News Reports for July 3, 2012

Mexico declares bird flu emergency

MEXICO CITY: The Mexican government declared a national animal health emergency on Monday in the face of an aggressive bird flu epidemic that has infected nearly 1.7 million poultry. More than half the infected birds have died or been culled, (Snip)

"We have activated a national animal health emergency... with the goal of diagnosing, preventing, controlling and eradicating the Type A, sub-type H7N3 bird flu virus," (Snip) Health officials keep a close watch on such outbreaks in Mexico since so-called swine flu began there in 2009. (Snip)

The virus responsible for Mexico's current bird flu outbreak, H7N3, has occasionally caused human disease in various parts of the world, according to the UN, but has not shown itself to be easily transmittable between humans.

The outbreak was first detected on June 20. The FAO reported on Friday that 1.7 million birds had been contaminated and 870,000 had died at 10 breeding farms in the western state of Jalisco. The emergency declaration (Snip) included provisions for quarantine, slaughter, vaccination, and the destruction of infected products.

The agriculture ministry said poultry farming "contributes up to 40 percent of the total volume" of the country's livestock production, and the "economic loss" from this epidemic "is and will be irreparable." 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

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Tue Jul 03, 2012 at 01:23:35 AM UTC

UK: Gene vital to flu severity discovered

Researchers have discovered that a protein known as PA-X, produced from a ribosomal frameshift mutation in a gene in the influenza A genome, has a substantial impact on host response to the virus. Mice infected with a version of the virus with an active copy of PA-X were more likely to recover and had a less severe disease course than those infected with influenza A with no PA-X expression.

"Just finding this gene in the first place is important, but the find is even more significant because of the role it seems to play in the body's response to flu," study author Paul Digard (University of Edinburgh, UK) commented in a press statement.

Co-author Andrew Firth (University of Cambridge, UK) added: "The flu virus has a very, very small genome - just 12 genes. Finding a new gene makes a pretty significant change to our understanding of this virus."

Writing in Science, the team explains that the influenza A genome subunit 3 produces a single, unspliced messenger RNA (mRNA) that encodes part of the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase complex known as PA.

In this study, the researchers discovered a previously unrecognized overlapping open reading frame (X-ORF) that allows the production of an alternative protein product, PA-X, via ribosomal frameshifting.

They found that PA-X acts to limit viral pathogenesis in an infected host by minimizing viral activity and the immune reaction of the host organism. Continued: http://www.news-medical.net/ne...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Tue Jul 03, 2012 at 06:02:58 AM UTC

China bird flu outbreak sees massive chicken cull

Authorities in China's remote north-western region of Xinjiang have culled more than 150,000 chickens following an outbreak of bird flu, officials say. The outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian flu initially killed 1,600 chickens and sickened about 5,500 (Snip)

In an effort to contain the disease, agricultural authorities quarantined the area and culled 156,439 chickens (Snip) The outbreak occurred on June 20 but was only confirmed as H5N1 bird flu on Monday (Snip)

The ministry and state press did not specify exactly where the outbreak occurred, but said it happened at a farm run by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, described by state media as a semi-military government organisation of about 2.5 million people.

Xinjiang is a vast region bordering Central Asia and home to a population of about nine million ethnic Uighurs, a largely Muslim and Turkic speaking people.

China is considered one of the nations most at risk of bird flu epidemics because it has the world's biggest poultry population and many chickens in rural areas are kept close to humans. The last reported outbreak in mainland China was in April (Snip) in the northern region of Ningxia.

(Snip) last month a boy in the southern territory of Hong Kong was diagnosed with bird flu, the first human case there in 18 months. He lived in the neighbouring mainland province of Guangdong. http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Wo...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Tue Jul 03, 2012 at 06:10:54 AM UTC

India: In June, Mumbai topped state in H1N1 cases (Maharashtra)

This June, the highest number of H1N1-positive cases in the state was from Mumbai. (Snip) till June 29, there were 45 positive swine flu cases in Maharashtra of which 20 were from Mumbai.

In the first two days of July, the state got four H1N1 positive cases - all from Mumbai.

"Though there is no specific reason why there are more cases in Mumbai, we don't need to press the panic button yet," said Dr Pradeep Awate, swine flu in-charge, Maharashtra Directorate of Health Services.

