News Reports for April 26, 2012

India: Corporation orients doctors on H1N1 handling (Tamil Nadu)

CHENNAI: The Public Health Department of the Corporation of Chennai on Wednesday organised an orientation programme for doctors and other staff of government and private hospitals and nursing homes on management guidelines for H1N1 cases. Over 250 doctors and 500 technicians from across the city took part (Snip) Speakers went through the standard procedures for detection, treatment and reporting of H1N1 cases. "Patients going to private hospitals must also get the best diagnosis and treatment. This programme is meant to create awareness among doctors."

(Snip)

the programme was aimed at plugging gaps in diagnosis in the numerous nursing homes and clinics across the city. Lack of early diagnosis could lead to complications and the Corporation is taking steps to ensure this doesn't happen by creating awareness among the doctors and medical staff.

"There are cases reported from private hospitals and nursing homes. But the idea is to increase the interaction over these swine flu cases, so we can effectively stem the outbreak," (Snip) http://expressbuzz.com/cities/...

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 @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 05:14:42 AM UTC

Dynamic H3N2v Human Adaptation

Recombinomics Commentary

1- The child had contact a week prior with swine at a family-owned slaughterhouse.

2- Contact with swine in the week preceding onset of the child's illness was reported.

The above comments are from an April 9 post by the Canyon View Medical Group, with offices in Weber County, Utah (#1), and April 13 FluView comments by the CDC (#2).  The Canyon View post was two days prior to the press release by the Weber Morgan Health Department and 3 days prior to the initial announcement by the CDC suggesting the Canyon View Medical Group had first-hand knowledge of this case.

Although the descriptions of the date of swine contact are not mutually exclusive, contact 7 days prior to disease onset, would diminish the relevance of the swine exposure, since swine flu, like seasonal flu has a typical incubation period of 1-2 days.  Moreover, the USDA has also stated that it had no indication of ill swine at the processing plant.

However, sequence analysis provides compelling evidence for an H3N2v evolving toward human spread via adaptations which appear in human isolates prior to detection in swine isolates.  This type of evolution for H3N2v is similar to analysis of H1N1pdm09 (H1N1 swine flu), which was first identified in humans, followed by jumps back into swine, which has now been detected worldwide.

Although H1N1pdm09 is a triple reassortant, it is easily distinguished from the triple reassortants in swine in the United States or the 13 human cases identified prior to the 2009 H1N1pdm09 pandemic.  Increased surveillance failed to identify H1N1 in any samples collected prior to the start of the pandemic, but humans spread H1N1pdm09 worldwide, and it has been found in swine in every continent except Antarctica.

In addition to have two gene segments which are typically found in Europe, the "North American" segments also represent lineages distinct from those in swine in North America.  One polymorphism that is in H1N1pdm09 but not lineages in North America is PB1 E618D, which appeared in the first human H3N2v in the United States, A/Kansas/13/2009.  This marker was subsequently found in all 6 H3N2 human cases in 2010, and did not appear in any swine isolates until the fall of 2010.

The PB1 in the human cases, as well as the other internal genes were related to two (A/Ohio/01/2007 and A/Ohio/02/2007) of the 12 H1N1 cases identified prior to the H1N1pdm09 pandemic.  Both were from the Hudson County fair, which was the only venue with two confirmed cases.  Moreover, 28 attendees had influenza-like illness, indicating these internal genes were adapting to human transmission.

Continued with much more: 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 @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 05:26:52 AM UTC

Swine flu trots ominously across India

(Snip)
Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad told the parliament during the budget session that "an advisory has been sent to all States and UTs to gear up the state machinery for screening and isolation facilities including critical care".

Azad's directions also instruct state governments to follow guidelines on triage, categorization and testing of patients. Currently 45 laboratories in India have the capability to test H1N1 samples and treat patients with Oseltamivir (Snip)

The highest number of cases were recorded in the western Indian state of Maharashtra with 463 cases and 20 deaths, with Andhra Pradesh coming in second at 112 cases, which includes 12 deaths. After calling the initial cases of swine flu as "isolated", the government has now classified the H1N1 occurrences as a pandemic. http://bikyamasr.com/67208/swi...

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 @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 05:43:28 AM UTC

Canada: 'Low-path' avian flus named reportable diseases

Fears that relatively harmless strains of avian influenza could mutate into something worse, or give other countries reasons to block Canadian meat, have led Canada to formally declare the diseases as "reportable." The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Wednesday said it will now apply the designation to the relatively common low-pathogenicity ("low-path") H5 and H7 strains of avian flu, which cause few or no visible signs of illness in infected birds.

The designation -- which already applies to the "high-path" bird flus causing severe illnesses and deaths in birds, and to high-profile livestock diseases such as BSE, scrapie and anthrax -- requires all suspected or confirmed cases of low-path H5 and H7 flus to be reported to the CFIA. From the poultry producer's perspective, the upgrading of low-path H5 and H7 flus to reportable diseases means that if farmers fail to report suspected cases, they could be denied compensation for animals or anything destroyed or for costs they incur in a disease outbreak.

