News Reports for January 9, 2011

Sri Lanka: 25 dead as AH1N1 cases near 500

http://www.nation.lk/2011/01/0...

AH1N1 confirmed cases rose this week to 425 while the number of confirmed deaths stands at 25. The cumulative number of cases (475) is an increase of 75 over the previous week and the number of deaths reflects an increase of two over last week's figures published by the Epidemiology Unit in its latest update, dated January 7, 2011. (...)

"The figures are likely to mount and will probably exceed the previous Pandemic of the AH1N1 Influenza by the end of the year," Dr Sudath Peiris, acting chief epidemiologist told The Nation in an earlier interview.  "At every new pandemic of influenza, more people are affected, especially as this is a new disease against which most people have no inbuilt immunity." (continued)

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by: AlohaOR @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 05:26:08 AM UTC

Russia: Siberian city of Tomsk extends school break due to flu risk

http://en.rian.ru/health/20110...

School vacations in the Siberian city of Tomsk will be extended by almost two weeks due to the threat of an outbreak of flu or SARS, a deputy mayor said on Saturday. The winter break was due to end on Tuesday but Alexei Balanovsky, the deputy mayor for social policy, said classes would now resume on January 24.

"(...) This is in connection with excessive levels of influenza and SARS. If you now gather children together at school, the situation could deteriorate," Balanovsky said. (...)

"There are a lot of flu cases in Tomsk, including of swine flu, but they are not as severe as last year," Balanovsky said. (continued)

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by: AlohaOR @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 05:30:47 AM UTC

Pakistan: 19 cases of Swine Flu confirmed in Karachi

KARACHI: 19 cases of Swine Flu have been confirmed in the southern port city during the current month. (Snip) eight cases of swine flu including a lady doctor and three children were confirmed in a day. He said that affected lady doctor was appointed in Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/d...  

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 06:27:03 AM UTC

UK: New flu jabs will not protect the elderly

Millions of flu jabs being rushed out to plug vaccine shortfalls will not protect the elderly against a strain of the virus now putting them at increased risk, experts have warned. A national stockpile of more than 12 million swine flu jabs left over from the 2009 pandemic will be released on Monday, in a bid to combat local shortages of flu vaccines.

(Snip) stocks, which protect only against swine flu, will do almost nothing to protect elderly people, who are at far greater risk from another strain of flu - type B - which is now rising sharply. On Saturday health officials issued a warning that type B flu had reached "substantial" proportions in London, while lab reports show that it has become more common than swine flu across central and southern England.

(Snip) swine flu currently remains dominant nationally, the increase in type B cases has been almost double that of swine flu in recent weeks, while overall influenza levels among the over-65s are rising sharply. (Snip) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/hea...  

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 06:28:12 AM UTC

H1N1 Immunological Escape Signals Wave 3

Recombinomics Commentary

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has said there were 569 patients on trolleys in hospital emergency departments this morning - the highest number ever recorded. Critical care beds across Greater Manchester are near breaking point as hospitals battle to cope with a surge in swine flu victims. The region has around 119 intensive care beds - but at one point yesterday all but three were full.

Dozens of patients have ops postponed at Leicester's hospitals as beds are full The beds are being used for swine flu patients needing specialist Ecmo (extra corporeal membrane oxygenation) treatment.

ALMOST half of Britain's 3,000 intensive care beds are occupied by swine flu victims. That is the warning from experts who last night said the pandemic - the worst in two decades - shows no sign of easing. If new cases continue to rise as people return to work and school, hospitals may turn operating theatres into intensive care units.

The above comments are from various media reports describing the pressure on intensive care units at hospitals throughout the UK. The vast majority of these cases are due to H1N1 infections, indicating that the H1N1 circulating in the UK has largely escaped the immunological reponse generated by infection or vaccination with the H1N1 circulating in the UK last season.

The vaccine breakthrough was initially cited in Australia over the summer, and related sequences have become dominant in the UK and other northern hemisphere countries where vaccine breakthroughs and dramatic increases in severe H1N1 cases is becoming increasingly common.

(Snip)

Recent reports from other northern hemisphere countries, including the United States, have raised concerns that these spikes in H1N1 cases represents the start of a third wave of H1N1 that will sweep through the region and produce greater numbers of severe and fatal cases, leading to a serious strain on health care delivery. http://www.recombinomics.com/N...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 06:29:37 AM UTC

UK: Swine flu outbreak claims 13 lives in the North (Ireland)

THE number of swine flu related deaths in Northern Ireland has reached 13 as the number of people in the Republic infected with the H1N1 virus continues to grow. (Snip) Nine of the deceased had underlying health conditions. Those who died ranged from children to pensioners.

Here, the Department of Health has reported a doubling of human swine flu cases in the past week. GPs have diagnosed about 5,400 new cases, twice as many as last week. The number of people being treated in intensive care units stands at 26.

(Snip) acutely ill patients left waiting in overcrowded emergency departments "are at enormous risk of contracting swine flu, posing serious risk to their lives". He said the potential for cross-infection was huge particularly among patients with weak immune systems such as cancer patients or those with cystic fibrosis.

The latest swine flu figures represent a rate of over 120 new cases for every 100,000 people. Continued: http://www.irishexaminer.com/i...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 06:49:54 AM UTC

H1N1 D225G Recombination and Transmission In The UK

Recombinomics Commentary

The Health Protection Agency published a paper on recent sequences from the current H1N1 outbreak, which included phylogenetic analysis of 41 HA sequences. S188T was present in 21 of the 41 sequences, extending its worldwide expansion and domination in England. However, the sequences with S188T had additional evidence of recombination. One subset had acquired D100N, which was present on an earlier sequence and was also found on different genetic backgrounds outside of England.

