News Reports for June 2, 2012

Guangdong boy in Hong Kong has bird flu

Hospitals have been put on serious alert after a boy who came to Hong Kong from Guangdong was confirmed to have caught bird flu.

(Snip) the two-year-old, who lives in Guangdong but was born in Hong Kong, arrived last Saturday and sought medical attention from a private clinic in Mong Kok three days after developing fever in Guangdong. He subsequently suffered convulsions and was taken to the accident and emergency department of Caritas Medical Centre on Monday, where he was admitted for suspected encephalitis. Last night he was transferred to the infectious disease centre at Princess Margaret Hospital, Kwai Chung, for isolation treatment.

A spokesman for the centre said the boy tested positive for AH5 bird flu virus. It will require further testing to tell whether the boy is suffering from the deadly H5N1 subtype of the disease. He said the boy lived in Guangdong with his parents and maternal grandmother. How he contracted the virus was still being investigated.
(Snip)
The government's "serious response level" for influenza pandemic has been activated. That means more stringent infection control measures in public hospitals, including a ban on visiting at isolation wards unless on compassionate grounds.
(Snip)
The last bird flu scare was in January after a man who contracted the H5N1 virus died in Shenzhen, where thousands of chickens had been culled after three birds tested positive a month earlier.

Last year the UN and the WHO warned of a possible resurgence of the deadly virus after a mutant strain of H5N1, which can apparently side-step the defences of existing vaccines, was found spreading in China and Vietnam. http://www.scmp.com/portal/sit...

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 Jun 02, 2012 at 00:14:58 AM UTC

CIDRAP: Hong Kong H5 infection raises alert level

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr...

[A few snippets of additional information:]

The 2-year-old boy came down with a fever and runny nose on May 23 in Guangdong, where his parents and grandmother live. On May 26 he came to Hong Kong and was evaluated at a private clinic in Mong Kok.

The boy had febrile convulsions and on May 28 was taken to the emergency department at Caritas Medical Centre, which admitted him for suspected encephalitis. The boy's respiratory samples tested positive for H5 influenza and that more tests are underway to further characterize the virus.

The boy is in stable condition, and investigators are exploring how he might have been exposed to the virus. The CHP said the patient's household contacts are asymptomatic.

In Hong Kong, the serious response level covers two scenarios: a highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak in the environment or among poultry, and a human case with no evidence of human-to-human transmission.  

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by: AlohaOR @ Sat Jun 02, 2012 at 04:19:27 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Bird flu alert in Hong Kong after toddler confirmed to have virus

Hong Kong hospitals were on alert Saturday after a 2-year-old boy was confirmed to have contracted bird flu. The boy from was admitted to hospital a week ago with convulsions after arriving from the southern Chinese city of Guangdong. The Centre for Health Protection said the boy tested positive for the AH5 strain of bird flu.

(Snip)

Hong Kong saw the first modern outbreak of H5N1 bird flu infecting humans when six people died and 12 others were infected in 1997. http://www.nationmultimedia.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 @ Sat Jun 02, 2012 at 06:55:56 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

China: Hong Kong sees first human bird flu case in 18 months

HONG KONG: Hong Kong health authorities on Saturday urged the public not to panic after the southern Chinese city reported its first human case of bird flu in 18 months in a two-year-old boy.

Authorities said the Chinese boy was in serious condition after testing positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza and the city had raised the bird flu alert level to "serious" as well as increasing checks on live chickens imports.

The boy lives in the neighbouring Chinese province of Guangdong but came to seek treatment in Hong Kong on May 26.

"The boy's parents are all along asymptomatic, which means the chance of a human-to-human transmission is slim," (Snip) The spokesman said the boy was in intensive care while his parents were being quarantined at the same hospital.

Health Minister York Chow said it was an "isolated" case as he sought to reassure public that there was no reason to panic.

"We feel that there is no need for panic among Hong Kong citizens," he told reporters, adding that the authorities had no plans to ban imports of live poultry for the time being.

(Snip)

The last reported human case of bird flu in Hong Kong was in November 2010 involving a 59-year-old woman. http://www.channelnewsasia.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 Jun 02, 2012 at 18:47:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

US: Flu vaccine estimates lower than originally estimated

Flu vaccine makers have started to release production estimates that show a somewhat lower total of vaccinations than was estimated last year.

Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the CDC, said that it projected the total number of doses for the 2012-2013 season is expected to range from 146 million to 149 million, CIDRAP News reports. At this time last year, however, the early estimate was for between 166 million and 173 million doses.

The CDC's final flu vaccine report for the 2011-2012 season, which was released in early February, showed that companies distributed 132.1 million doses.

Because problems can arise at any point in the production cycle, flu vaccine production is incredibly unpredictable. A WHO advisory group recommended changing two of the three flu strains in the vaccine in February following two seasons that saw the three strains stay the same. Continued: http://vaccinenewsdaily.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 @ Sat Jun 02, 2012 at 06:41:49 AM UTC

Computer-designed proteins programmed to disarm variety of flu viruses

Computer-designed proteins are under construction to fight the flu. Researchers are demonstrating that proteins found in nature, but that do not normally bind the flu, can be engineered to act as broad-spectrum antiviral agents against a variety of flu virus strains, including H1N1 pandemic influenza.

"One of these engineered proteins has a flu-fighting potency that rivals that of several human monoclonal antibodies," said Dr. David Baker, professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington, in a report in Nature Biotechnology.

Baker's research team is making major inroads in optimizing the function of computer-designed influenza inhibitors. These proteins are constructed via computer modeling to fit exquisitely into a specific nano-sized target on flu viruses. By binding the target region like a key into a lock, they keep the virus from changing shape, a tactic that the virus uses to infect living cells. The research efforts, akin to docking a space station but on a molecular level, are made possible by computers that can describe the landscapes of forces involved on the submicroscopic scale.

Baker heads the new Institute for Protein Design Center at the University of Washington. Biochemists, computer scientists, engineers and medical specialists at the center are engineering novel proteins with new functions for specific purposes in medicine, environmental protection and other fields. Proteins underlie all normal activities and structures of living cells, and also regulate disease actions of pathogens like viruses. Abnormal protein formation and interactions are also implicated in many inherited and later-life chronic disorders.

Because influenza is a serious worldwide public health concern due to its genetic shifts and drifts that periodically become more virulent, the flu is one of the key interests of the Institutes for Protein Design and its collaborators in the United States and abroad. Researchers are trying to meet the urgent need for better therapeutics to protect against this very adaptable and extremely infective virus. Vaccines for new strains of influenza take months to develop, test and manufacture, and are not helpful for those already sick. The long response time for vaccine creation and distribution is unnerving when a more deadly strain suddenly emerges and spreads quickly. The speed of transmission is accelerated by the lack of widespread immunity in the general population to the latest form of the virus.

Continued: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_...

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 Jun 02, 2012 at 07:11:49 AM UTC

CIDRAP: Vietnam H5N1 market study finds risky practices

Researchers who tested ducks for H5N1 avian flu in Vietnam's live bird markets found some notable geographic differences, along with information about risky biosecurity practices among farmers and traders. The sampling took place in 2011 at two times, one in January right before the Tet holiday when poultry production ramps up, and the other in May.

Researchers tested birds in markets in 39 districts in five provinces, which spanned the Red River, the Mekong Delta, and central Vietnam. Testing involved random sampling of 160 ducks from each of two markets in each district. Investigators obtained cloacal and oropharyngeal samples. They also administered a survey to 1,120 market stallholders. They sampled 12,480 ducks in all, divided into 2,486 pools of 5 ducks each. Overall, 3.3% of pools had evidence of H5N1 exposure on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction testing. The highest prevalence (6.6% of pools) was found in birds from the Mekong Delta, with no H5N1 detected in birds from the Red River delta. They also found a higher prevalence of H5N1 infection in January compared with May (28.2% of markets had positive tests in January, compared with 12.0% in May). Continued: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr...

Jun 1 Epidemiol Infect abstract http://journals.cambridge.org/...  

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 Jun 02, 2012 at 07:31:23 AM UTC

China: Guangdong on alert after Hong Kong bird flu case

GUANGZHOU, June 2 (Xinhua) -- South China's Guangdong province is on high alert after a Hong Kong hospital confirmed that it has admitted a two-year-old boy infected with the H5 strain of avian influenza.