The CFIA noted it already responds in full force to low-path avian flu outbreaks in Canadian poultry, to eliminate the disease on infected farms before the strains can mutate into high-path outbreaks. Thus, the amended rules "formalize Canada's current approach to controlling avian influenza" but don't really change the agency's response, it said.

The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) previously updated its notification requirements to make low-path H5 and H7 avian flus notifiable diseases along with the high-path strains. Continued: http://www.albertafarmexpress....

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by: NewsDiary @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 06:07:40 AM UTC

I posted this article.

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 @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 06:24:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

India: Guidance for Poultry Farmers on Reduction of Bird Flu Incidence

INDIA - Timely vaccination of birds and animals, access to standard laboratories and maintaining bio-security are among the measures required to curb the sporadic outbreak of bird flu in India's northeast, says a team of international and Indian experts touring the region. (Snip) experts of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and India, who are on a five-day visit to Tripura to probe the causes of frequent bird flu outbreaks, have asked the northeastern states to maintain stipulated protocols to stop the contagious disease from resurfacing.

"The FAO and Indian experts have also suggested reaching out to common people with scientific methods of protection of poultry farms, birds, ducks and poultry products," Tripura's animal resources development secretary Swapan Saha told IANS. He said the state government had decided to hold at least 1,000 awareness camps across the state. Saha said the team, which is likely to visit Assam, Meghalaya and other northeastern states too, would soon submit a detailed report to the central government. Apart from maintenance of bio-security, the suggested protocols include timely vaccination for birds and animals, close coordination between lab and land and access to standard laboratories. (Snip)

The northeastern states, bordering China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal, are occasionally hit by avian influenza (Snip) affecting the poultry industry. "Sporadic outbreak of bird flu has been badly affecting the poultry industry in the northeastern states," animal resources development department director Manoranjan Sarkar told IANS.

Four northeastern states - Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Assam - share a 1,880-km border with bird flu-hit Bangladesh, where the contagious disease is rampant in many districts. Even though India declared itself bird flu-free in December last year, Tripura and Meghalaya witnessed outbreaks of the disease in January. Continued: http://www.thepoultrysite.com/...

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 @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 06:26:17 AM UTC

Bali Boy Dies From Bird Flu

April 25, 2012

Denpasar. An eight-year-old boy died from bird flu in a Bali hospital on Tuesday night.

The boy, Ni Putu Purnami, was in critical condition when he was transferred from Bangli Hospital to Sanglah Hospital on Tuesday afternoon and he was immediately isolated.

"Clinically, and supported by the VCR (Visual Convention Reaction) laboratory result, the victim was positively infected with the H5N1 virus," said Sanglah Hospital spokesman Ida Bagus Ken Wirasandi on Wednesday.

Putu died at 10:15 p.m. after four hours at the hospital.

Ken said Putu's family told him the victim was in contact with dead poultry two months ago.

The Bali Health Agency head Ketut Suarjaya said that seven people on Bali have died since the virus first reached the island in 2007.

"In 2011, 46 patients were suspected to have of avian flu [in Bali]," Suarjaya said.

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com...

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

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by: cottontop @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 09:25:51 AM UTC

China: HK suspends poultry imports from Liaoning over bird flu

HONG KONG, April 26 - Hong Kong today suspended imports of poultry products, including eggs and frozen meat, from China's northeastern Liaoning province for 21 days after the authorities there confirmed an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu. (Snip) "The outbreak in Dalian city was among chickens,"
(Snip)
There have been 24 human cases of H5N1 confirmed globally so far this year, compared with 62 in all of 2011. Of the 24 patients in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Indonesia and Vietnam, 15 died.

In most of these cases, the victims came into direct contact with infected birds, mostly chickens. The virus is especially abundant in the faeces and respiratory secretions of affected birds. http://www.themalaysianinsider...

Map link: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl...

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 @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 16:22:01 PM UTC

Bangkok: Bird flu feared in Ang Thong

Hundreds and possibly thousands of open-billed storks have died mysteriously in Ang Thong, triggering fear of a new outbreak of bird flu. The birds were found dead in open ground behind a deserted factory (Snip) in tambon Chamlong in Sawangha district after residents noticed that the animals looked drowsy and lay around on the ground, causing a bad stench in the air (Snip)

Residents alerted authorities who inspect the site twice and then went away, Mr Suebsak said. He demanded the authorities collect samples of the birds' remains and move quickly to identify the cause of the mass deaths as residents living nearby were worried that bird flu might be involved.

(Snip) head of the provincial natural resources and environment office, said he had instructed  experts to launch an investigation into the incident. An initial inspection had found huge numbers of dead birds in two locations. He would not elaborate further other than to say an investigation is underway. http://www.bangkokpost.com/bre...

