Sky News Australia - Health Article. PCTs' swine flu plans 'being tested by real life' H1N1 “swine flu” virus spreads slowly. July 8, 2009 While the H1N1 “swine flu” virus circled the globe this spring, causing the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a level 6 pandemic alert, a team of researchers from MIT and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were already investigating why the new virus spread from person to person less effectively than other flu viruses.
“While the virus is able to bind human receptors, it clearly appears to be restricted,” Ram Sasisekharan, the Edward Hood Taplin Professor and director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) and the lead MIT author of the paper is quoted as saying. Sasisekharan and colleagues compared the new H1N1 strain to several seasonal flu strains, including some milder H1N1 strains, and to the virus that caused the 1918 flu pandemic. The researchers also found that the new H1N1 strain spreads inefficiently in ferrets, which accurately mimics human influenza disease. SOURCE: Science, July 2, 2009. Bmj.com: Swine flu resistance testing to grow after U.S. case. Close dialog.
Swine Flu Infections At 70,000, First Tamiflu-Resistant Case Rep. June 29, 2009 New figures released Monday by the World Health Organization (WHO) show there are now 70,893 recorded cases of swine flu worldwide, with 311 deaths, since late March when the outbreak was first discovered.
The figures reflect 11,079 new cases of swine flu, including 48 deaths, since last Friday’s WHO bulletin. Meanwhile, experts reported the first Tamiflu-resistant case of swine flu, confirmed in a patient in Denmark. The anti-viral drug Tamiflu has been the primary treatment used to fight the A(H1N1) pandemic. The largest increase in infections took place in the United States, which added 6,268 cases including 40 deaths, bringing the total number of reported U.S. infections to 27,717, including 127 deaths. The U.S. Some countries are no longer keeping track of all cases, while others do not report for each of the thrice-weekly bulletins, U.N. health agency said.
If taken early, Tamiflu lessens symptoms and reduces the risk of patients transmitting the virus to someone else. Swine Flu Toll Surpasses 90,000. July 6, 2009 The World Health Organization (WHO) announced Monday that the swine flu has infected 94,512 people globally and has caused 429 deaths since it was first detected back in April.
The WHO said in its statement that the A(H1N1) virus has spread throughout 136 countries and territories. The WHO’s latest update shows 4,591 new swine flu cases and 47 more deaths since the last numbers released on Friday. Argentina reported 34 more deaths, bringing its toll to 60, which has been the largest increase among all countries. The Argentine government has undertaken scrutiny for what critics call a slow response to the virus’s spread. The United States is still in first with the most deaths at 170, and Mexico follows behind at second with 119 deaths. According to the UN health agency, some affected countries no longer keep track of all cases, while others do not report for each of the thrice-weekly bulletins. Britain still remains one of the worst hit countries in Europe with 7,447 cases. Tamiflu-resistant swine flu reported.
July 3, 2009 Health officials in Japan and Hong Kong said each had a H1N1 flu patient resistant to the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, days after a Denmark patient was resistant.
Japanese Health Ministry official Takeshi Enami said the swine flu strain developed in a Japanese patient who was on the drug Tamiflu to prevent the illness. The patient has since recovered after taking Relenza — another anti-viral influenza drug, WAtoday.com.au reported. Drug-Resistant H1N1 Not Spreading: WHO. An official with the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that a Tamiflu-resistant strain of the H1N1 virus does not appear to be spreading in a consistent or troublesome way.
“At this point we are not recommending any clinical changes to the approach in treating patients,” said WHO Interim Assistant Director-General Keiji Fukuda in response to the discovery of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 viruses in three people in Denmark, Japan and Hong Kong. “Right now these examples of oseltamivir resistance remain sporadic cases. We do not see any evidence of widespread movement of oseltamivir resistant viruses,” he said during a briefing, referring to the generic form of Tamiflu. Fukuda said the three people whose H1N1 virus samples did not respond to Tamiflu, an anti-viral tablet made by Roche and Gilead Sciences, have all fully recovered from their infections. The Tamiflu-resistant viruses are mutations, not a reassortment or combination with other influenza strains, Fukuda added. Developing countries need $1 billion by end of year to cope with.
How Well Did Health Departments Communicate About Risk At The St. Sanidad prepara a todos los hospitales para hacer frente a la nu. El modelo de hospitales de referencia -La Fe en Valencia y San Juan en Alicante- para atender los casos de la nueva gripe ha pasado a mejor vida.
El consejero de Sanidad, Manuel Cervera, señaló ayer que se ha preparado a todos los hospitales públicos -y los centros de salud- para asistir y tratar a los casos de gripe A que se presenten si, como se espera, se produce "una extensión de una forma más elevada" de los contagios de cara al otoño y el invierno.