The boy was admitted to a Hong Kong hospital on May 28 with convulsions after arriving from Guangdong's capital city of Guangzhou. (Snip)

The boy was confirmed to have been in contact with a live duck between May 17 and 19 at a farmer's market in Guangzhou. However, tests conducted at the market and surrounding markets, as well as a hospital in Zhuangzhou that had admitted the boy, found no signs of a bird flu outbreak (Snip)

(Snip) the province has launched an avian influenza response plan and is keeping track of the whereabouts of those who were in close contact with the child, as well as monitoring their health. Continued: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/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 @ Sat Jun 02, 2012 at 18:58:17 PM UTC

Where did the virus come from?

This case, like the two previous cases from China this year, shows a very weak to any obvious poultry source for the virus.

This case:

The boy was confirmed to have been in contact with a live duck between May 17 and 19 at a farmer's market in Guangzhou. However, tests conducted at the market and surrounding markets, as well as a hospital in Zhuangzhou that had admitted the boy, found no signs of a bird flu outbreak

December 2011 case (39M bus driver), from Shenzhen, Guangdong Province:

The Guangdong victim [...] had not had any direct contact with poultry either in the month before he was taken ill, nor had he left the bustling southern metropolis of Shenzhen where he lived. (Link)

January 2012 case (39M) from Guiyan, Guizhou Province:

In the latest case, the victim "did not report obvious exposure history to poultry before the onset of symptoms," according to the bulletin from Hong Kong. (Link)

From a January 2012 CIDRAP article:

In the past, some experts have raised concerns about a lack of reported poultry outbreaks in the face of human H5N1 cases. In 2009 when China reported a spike in human cases that lacked the hallmark of nearby poultry outbreaks, Dr York Chow, Hong Kong's secretary of food and health, said the pattern raises questions about a possible change in the virus or that asymptomatic chickens might be contributing to the spread of the H5N1 virus.

The health alert measures that have been triggered by this present case all involve reducing the opportunities for human-to-human transmission, but do not involve stopping the import of live chickens to Hong Kong (only "increasing checks on live chickens imports" - link).

Sounds to me like they're focusing more on the possibility of H2H transmission than on asymptomatic poultry.  If they were concerned about asymptomatic poultry, wouldn't they ban all live poultry imports rather than just "increasing checks"?

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by: AlohaOR @ Sat Jun 02, 2012 at 22:00:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

All of that is very well presented, AlohaOR

I agree 100% with you on this statement:

"If they were concerned about asymptomatic poultry, wouldn't they ban all live poultry imports rather than just "increasing checks"?"  

IMO, this case is further proof that H5N1 is either being carried and transmitted by at least one or more animals (I'm thinking rats are a likely source) or there is easier H2H transmission in play now in China. I don't think we would have found out about this case if the child hadn't been taken to Hong Kong and diagnosed there. The Chinese government will cover up anything and everything they can get away with and I think they are covering up cases of human H5N1 frequently now.

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 Jun 04, 2012 at 07:43:17 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

China: Hong Kong - The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

The Central Committee on Infectious Diseases & Emergency Responses of the Hospital Authority (HA) held a special meeting today (June 2) afternoon to discuss and review infection control measures of activation of Serious Response Level in public hospitals after confirmation of an Influenza A (H5N1) case. The HA also implemented an Enhanced Surveillance Programme for patient with influenza symptom.

(Snip) hospital staff at Accident & Emergency Departments and general outpatient clinics were reminded to be vigilant to patients. Triage assessment and appropriate segregation at waiting areas would be arranged.

Under the Serious Response Level, more stringent infection control measures will be enforced in public hospitals, which include no visiting at isolation wards unless on compassionate ground. For all acute hospitals, visiting hours would be not more than 2 hours per day and not more than 2 visitors per visit, and not more than 4 hours per day for all convalescent hospitals. Volunteering service in hospitals would be suspended. Visitors to public hospitals and clinics are advised to put on surgical masks if they have respiratory infection symptoms and perform hand hygiene before and after visiting patient areas. Continued: 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 @ Sat Jun 02, 2012 at 20:30:59 PM UTC

The title to the above article is:

"Hospital Authority enhanced surveillance programme for patient with influenza symptom"

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 Jun 02, 2012 at 20:38:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for June 3, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Sun Jun 03, 2012 at 05:26:51 AM UTC