News Reports for June 20, 2012

New Zealand: Outbreak of flu lays students low

The dreaded lurgy has hit Taranaki. In the last three weeks school principals have seen a large number of students absent and pharmacists say they are selling more cold medication and vitamins than last year.

Waitara Central School principal Sharren Read said 30 of the school's 150 students and a quarter of the staff were off sick yesterday. Other schools reported similar numbers.

"It takes so long to get out of your system." Mrs Read said. Because so many people were away, small classes were being combined and relief teachers called in. "It's getting really difficult to get relievers at the moment," she said.

Mrs Read said she didn't think the flu season had struck the school any harder than any other year. "You tie it in with the weather and the cold snap."
(Snip)
Unichem Robertsons Pharmacy pharmacist Tae-Wan Kim said a growing number of people were buying cold remedies and vitamins. "I think it started earlier this year, I think it started in May," he said. He said the bug was common throughout Taranaki. Continued: http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranak...

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 @ Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 06:49:02 AM UTC

CIDRAP: Hong Kong seeing unusually long flu season

Hong Kong is experiencing an unusually long flu season, reporting about 600 weekly cases recently, compared with about 100 cases per week for this period in recent years (Snip) influenza activity has remained high from January to June, with 1,100 cases reported per week from late May to the first week of June. Centre for Health Protection Controller (Snip) attributed the unusual season to a genetic change in the virus but did not elaborate (Snip) Hong Kong has had 170 flu-related deaths since January, 90% of them in the elderly (Snip) http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr...

Jun 18 Hong Kong update http://www.news.gov.hk/en/cate...

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 @ Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 07:12:04 AM UTC

US: Pneumococcal, Flu Vaccines Top ACIP Meeting

ATLANTA -- The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will vote on the use of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) in immunocompromised adults and on the yearly influenza vaccine recommendations at its upcoming meeting at CDC headquarters here.

Although all of the topics at the day-and-a-half-long meeting are important, those that include votes on new recommendations are generally the most important, according to Larry Pickering, MD, senior advisor to the director of the CDC and executive secretary of ACIP.

Presentations without votes -- which at this meeting will include discussions on hepatitis B protection for healthcare personnel, pertussis vaccines, and meningococcal vaccines, among others -- are usually made in preparation of a future vote, Pickering said in an interview with MedPage Today.

The preliminary presentation for the PCV13 vote was given by Kathleen Dooling, MD, MPH, of the CDC's respiratory diseases branch, at ACIP's meeting in February. Dooling noted during that presentation that a risk-based recommendation could be considered for multiple reasons, including:

The very high rate of invasive pneumococcal disease in adults with immunocompromising conditions, including hematologic cancers and HIV/AIDS

The high rates of disease in this population despite the indirect effects of PCV7

The presence of a published clinical trial of PCV13 use in patients infected with HIV

The pneumococcal vaccines working group concluded that the quality of evidence of the use of PCV13 in immunocompromised adults is low, that the net benefit of using PCV13 in this population is certain, but that uncertainty exists about whether the benefits are worth the costs.

Since the presentation, the working group has put together a draft recommendation for the vote that will be taken at this meeting. Continued: http://www.medpagetoday.com/Me...

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 @ Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 07:24:10 AM UTC

Flu researchers don't know when they can restart work

After six months of dispute, research in the Netherlands that made a deadly H5N1 flu airborne will be published this week. The scientists behind it now want to get on with their work - but they can't.

In December 2011, a US biosecurity committee advised against publishing the research, fearing it was "dual-use research of concern" (DURC) - done for noble reasons, but dangerous if pathogens escaped or if bioterrorists obtained them. Most committee members changed their minds in April, and approved publication.

But in January, before that turnaround, the world's top flu labs declared a moratorium on any further such research in a bid to calm the situation. "Now, we don't know under what conditions we can lift the moratorium," says Ab Osterhaus of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, where the research was done.

In theory they can at any time, because the agreement was voluntary. The problem, says Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is that any similar research done before ground rules for DURC are clarified could run into a similar dispute over publishing.

The US hastily published a new DURC policy in March. It says that if work with any of 15 pathogens increases virulence, transmission, hosts or resistance to defences, researchers must apply a mitigation plan to be agreed by relevant authorities. This may include increased containment, changing the experiment, withholding results, classifying the work under secrecy rules - or just not doing it.

