News Reports for August 6, 2012

Confirmed H3N2v Cases At Jackson County Fair - Indiana

Recombinomics Commentary

A common thread among those sick in Jackson County is that they had exhibited swine at the county fair or had visited the swine area, Bobb said. Cases started showing up July 26 and July 27 as the fair neared its end Saturday night.

Several patients were treated by an area doctor and the emergency room at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, triggering submission of patient swabs for testing with the state health department, Bobb said.

The above comments describe symptomatic patients from the Jackson County Fair near Seymour, Indiana.  The Indiana State Department of Health announce one confirmed case on Thursday and at least three more on Friday, indicating patients who tested as "inconclusive" at ISDH were H3N2v confirmed by the CDC.

Friday the CDC released additional H3N2v sequences from recent cases linked to county in LaPorte and Jackson Counties in Indiana, Butler County in Ohio, as well as a Maui resident in Hawaii.  All of these sequences matched the novel sub-clade, which was first reported at a Mineral County day care center in West Virginia, which had an N2 gene which was distinct from the N2 gene in the first 10 H3N2v cases in 2011.  

All of the recent sequences are from July, 2012 collections, and the sequences from Indiana, Ohio, and Hawaii are more closely related to each than the earlier cases in West Virginia and Utah.  This close relationship, as well as the finding that all human cases since late 2011 have been from the novel sub-clade, supports transmission and evolution in humans, not swine. Continued: 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 @ Mon Aug 06, 2012 at 02:00:07 AM UTC

US: Ohio State Fair set to close this weekend

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Ohio State Fair is wrapping up its run on Sunday with a livestock auction and a chance for a price break on admission.

(Snip)

Attendees were being urged to wash their hands after visiting livestock exhibits areas and before eating and drinking after two pigs were sent home Thursday because they had the swine flu virus.
(Snip)

More than 830,000 people visited the fair last year at the Ohio Expo Center. http://www2.wsls.com/entertain...

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 Aug 06, 2012 at 02:10:03 AM UTC

Australia: Flu Still Not Under Control, Spreads through two Disability Centres (New South Wales)

Health officials with each passing day are concerning more about the fatal influenza outbreak that is occurring rapidly at two Hunter disability centres in the region. Tensions of the departments are rising higher as the spread is continuing and more people are reporting to have contracted the illness. (Snip) three people have already lost their lives due to the outbreak at Newcastle's Stockton Centre and the Kanangra Centre at Morisset in the last week.

Five more people have been diagnosed with the similar symptoms of the respiratory illness from the tests reports that came out yesterday. If the tests confirm these five people too to be affected from the H3N2 strain, the number of the affected ones in the region will total to 56 cases at the two centres.

Authorities have ordered lockdown of both the centres and they still remain into the same effect to control the spread of the infection and make the other residents safe.

(Snip) Hunter New England Health has also started urging people with flu like symptoms to not visit hospitals or aged care facilities in any case. (Snip) http://visitbulgaria.info/1845...  

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 Aug 06, 2012 at 06:43:53 AM UTC

Australia: Flu epidemic - fact or just hype? (Western Australia)

General practitioners often have to spend more time than we would like soothing the worried well and counselling those who have been frightened by well intentioned but misleading health campaigns and edicts from the health gurus.

But, this year, something quite out of the ordinary has taken place in Perth. Are we in the grip of a flu epidemic or not? Health authorities are disagreeing, even clashing publicly about this in the news media. So, what's the average person supposed to think?

After 25 years in general practice I thought I knew the script by heart. Every winter there are dire predictions that there will be a killer flu on the loose. And we are usually told by the Australian Medical Association and the Department of Health not to go to an emergency department.  And then, of course, the advice that the best thing to do is to rest at home - which is quite true

But this year we have a divergence from the normal script. The AMA sees dire flu emergencies everywhere but the Health Department does not. While the TV ad telling people with cold and flu symptoms to stay at home and not attend emergency departments is giving the correct advice, there is something strange about the need to run such ads. A generation ago nobody would think of the flu as an emergency.

