine over a 21-month period, is published in the January 9 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The researchers reported a strong correlation between a rise in Internet searches for flu information, compiled by Google's Flu Trends tool, and a subsequent rise in people coming into a busy urban hospital emergency room complaining of flu-like symptoms. [ Print | E-mail AAAS and EurekAlert! Risk Perception & Info-seek Behaviour (Pandemic) During the influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic in 2009/10, a total of 13 consecutive surveys were carried out of the general population in Germany to monitor knowledge, attitude and behaviour concerning the disease and vaccination against pandemic influenza in real time. In total, 13,010 persons aged 14 years or older were interviewed by computer-assisted telephone techniques between November 2009 and April 2010. During the peak of the pandemic, only 18% of participants stated that they perceived the risk of pandemic influenza as high; this proportion fell to 10% in January 2010.

There was a significant difference in information-seeking behaviour among population subgroups concerning the disease and vaccine uptake. However, in all subgroups, conventional media sources such as television, radio and newspapers were more frequently used than the Internet. Introduction After the first description of a novel influenza A(H1N1) virus in April 2009, the virus rapidly spread worldwide.

Methods. Timeliness of contact tracing among flight passengers for influenza A/H1N1 2009. Research article Corien M Swaan1*, Rolf Appels2, Mirjam EE Kretzschmar34 and Jim E van Steenbergen1 * Corresponding author: Corien M Swaan Corien.swaan@rivm.nl Author Affiliations 1 Preparedness and Response Unit, Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), A. van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, 3721 MA Bilthoven, the Netherlands 2 Municipal Health Service, GGD Kennemerland, Spaarnepoort 5, 2134 TM Hoofddorp, the Netherlands 3 Julius Centre for Health Sciences & Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, the Netherlands 4 Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit; Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), A. van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, 3721 MA Bilthoven, the Netherlands For all author emails, please log on.

BMC Infectious Diseases 2011, 11:355 doi:10.1186/1471-2334-11-355 Published: 28 December 2011 Abstract Background Methods Results Conclusion close. Epidemic Influenza — Responding to the Expected but Unpredictable. In the United States, influenza viruses can be counted on to cause outbreaks sometime between fall and spring each year. However, the timing and severity of these epidemics and the distribution of circulating viruses are highly variable and difficult to predict (see figure Percentages of Patient Visits for Influenza-like Illness and Number of Reported Deaths among Children for the 2012–2013 Season to Date and for Selected Previous Seasons.). For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the estimated number of influenza-associated deaths varies from 3000 to 48,000 during a seasonal U.S. outbreak. The past two seasons exemplify this unpredictability.

The 2011–2012 U.S. influenza season was one of the mildest in the past two decades, even though influenza A(H3N2) viruses — a subtype generally associated with higher rates of complications and death than seasonal A(H1N1) or B viruses — predominated. WHO Flu activity reports. Moving towards a universal flu vaccine.

K. Lounatmaa/SPL Flu viruses evolve quickly, making it difficult to create a universal vaccine. Multimeric-001, an influenza vaccine now in clinical trials, boosts immunity in elderly people when given as a supplement to the seasonal shot. But supplementation is just a short-term goal: eventually the drug’s maker, BiondVax Pharmaceuticals of Ness Ziona, Israel, believes that Multimeric-001 alone could protect against all strains of flu. The company will present the results from its second phase II trial of the shot on 3 April at the Second Annual Vaccines Congress in London.

For most infectious agents, one exposure teaches the body’s immune system to recognize and destroy the virus or bacterium. The Multimeric-001 vaccine comprises nine linked sections from three flu proteins from different parts of the virus. In a study published in February in the Journal of Clinical Immunology1, BiondVax reported that its Multimeric-001 vaccine was safe and conferred immunity on its own. Flu vaccination reminder via text messaging improves rate of vaccination among low-income children.

Public release date: 24-Apr-2012 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Karin Eskenaziket2116@columbia.edu 212-305-3900JAMA and Archives Journals This release is also available in Chinese on EurekAlert! Chinese. CHICAGO – A text messaging intervention with education-related messages sent to parents increased influenza vaccination coverage compared with usual care in a traditionally hard-to-reach, low-income, urban, minority population of children and adolescents, although coverage overall remained low, according to a study in the April 25 issue of JAMA.

"Timely vaccination is the cornerstone of influenza prevention through vaccination of susceptible populations before illness becomes epidemic in communities. The effectiveness of the influenza vaccine in children and adolescents ranges from 66 percent to 95 percent, depending on age, vaccine type, and season," according to background information in the article. Melissa S. (JAMA. 2012;307[16]:1702-1708.

Peter G. . [ Print | E-mail.