News Reports for July 20, 2012

New Suspect in Indonesia: Disnaktanbun: Do Not Have Bird Flu In Mimika [Papua, Indonesia]

Shared by dbg of PFI: http://rri.co.id/index.php/det...

Thursday, July 19 2012 19:45:22
By: Waddi Armi

KBRN, Timika: the Livestock, Agriculture, and Plantation Service, Mimika Regency stressed untrue had casualties died resulting from infected the bird flu virus in the area.

The Disnaktanbun Mimika head, John Wicklif Tegai in Timika, on Thursday (19/7) said on June 24 a resident of the Omawita Hamlet, District Mimika Far East was treated in the Mitra Community Hospital (RSMM) Timika.

After being treated several days, this patient died. This hospital side stated this patient died because of being attacked by the bird flu virus. All around the patient's residence were many chickens that died.

The report on the death of the patient who it was suspected was attacked by this bird flu virus was sent to the Ministry of the RI Health in Jakarta et cetera was continued to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Director General of Livestock Breeding.

Responded to this information, Disnaktanbun Mimika followed up by sending the Head of the Animal Health Field drh Sabelina Fitriani with the staff to the Omawita Hamlet.

Sabelina with his staff took the sample specimen swab (mucus on the throat and the cloaca) the chicken livestock in the Omawita Hamlet and his blood serum to be sent to the Great Veterinary Hall Maros, South Sulawesi in order to is researched further.

The team that was led by Sabelina also did rapid test to know whether the chicken livestock in this Omawita Hamlet really was attacked by the bird flu virus or not. The team also carried out the carcass difference against the chicken livestock that was sick. Results of the test indicate produced the negative of bird flu.

The Great Veterinary Hall Maros also recommended results of bird flu of the negative against the sample of chicken blood from the Omawita Hamlet. Was based on results of the laboratory test, Disnaktanbun Mimika stressed that till at this time did not have the case of bird flu in Timika.

According to John Tegai, in March his rank has done surveillance towards the health of the chicken livestock in Mimika and results surveillance showed results of bird flu of the negative.

As for the case of the death of the chicken livestock in a large number in this Omawita Hamlet, was like this John Tegai, resulting from the virus attack Newcastle Deases (ND) or the newcastle disease that already endemic happened in each poultry farm.

John Tegai added, the case of bird flu had happened in Timika around 2004. At that time, the death of the chicken in large quantities in several locations around the Timika City happened. The step that was carried out by Disnak Mimika at that time that is carrying out the extermination of the property chicken of the breeders.

However in the period for the last three years, was not found the case of bird flu in Timika. The ministry of Agriculture through Director General Livestock aimed in 2013 at Papua received free certification of bird flu.

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by: bgw in MT @ Fri Jul 20, 2012 at 01:22:54 AM UTC

WHO offers standards to improve global flu surveillance

Jul 19, 2012 (CIDRAP News) - Largely as a result of gaps in global influenza surveillance that were exposed during the 2009 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has released a set of standards designed to improve the collection and use of flu data around the world.

Historically, flu surveillance has focused chiefly on virologic monitoring and collecting specimens to guide selection of strains for vaccines, the WHO says. In contrast, the new standards focus mainly on the collection, reporting, and analysis of epidemiologic data on seasonal flu.

The WHO recently posted the 68-page draft document, titled WHO Interim Global Epidemiologic Surveillance Standards for Influenza, on its Web site. It is inviting comments on the guidelines until Oct 31, after which they will be revised and published in final form.

The report says recent years have brought a growing awareness of the need to gather more epidemiologic data to complement the virologic data collected by the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System through its 130-plus national influenza centers. The 2009 pandemic revealed specific surveillance deficiencies that hindered the assessment and monitoring of the event. In particular, it says:

* The lack of surveillance for severe disease in most countries and the resulting absence of historical data limited governments' ability to gauge the pandemic's severity.

* The lack of an existing international mechanism for sharing epidemiologic data created obstacles to understanding global patterns of transmission and disease.

* Varied approaches to data collection and outbreak investigations early in the pandemic produced findings that were often incompletely understood outside their local context.

(Snip)

The WHO says that standardizing flu data collection will "enable national policy makers to better understand risk factors for severe disease, the variation of influenza severity from season to season and its relationship to virus types or subtypes, the burden of disease related to influenza, and other factors critical to public health decision-making."

The basic underlying principle of the standards is that countries should monitor "both mild and severe disease related to influenza, using appropriate laboratory methods to confirm the presence of influenza," the document states, adding that using consistent case definitions is essential.

The report provides a list of 11 objectives or functions for which timely, high-quality flu data are needed. Some examples are:

* Signaling the start and end of the flu season

* Identifying and monitoring groups at high risk for severe disease

* Establishing baseline levels of activity for flu and severe flu-related disease in order to measure the impact and severity of each flu season

* Helping to develop an understanding of the relationship of virus strains to disease severity

* Monitoring antiviral sensitivity

* Facilitating vaccine strain selection

"Not all of these objectives will be accomplished by every system, particularly when resources are limited," the WHO says. "For example, not every system will describe the genetic makeup of circulating viruses or test for antiviral sensitivity, except when participating in regional and global networks."

The document presents standards for "a minimal basic respiratory disease surveillance system" for monitoring flu and provides a surveillance framework that governments can adapt to their own health resources. The guidelines do not "require countries to dramatically alter existing respiratory disease surveillance systems but rather to establish minimum standards for inpatient and outpatient respiratory disease surveillance reporting, data collection, and analysis."

