Influenza A H1N1

Talks about Influenza A H1N1.

A year has passed since the first cases of Influenza A H1N1 in Mexico, we had over 18000 deaths confirmed by lab diagnosis and reported to WHO. Surely an underestimate of the total number of cases.

The average mortality was of 0.5% of the confirmed cases, close to the seasonal flu. The mortality values varied a lot from country to country, and inside a country they varied according to different studies, which show the evident necessity of more available tests and a mutual opinion on the measure to be adopted.

Different from the seasonal flu, over 90% of deaths are concentrated in people younger than 65 yeas old, consequence of the previous immunity older people have. Pregnant ladies were also the most affected, although they represent only 1 to 2% of the general population, they were 6 to 10% of the deaths caused by the flu. Other groups also have their immune systems altered like the obese and the immunocompromised and are also among the most susceptible ones.

Treatment

Although bearing the already reported drug resistance to adamantanes drug family, the Influenza of swine origin can be treated with sialidase inhibitors, the drugs Oseltamivir and Zanamivir. Oseltamivir, available to be taken orally is cheaper, is still a very effective treatment, reducing the symptom’s severity and the time of hospitalization.

Some resistance cases were found, the majority isolated cases and in patients with treatment flaw mainly of them with prolonged therapy. Rarely patients without history of contact with the drugs were found with resistant viruses; the transmission of this kind of virus was also confirmed.

Conclusions

It is still very hard to diagnose the Influenza virus as a whole. The main method, the RT-PCR technique (virus genetic material amplification) still depends on recent technology and restricted access to poorer areas. We also depend on samples collected during the period of infection. We still need cheaper and more accessible ways of detecting the virus, as well as different and cheaper ways of treatment.

Influenza A H1N1 seems to become a seasonal virus with symptoms and cases like the common flu, however the virus evolutive course is unpredictable. The prevention and survey set for the Avian Influenza and the “normal” virulence of this virus contributed for the Swine Flu not have caused bigger damage. But we are still far from being protected from more pathogenic strains, in case some of them are transmitted more easily.

H1N1 Flu Vaccine

Article about Bharat Biotech Launches H1N1 Flu Vaccine.

Bharat Biotech announced Monday the launch of cultured cells "indigenously developed vaccine against the H1N1 influenza HNVAC brand. In a press release here, the company said this was the first indigenously developed Indian culture cells H1N1 swine influenza vaccines. It has been tested extensively in phase I, II and III clinical trials in the country and is proven safe and well tolerated. The release said it is developing the world's influenza vaccine produced in cell culture production process is sterile and control, instead of eggs.

The single dose vaccine will be priced competitively. Bharat Biotech’s CMD, Krishna Ella, said their immediate goal was to get the vaccine easily accessible and at an affordable cost to high risk groups. The key benefit of cell culture vaccine was its potential to scale up and produce large quantities when required and enabling quicker response in the event of a pandemic.

The company received the approval from Drugs Controller General of India earlier this month to launch HNVAC vaccine. It was developed with approved strains from WHO and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Atlanta. “USFDA has discouraged the use of egg-based vaccines due to adverse reactions from egg-based proteins, especially in children,” the release added. HNVAC will be made available in the private market and through government procurement agencies.

Seasonal Flu Shots

Talks about seasonal flu shots offered countywide.

This fall, avoiding influenza (flu) should be a top priority. “The best way to protect yourself and your loved ones is by getting this year’s flu shot,” said Dr. Eric Frykman, County Health Officer.
This year the H1N1 flu vaccine has been combined with the seasonal flu vaccine, so only one shot is needed.
Annual flu shots are recommended for everyone over the age of six months.
The flu vaccine is especially important for: pregnant women, children younger than 5 years of age, people 50 years of age and older, people of any age with chronic medical conditions, people who live in nursing homes and other long-term facilities, Health care workers, household contacts and home caregivers for high risk individuals.

Flu shots are available at all ten County Family Care Centers. Walk-in flu clinic hours are 8 – 11:30 a.m. and 1 – 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. No appointment needed. There is no cost for the flu shots at the Family Care Centers, though donations are accepted.
For more information on influenza or where to get a flu shot in Riverside County,

H1N1 Vaccines For Haj Pilgrims

Article about H1N1 vaccines for haj pilgrims.

Abu Dhabi: Haj pilgrims across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi are required to receive vaccinations against H1N1 and Meningitis two weeks prior to travelling, as per an announcement by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (Haad).

Effective from Monday, the free of charge mandated vaccinations will be available in various primary health care centres across Abu Dhabi.

Educational material about the control of communicable diseases, health care requirements and recommendations will also be distributed to Haj pilgrims, who are expected to travel to travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) during Eid Al Adha, from November 14 to 17.

Haj pilgrims are expected to be given two vaccinations this year — one for the seasonal flu, which provides protection against the H1N1 virus, and the Meningococcal vaccine which provides protection against Meningitis.

