News Reports for August 26, 2012

India: H1N1 sprouts in several UP districts, 5 new cases reported (Uttar Pradesh)

LUCKNOW: Swab samples of two suspected persons from Kanpur and two others from Lucknow tested positive and confirmed H1N1 infection at the microbiology lab of Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences on Saturday. Besides this, a suspected case of swine flu was also referred from Gonda district hospital to Trauma Centre of King George's Medical University. Later on, it was found that he was suffering from H1N1 infection. Swab samples from Bareilly and Sultanpur are also awaiting confirmation at the SGPGIMS lab.

(Snip) "We received 10 samples on Friday and found that four of them tested positive for H1N1 infection." The new cases have taken the state's total count of swine flu positive cases to 14. (Snip)

"This means that the virus is present in other districts as well and effective measures need to be taken to check the spread of disease, as the virus gets more virulent in post-monsoon period," Dhole asserted.

Regarding the swine flu case from Gonda, (Snip) "The person has been identified as 76-year-old Motilal." However, the CMO reiterated that there is there is no need to worry. "People should not panic because of new cases coming in. We are prepared to face the crisis if any," (Snip) "The hospitals have been told to keep isolation wards ready and set up collection centres. The stock of medicines and masks is also in place," (Snip) http://timesofindia.indiatimes...

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 Aug 26, 2012 at 06:12:35 AM UTC

India: Hospitals ready to tackle swine flu - Official (Uttar Pradesh)

VARANASI: Swine flu threat is there with around nine reported and confirmed cases in the state capital.  (Snip) two teams of doctors have been made which are monitoring the situation.

"All the primary health centres (PHCs), community health centres (CHCs), hospitals and health posts have been issued a circular regarding the symptoms, confirmation tests, precautions and treatment," (Snip) Scores of people have arrived in the city from different cities, increasing chances of the spread of the disease in the city. "We have sufficient stocks of medicines, kits and other requirements. More medicines will be arranged if needed," (Snip)

(Snip) 10 beds each in IPD of Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) district hospital, Shiv Prasad Gupta (SPG) divisional hospital, district women's hospital and government hospital in Ramnagar will be made to treat swine flu patients. http://timesofindia.indiatimes...

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 Aug 26, 2012 at 06:53:17 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

India: Mumbai's H1N1 cases cross 300 mark this year (Maharashtra)

MUMBAI: With the H1N1 influenza virus making a surprising comeback this year, the number of positive cases in the city so far has crossed the 300 mark. Till Saturday, 308 Mumbaikars had tested positive for the virus as against six in the previous year. (Snip)

(Snip) The virus had affected seven persons in March and 20 in the following two months. The number started multiplying with the onset of monsoon with 35 cases being reported in June. It, however, peaked in July when 151 or 49% of this year's positive cases were reported.

Civic reports suggest the virus is on its way out, given the drop in the number of positive cases in August (95). On Saturday, three persons, including a four-year-old boy from Borivli, tested positive. An 82-year-old man from Mahim had to be admitted to a private hospital while a 45-year-old woman from Andheri was treated on an OPD basis. Over 655 positive cases and 36 deaths have been reported across Maharashtra since April.

Explaining the spurt in H1N1 cases this year, the director of Parel's Haffkine Research Institute (Snip) said, "The trend in the number of people getting affected will be different every season. Yes, it was more this year but nothing unusual. Influenza B, which is a milder strain, is as much in circulation as H1N1," he said. "Virologists have not noticed any major changes in the behaviour of the H1N1 virus."

(Snip) two confirmed deaths were attributed to the influenza virus in August. http://timesofindia.indiatimes...

(Note: "Influenza B, which is a milder strain, is as much in circulation as H1N1." That's odd because I haven't seen any B cases identified so far. Every case listed in the news has been identified as H1N1 swine flu. I wonder why they haven't given any information on cases of the B strain?)

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 Aug 26, 2012 at 06:28:51 AM UTC

India: Two suspected of H1N1 in Hassan (Karnataka)

Two persons suspected of suffering from H1N1 have been admitted to the district hospital on Saturday. The patients are from Didaga Hosahalli of Channarayapatna taluk and it is said that a person Sesha, from the same village had died due to H1N1 last week.

Manjunath, 28 and Sridhar, 31 are the two being provided treatment in the hospital. According to district surgeon Dr Shankar, they have mild infections and there is no danger for life. They would be kept for five days in the hospital for observation purpose and then discharged, he said.

After the death of Sesha, the district health officials examined 14 persons who were with him and found Sridhar and Manjunath infected.

Though a special ward was opened to treat H1N1 patients not a single patient was admitted so far and this is the first time the ward has received patients.

The hospital has all essential medicines and expert doctors. The paramedical staff too are sufficiently trained to attend to emergencies. Continued: http://www.deccanherald.com/co...

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 Aug 26, 2012 at 06:40:06 AM UTC

US: This year, it seems, it's 'risk on' with swine flu (Minnesota)

Article by: MICHAEL OSTERHOLM

If you have followed Minnesota news media this week, you may be confused about pigs, fairs and influenza. On Monday, I recommended that county, regional and state fairs throughout North America eliminate swine exhibits for the remainder of the year owing to the threat of transmission of the novel influenza virus strain H3N2v, from pigs to other pigs and to humans.

State public health officials disagreed, citing the low risk for such infections to occur, particularly given steps to screen out sick pigs from coming to the fair and the increased attention to hand-washing. This is more than a scientific disagreement; it has potentially important public health implications.

