Flu
WHO urges more flu surveillance in humans, animals
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Flu surveillance should be increased in both humans and animals now that the H1N1 virus strain has infected pigs in Canada, a World Health Organization official said on Sunday.
WHO food safety scientist Peter Ben Embarek stressed there was no recommendation to cull any pigs anywhere in the world as a result of the virus, and said that well-cooked pork and pork products remained safe for consumption.
“It is not a food-borne disease,” he told a Geneva news conference, while calling on veterinarians, farm staff, and slaughterhouse workers to take precautions when handling live animals to avoid spreading or catching the new strain.
Expert Available to Discuss Pandemic Flu
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RTI International’s Dr. Christine Layton is a public health expert who specializes in influenza (annual and pandemic), pandemic influenza preparations, vaccines and immunization infrastructure.
She has more than 15 years of professional experience. She is especially interested in the evaluation and implementation of public health programs at the community level. Most recently, Dr. Layton’s work has focused on issues related to immunization and vaccine policy.
About RTI International:
Egyptian woman contracts bird flu: WHO
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A 38-year-old Egyptian woman has contracted the H5N1 strain of bird flu and is in a stable condition, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
The woman, from Elfath in central Egypt, developed a fever and headache on March 14 and was admitted to hospital where she is being given the antiviral drug Tamivir, it said.
The Geneva-based U.N. agency said she fell ill after coming into contact with dead and sick poultry. She is the 59th case of bird flu in the Arab country.
Another bird flu patient dies in Vietnam
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A 32-year-old Vietnamese man infected with H5N1 bird flu has died in a hospital in the capital, a state-run newspaper reported on Friday.
The man contracted the virus in Ninh Binh province, some 90 km (60 miles) south of Hanoi, after eating ill poultry, the newspaper People’s Army said. He came down with a fever on Feb 11 and died on Feb 25, it said.
Antibodies protect against bird flu and more
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Researchers have discovered human antibodies that neutralize not only H5N1 bird flu but other strains of influenza as well and say they hope to develop them into lifesaving treatments.
The antibodies—immune system proteins that attach to invaders such as viruses—also might be used to protect front-line workers and others at high risk in case a pandemic of flu broke out, the researchers said.
In tests on mice the viruses neutralized several types of influenza A viruses, including the H5N1 avian influenza virus, the researchers reported in Sunday’s issue of the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
China needs better bird flu surveillance -experts
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China needs to improve its surveillance of the bird flu virus after a recent rise in human cases, but there are no signs the country is on the verge of an epidemic, U.N. experts said on Wednesday.
China reported eight human cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in January, five of whom died, which appeared independent of any known case in birds.
Hans Treason, the World Health Organisation’s China representative, said their risk assessment had not changed following the new cases as it was normal during the winter months.
Few in U.S. see doctor or get medication for flu: study
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Only a small percentage of people who get influenza or a similar illness are ever prescribed drugs shown to help the virus, according to a study released on Monday.
The survey of flu patients also showed that about five percent of U.S. children see a doctor or nurse for influenza-like illness, compared to just about 2 percent of adults.
Thomson Reuters Healthcare surveyed insurance claims covering nearly 20 million people with health insurance over two flu seasons in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.
Anywhere between 5 percent and 20 percent of the population gets flu in a given flu season, the CDC estimates.
Vietnam has new human bird flu case: paper
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A 23-year-old man has tested positive for the deadly H5N1 virus in northern Vietnam, a state-run newspaper reported on Saturday.
The online Lao Dong newspaper (http://www.laodong.com.vn) quoted health officials as saying the man from Dam Ha district in the northern province of Quang Ninh, about 150 km (93 miles) from Hanoi had fallen ill and tests showed he carried the bird flu virus.
The report quoted doctors as saying the man had high fever and severe respiratory problem.
Link found between influenza, absolute humidity
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A new study by Oregon researchers has found a significant correlation between “absolute” humidity and influenza virus survival and transmission. When absolute humidity is low – as in peak flu months of January and February – the virus appears to survive longer and transmission rates increase.
Results of the study were published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Researchers have long suspected a link between humidity and flu transmission and prevalence; however, these efforts have focused on relative humidity, according to lead author Jeffrey Shaman, an Oregon State University atmospheric scientist who specializes in ties between climate and disease transmission. Relative humidity is the ratio of air water vapor content to the saturating level, which itself varies with temperature, while absolute humidity quantifies the actual amount of water in the air, irrespective of temperature.
Indonesian teenager dies of bird flu
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A 15-year-old Indonesian girl has died of bird flu in central Java, a health official said on Wednesday, bringing the country’s death toll from the disease to 113.
The girl died last week after being treated at the Doctor Karyadi hospital in Semarang.
“It has been confirmed by health ministry labs,” said Agus Suryanto, the head of the medical team treating the girl.
Flu Vaccination Rates Lag for At-risk Adolescents
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Influenza vaccination rates for adolescents who suffer from asthma and other illnesses are still far too low, according to a recent study.
The research, published in the November 2008 issue of Pediatrics, was based at the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
“Influenza vaccination has been recommended for adolescents with high-risk conditions for well over a decade,” notes lead author Mari Nakamura, a clinical fellow in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston. “We wanted to examine how effective this risk-based policy has been in achieving vaccination coverage.”
Each year, between 20 and 40 percent of children and adolescents come down with the flu. For children with certain high-risk conditions, this can lead to hospitalizations. Because of this, the Centers for Disease Control strongly recommends that all adolescents vulnerable to influenza complications get vaccinated.
Flu vaccination rates lag for at-risk adolescents
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—Influenza vaccination rates for adolescents who suffer from asthma and other illnesses are still far too low, according to a recent study.
The research, published in the November 2008 issue of Pediatrics, was based at the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.
“Influenza vaccination has been recommended for adolescents with high-risk conditions for well over a decade,” notes lead author Mari Nakamura, a clinical fellow in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston. “We wanted to examine how effective this risk-based policy has been in achieving vaccination coverage.”
Korea culls 3 million birds as flu spreads fast
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South Korea said on Thursday it had culled 3 million farmed birds and confirmed three more outbreaks of bird flu, as the country grapples with its worst avian influenza outbreak in four years.
In just two weeks South Korea has confirmed 15 cases of the deadly H5N1 strain, raising alarm as the highly virulent virus is spreading at its fastest rate since the country reported its first case in 2003.
The farm ministry said on Thursday it had seven new reports of suspected bird flu outbreaks at poultry farms in North and South Jeolla provinces, some 320 km (200 miles) south of Seoul, where the first bird flu recurrence for a year was reported earlier this month.
Flu shots leave heart failure patients at risk
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Patients with heart failure are especially vulnerable to influenza and most doctors recommend they get flu shots, but a study suggests these annual jabs may not offer them full protection, U.S. researchers said on Saturday.
They found heart failure patients in a study had lower immune responses to the vaccine compared with healthy people of similar ages, leaving them more vulnerable to infection.
“What we theorize is that heart failure as a condition leads to impaired immune function, which renders these patients less able to respond to the vaccine,” said Orly Vardeny of the University of Wisconsin, who presented the study at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago.
Two Indonesian youths die of bird flu
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Two Indonesian youths have died from bird flu, a health ministry official said on Monday, taking the confirmed death toll in the country worst affected by the virus to 107.
A 15-year-old boy from Subang, in West Java, died on Wednesday in an area where chickens had died, said Nyoman Kandun, director general of communicable disease control at the ministry.
An 11-year-old girl from Bekasi, east of Jakarta, who died on Friday also tested positive for the virus, the official said.