"All pilgrims must show proof of the vaccination for seasonal flu and Meningococcal vaccination on a valid certificate of vaccination [International Certificate of Vaccination or an authorised vaccination card] before entering the KSA to perform Al Haj," said Dr Farida Al Hosani, acting section head of communicable diseases at Haad.

She added: "Each year millions of people travel to the KSA to perform Haj. Because of the sheer number of pilgrims, and their close proximity to each other in crowded sites, diseases — particularly the bacteria which cause meningitis — can spread quickly between the pilgrims."

Despite H1N1 and meningitis jabs made compulsory for those going to Makkah, Gulf News reported last November, that an expected 6,228 UAE Haj pilgrims would be vaccinated, out of which 5,228 are Emiratis.

However, few turned up for the vaccination.

Vaccinations: Where to go

Haj vaccination is available free of charge in a large number of clinics throughout the emirate.

H1N1: The Swine Flu Virus

Above info about H1N1. What it is and vaccinating information. Try product from the bottom of this blog under sponsor links. ^_^

The H1N1 virus, also known as the swine flu, reached global pandemic levels in 2009. More is known now and you can protect yourself better and stay healthy.

Influenza is a virus that affects millions of people worldwide. There are no cures for viruses and must run their course. Flu shots are available and they are designed to protect against the most common strains of the flu. The H1N1 virus, also dubbed the “swine flu” was a strain mankind had no immunity to, and as a result, caused a global pandemic in 2009.

What the H1N1 Virus is All About

The H1N1 virus is a virus that causes influenza. It is contagious and spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes onto someone else. The germs travel through the air and enter the nose, eyes or throat of someone and infect them. The H1N1 virus can also live on hard surfaces such as countertops and doorknobs and can infect someone when they touch their mouth or nose.

What The Symptoms of the H1N1 Virus Are

Similar to other flus, the H1N1 Virus displays the following symptoms:

• Cough and fever
• Fatigue
• Muscle aches
• Sore Throat
• Headache
• Loss of Appetit
• Runny Nose
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting

How the H1N1 Virus is Different from other Viruses

Because the H1N1 virus is new, your body doesn’t yet have immunity against the virus and your body will begin to aggressively attack it. Your body can attack so aggressively it can attack your healthy organs too, known as a “cytokine storm”. Cytokines are not fully understood, but they are responsible for cell communication. A cytokine storm can be so intense it can overpower the nervous system and lead to breathing problems.

Vaccinations for the H1N1 Virus

Annual shots are available if you want to get a vaccination for the H1N1 virus. You can check Health Canada here for flu clinics near you.

The H1N1 vaccination does have side effects and can cause paralysis among other conditions. Be sure to speak with your doctor before getting the vaccination and weigh your risks.

Treatment for the H1N1 Virus

Once you have H1N1 virus you cannot do anything to make it go away right away. You can use pain medicine to relieve fever and headaches. Stay well hydrated and keep your household clean. Prevention is your best defense against the H1N1 virus.

For people who are at risk of severe disease or very sick, your doctor may recommend and antiviral medication, which can reduce how long it will take to recover from the H1N1 virus.

Read more at Suite101: H1N1: The Swine Flu Virus. What it is and Vaccination Information http://www.suite101.com/content/h1n1-the-swine-flu-virus-what-it-is-and-vaccination-information-a296582#ixzz12LD2orn4

Most People Immune to H1N1 Flu

Here’s article about H1N1.

Swine flu no longer represents a major threat in the United States because so many people are immune to the virus that caused last season's pandemic, health officials said.

Of the 310 million people in the United States, 59 percent are believed to be immune to pandemic H1N1 flu, the researchers said. About 62 million people were vaccinated against the virus, 61 million people were infected by it and another 60 million people 57 or older carry protective antibodies to similar viruses that circulated years ago.

"It's very unlikely that the virus will explode in the fall," said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, an author of the analysis. "We now have evidence of that."

The evidence comes from a flurry of studies of the 2009-10 pandemic carried out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the researchers said. If this virus follows the pattern set by earlier flu bugs, it will die out completely or circulate among people who still are susceptible a year and a half after the virus emerged, the authors report in the journal mBio.

There still are many people who are vulnerable to swine flu, said David Morens, a virologist and historian at NIAID who co-wrote the report with Fauci and colleague Jeffery Taubenberger. "Even with the majority of people in the U.S. immune to the virus, that leaves many tens of millions of people still susceptible," Morens said. "We know the age groups that are most susceptible - people younger than 55 and those with chronic conditions."

The CDC estimates the 2009 H1N1 flu killed about 12,500 and sent 274,000 people to the hospital with respiratory diseases and other complications, a toll that mirrors the latest averages for people who suffer from seasonal flu. The death rate was relatively low compared with other pandemics, especially the 1918 flu, which killed 675,000 people in the United States, Morens said.

So far, he said, the virus hasn't developed "some terrible new mutation" that would make it more lethal, though that still could occur.

For the first time, federal health officials recommend that all people older than 6 months get vaccinated against flu, unless they have an allergy to eggs.

