News Reports for April 14, 2012

India: 10 more test positive for H1N1 in Bangalore (Karnataka)

BANGALORE: The total number of positive cases of Influenza A (Snip) in the state touched 118 on Friday , with 10 more people testing positive in BBMP limits. One person each in Mysore and Udupi tested positive (Snip)

The virus has claimed seven lives since January 2012. "People should take precautions and avoid going out in the crowds. Maintain proper hygiene and consult the physician if you suffer from symptoms of flu," (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 @ Sat Apr 14, 2012 at 05:39:09 AM UTC

Utah - West Virginia H3N2v Match Signals Human Transmission

Recombinomics Commentary

The CDC has released a full set of sequences (at GISAID) from the Utah (F, <5) (Snip).

The N2 from West Virginia is from a lineage found in swine H3N2, in contrast to the first 10 H3N2 human sequences, which have an N2 related to swine H1N2 (although both lineages trace back to N2 from 2003 seasonal H3N2).

These sequences indicated that the 2012 H3n2 isolates is closely related to the 2011 sequences from West Virginia, which were linked to a cluster of 23 contacts with the Mineral County day care center.  This constellation has never been reported in swine.

These sequences strongly suggest that H3N2v continues to transmit in humans (Snip) 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 @ Sat Apr 14, 2012 at 06:49:53 AM UTC

CIDRAP: NSABB member says officials stacked deck for board's H5N1 decision

Apr 13, 2012 (CIDRAP News) - In a leaked letter, a member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) has charged that federal officials planned the board's meeting in late March in a way designed to lead the board to reverse its earlier recommendation against full publication of two studies describing lab-modified H5N1 viruses with increased transmissibility in mammals.

The letter was written by board member Michael T. Osterholm (Snip) Osterholm essentially argued that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) officials who planned the meeting set up the board to change its earlier recommendation and thereby "kick the can down the road" concerning the science policy issues at stake. He said he was expressing only his own views.

(Big Snip)

Osterholm addressed his 6-page letter to Amy P. Patterson, MD, NIH associate director for science policy. In addition, according to the letter, he shared it with the rest of the NSABB and with other NIH staff members who support the board's work. He said he voted for full publication of the Kawaoka paper but voted against that outcome for Fouchier's study.

"I believe that the agenda and speakers for the March 29 and 30th NSABB meeting as determined by the OBA [NIH Office of Biotechnology Activities] was designed to produce the outcome that occurred," Osterholm wrote. "It represented a very 'one-sided' picture of the risk-benefit of the dissemination of the information in these manuscripts."

He wrote that there was a bias toward finding a solution that was more about getting the government out of the current dilemma than about a careful risk-benefit analysis weighing science and policy considerations, but he prefaced that statement by saying he is not suggesting a sinister motive.

(Snip) Osterholm revealed that Fouchier disclosed at the meeting that he has already identified another H5N1 mutation, not described in his current manuscript, that results in ferret-to-ferret transmission of the virus "without the need for repeated passaging of the virus in ferrets." Continued: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr...

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 @ Sat Apr 14, 2012 at 06:59:40 AM UTC

Fouchier just found another [worse!] mutation

...Osterholm revealed that Fouchier disclosed at the meeting that he has already identified another H5N1 mutation, not described in his current manuscript, that results in ferret-to-ferret transmission of the virus "without the need for repeated passaging of the virus in ferrets."...

Also important:
...On another point, Osterholm said the security briefing that the board heard was "one of the most incomplete and, dare I say, useless classified security briefings" he had ever heard. The briefing did not address the risk of efforts by "rogue scientists or irresponsible researchers" to replicate the experiments in labs without proper biosafety precautions, or the risk of an attempt by eco-terrorists to disrupt animal production by releasing a more-transmissible H5N1 virus in swine....

I recommend reading the entire CIDRAP article.  

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor

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by: Jane @ Sat Apr 14, 2012 at 14:30:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

India: Pregnant woman dies of swine flu, state death toll rises to 18 (Maharashtra)

A 23-year old pregnant woman, a resident of Dhule district, died of swine flu on Thursday at the state-run JJ Hospital in Byculla. (Snip) the dean of the hospital, confirmed the death. This is the first swine flu death from Dhule, bringing the state's toll to 18 deaths since January.  

The deceased, who was eight months pregnant, had come to Mumbai for treatment on Tuesday. "The woman was critical and already on ventilator support," said Lahane. On Wednesday, she delivered a stillborn foetus after hospital gynaecologists induced labour.

(Snip) she suffered from acute respiratory distress  syndrome and bilateral pneumonia. "She was immediately put on Tamiflu," (Snip) test reports confirming her H1N1 positive status were only ready five hours after her death, at 5.30 pm on Thursday.

Civic authorities claimed they were informed only on Friday morning. "This is not considered a Mumbai death, because she caught the infection in Dhule. In case of a Mumbai death, authorities have to inform us so we can begin contact tracing," (Snip) "Health officials in Dhule have started contact tracing in her village, Borkund, and will give prophylactic treatment of Tamiflu to those with swine flu symptoms," said (Snip) "We will keep track of the contacts of doctors and paramedic staff who were in touch with the patient at JJ Hospital," (Snip) http://www.hindustantimes.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 @ Sat Apr 14, 2012 at 07:06:14 AM UTC

Please post new news stories to ...

News Reports for April 15, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Sun Apr 15, 2012 at 04:07:17 AM UTC