Cervera, que presentó ayer el Plan Estratégico en I+D+i en Salud Pública de la Comunidad Valenciana 2009-2013, explicó que de momento existe una "cierta tranquilidad y serenidad" ante el virus y consideró "normal" que surjan brotes en España "dentro de un orden". Source of new flu virus on Canada farm unclear. Pulse - Swine flu cases have 'decreased significantly' First swine flu vaccines expected next month - Swine flu- msnbc. Ming down with flu confusion. It's just over a week since I began work as an "agent" at one of the NHS Pandemic Flu Service call centres.
Every agent has to ask a series of questions to determine the health of the caller. The third question asked is whether they are conscious. Anxious that the under-qualified staff would not be able to tell if someone requires emergency medical assistance, the assessment instructs them to find out if the caller can't breathe, has turned blue and whether they are having a fit now? When the questionnaire eventually comes round to dealing with the symptoms of flu, the patient is asked if they are suffering from a "new confusion"? If they weren't before, in all probability they are now. Taking the temperature of the nation over the phone, people are in states of anxiety that range from the heart-breaking to the mind-boggling. Global swine flu deaths top 1,100. Homeland security chief: Flu will get jump on vaccine - USATODAY. By Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that pandemic flu probably will flare up soon after schools open in the fall, before vaccine is available.
Napolitano also acknowledged that there would not be enough pandemic flu vaccine for everyone, at least in the early stages of the flu season. "There will be prioritization of vaccinations," she told members of the USA TODAY editorial board. Pulse - One child in two has Tamiflu side effects. WHO maintains 2 billion estimate for likely H1N1 cases. H1N1 influenza vaccine: Global access for a global problem. More than 90% of the world’s capacity to manufacture influenza vaccines is concentrated in Europe and North America.
Pressure to protect one’s own citizens will be intense during any pandemic. Infectious disease experts expect the unexpected with respect to. Top influenza control officials from Mexico, Canada and the United States warn that the Novel A(H1N1) influenza pandemic may intensify further, while a vaccine won’t be available in Canada until November.
“The epidemic curve hasn’t shown any sign of peaking. We really don’t know what’s coming,” Frank Plummer, scientific director general for the Public Health Agency of Canada, told more than a 1000 infectious disease specialists gathered from 2 dozen countries at the 26th International Congress of Chemotherapy and Infection in Toronto, Ontario on June 18. Kuwait confirms another 29 swine flu cases - Healthcare - Arabia. Decoding The Genomic Sequences Of H1N1 Using Isolates From Outbr. De Morgen Mexicaanse griep - "Waals gewest overdrijft gevol. Grieppaniek overspoelt huisartsenposten. Home Eerstelijn, Griep Grieppaniek overspoelt huisartsenposten Redactie Medicalfacts/ Janine Budding 2 August, 2009.
Mideast sees sixfold rise in swine flu deaths in eight days - He. The number of people known to have died after contracting swine flu in the Middle East has increased six-fold in the last eight days, the World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed on Sunday. Five people have died after testing positive for the H1N1 virus, bringing the region’s total death toll to six. According to the health agency’s latest briefing note, the number of confirmed cases of swine flu across the region has leapt to 1,178, more than 470 of which have been diagnosed in the last eight days. Only 299 of these cases had been locally transmitted, the WHO said. Saudi Arabia has emerged as a particular hotspot for infections since a pandemic situation was declared, notching up and four H1N1 deaths. No swine flu mutation in Argentina — yet - Swine flu.
BUENOS AIRES — Argentina has the most swine flu deaths outside the United States, but the virus is still killing fewer people than normal seasonal flu — good news for a world waiting to see how it evolves in the southern winter. And despite fears that the virus will mutate and turn more deadly, genetic sequencing shows this influenza remains virtually identical to what is circulating in the U.S. and Mexico, making it more likely that a single vaccine can work around the world.
With more than a month still to go in the southern winter flu season, swine flu infections have peaked in Argentina. Doctor visits by people with flu symptoms have declined sharply. Supply and safety issues surrounding an H1N1 vaccine : The Lance. Last week, Australia and the USA announced that they would begin trials of an H1N1 vaccine. Vaccination against H1N1 will be an important development in controlling the impact of the pandemic. However, several thorny issues exist around vaccine manufacture and approval. All countries will require the vaccine but current global manufacturing capacity will not be able to meet this demand. Additionally, experts think that individuals might need two doses of the vaccine instead of one, reducing capacity further. Vaccine manufacturers are also struggling to produce good vaccine yields with the H1N1 seed virus. Grippe A : les 12 millions de Grecs seront vaccinés - Planète - A l'heure où les autorités françaises fixent les priorités de vaccination pour la rentrée – personnes souffrant de pathologies respiratoires, personnels médicaux... –, la Grèce, annonce, vendredi 31 juillet, qu'elle entend vacciner l'ensemble de sa population contre la grippe A(H1N1).
