News Reports for June 6, 2012

Australia: Flu cases double as experts urge vaccinations

Sidney - There has been an alarming increase in the number of people contracting influenza this year. (Snip) 422 people were diagnosed with the flu in the first 20 weeks of the year.

That is almost double the 221 reported in the same period last year. More than 90 of those diagnosed with flu contracted the virus in the past four weeks.
(Snip)
"The influenza season hasn't really taken off yet and we are watching and waiting for that to occur but certainly we have had increased numbers over summer and autumn over previous years," he said.

He is advising people get the flu vaccine while they can. "The important point is that this time of the year when the weather starts to get colder, and people start to think about wintry things, that one of those things should be getting vaccinated against the influenza virus," he said. "It's still not too late to do that and it takes a couple of weeks for that immunity to kick in."  Continued: http://au.news.yahoo.com/lates...
 

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 06, 2012 at 05:33:53 AM UTC

Australia: Warning On New Strain Of Flu

MELBOURNE, June 6 (Bernama) -- A new strain of flu from the northern hemisphere is likely to spread through Australia this winter, health authorities said. The Director of the Centre for Health Protection in Sydney, Dr Jeremy McAnulty said the new flu strain (H3N2) was likely to replace the H1N1 flu that emerged in 2009 as the dominant strain.

Pregnant women, the elderly and the chronically ill should be vaccinated.

"This may mean that people in older age groups ... may be at greater risk this winter," (Snip) "We are already seeing a rise in activity ... so now is the time to get vaccinated." Continued: http://my.news.yahoo.com/warni...

(Note: IMO, the whole truth is not being put forth. The new strain that is referred to is the A/Victoria/361/2011 (H3N2)-like virus, which circulated in the northern hemisphere this past flu season. WHO made the recommendation to change the vaccine composition in March 2012 from A/Perth/16/2009 (H3N2)-like virus to the A/Victoria/361/2011 (H3N2)-like virus. The new vaccine will (hopefully) be ready for people in the northern hemisphere to take this coming fall. The vaccine for the southern hemisphere was already manufactured when the formula was changed. Therefore, the people in the southern hemisphere will have a rough flu season if the A/Victoria/361/2011 (H3N2)-like virus is the dominate strain. Everyone should still get the flu vaccine though because it also contains protection for H1N1 and one of the two strains of influenza B that circulated in the northern hemispere. (B/Victoria/2/87 and B/Yamagata/16/88). Also, hopefully it will provide a little protection against A/Victoria/361/2011 (H3N2)-like virus or at least help lessen the symptoms for those unfortunate enough to catch it. JMO)  

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 06, 2012 at 06:05:52 AM UTC

China: Brain worries ease for tot with bird flu (Hong Kong)

The condition of a two-year-old boy who is seriously ill with bird flu and water on the brain has improved slightly. The SAR-born boy, who resides in Guangzhou (Snip) remains in a serious condition in the pediatric intensive care unit (Snip) the pressure from his brain condition - obstructive hydrocephalus - has eased.

University of Hong Kong School of Public Health virology professor Malik Peiris has told The Standard that hydrocephalus is an "atypical" presentation of H5N1 infection. Patients with bird flu usually exhibit cough and fever.

H5N1 was not suspected when the boy was first admitted for five days at a general pediatric ward at Caritas Medical Centre. When diagnosed with H5N1, he was then transferred to Princess Margaret isolated and put on a regime of the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

(Snip) although the boy may have been infected during a trip to a Guangzhou wet market (Snip) between May 17 and 19, it cannot be ruled out that the source of infection was in Anhui. (Snip) http://www.thestandard.com.hk/...  

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 06, 2012 at 06:25:04 AM UTC

China: H5N1 bird flu (in poultry) reported in NW China

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

BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- China's northwestern Gansu province has reported an outbreak of the highly epidemic H5N1 bird flu virus in poultry, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) announced Wednesday.

More than 6,200 chickens at a farm in a village in Luyang, a town in Jingtai county, showed symptoms of suspected avian flu Friday, and 260 of them have died, according to the MOA.

The National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory on Tuesday confirmed the epidemic was H5N1 bird flu after testing samples collected at the farm, the MOA said. (continued)

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by: AlohaOR @ Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 13:46:29 PM UTC

Clade 2.3.2.1 H5N1 Guangdong China Case

Recombinomics Commentary

The infected child developed fever and runny nose 10 days ago in Guangdong province. He came to Hong Kong last Saturday and sought medical attention from a private clinic in Mong Kok.

He subsequently developed a fever and convulsions and was taken to the Accident and Emergency Department of Caritas Medical Centre on Monday, where he was admitted with suspected encephalitis. Tests later showed he has H5 Influenza A.

The above comments describe an H5N1 case (2M) from Guangdong Province who was diagnosed in Hong Kong.  The diagnosis was delayed because of the unusual presentation. (Snip) sequence analysis indicated the case was clade 2.3.2.1, which is frequently identified in wild birds in southern China, as well as the most recent prior H5N1 case from Shenzhen.

Sequences from that fatal case were promptly released by the WHO regional center in Beijing.  There were multiple receptor binding domain changes associated with H5N1 spread 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 @ Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 21:49:51 PM UTC

Medline Introduces U.S. Health Care Industry's First Antiviral Face Mask That Inactivates Flu Viruses

BioMask(TM) Inactivates 99.99 Percent of Tested Flu Viruses Using Natural Elements

MUNDELEIN,Ill., June 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With the latest flu season currently underway, health care workers can now benefit from a major breakthrough. Medline's BioMask™, the first-ever FDA cleared antiviral, antimicrobial medical face mask that is shown to inactivate 99.99 percent of laboratory tested flu viruses, was introduced to the health care community today at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control's (APIC) 39th Annual Educational Conference & International Meeting held in San Antonio, Texas.

This first-of-its-kind product marks the first true innovation in face masks in several decades. Traditional face masks act only as an air filter and do nothing to neutralize the harmful pathogens that remain active on the mask itself. In addition to filtering the air, Medline's BioMask inactivates harmful pathogens, including imminent pandemic and seasonal strains of influenza (flu) viruses, such as H1N1, Avian flu and Swine flu that land on both the outside and inside surfaces of mask. Continued: http://www.globenewswire.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 @ Wed Jun 06, 2012 at 22:36:37 PM UTC

Govt to vaccinate poultry birds

The government has decided to 'experimentally' vaccinate poultry birds to protect the poultry industry from avian influenza virus, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Md Abdul Latif Biswas said yesterday.

"The government has decided to vaccinate the poultry birds before they die. An 8-member expert team has been formed in this regard to carry out the vaccination process," he said.
(Snip)
"Alongside vaccinating the birds, bio-security must be maintained," he said, adding that the farms that fail to maintain this must be shut down.

He also asked the livestock department and the officials concerned to take immediate measures to bring all the poultry farms scattered across the country under a single registration process in a bid to regulate their operations. Continued: http://www.thedailystar.net/ne...

(Note: IMO, this is a really bad idea. They won't know when the chickens are sick and it increases dramatically the chance of H5N1 poultry entering the market. Also, the poultry will still shed the virus and humans will have no warning that they are being exposed.)

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 06, 2012 at 22:44:44 PM UTC

This is Bangladesh

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 06, 2012 at 22:45:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for June 7, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Thu Jun 07, 2012 at 03:49:55 AM UTC