Wikipedia map link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A...

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 @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 17:14:33 PM UTC

The above is Thailand

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 @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 17:36:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

H5N1 Flu Virus Could be 'Engineered' to Put Hundreds of Millions at Risk, Scientist Tells Homeland Security Committee

If H5N1 bird flu, which has a 60-percent fatality rate, were engineered to spread like seasonal flu, hundreds of millions of lives would be at risk, a scientist told the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday.

"What happens if a mammalian transmissible H5N1 flu starts to spread?" Thomas Inglesby, CEO and director of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center asked rhetorically in his testimony.

"Seasonal flu affects 10 to 20 percent of the world every year--as much as a billion people or more," said Inglesby. "The case fatality rate of wild H5N1 in the WHO database is nearly 60 percent, as you indicated. So if a strain of H5N1 with that fatality rate were engineered to spread like seasonal flu, hundreds of millions of people's lives would be at risk. Even a strain a hundred times less fatal would place at risk millions of people's lives."

(Snip)

Inglesby said mistakes can be made in laboratories, like the one in 1977 when "H1N1 caused a mini-pandemic, probably from a lab escape."

"Nine years ago during SARS, there were at least three incidents in which researchers working in BL-3 or BL-4 labs in Singapore, Taiwan and China accidentally infected themselves with SARS," Inglesby said. "We have to factor the possibility of human error, surprise and accidents into our calculations of the risk of this research," he said.

During the hearing on biological security and dual-use research, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Americans have the right to expect that their money, which funds scientific research intended for the "common good," will not be used to facilitate terrorism. She said research done by the National Institutes of Health and conducted in Wisconsin and the Netherlands, which resulted in genetic changes to a strain of avian flu that allowed its airborne transmissibility, is expected to be published in two academic journals. Continued: http://cnsnews.com/news/articl...

Note: There is also a video at the link.

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 @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 22:40:56 PM UTC

Lethal Combo of Flu, MRSA Bacteria Behind Maryland Family Deaths

Two of the three members of a Maryland family who died of flu complications last month also had been infected with the drug-resistant bacteria commonly known as MRSA, according to a report released today (April 26).

All three family members who died were infected with the influenza A virus, and two were also infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (Snip) researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
(Snip)
News reports have identified the family members as Lou Ruth Blake, 81, and her children Lowell Blake, 58, and Vanessa Blake, 56, of Calvert County, Md. Three additional family members were infected with the flu and two needed to be hospitalized, but neither was infected with MRSA and both recovered (Snip) http://www.livescience.com/199...  

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 @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 22:47:52 PM UTC

Canada: Scarborough students and staff ill with flu-like symptoms (Toronto)

Firefighters conducted air quality tests at a Scarborough school Thursday after 18 students and staff fell ill with flu-like symptoms. Emergency crews were called to St. Thomas More Catholic School (Snip) at about 1:30 p.m.

Seven staff and students went home with flu-like symptoms, police said. Two people went to hospital with flu-like symptoms, police said. (Snip) paramedics took one person to the Hospital for Sick Children and assessed eight others onboard an ambulance bus. Toronto Police spokeswoman (Snip) said the cause of the illness hasn't been determined.

"Through air quality testing, they've determined that it does not appear to be a chemical reaction that's caused the symptoms, so public health will do testing to see if it's any type of virus or if it was a medical issue." http://www.insidetoronto.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 @ Thu Apr 26, 2012 at 22:53:26 PM UTC

Two Labs Show Different Results Death Nyoman Puspita Who 'Claimed' Bird Flu Still Controversy

Shared by dbg of PFI:
http://www.lensaindonesia.com/...

Friday, April 27, 2012 3:46 pm

LENSAINDONESIA.COM: Death of Nyoman Puspawati (8 ) from Bangli on Tuesday (4/24/2012), is still controversial. Because the laboratory results have shown different results.

Among others, the lab RS Sanglah has previously stated Nyoman positive contracted the bird flu virus. Meanwhile, the results of Research and Development Jakarta mention different results, ie negative.

This was confirmed Head of Legal and Public Relations Sanglah Wisadha Putu Putra. According to him, Secretary Team Bird Flu Handling Sanglah Dr. Ken Wirasandhi while giving a press conference about the dubious history of pain Nyoman Puspawati death toll from bird flu. "If she was infected because the birds died two months ago it was very unlikely. Because, the incubation period is one week, "he explained.

Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer Dr Ketut Suarjaya Bali said it has started conducting searches in the poultry markets. The move was done in cooperation with Disnak (Veterinary Services).

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by: bgw in MT @ Fri Apr 27, 2012 at 03:23:08 AM UTC

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for April 27, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Fri Apr 27, 2012 at 04:17:44 AM UTC