News Reports for July 9, 2012

Australia: Flu season starting to bite (New South Wales)

WITH winter's chill now well and truly set in, the full effects of the flu season are setting in.

North Coast Public Health director Paul Corben said there had been a marked increase in presentations of flu cases to hospital emergency departments since the middle of June. "We've seen an up-turn in people presenting with respiratory conditions over the past couple of weeks," Mr Corben said.

"There have been similar patterns elsewhere in the state. We've seen a steep climb two to three weeks earlier than average when compared to the previous five years."

Mr Corben said while North Coast Public Health had experienced an increased demand for laboratory testing, lab results were not a true indicator of the level of infection in the community. He said a majority of people self-diagnosed without seeking medical advice and in many cases GPs provided a clinical assessment without further testing. Continued: http://www.dailyexaminer.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 @ Mon Jul 09, 2012 at 05:02:34 AM UTC

New Zealand: Flu outbreak likely, pharmacist warns

Winter ills plaguing Tauranga could be a sign of worse things to come as influenza tightens its grip around New Zealand. Bethlehem Pharmacy's Mark Arundel said it was only a matter of time before the city was hit hard by influenza. "I think we are just about to experience quite a big upswing," (Snip)

In the latest weekly report from the Ministry of Health, Waitemata District Health Board had the highest number of people seeing GPs for flu-like symptoms - 110.6 consultations for every 100,000 people. Auckland had the second highest rate - 81.8 per 100,000. The national average weekly consultation rate is 19.6 per 100,000 and the Bay of Plenty district was recorded as having no activity, for now.

Mr Arundel said it was inevitable this would change as the flu spread from Auckland down to the Bay and "people still underestimated the flu". Influenza was the world's number one killer followed by malaria, Mr Arundel said.

In Tauranga, vulnerable people such as the elderly were most at risk, particularly in August and September when many people let their guard down, he said. Continued: http://www.bayofplentytimes.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 @ Mon Jul 09, 2012 at 05:14:47 AM UTC

India: 5 more test +ve for H1N1 (Maharashtra)

MUMBAI: On Sunday, five more persons (Snip) tested positive for H1N1, taking the count to 74 this year.

"A 64-year-old man from Bandra, 30-year-old man from Dahisar, 47-year-old woman from Andheri, a 16-year-old boy from Jogeshwari and a two year old from Andheri tested positive for the virus." (Snip) all were undergoing treatment at home, barring the teenager who had to be hospitalized. "He is admitted to a private hospital and (Snip) is stable," (Snip) all patients had been put on a course of Oseltamivir. 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 @ Mon Jul 09, 2012 at 05:20:21 AM UTC

Mysterious killer disease in Cambodia stumps experts - Just one child survived the illness

PHNOM PENH: It's not bird flu or SARS, and nor does it appear to be contagious, but little more is known about a mysterious disease that has killed dozens of Cambodian children, some within 24 hours of being hospitalised. Medical experts are scrambling to respond to what the Cambodian health ministry and World Health Organization (WHO) have labelled an "undiagnosed syndrome" that has claimed the lives of at least 56 boys and girls, mostly toddlers, since April.

Officials said just one child was believed to have survived the illness and the high fatality rate has spread concern among Cambodians, 30 percent of whom live below the poverty line according to the World Bank. The WHO has put neighbouring countries on alert about the killer disease, that starts with a high fever and is followed by respiratory and neurologic symptoms "with rapid deterioration of respiratory functions".

There have been no cases reported outside Cambodia so far. "We are looking at detailed information from the hospital records and analysing each and every case. We hope to have a better picture in the coming days," said Ly Sovann, deputy director of Cambodia's Communicable Disease Control Department in a joint statement with the WHO on Friday.

Paediatrician Beat Richner, the founder of Kantha Bopha children's hospitals, which see around 85 percent of Cambodia's severely ill youngsters who make it to treatment, was the first to raise the alert over the illness. The Swiss doctor, who told Cambodian health officials about the illness last month, gave a higher toll than the WHO, saying 64 children had died from the disease since mid-April, while two more had recovered.

The victims were aged seven and under with most being between two and three years old, Richner told AFP in an interview. The most recent death was on Saturday. "All these children have encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) and in the later hours of their life they develop a severe pneumonia with a destruction of the alveoli in the lungs. That is the reason they die," he said.

The alveoli, or air sacs, are pockets in the lungs where the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place. "We think it's either a virus, an intoxication, or both," Richner said. While it is impossible to rule out contagion at this early stage, Richner said he had yet to come across two cases in the same family, and no health workers appear to have fallen ill after caring for the patients.