Yet today the AMA sees sensible advice to stay home and rest as "trivialising" the flu. Why? While I cannot answer that, it is possible to shed some light on facts rather than hype about flu

Firstly it is not new. It has been around since humans have been on the planet. It is in the environment 365 days of the year but we see more cases in winter.  The flu virus has numerous varieties and these morph every year or so.

Australian statistics show that in 2010 there were 2,364 deaths associated with influenza. Of these 2,322 were due to pneumonia and the median ages were 85.7 for males and 88.9 for females. So all but 44 were due to pneumonia in an age group which has lived longer than the national expectancy and who are the most likely to be vaccinated.

Of the remaining 44 it is likely many had other underlying medical conditions. Deaths in previously fit and healthy people do occur, but they are rare. These figures vary little from year to year. Continued: http://www.perthnow.com.au/flu...

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 Aug 06, 2012 at 06:56:39 AM UTC

Reassortant influenza A viruses in wild duck populations: effects on viral shedding and persistence in water.

Abstract:

Wild ducks of the genus Anas represent the natural hosts for a large genetic diversity of influenza A viruses. In these hosts, co-infections with different virus genotypes are frequent and result in high rates of genetic reassortment. Recent genomic data have provided information regarding the pattern and frequency of these reassortant viruses in duck populations; however, potential consequences on viral shedding and maintenance in the environment have not been investigated. On the basis of full-genome sequencing, we identified five virus genotypes, in a wild duck population in northwestern Minnesota (USA), that naturally arose from genetic reassortments. We investigated the effects of influenza A virus genotype on the viral shedding pattern in Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) and the duration of infectivity in water, under different temperature regimens. Continued: http://www.unboundmedicine.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 @ Mon Aug 06, 2012 at 07:19:02 AM UTC

Warnings Issued on New Strain of Swine Flu

August 6, 2012
http://www.star-telegram.com/2...
Atlanta:  More than two dozen cases of a new strain of swine flu are prompting warnings from state and county fairs and health officials to fairgoers and others who might find themselves around pigs.  The new strain is spreading from animals to people.  
(snip)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking sporadic cases since last year, when the new strain was first seen in people.

The new strain has a gene that allows it to spread more easily to people than pig viruses normally do.  So far, it hasn't been spreading easily from person to person, which is the greater concern. It also has not been unusually dangerous. All of the recent cases were mild, as were most of the earlier illnesses.  But even regular flu can be a serious illness, so people should be careful if they're going be around pigs, said Dr. Joseph Bresee, the CDC's chief of influenza epidemiology.

(snip)
He said work has begun on a vaccine for the new strain in case it becomes a larger threat.
(more)


"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson

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by: History Lover @ Mon Aug 06, 2012 at 16:14:19 PM UTC

India: Serum Institute to make trivalent flu vaccine at idle H1N1 facility (Maharashtra)

Pune, Aug 6: Confronted with the spectre of a new vaccine-making facility sitting idle, Pune-based Serum Institute of India says it may make the trivalent flu vaccine for export here instead of one for swine flu.

The current situation has arisen because the vaccine maker has stopped making the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine at the facility set up for the purpose after the Indian government said it would procure only the injectible vaccine that was tailor-made for it, and not the nasal version.

In early July, Serum Institute had moved the Delhi High Court alleging that the Indian government reneged on its authorised marketing commitment to buy the vaccine. A few million doses of the vaccine have had to be thrown away as they are past the use-by date, Adar Poonawala, Executive Director, Serum Institute, said.

(Snip)

Meanwhile, the Serum Institute has made an additional provision of half million doses of the nasal H1N1 vaccine and stockpiled it in case of a swine flu outbreak. Poonwala said he was disappointed with the government's insistence on the injectible vaccine as the nasal one was equally safe and easy to administer. Continued: http://www.thehindubusinesslin...

(Not: Amazing! The Indian state of Maharashtra has been the hardest hit by swine flu this 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 Aug 06, 2012 at 19:17:42 PM UTC

CME - Pork Producers Start to Reduce Sow Herd

US - We can only hope that markets - and news reporters - look at the facts of the new swine flu strain that grabbed some headlines over the weekend, write Steve Meyer and Len Steiner.