To understand what's at stake, a bit of background will help. Dating back to Hippocrates, influenza has been one of the "lion kings" of infectious diseases. Influenza is caused by a respiratory virus and almost always is spread by humans to humans. The symptoms include fever, cough, muscle aches and just plain feeling horrible.

Influenza occurs in two different patterns: annual seasonal epidemics during our winter months or global pandemics, which can occur during any season and last more than a year. An estimated 3,000 to 49,000 individuals in the United States die every year from seasonal influenza, and thousands more require hospitalization for influenza-related disease.

Influenza pandemics occur when novel influenza viruses in animals undergo genetic changes that allow the viruses to infect humans and in turn humans to transmit the new human-adapted virus to others. Four pandemics have occurred in the last 94 years: 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009.

Influenza pandemics can vary in severity; in 1918, an estimated 50 million to 100 million people died worldwide. In the 1957 and 1968 pandemics, an estimated 1.5 million and 750,000 people died, respectively. An official estimate of worldwide deaths from the 2009 pandemic is not expected until later this year

The current situation with the H3N2v influenza virus, which contains parts of the H3N2 virus and the 2009 pandemic virus, has many leading international influenza experts concerned that we may be watching an animal influenza virus undergoing the genetic changes needed to make it a virus transmitted to and by humans.

The frequency of animal-to-human transmission of this novel virus is unprecedented and is largely associated with human contact with pigs at county and state fairs in the United States. Could this be the perfect animal/human interface for creating the next pandemic virus? We don't know.

While there are only three documented instances at this time where humans infected by pigs have transmitted this virus to other humans, each new transmission between pigs and humans is another throw at the genetic roulette table.

Research conducted by our NIH-supported Minnesota Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (MCEIRS) and also by investigators at the Ohio State University has demonstrated this summer that the H3N2v virus is being widely transmitted at fairs. Within several days of the fair opening, many of the pigs become infected via airborne transmission.

Visual examination of pigs for illness before admittance to the fair has not prevented transmission as pigs without symptoms shed the virus. Pigs and humans caught in airborne clouds of virus in the fair barns are becoming infected. While hand-washing is always a great idea to reduce the transmission of disease-causing bugs like E. coli and salmonella, it has little impact on airborne influenza transmission. Continued: http://www.startribune.com/opi...  

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 Aug 26, 2012 at 07:25:13 AM UTC

well said!

He explains it well... and wouldn't it be ironic, if - after the US has been complaining about the live animal markets of the 3rd world countries, we actually cause the next pandemic with our state and county fairs! :-\ And if he's right about airborne transmission, it means this flu season, we should all be wearing masks like they do in Asia.

Thanks for finding this one!

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by: Cathy M @ Sun Aug 26, 2012 at 13:03:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

US: Fair season raises concern over swine flu risk (Tennessee)

If you go to the doctor with flu-like symptoms right about now, you should be asked something you wouldn't have been asked this time last year:

"Have you been around any pigs?"

Health officials are watching closely for human cases of a strain of swine flu, H3N2v. Since the beginning of July, 276 human cases of H3N2v have been reported in 10 states - and on Friday, the CDC reported three cases that likely spread human-to-human rather than pig-to-human.

But it's pigs that are the primary source of human H3N2v sickness, said Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch in the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Influenza Division.

"Limited human-to-human spread of this virus has been seen in the past, but the H3N2v virus has not previously, and is not now, spreading easily from person-to-person," Bresee said. "Most cases are occurring in children who are exhibiting pigs or helping to exhibit pigs" in fair settings "and have occurred after a lot of very close contact with pigs over a relatively long period of time."

So far, Tennessee hasn't seen any cases in this outbreak. But with fair season here, "we're watching out for it" and trying to make health care providers aware of the possibility when someone comes in with "flu," (Snip)

Knox County's Tennessee Valley Fair, which runs Sept. 7-16, hasn't had a swine exhibit in decades, and no upcoming fairs in smaller East Tennessee counties appear to, either. But the Tennessee State Fair, Sept. 7-16 in Nashville, will have pig exhibits. Continued: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2...

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 Aug 26, 2012 at 07:35:40 AM UTC

Wisconsin and Pennsylvania H3N2v Match WV Sub-Clade

Recombinomics Commentary

The CDC has released 8 more sets of H3N2v sequences (at GISAID).  Six of the sequences are from Indiana samples collected in late July (Snip).  One sample is from Wisconsin (Snip) and one from Pennsylvania (Snip). All are closely related to each other and match the sub-clade first reported in the West Virginia day care cluster, which had no swine exposure or contact and 23 of the contacts of the index case had ILI.

This sub-clade has only been reported in 2 swine isolates.  In contrast, the H3N2v sub-clade identified in the first 10 cases in 2011 is widespread in 2012 swine isolates, but has caused no reported human cases since the Iowa cluster in November, 2011, casting serious doubt on swine to human transmission as a common mechanism for the reported human infections.

Instead, the finding that all 26  2012 isolates from 6 states (Utah, Hawaii, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania) match the 2011 West Virginia sub-clade, signals human to human transmission, which is detected by the CDC in their heavily biased testing of cases with swine exposure.

Although this approach has identified a large number of human cases, it has failed to identify the true extent of spread in the US population, such as the "seasonal" H3 cases in Kentucky and West Virginia in counties adjacent to the large cluster in Gallia County. 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 Aug 26, 2012 at 07:46:32 AM UTC

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for August 27, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Mon Aug 27, 2012 at 04:15:50 AM UTC