The WHO has also said it has found no clusters, though most of the patients came from central and southern parts of Cambodia. Like the WHO and the health ministry, Richner's staff are racing to find the cause of the disease, sending blood and tissue samples to the Institut Pasteur-a renowned infectious disease research centre.

Early results from a selection of those samples show some of the children had been infected by a lethal strain of hand, foot and mouth disease, although Richner said more analysis was needed. He said all the patients who died were treated in private clinics in their local areas before being brought to the Kantha Bopha hospitals in the capital and the northwestern province of Siem Reap.

"They all got injections or infusions by private carers before coming to us," he said. "Some died four hours after arriving." From his own figures, Richer said the two patients that lived were treated only by Kantha Bopha staff, suggesting that botched medical treatment may be a factor. The WHO said it was too soon to draw conclusions.

"We are looking at the possibility of this being something new, a collation of different diseases with similar clinical presentations but caused by a different pathogen," said doctor Nima Asgari, a public health specialist at the WHO office in Cambodia.

The UN health body and Cambodian officials have urged parents to bring their sick children to hospital if they see any signs of "unusual illness". Joining the daily queues of hundreds of families seeking treatment at Kantha Bopha, In Sitha said she first heard about the mystery illness while her three-year-old son was in hospital with pneumonia last month. Continued: http://news.kuwaittimes.net/20...

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 Jul 09, 2012 at 05:27:39 AM UTC

WHO says it's a form of HFM disease, EV-7 virus

Cambodian health officials and the World Health Organization say most of the children who died from a mystery disease in Cambodia had contracted the EV-7 [human enterovirus 71] infection -- a virus linked to hand, foot and mouth disease [HFMD]. The children were below 3 years of age and were mainly from the southern and central parts of the country. 56 have died since April 2012.

Dr Nimal Asgari, a WHO spokesman in Phnom Penh, said a significant number of the samples tested by the Institut Pasteur identified the virus as EV-71. However, it is still not known if all the children had the virus because not all children were able to provide samples.
[snip]

The Institut Pasteur in Cambodia has discovered Enterovirus Type 71 in about two-thirds of patients it tested after a mystery disease killed more than 60 children in the country, said the head of the institute's virology unit.

Enterovirus Type 71 is a "perfect explanation" for the deaths, Philippe Buchy said by telephone today. "We can now focus on how to contain it," he said.

(byline: Natasha Khaan)
[snip]
Although poliomyelitis has been mostly eradicated worldwide, large outbreaks of the related human enterovirus 71 have been seen in Asia-Pacific countries in the past 10 years. This virus mostly affects children, manifesting as hand, foot, and mouth disease, aseptic meningitis, poliomyelitis-like acute flaccid paralysis, brainstem encephalitis, and other severe systemic disorders, including especially pulmonary oedema and cardiorespiratory collapse. Clinical predictors of severe disease include high temperature and lethargy, and lumbar puncture might reveal pleocytosis. Many diagnostic tests are available, but PCR of throat swabs and vesicle fluid, if available, is among the most efficient. Features of inflammation, particularly in the anterior horns of the spinal cord, the dorsal pons, and the medulla can be clearly seen on MRI. No established antiviral treatment is available. Intravenous immunoglobulin seems to be beneficial in severe disease, perhaps through non-specific anti-inflammatory mechanisms, but has not been tested in any formal trials. Milrinone might be helpful in patients with cardiac dysfunction. [See: Ooi MH, Wong SC, Lewthwaite P, Cardosa MJ, Solomon T. Lancet Neurol. 2010 Nov; 9(11):1097-1105].

The HealthMap interactive map of Cambodia is available at http://healthmap.org/r/1iGB. - Mod.CP]

http://www.promedmail.org/?p=2...

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

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by: Jane @ Mon Jul 09, 2012 at 15:04:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Australia: Flu cases spark vaccination call (Northern Territory)

The Northern Territory Centre for Disease Control is reporting a spike in influenza cases and is urging people to get vaccinated. More than 180 people have been diagnosed with influenza in the NT this year.

Sixty of those cases were in Darwin and more than half of those patients needed to be hospitalised, some in intensive care. Continued: http://www.abc.net.au/news/201...

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 Jul 09, 2012 at 05:44:06 AM UTC

Flu jabs less effective than believed

Flu vaccines are not as effective as we believe, medical experts say. More than half of those who get shots don't have full protection against infection, as vaccines don't shield them from newer strains of the virus.