Of great concern was two sequences, A/England/4880378/2010 and A/England/4940476/2010, which had D225G appended onto the background with S188T and D100N.  D225G had previously been associated with severe and fatal cases in Ukraine and Russia, and to a lesser extent in many countries with sequences representing multiple genetic backgrounds, demonstrating expansion by recombination.  In England both cases with D225G were severe.  However, both sequences also were identical, signifying clonal expansion. Continued: http://www.recombinomics.com/N...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 07:22:54 AM UTC

S. Korea battles bird flu, foot-and-mouth

SEOUL - South Korea confirmed three new cases of bird flu on Sunday as the outbreak that began last month further hits farmers who are also battling the nation's worst-ever outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The agriculture ministry confirmed three new cases of the highly contagious virus at duck farms in the southwestern county of Yeongam, bringing the total number of cases to seven since December 31.

At least 396,000 chickens, ducks and other birds have been or will be culled, the agriculture ministry said on its website, as the fresh cases were reported after a week-long pause.

Health authorities have placed quarantine zones around nearby areas to carry out emergency disinfection on people and vehicles, especially those transporting animal feed. Continued: http://www.google.com/hostedne...  

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 12:56:33 PM UTC

Assistant surgeon general to speak at Duke forum on dealing with flu outbreaks, pandemics

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - U.S. Assistant Surgeon General Anne Schuchat will discuss the challenges of dealing with a pandemic when she speaks at a Duke University forum.

Schuchat is the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. She will speak Sunday about monitoring and containing influenza epidemics and lessons learned from past outbreaks, including H1N1, avian flu and SARS. (Snip) http://www.wtkr.com/news/sns-a...

Live speech at 5:45 PM:   http://www.ustream.tv/DukeUniv...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 13:03:21 PM UTC

UK: Flu strikes 16,000 NHS staff

More than 16,000 doctors, nurses and NHS workers were off with flu-related illnesses yesterday in a staff crisis that is costing the NHS £12million a week. And 71,900 sick days were lost in the past week alone.

(Snip) just one in five nurses opted for the flu jab this winter. The low uptake has led to further criticism of the Government's handling of the swine-flu epidemic which has killed 50 people.

(Snip) tragic details of victims of the deadly virus emerged yesterday. Anne Bellenie, 51, told how her "gentle giant" husband Ade, 47, had died in Sunderland on New Year's Eve (Snip) And sufferer Katy Savage, 21, (Snip) is in urgent need of a lung transplant since contracting the virus four months ago. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/t...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 13:10:55 PM UTC

The lack of NHS workers having the vaccine has to be dealt with.

I think their contracts should be adjusted to make suitable vaccines mandatory if they want to benefit from anything more than state sick pay. In other words, they can't be forced to have any vaccines but they won't benefit from the cushy contracts they've got if they fall ill.

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by: UK - Bird @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 13:38:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

A large number of hospitals in the US

now require the staff to get the vaccine. My local hospital fired several people because they refused the flu vaccine this year. They took it to court before they were fired and the judge gave them a few days to get it and sided with the hospital on the firing policy.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 13:52:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well part of me would favour that

but I'm not sure that the NHS could get a similar ruling here in the UK because it's a state run system. There's the risk of strikes if the change is too extreme.

I suspect that the pain of funding their own sick leave might push the majority the right way, especially as medical staff are very prone to illness. The government might be able to swing such a change to cotracts on public health grounds.

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by: UK - Bird @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 14:59:29 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Egypt: 2 new A/H1N1 deaths in Delta

The Egyptian Gazette Online
Saturday, January 8, 2011 03:59:00 PM

CAIRO - Health authorities in the Delta Governorate of Gharbiya have announced on    two new deaths from swine flu, known as A/H1N1, taking to 15 the number of fatalities recorded in two weeks .

The two cases included a man and a woman identified as Wafaa Abdul Latif and Ahmed Maher el-Mughazi, who were in their early thirties, the authorities said, adding that the deaths were reported by Samanoud Chest Hospital on Friday night.

     The patients, who have  been diagnosed with the flu, are in quarantine and undergoing tests, it added.
     The H1N1 swine flu virus has infected 1,172 people in Egypt and killed 56 since October 8, a Ministry of Health official said.

     The virus has infected 16,373 people, of whom 281 died, since it was first reported in Egypt in June 2009, said the official, who asked not to be named.

    H1N1 flu broke out in 2009 and quickly spread across the world. The World Health Organisation said about 18,450 people died from the virus, including many pregnant women and young people.

   Last year Cairo took various initiatives to try to limit the spread of H1N1, including culling all pigs in the country, temporarily closing schools and stopping travellers with fever at airports.

http://213.158.162.45/~egyptia...

United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com

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by: cottontop @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 15:44:23 PM UTC

Fears over mutating swine flu virus.....

Fears over mutating swine flu virus that could render vaccine useless

A research team has hurriedly been re-formed to investigate whether the swine flu virus has started to mutate in a way that will render the vaccine ineffective.
Senior Government scientists have already discovered slight genetic mutations in the H1N1 virus.
They are checking whether this is causing some people to be more severely affected, although there is no evidence at this stage to suggest the changes would stop the vaccine working or prevent the anti-viral drug Tamiflu from being effective.

Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/hea...

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by: dawood @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 19:05:55 PM UTC

This is in the UK

Thanks dawood!

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Sun Jan 09, 2011 at 21:40:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Please post new news stories to ...

News Reports for January 10, 2011

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Mon Jan 10, 2011 at 05:41:40 AM UTC