But there has been no H1N1 death in the city this year and patients have been receptive to the treatment, he added. Since April, H1N1 has claimed 16 lives in the state. Continued: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Tue Jul 03, 2012 at 06:16:57 AM UTC

US: Wayne State University researcher seeks to understand link between obesity, flu severity

DETROIT - The recent H1N1 flu pandemic was found to be particularly dangerous to obese people, and a Wayne State University researcher is looking for clues as to why. Emily Martin, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacy practice in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, has begun interviewing people hospitalized with influenza to study how weight impacts their illness, response to treatment, and recovery.

"The H1N1 was an unusual flu in that it affected middle-aged adults at higher rates than normal," Martin said. "Among that group, people with really high weight were more likely to die or have severe outcomes if they got the flu." Obesity accounted for five of the six deaths from influenza at Detroit Medical Center (DMC) facilities in the 2010-11 season.

Martin's project, "Influenza and Obesity: A Prospective Study of Patient Outcomes and Antiviral Resistance," is supported by a one-year, $10,000 grant from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy. She plans to meet with 120 DMC patients 18 years of age and older at all weights who have suffered flu symptoms severe enough to require hospitalization.

The study will monitor progression of their illness, especially pulmonary manifestations, which can land patients on ventilators or in intensive care. Researchers will take nasal samples to determine specific characteristics of the virus and how it evolves in subjects' bodies over the first three days in the hospital. Among the characteristics to be examined is the virus's resistance to oseltamivir, a drug more commonly known as Tamiflu, which is used to treat the flu.

Martin's team will check the RNA sequence of the flu virus, as well as genetic components of an array other undiagnosed respiratory viruses patients may have. "Depending on the population being examined, about one-third of the time other viruses are lurking in the background in these patients," she said. "We still don't know what kind of impact that has, and we will be looking for correlations among virus types." 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

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Tue Jul 03, 2012 at 06:35:24 AM UTC

Chile: Respiratory diseases: simultaneous outbreak of influenza and syncytial increased consultations

Translated

Saturated emergency services, patients lying on stretchers, children with inhalers is blocked and a postcard common in hospitals and clinics in these winter months.

In recent weeks the increased visits for acute respiratory infection forced the Ministry of Health to add more pediatric beds to combat the situation. The Government undertook further increase in more than 10% of hospital capacity of health systems in 2 points of the metropolitan area, through the cooperation of the Army health system with the public system.

Katia Abarca, pediatric infectious disease Catholic University Health Network, says that increased cases of respiratory disease has occurred in part because syncytial virus and influenza that usually occur in isolation, this time made their appearance simultaneously. Usually the influenza virus is the first recorded infections, he adds.

Both outbreaks on the scene "have stressed a lot more health services," he says. The syncytial, whose subtype B has predominated in this period, preferably affects children under age 2, and influenza to people of all ages. This time the virus has been the dominant AH3N2 influenza . (Snip) At present we are experiencing the peak of the disease. Continued: http://www.lanacion.cl/males-r...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Tue Jul 03, 2012 at 07:20:34 AM UTC

Cambodia: WHO Investigating Child Deaths From Unknown Disease

http://www.reuters.com/article...

(by way of: http://afludiary.blogspot.com/)

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday it was helping Cambodia investigate the cause of an unknown disease that has killed at least 60 children under seven years old, most of whom died within 24 hours of being admitted to hospital.
[snip]

The children, the majority of whom were younger than three, had been admitted to hospitals in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh and northern city Siem Reap since April due to high fevers and signs of encephalitic or respiratory symptoms, or both, the agency said.

All but one of the 61 children admitted to hospital with the diseases had died with "rapid deterioration of respiratory function," the WHO said.
[more]

---

by: Cathy M @ Tue Jul 03, 2012 at 13:37:57 PM UTC

sound like it's been going on over time...

Is this one we're following? Sounds like the report was issued June 30th, so it must have been occuring over a period of time, rather than, say, in the past week (that would have been scary!)

---

by: Cathy M @ Tue Jul 03, 2012 at 13:39:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good find, Cathy.

I guess the WHO and the Cambodian government thought no one needed to know about it. Someone at WHO must to have forgot to keep the secret!!

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

---

by: Carol@SC @ Wed Jul 04, 2012 at 00:31:16 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for July 4, 2012

Thank you!

---

by: AlohaOR @ Wed Jul 04, 2012 at 04:03:55 AM UTC