As many as 65 percent of people who received flu shots last winter did not get the protection they expected from the vaccines. According to the National Institute for Health and Welfare the THL, the viral anti-agent used for the past three years no longer protects against new strains of the virus.

Helsinki University Hospital's medical chief of infectious diseases (Snip) said that the last season saw the emergence of an H3N2 type virus, which was rife in senior patients in long term care wards and in primary health care stations. Some of them had received flu shots.

Flu jabs offer variable levels of protection (Snip) Their efficacy depends on how well the anti-virals respond to existing viruses.

Drug companies are developing a vaccine that would be effective against all strains of the virus. Until then, although current vaccines aren't 100 percent effective, it's still worth it to take the annual jab, the experts say. Vaccines to be administered during the next flu season are already being tailored to provide better protection against current circulating virus strains.

(Snip) the shot will cover the new H3N2 strain, the new B-virus and the swine flu virus (Snip) http://yle.fi/uutiset/flu_jabs...

(Note: The whole problem is that it takes 6 month to produce the flu vaccine each year and the strains can change during the year between shots. Until a better method of vaccine manufacturing is used or a universal vaccine is produced, this is the best protection we can expect. Some protection is better than none at all so IMO, everyone should get the vaccine each year.)

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 Jul 09, 2012 at 13:51:40 PM UTC

not so sure about that myself

re everyone getting the flu jab annually: Isn't there a chance that this kind of blanket vaccination helps select for mutated/resistant strains of the viruses being targetted, actually spurring the mutation process? If the shot isn't particularly effective anyway, then why help nature select for mutant strains by insisting everyone get one? I personally feel that maintaining a healthly immune system, avoiding prolonged close contact with people during flu season, getting adequate care if one does get the flu and otherwise allowing natural immunity to build in a population may be wiser in the long run. Of course for those with compromised immune systems, the very elderly and very young, I do think the annual shots should be given, but for the majority of the population I have my reservations.  

Always have a plan B.

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by: maryinhawaii @ Tue Jul 10, 2012 at 02:43:53 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hi Mary!

I know what you mean about natural immunity from catching viruses rather than limited protection through vaccination but it's a balance. Wasn't there a study that showed original sufferers from the 1918 pandemic still had more aggressive anti bodies than people who had been subjected to milder strains in later years? It makes sense that catching a virus will create more of an immune response than experiencing a vaccine.

But. As an asthma sufferer I can say that a single dose of flu can leave you very weak for months, during which you're very vulnerable to other bugs. Each illness does more and more damage to the lungs and instead of getting a better immune system you just fall prey to milder and milder diseases. As a child I was almost permanently ill. One of the reasons the vaccine isn't producing much immunity is the majority of people who take it are elderly. It's probably better to protect them year to year with a less effective vaccine even though they may be defenceless against a really bad strain. Better to risk being vulnerable to bad strain later than dying to a mild one now.

The reason there is an explosion of asthma sufferers, may simply be because they used to die young and not live long enough to be a statistic. I know I came close a few times.

There's no evidence that vaccination is increasing severity, in fact just the opposite. Cases of flu in the UK are at an all time low. Ironically Pneumonia is up. I think the exposure to many viruses is part of the drop in flu cases.

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by: UK - Bird @ Tue Jul 10, 2012 at 18:14:35 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hi UK Bird

Nice to hear from you!

I agree that those who would tend to get a more serious  or possibly fatal case of flu due to underlying health issues should get the jab annually for sure. Just question the wisdom of mass vaccinations for those with healthy immune systems.

Asthma is a very scarey thing, and I'm sorry you suffer from it. I do agree that there seems to be an "explosion" of asthma sufferers over the past couple of decades (I tend to notice trends like that among the young,  as a school teacher) but I always kind of thought it was from increased air pollution and food additives. Who knows?

Always have a plan B.

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by: maryinhawaii @ Wed Jul 11, 2012 at 07:38:31 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for July 10, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Tue Jul 10, 2012 at 04:37:37 AM UTC

UK: Investigation after 30 Swans found dead

30 Swans have been found dead within a three week period in Cardiff Bay and Roath Park. Officials say the cause is unknown and an investigation is now under way into the mysterious deaths.

Although bird flu has not been diagnosed, as a precautionary measure, people finding dead swans are advised not to touch them. The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) said the Welsh Government was looking into the matter. (Snip) http://www.itv.com/news/wales/...

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 @ Tue Jul 10, 2012 at 20:13:22 PM UTC

Sorry.... I meant to post this in the July 10th diary

I am posting it there too.

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 @ Tue Jul 10, 2012 at 21:34:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]