The Centers for Disease Control announced on Friday that they have now identified 29 cases of H3N2v influenza in humans since July 2011. That total includes 12 new cases, 10 of which were found in Ohio. All of the 12 new cases were reported in people who had been in direct contact with pigs with the Ohio cases being associated with a fair.

The CDC reports that this strain has a gene from the H1N1 virus that caused all the undeserved problems for pork back in 2009. But so far there is no evidence that the H3N2v virus is spread from human to human. Normal flu symptoms of fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, muscle aches are reported. There have been three hospitalizations and all three of those people had high-risk characteristics. All reported victims have recovered fully.

One point in the CDC information is critical: Influenza viruses have not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork. Visitors to fairs or those working around pigs were warned to take normal flue prevention steps: watch animals for signs of illness, wash hands frequently, don't eat or drink in animal areas.

Facing unprecedented costs of production and sizable losses over the next 15 months, U.S. pork producers have apparently begun the expected reduction of the U.S. sow herd. Actual sow slaughter data is known only with a two-week time lag but the mandatory price reporting (MPR) system reports the numbers of sows purchased each day by packers that process 100,000 head or more sows or boars per year. Continued: http://www.thepigsite.com/swin...

(Note: This virus is airborne, IMO. Properly cooked pork doesn't cause a risk of contracting the H3N2v strain, IMO. I will be buying my usual amount of pork at the grocery store every week because I love pork chops, pork roast, ham, etc.)

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 Aug 06, 2012 at 19:28:15 PM UTC

Hi, Carol! The headline "CME" gave me a start,

because I've been reading about Coronal Mass Ejections from the sun, and when CMEs are predicted, I put my computer in a metal file cabinet, to protect it from possible damage.  (Most effects have been at high latitudes so far, though, and the site Space Weather shows photos of the resulting beautiful auroras.) My backup hard drive is stored in a popcorn tin in between backups, too, just in case.

Off topic: today there's a photo of meteors from the Perseid meteor shower: http://www.spaceweather.com/  

Glad this flu is a sort-of regular terrestrial one. lol.

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

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by: Jane @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 14:54:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

US: Clark County girl tests positive for 'swine flu' (Ohio)

An area resident who recently showed animals at the Ohio State Fair has tested positive for swine flu, becoming the first confirmed case of the H3N2 influenza virus in Clark County. The young girl, whose name and age were not released, was exposed to the virus after having direct contact with two hogs that were sent home from the fair in Columbus last week after tests revealed they had swine flu.

Nationwide, more than 30 people have tested positive for the new "swine flu" strain in eight states, including Ohio, since July 2011, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Ohio currently has 15 confirmed cases, including 14 cases in Butler County that were associated with those who had direct contact with swine at their recent county fair.

Clark County Combined Health District Commissioner Charlie Patterson said the local individual was tested for the virus after exhibiting symptoms but was not hospitalized. "This person's family is being watched, and if they have any symptoms they will be tested," Patterson said.

Those sickened with the virus have ranged in age from 3 to 36, but none has resulted in hospitalization, (Snip)

The H3N2 virus contains a gene from the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic (Snip) CDC Influenza Division Deputy Director Dr. Dan Jernigan said the detection of the virus at a few fairs last year and its re-emergence this year makes the disease one to watch closely. "There may be something different about the H3N2 virus in its ability to be more easily transmitted to people that warrants closer monitoring," Jernigan said in a CDC report late last month. (Snip) the acquisition of the gene from the pandemic H1Na virus may make the H3N2 viruses more transmissible.

(Snip)

Local physicians have been notified to look out for signs of influenza-like symptoms, and any suspicious cases will be sent to the Ohio Department of Health for testing. Symptoms of the virus: fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat and muscle aches.

(Snip)

Patterson said officials are investigating other potential cases and have asked physicians to help in the surveillance of the disease. "We don't believe this is the start of contagion, but we want to cross all of our Ts and dot our Is," Patterson said. http://www.whiotv.com/news/new...  

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 Aug 06, 2012 at 23:27:56 PM UTC

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for August 7, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Tue Aug 07, 2012 at 04:05:05 AM UTC