News Reports for April 15, 2012

Rapid flu tests may not rule out infection

Rapid influenza diagnostic tests can accurately identify the infection in adults and children presenting with flulike symptoms (fever, cough, sore throat), but are not as accurate at ruling it out, meaning a negative result should be followed up with a culture or reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (PT-PCR) test. 


Simple to use, RIDTs give results in 15 to 30 minutes. In some cases, they can be used at the point of care in a routine clinical setting, such as a primary-care office. However, RIDTs may have inconsistent accuracy, with reported sensitivity ranging from 10% to 80%, an investigative team led by Caroline Chartrand, MD, MSc, cautioned in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The researchers conducted a systematic review of 159 studies involving 26 RIDTs. The data yielded pooled sensitivity and specificity of 62.3% and 98.2%, respectively. The positive and negative likelihood ratios were 34.5 and 0.38, respectively.


RIDTs were more sensitive for influenza A than for influenza B. The tests also were more sensitive in children than in adults (66.6% vs. 53.9%). "This is plausible because children have higher viral loads and longer viral shedding than adults," the researchers wrote.
 Continued: http://www.clinicaladvisor.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 @ Sun Apr 15, 2012 at 07:02:16 AM UTC

India: 103 swine flu screening centres set up (Maharashtra)

NASHIK: In order to arrest the spread of swine flu in the district, the district health office has started three-stage swine flu screening centres across all the 103 public health centres (PHCs) in the district. The medical officers concerned have been asked to monitor and update the cases on a daily basis and a daily report of the same is being sent to the state government.

"It is difficult to arrest the spread of swine flu but at the same time citizens need to know that they must not panic. With this objective in mind, the zilla parishad health office has started the screening centres to be able to collect all information about suspects, as well as patients who have been diagnosed and tested positive or negative as the case may be, to ensure that nobody misses the health department's attention," district health officer, Dr Yogesh Sale said.

All 103 primary health centres in the district have screening centres led by their respective medical officers. The patients have been broadly classified into three categories. Continued: 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 Apr 15, 2012 at 07:07:06 AM UTC

US: New Cases of Swine Flu Variant Emerging

After some recent cases of swine flu emerging in people in the US, there are a lot of eyebrows that have been raised, indicating that it could be another comeback of the deadly virus. Health officials have reported that a new human infection has surfaced along with the swine-origin H3N2 virus which is officially known as H3N2v virus.

Recently, there has been a case of a little girl in Utah which became the 13th person to have been affected with this new virus. It was last spotted in July, and since then, it has been playing hide-and-seek with the health officials, with a case surfacing after some while. What is more peculiar is that 12 cases out of the total 13 that have been reported are of children under the age of 18 years.
(Snip)
Previously, cases have been reported in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Maine, Iowa and West Virginia. More than 50% of the cases that have been reported have come from the exposure to pigs, which is raising question that a variant of the swine flu might be now transferring from pigs on to humans. http://topnews.net.nz/content/...

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 Apr 15, 2012 at 07:16:47 AM UTC

Will The Real H5N1 Please Stand Up?

The article is here: http://backstory.scienceblog.c...

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 Apr 15, 2012 at 07:19:26 AM UTC

India: 2 more swine flu deaths in city (Maharashtra)

PUNE: An infant and an elderly woman succumbed to the H1N1 influenza in the city, taking the toll in the district to 15 in the last 30 days. The city had reported the first swine flu casualty after a long gap, exactly on the same date last month.

Four-and-a-half-month old Om Shivankar of Satavwadi in Hadapsar died at Noble Hospital at 6.55 am on Saturday, while Sarala Dalwale (78) of Ganesh Peth died at the KEM hospital at 9.55 pm on Friday. (Snip)

Dalwale, a patient of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a progressive lung disease, developed symptoms like fever, cough on March 28. "By the time she was admitted to the hospital (March 28), her condition had already worsened, following which she was put on the ventilator. Besides COPD, she was suffering from hepatitis B," said Pardeshi. She had tested positive for the H1N1 influenza on March 31. She was taken off the ventilator on April 9, when her condition improved. However, her condition deteriorated later and she suffered a heart attack and died.