A further plan will be published soon, says Fauci. It will flesh out what risks are unacceptable and how to mitigate them, and draw up a committee from US government agencies to apply the rules.

Some researchers welcome the move. "The policy adds another layer of oversight to make sure that all angles have been discussed before and after an experiment with potential dual use," says Adolfo García-Sastre at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Continued: http://www.newscientist.com/ar...  

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 @ Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 07:35:15 AM UTC

Thailand: 41 infected with H1N1 in Psychiatric Hospital

English.news.cn   2012-06-20 16:02:07              

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BANGKOK, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Forty-one people have been confirmed being infected with H1N1 influenza in northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province, according to the Ministry of Public Health on Wednesday.

Public Health Ministry Inspector General Kamron Chaisiri said the infections have been found since early June.

Six female and 35 male patients, including six hospital staff, have been admitted to Nakhon Ratchasima Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital, he said.

The initial investigation showed that the first flu victim to be detected was a patient from alcoholism treatment ward on June 12. All patients were already given antiviral flu and none of them is in a severe condition, added Kamron.

The hospital, however, has stopped admitting new patient until the situation is confirmed completely safe.

Health officials have sampled schools in the province but discovered no other cases of bird flu infection.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/engl...

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

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by: cottontop @ Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 18:32:24 PM UTC

Thailand: Swine flu spreads in Nakhon Ratchasima

A total of 220 patients and hospital staff remain under close observation at Nakhon Ratchasima's Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital following an outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu virus there (Snip) Mr Witthaya said the surveillance was necessary after the number of patients and staff infected at the hospital in central Nakhon Ratchasima rose yesterday.

On Tuesday, 28 people were infected. Of them, 24 are hospital patients, two are staff members and the other two are their children. The patients are in quarantine and under observation at the hospital, while the staff and their children are under quarantine at home. Yesterday, the number of infected rose to 41. Thirty-six of them are patients at the hospital and five others are hospital staff, the minister said.

Mr Witthaya said the conditions of the infected people have generally improved after they were administered with the antiviral drug, Oseltamivir.

The 220 other patients and staff of the hospital who may have been exposed to the flu have to stay under close observation over the next seven days, he said. Continued: http://www.bangkokpost.com/new...  

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 @ Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 20:24:42 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Experimental adaptation of an influenza H5 HA confers respiratory droplet transmission to a reassortant H5 HA/H1N1 virus in ferrets

by: Yoshihiro Kawaoka

Nature: http://www.nature.com/nature/j...

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 @ Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 19:52:10 PM UTC

Possibly only 3 steps away

Great paper, thanks Carol!

"One of the four mutations we identified in our transmissible virus, the N158D mutation, results in loss of a glycosylation site. Many H5N1 viruses isolated in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe do not have this glycosylation site. Therefore, only three nucleotide changes are needed for the HA of these viruses to support efficient transmission in ferrets. In addition, the H5N1 viruses circulating in these geographic areas also possess a glutamic-acid-to-lysine mutation at position 627 in the PB2 protein, which promotes viral replication in certain mammals, including humans40, 45. Therefore, these viruses may be several steps closer to those capable of efficient transmission in humans and are of concern."

I wonder what would happen if an economic crash forced enough people to eat suddenly deceased chickens? If H5N1 has enough pulls on the genetic slot machine it will probably hit the jackpot.

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by: DrJ @ Thu Jun 21, 2012 at 01:44:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hi DrJ

"If H5N1 has enough pulls on the genetic slot machine it will probably hit the jackpot."

Exactly!! Whether it is in a very short time span like people suddenly consuming a large number of infected poultry or it continues to evolve slowly, eventually the "lever on the slot machine" will get pulled that one final needed time.

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 Jun 21, 2012 at 06:31:11 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

China: Update on cluster of Influenza A cases at Castle Peak Hospital

Hong Kong - (Snip) Regarding the announcement earlier on a cluster of patients in a female forensic ward confirmed with Influenza A, the spokesperson for Castle Peak Hospital made the following update today (June 20):

One more 53-year-old patient in the ward has presented with flu symptoms. (Snip) the test results were positive for Influenza A. The patient is being treated under isolation and is in a stable condition.

Admission to the ward has been suspended and restricted visiting has been imposed. (Snip) All other patients in the ward concerned are under close surveillance. (Snip) http://7thspace.com/headlines/...

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 @ Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 20:28:21 PM UTC

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for June 21, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Thu Jun 21, 2012 at 05:13:19 AM UTC