News Reports for July 29, 2012

New Zealand: Flu strain sweeping NZ packs a big punch

Lowered immunity levels may be partly to blame for a flu sweeping the country. In the past week (Snip) 404 people throughout the country saw a doctor because they were suffering from the flu or a flu-like illness. Of those, 44 were diagnosed with influenza, including 34 with this year's dominant strain: H3N2.

The Ministry of Health's health intelligence team said H3N2 has been the main strain in New Zealand for 20 years but had not previously spread widely. That could mean there has been some reduction in immunity among those not vaccinated annually. The Ministry of Health has extended free seasonal flu jabs for those eligible until the end of August.

Last week Aucklander Lucy Janisch-Fitzgerald, a 22-year-old otherwise healthy woman, wound up on a ventilator in hospital. Janisch-Fitzgerald spent eight nights in Auckland Hospital and had to take another week off work. Continued: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/heal...

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 @ Sun Jul 29, 2012 at 06:58:05 AM UTC

New Zealand: Influenza at Edge of Covering Every Nook of New Zealand

Tairawhiti District Health Board members have been warning residents of Gisborne to be vigilant, concerned following huge outbreaks of influenza in other regions of New Zealand (Snip)

Gisborne general practice has reported some five cases of a particular flu strain in past weeks. The practice is launched under the national surveillance system, which is responsible for determining flu cases.

It has been told by Dr. Lance Jennings, a spokesman for National Influenza Specialist Group, that Christchurch has realized almost 60 hospitalizations because of the H3N2 strain. Since, the same is on rise at a fast pace and has caused some 12 people to be severely ill.  Continued: http://topnews.ae/content/2124...

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 @ Sun Jul 29, 2012 at 07:03:11 AM UTC

Emergence of a Novel Human H3N2v Sub-clade

Recombinomics Commentary

Four people tested positive for influenza A (H3N2) variant virus.* Genetic testing confirmed that the viruses found in humans and those found in swine are nearly identical, and both have the M gene from the pandemic H1N1 virus. These cases bring the total number of detected infections with the H3N2v virus containing the pandemic M gene in the United States since 2011 to 17.

The above comments from the CDC's  July 26 "Have You Heard" describe the largest outbreak of confirmed H3N2v cases reported to date.  Yesterday the CDC released a full set of sequences from two of the four confirmed cases, A/Indiana/07/2012 and A/Indiana/09/2012, which were identical and signaled the emergence of a novel sub-clade, which was initially seen in 2011 at a Mineral County day care center in West Virginia, where two cases were confirmed (A/West Virginia/06/2011 and A/West Virginia/07/2011) and 22 additional contacts had influenza-like illness, but were not tested.

Although the sequences were similar to the first 10 confirmed cases in 2011, including an H1N1pdm09 M gene, the N2 sequence was from an H3N2 lineage circulating in swine instead of the N2 circulating in H1N2 swine.  All other gene segments matched the lineage of the earlier 2011 cases.  The novel constellation present in West Virginia was also in the first confirmed cases in 2012, A/Utah/10/2012, but the latest outbreak, at the LaPorte County Fair in Indiana, confirms that the novel constellation has become dominant in humans. Continued: http://www.newsnow.co.uk/h/Hot...

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 @ Sun Jul 29, 2012 at 07:48:09 AM UTC

Cited H3N2v LaPorte County Fair Cases Grow

Recombinomics Commentary 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 @ Sun Jul 29, 2012 at 07:55:22 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

India: Swine flu death at Kolhapur, Maharashtra

Sangli - A sixty-two years old man died of swine flu at a private hospital in Kolhapur today (Snip). T P Shinde, from Vijaynagar (Snip) had been diagnosed with swine flu infection (Snip). His family members were under medical observation to check for possible infection (Snip).  
http://ibnlive.in.com/generaln...

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 @ Sun Jul 29, 2012 at 18:00:40 PM UTC

India: 4 more test positive for swine flu, total number rises to 200 (Maharashtra)

Four people tested positive for H1N1 influenza or swine flu on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 200 this year.

The four cases include a 27-year-old woman from Malad, a 63-year-old man from Jogeshwari, a 32-year-old man from Bandra, and a one-year-old boy from Andheri.

"Two patients (Snip) have been admitted to private hospitals. All patients are stable," (Snip).

(Snip) the other patients who tested positive earlier are also stable. http://www.hindustantimes.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 @ Sun Jul 29, 2012 at 20:23:10 PM UTC

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for July 30, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Mon Jul 30, 2012 at 03:47:05 AM UTC