The WHO takes pains in the report to explain that the recommended surveillance standards are not designed for rapid detection of novel flu strains or other novel respiratory diseases. It states, "Events that call for rapid response for containment or mitigation require detection at a very early stage when the event is geographically localized and involves a relatively small number of people. As such, they require a very sensitive detection system that uses methods different from those used in routine data collection." Continued: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr...

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 @ Fri Jul 20, 2012 at 05:04:47 AM UTC

US: Pitt researchers work to develop single vaccine to fight flu strains

Annual flu shots could become a thing of the past if Pitt researchers succeed in a new venture. Dr. Ted M. Ross and Pitt's Center for Vaccine Research are working with Sanofi Pasteur, the largest vaccine-oriented company in the world, to develop a universal flu vaccine to fight multiple strains.

"It's designed to stimulate an antibody response that will recognize all strains of influenza - not just now, but into the future so that we can completely eliminate or severely cut down on the number of cases," Ross, an associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, said. Ross added that the vaccine could be on the market in 10 to 15 years.

The seasonal flu vaccine will be created using a method Ross perfected while searching for a vaccine for the bird flu. "His technology is easily adaptable to other viruses," (Snip) "He's taken a difficult influenza virus like bird flu rather than a simple one like the seasonal ones and shown protection."

Using computer modeling technology, Ross and his team figured out similarities across many strains of bird flu. Then they developed a single synthetic vaccine to protect against various strains, testing it successfully in ferrets and mice.

Flu vaccines today are created using three inactivated strains and take at least six months to make. Ross' method takes as little as four months.

(Snip) "If we can come up with a universal vaccine, certainly that gets rid of us having to vaccinate every single year," Chen said. "From a public health standpoint, it's exceedingly hard to get a large portion of the population to get a vaccine every year."

Ross and his researchers hope their vaccine would stay effective for five to 10 years before a booster would be necessary. "It would be more like a tetanus shot and it would protect more of the population," Ross said. Continued: http://triblive.com/news/22352...

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 @ Fri Jul 20, 2012 at 05:25:45 AM UTC

Plant hormone may be key to healing influenza

Washington, July 19 (ANI): Researchers have discovered that abscisic acid, a natural plant hormone with known beneficial properties for the treatment of disease, has anti-inflammatory effects in the lungs as well as in the gut.

(Snip)

"While the immune effects of abscisic acid are well understood in the gut, less was known about its effects in the respiratory tract. We've shown definitively that not only does abscisic acid ameliorate disease activity and lung inflammatory pathology, it also aids recovery and survival in influenza-infected mice," said Raquel Hontecillas, Ph.D., study leader, assistant professor of immunology at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, and co-director of NIMML.

Influenza accounts for anywhere from 3,000 to 49,000 deaths per year in the United States alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It is difficult to treat if not caught immediately; antivirals usually become ineffective after the virus incubation period has passed and resistance to antiviral drugs poses a serious public health problem in the face of outbreaks.

Abscisic acid, however, has been shown to be most effective at about seven to ten days into the infection, targeting the immune response rather than the virus itself, which many researchers feel is a safer way to reduce flu-associated fatalities.

"Most drugs for respiratory infections target the virus itself, rather than the inflammatory responses caused by the virus. Abscisic acid activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma, a receptor that aids in reducing inflammation, through a newly identified pathway but it does so without the side effects of other agonists like thiazolidinediones, which are known to have strong adverse side effects," said Josep Bassaganya-Riera, Ph.D., director of NIMML and professor of nutritional immunology at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute. Continued: http://truthdive.com/2012/07/1...

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 @ Fri Jul 20, 2012 at 05:43:48 AM UTC

India: One more tests positive for H1N1 (Maharashtra)

PUNE: A 46-year-old woman from Hadapsar, who has been in the isolation intensive care unit at Noble Hospital since July 16, tested positive for swine flu on Thursday. (Snip) "The patient has been put on non-invasive ventilator support," said PMC medical officer of health S T Pardeshi.

The woman developed symptoms around July 12. "Her husband, who is a doctor, treated her between July 12 and July 15 for fever and chills. She developed breathlessness following which she was moved to the Noble Hospital on July 16," Pardeshi said.

Meanwhile, one more person tested positive on Thursday. The 53-year-old man is a resident of Kothrud. His condition is stable and he is recovering.

Since July, Pune has reported nine cases of swine flu and one death. Harishchandra Lonkar, 55, who was the first casualty after the start of monsoon, died on July 11. Since April this year, the city has recorded 146 cases and seven deaths. (Snip) 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 @ Fri Jul 20, 2012 at 06:20:42 AM UTC

CIDRAP: Resistance mutation may reduce flu virus fitness but not transmissibility

The H275Y neuraminidase (NA) mutation, which confers oseltamivir (Tamiflu) resistance in both the former seasonal H1N1 virus and pandemic 2009 H1N1 (pH1N1) virus, appears to reduce viral fitness slightly but not transmissibility (Snip)

Hong Kong researchers introduced the NA gene from a pH1N1 virus and two separate seasonal H1N1 strains into the genetic background of the pH1N1 virus. Continued: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr...

Jul 18 J Virol abstract http://jvi.asm.org/content/ear...  

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 @ Fri Jul 20, 2012 at 06:28:55 AM UTC

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for July 21, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Sat Jul 21, 2012 at 04:16:02 AM UTC