"Nous avons décidé que l'intégralité de la population, tous les citoyens et les résidents sans exception, sera vaccinée contre la grippe", a déclaré le ministre de la santé, Dimitris Avramopoulos, à l'issue du conseil des ministres. Selon les experts, il faudra au moins deux doses par personne pour une protection totale, ce qui signifie que le gouvernement devra acheter au moins 24 millions de doses. La Grèce, qui compte moins de 12 millions d'habitants et accueille 15 millions de touristes par an, a fait état, pour l'heure, de 700 cas de grippe A mais d'aucun mort.
Ethical ramifications of H1N1 vaccine priority groups. Other groups that should receive priority inoculations are health care workers and their children, children and young adults ages six months through 24 years, parents and other caregivers of infants, and nonelderly adults with high-risk medical conditions. Dr. Ruth Faden, director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, is available to discuss the ethical ramifications of this recommendation and other morally challenging dimensions of pandemic influenza, health care reform, and research involving pregnant women. Dr.
Faden, along with bioethicists from other leading universities, published an article in the July 9 online issue of the American Journal of Public Health urging organizers of a recently begun $3 billion, decades-long study of children's health to immediately add provisions to look at the health and medical profiles of the children's mothers during their pregnancies. Ruth Faden, Ph.D., M.P.H. Study: Swine Flu Drug Causes Nausea, Nightmares in Children - In. Lull in swine flu cases – but 'big surge' to follow. The swine flu pandemic appears to have peaked for the moment but the virus will return with "a very big surge" in the autumn, the chief medical officer said today.
Sir Liam Donaldson hailed new data as proof of a "pretty firm downturn" in the number of people seeking medical help with H1N1 from a GP. "There's a possibility the virus has had its fill of us for the moment," he said. The number of people consulting a doctor with flu-like illness had fallen from 155.3 for every 100,000 people to 138.2 for every 100,000, he said. La France enregistre le premier décès lié à la grippe A - Planèt. Le Monde.fr avec AFP et Reuters | • Mis à jour le L'Institut de veille sanitaire (InVS) a annoncé, jeudi 30 juillet, la mort, survenue le 18 juillet au CHU de Brest, d'une jeune fille de 14 ans porteuse du virus de la grippe A(H1N1). Cette jeune fille souffrait déjà d'une "maladie grave, compliquée d'une autre infection pulmonaire sévère, autre que la grippe" A(H1N1), a précisé l'InVS.
Medicago's H1N1 pandemic vaccine candidate shows positive r. July 30, 2009 , /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – Medicago Inc. (TSX-V: MDG) a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and affordable vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), today announced that it has achieved additional positive results with its vaccine candidate for the Influenza A (H1N1) virus, also known as Swine flu. Results showed that a single dose of 5 micrograms induced a positive immune response against a new emerging strain of this virus in 100% of vaccinated animals.
Medicago’s H1N1 VLP vaccine was formulated to protect against the influenza A//04/09 virus (“/04″), which was one of the original viral strains selected by the WHO for vaccine manufacturers. The Company previously reported data from an initial study in mice where its novel vaccine achieved a positive immune response in 100% of the animals vaccinated against the /04 virus. Summer camp flu cases may predict fall surge - Swine flu- msnbc. Schweinegrippe: Totales Chaos um Grippe-Tests - News. JOURNAAL - Zin en onzin over de Mexicaanse griep. De Nederlandse Publieke Omroep maakt gebruik van cookies. Swine flu incidence 'is slowing' Pulse - GPs report increase in adverse reactions to Tamiflu. It seems JavaScript is either disabled or not supported by your browser.
Swine flu vaccine for 'half US' About half the US population should be vaccinated against the H1N1 virus with pregnant women and health workers the top priority, US officials have said. A US government advisory committee said health officials should prepare to vaccinate 160 million people. The vaccination campaign, which will involve two doses of vaccine per person, is due to begin in mid-October. Who Should Get the H1N1 Vaccine First?
Australian Labor Party : H1N1 medical research projects fast-tra. Swine flu and the prenatal clinic : Effect Measure. Northern Ireland refuses to fund swine flu work - Healthcare Rep. De Morgen Mexicaanse griep - Universiteit Antwerpen test vaccin. Pulse - Top GPs accuse Government of causing panic over swine fl.