Om, who developed symptoms on April 1, was taken to Noble Hospital on April 3 when his condition serious where was put on the ventilator immediately. He tested positive for swine flu on April 6. During the course of treatment, he developed convulsions and died.

"At present, there is no critically-ill patient being treated at any hospital in Pune," (Snip)

(Snip) it has been over a month that a 30-year-old woman from Kondhwa Khurd is battling for life at Adity Birla Memorial Hospital in Chinchwad. "She is the first person who was found positive for swine flu in Pimpri-Chinchwad during the recent resurgence. She was admitted to the ABMH on March 4 and tested positive two days later. She continues to be on ventilator support," said Milind Jawale, a medical officer of Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. The woman was pregnant when she was first referred to the Sassoon hospital, which in turn referred her to the ABMH. Seven months into her pregnancy, she delivered a baby through the Caesarean section at the ABMH. "The baby is not infected and is in the neonatal intensive care unit of the ABMH and doing well," (Snip)

(Snip) five more people tested positive for swine flu - four from Pune and one from Pimpri Chinchwad - on Saturday. (Snip) the number of infected people in Pune has gone up to 335 since March. Continued: 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 Apr 15, 2012 at 07:29:33 AM UTC

New research on bird flu raises concern

Anxiety was expressed by the global viral research fraternity about the recently developing "ferret"method of study to find a vaccine for avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu. (Snip)

(Snip) In a recently developed idea, scientists are trying to make a strain of the virus through ferrets, which can spread between mammals, to facilitate the discovery of drugs and vaccines.

Prof. L. Venkateswar Rao, (Snip) (head of the) department of Microbiology, University College of Science, Osmania University explained, "The avian flu is a tough nut to crack, as the virus itself changes into several strains, making it difficult to find one single vaccine. For instance, imagine the common influenza virus. It also evolves very rapidly, and hence, the immunity that forms, is unable to tackle the virus again, when it attacks in a slightly different avatar. So, the study should include all strains and variations that are recorded worldwide, to produce an effective vaccine." http://www.deccanchronicle.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 @ Sun Apr 15, 2012 at 20:27:04 PM UTC

India: Sunstroke renders swine flu impotent

HYDERABAD: The dreaded swine flu is back in the twin cities but guess what is keeping it on the leash? The rising temperature is more than compensating for the absence of precautionary measures so much so that doctors at the Government General and Chest Diseases Hospital at Erragadda are confident that the H1N1 virus will soon wither away.

But it doesn't mean that there is no cause for concern. If 45 positive cases, including three deaths, were recorded since Jan 1 till March 21 this year, 10 more cases have been reported in the last four days alone. Of them, one patient has died.

Not withstanding these deaths, pulmonologists at the chest hospital maintain that swine flu has almost become like any other seasonal flu sans its potency. "The H1N1 virus has lost its virulence. Though the virus has become indigenous, it cannot cause any major health concerns," (WHAT?) explained Dr K Subhakar, clarifying that there was no need to panic.

In the same breath, he suggested that patients should consult a doctor if there's any progression in swine flu symptoms in 48 hours. Continued: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/...

(Note: "The H1N1 virus has lost its virulence. Though the virus has become indigenous, it cannot cause any major health concerns". I can't believe he actually said that when people in India are being hospitalized, some are requiring ventilators and some are dying.)  

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 Apr 15, 2012 at 20:37:53 PM UTC

Hyderabad is in Andhra Pradesh

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 Apr 15, 2012 at 20:39:50 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

If the patient waits 48 hours for improvement,

(if that's what he meant by "progession"), but there isn't any, then it's kind of late to give an antiviral (Tamiflu).  Is that just one doctor's advice?

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

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by: Jane @ Mon Apr 16, 2012 at 02:43:19 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hi Jane

"Is that just one doctor's advice?" I don't think so since I have seen it stated several time, "the patient was started on Tamiflu upon admission to the hospital." That's even before their test results are known. I think the majority of the physicians and hospitals in India are providing very good treatment to flu patients.

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 @ Mon Apr 16, 2012 at 06:14:59 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for April 16

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Mon Apr 16, 2012 at 04:10:35 AM UTC