News Reports for July 17, 2012

Vietnam: Avian flu erupts in Quang Binh

QUANG BINH - The Animal Health Department of central Quang Binh Province announced yesterday that H5N1 flu or avian flu had broken out in the region. (Snip) dead ducks in the communes of Son Thuy, Loc Thuy and An Ninh were found to be positive for H5N1.

(Snip) the local Agriculture and Rural Development had sprayed the infected areas with disinfectants. (Snip)  blockades had been set up and poultry had been banned from moving in or out of the area.

In February, Viet Nam experienced large-scale outbreaks of bird flu. The disease killed 2,000 poultry in provinces across the country. Another 4,000 birds had to be destroyed. Two people also died from the disease. http://vietnamnews.vnagency.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 @ Tue Jul 17, 2012 at 05:20:44 AM UTC

New Zealand: Canterbury influenza outbreak expected to worsen

There's been an unusually severe outbreak of influenza in Canterbury, with numbers four times the national average and hospitals struggling to cope with the patient influx.

Doctors are putting it down to the severe cold and people living and working in close proximity in damaged buildings after the earthquake.

(Snip) at Central New Brighton primary (Snip) more than a third of the students and staff have been off sick this winter. (Snip)

Even the commissioners overseeing the Canterbury Earthquake Royal Commission are not immune. (Snip) "Commissioner Carter has succumbed to the flu or whatever it is, he's feverish and he's returning to Auckland," says Justice Mark Cooper.

Christchurch hospital has treated 105 influenza patients this year, with 67 admitted in the last two weeks. Continued: http://www.3news.co.nz/Canterb...

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 17, 2012 at 05:34:59 AM UTC

New Zealand: Flu treatment trial

The Medical Research Institute is holding trials to test whether paracetamol helps to fight the flu, or prolong it.

Eighty volunteers with early influenza symptoms will be treated with either paracetamol or a placebo.

The trials are to test whether treating flu with a medicine that reduces fever (Snip) makes the illness worse, by prolonging the survival of viruses in the body. Continued: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/...

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 17, 2012 at 05:40:01 AM UTC

India: Another woman tests positive for H1N1 (Maharashtra)

Mumbai - A 20-year-old woman from Santacruz tested positive for H1N1 influenza on Monday, taking the total count of patients to 108 this year.

"The woman has been admitted to KEM Hospital and is stable," (Snip) she had been put on a course of Oseltamivir.

However, the steady rise in swine flu cases in the city has left health authorities worried. The count has already crossed 100 this year; during the same period last year only six positive cases were reported.

Last week, two new cases of swine flu were confirmed (Snip): a 24-year old man from Powai and a 47-year-old resident of Kurla. While the Powai resident has sought treatment on "OPD basis", the Kurla resident has been admitted to civic-run KEM hospital in Parel. Both the patients have been put on Tamiflu (Snip)

Doctors say the number of swine flu cases have increased in the past few months because of the dip in temperature. Continued: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/ar...

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 17, 2012 at 05:59:45 AM UTC

India: Kerala Swine Flu Update - Death toll up to eight since Jan

A 51-year-old woman who tested positive for H1N1 died in Kerala yesterday, taking the swine flu toll to eight since January this year. The woman from Chavara in Kollam district died at a private hospital. She had earlier tested positive for H1N1 and was also suffering from diabetes (Snip). This is the fourth swine flu death in Kerala this month.

(Snip) 14 more cases have been reported, taking the total to 359 since January this year. The Department of Health claims it has stepped up measures to test, detect, and treat the infection.

(Snip) a 59-year-old man (Snip) died in a private hospital on July 10. He tested positive for the swine flu virus and the death was caused by broncho pneumonia and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) (Snip)

(Snip) a 42-year-old woman, (Snip) died in a private hospital in Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad district yesterday, also due to ARDS (Snip).

Nine of the newly reported cases were from Thrissur and five from Kannur. Kozhikode accounted for 115 cases reported since January this year, followed by Malappuram 66, Kasargode 38, Kannur 40, Thrissur 40, Wyanad 24, Kottayam 10, Ernakulam 10, Alapuzha 10, Kannur five, Palakkad three, Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam one each (Snip) http://health.india.com/news/k...

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 17, 2012 at 06:11:06 AM UTC

Scientists: Bird Flu Pandemic Only "Three Mutations" Away

Avian influenza may be just "three mutations" away from being transmittable via human-to-human contact, a Cambridge University study revealed. (Snip)

(Snip) the World Health Organization reported 606 human cases of bird flu since records began in 2003. During that period, the deadly strain killed 357.

Researchers found that the evolution of the virus could occur in a single person, but cannot as of yet accurately predict when this will happen.

(Snip)"With the information we have, it is impossible to say what the exact risk is of the virus becoming airborne transmissible among humans. However, the results suggest that the remaining three mutations could evolve in a single human host, making a virus evolving in nature a potentially serious threat."

http://realtruth.org/news/1207...

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 17, 2012 at 06:29:11 AM UTC

CIDRAP: Study finds pandemic H1N1 deaths similar in both waves

Although death profiles can vary among pandemic waves, fatality patterns in the spring and fall waves of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic remained largely similar, according to a study today by researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses.

From 4,053 deaths reported Sep 1 to Oct 31, 2009, researchers picked a group of 323 nationally representative deaths and analyzed the patients' demographic factors, underlying medical conditions, and medical care and sequelae. (Snip)

From April through July the median age was 43 years and during the early fall wave it was 45 (Snip).

During the spring wave 76% of all deaths occurred in people ages 18 to 64, compared with 74% in the fall. Most cases (72%) from the fall wave had at least one underlying risk factor, such as morbid obesity and chronic lung conditions.

(Snip) 18% of the patients who died had a history of drug or substance abuse, which appears to be higher than the proportion for the general US population. Though most patients received antiviral treatment, only about one-third got them within 1 to 2 days of symptom onset (Snip). http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr...

Jul 16 Influenza Other Respi Viruses abstract http://onlinelibrary.wiley.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 @ Tue Jul 17, 2012 at 06:39:39 AM UTC

Taiwan finds H5N1 virus in smuggled birds

Dozens of pet birds smuggled from China into Taiwan tested positive for the deadly H5N1 avian flu virus and were destroyed, Taiwanese authorities said yesterday.

The smuggler bought the 38 birds in Guangzhou and was caught at the Taoyuan international airport in northern Taiwan when he returned via Macau earlier this month (Snip).  The birds later tested positive for the H5N1 virus and were killed, (Snip) adding that nine people who had contact with the birds had not shown any flu symptoms during a ten-day screening. Continued: http://www.gulf-times.com/site...

(Note: More proof that there is a hell of a lot more H5N1 in mainland China than we know about because the Chinese government continues to cover it all up! Guangzhou is where Hong Kong gets most of it's chickens from to stock in the markets.)

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 17, 2012 at 23:07:11 PM UTC

India: Swine flu is back, take care (Karnataka)

BANGALORE: The dreaded swine flu or influenza (H1N1) has silently resurfaced in the state. But there is no need to panic as the virus is not as aggressive as it was when it first surfaced in India during 2009, say doctors.

Of the 346 people who tested positive, 28 died in the first half of 2012. The figures may not be alarming but still sound a warning because the state has registered almost 100% more deaths than in 2011. Karnataka had lost 16 people to H1N1 last year, said the sources in the Department of health and family welfare.

Last week, an 18-month-old girl died in south Bangalore. In June, the virus claimed the life of a four-month-old boy in Haveri. While 135 people in the state succumbed to swine flu in 2009, 120 died in 2010.

Davanagere is the most affected with 6 deaths. Bangalore rural and urban have reported 5 deaths. No death has been reported in Mysore.

"When you compare this year's statistics to 2009 and 2010, the figures look far more better. The virus keeps rotating its pattern. Any infection catches faster when the climate is cold as the virus survives longer in such circumstances. There might be a slight increase in the number of deaths this year but the timely steps taken by the government have helped in controlling H1N1," said Dr Shashidhar Buggi, director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases.

Dr AB Chowdhari, in-charge, joint director, Communicable diseases, said: "The reason behind increase in deaths due to swine flu could be that the virus has localized in the past three years. When a foreign virus adapts to the local environment, it becomes more active. But there is no need to worry as all the government and private hospitals have enough stock of Tamiflu." 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 @ Tue Jul 17, 2012 at 23:35:40 PM UTC

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for July 18, 2012

Thank you!

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 Jul 18, 2012 at 04:54:59 AM UTC