Get The Flu Shot

Article about H1N1. Read, click and try product from the bottom of this blog under sponsor links. ^_^

Last year at this time, a monster called H1N1 was preparing to make life miserable for more than 25,000 Canadians.

By the time the swine flu pandemic had passed, it was responsible for 427 deaths.

This year? Nothing quite as scary on the horizon, but that doesn't mean you can skip the flu shot. If anything, last year proved why everyone should get vaccinated every year, say Niagara's health professionals.

"I have five grandchildren, and they all get immunized ... because I've seen the results of not being immunized," says Donna Kalailieff, manager of the vaccine preventable disease program with Niagara Region Public Health.

She calls last year an "anomaly" because H1N1 surfaced after the regular flu vaccine was already prepared. This led to many people getting two flu shots, and in the case of the H1N1 vaccine, a long wait.

This year's regular flu shot will include the vaccine for H1N1 and two other strains.

The first shipment of vaccines arrived Wednesday, and doctors can start giving shots immediately.

Public Health's flu clinic opens at the MacBain Community Centre Nov. 3, and at the Leisureplex in Fort Erie Nov. 17.

But if you don't want to wait that long, Urgent Care Niagara's flu clinic at 6150 Valley Way opened Friday. In addition, employers can arrange for a free onsite clinic so workers don't have to leave work to get a shot.

Tim Windsor, clinical services director, says there are about 12,000 people in Urgent Care Niagara's database awaiting word on the opening of this year's flu clinics.

As always, part of flu season is educating people what, exactly, the flu shot is.

Protecting Vulnerable Against Influenza

Above thought about influenza.

Many minorities go unvaccinated against influenza, and a huge gap exists between the vaccination of minority and majority populations. In at least 12 states last influenza season, fatalities from H1N1 were four times greater among American Indians and Alaska Natives than for the general population. One study showed that among patients hospitalized by H1N1 in 13 metropolitan areas of 10 states, about 35% were black, whereas 16% were non-Hispanic white.

Influenza resulted in 23,607 deaths per year in the United States during the previous 3 decades. A total of 344 laboratory-confirmed deaths from H1N1 occurred in the pediatric population during the 2009–10 season, compared with 88 in 2007–08 and 69 in 2008–09, with data from specific communities showing that black and Hispanic children were more likely to die from H1N1.

The message is clear: influenza is deadly, costly to society because of lost productivity, and personal—protecting yourself through vaccination is the best way to protect others, particularly those who are susceptible to serious harm from the virus. These and other vital topics were discussed during a webinar titled Reaching Minority and Vulnerable Populations: Getting Ahead of the Curve to Prevent Seasonal Flu, held on October and presented by the Society for Public Health Education.

Urged to Get Flu Shots

Above about health-care workers again urged to get flu shots.

In years past, about six in 10 health-care workers nationwide would skip the annual flu shot, even as public-health experts preached its importance.

Last year, because of the H1N1 flu scare, those numbers were reversed - 60 percent of health-care workers nationwide were vaccinated, according to preliminary data.

National health leaders want to build on that interest by telling health-care workers that they have an ethical obligation to lower the risk that they'll get sick.

"Every health-care worker has a responsibility to protect their patients and that includes vaccination," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That message appears to be getting through in Columbus, where a majority of hospital employees were vaccinated last season and hospital leaders continue to push for higher rates.

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases shared survey results yesterday showing that 95 percent of 400 primary-care physicians said they have been or plan to be vaccinated against flu this year.

Dr. William Schaffner, president of the group, said that news was encouraging, especially considering the historically low rates of vaccination among all health-care workers.

Although H1N1 was the motivation last year, 60 percent of health-care workers got the seasonal vaccine that was available earlier. Since the H1N1 vaccine became available later in the year, less than 40 percent of have gotten that vaccine.

Health officials now say that everyone 6 months and older should be vaccinated.

Columbus hospitals last season drove their vaccination numbers much higher than the national average of about 40 percent among all health-care workers.

Nationwide Children's Hospital is continuing last year's policy of withholding raises for those employees who refuse the vaccine. Last year, that policy (which exempts those who have a medical or religious reason) helped them get about 97 percent of employees vaccinated with the H1N1 and seasonal vaccines, said Dr. Dennis Cunningham, physician director for epidemiology and infection control.

"You have to have some teeth in the policy," he said.

Strategies Halt Pandemic Diseases like H1N1

Here’s thought about H1N1.

A recent study led by Dr. Parviez Hosseini, a senior research fellow from EcoHealth Alliance (formerly Wildlife Trust), explains the importance of identifying global pandemic risk factors as early as possible, in order to predict the spread of diseases like H1N1 "swine" flu and SARS. "Predictive Power of Air Travel and Socio-Economic data for Early Pandemic Spread," recently published in the scientific publication PLoS ONE, examines the interplay among travel, trade, and national healthcare resources in predicting the emergence and spread of H1N1 and other viruses.

The report points to the need for improved surveillance of diseases in traded livestock and rapid deployment of control measures in those countries first affected – especially countries in the predicted path of the disease and those with fewer healthcare resources. "The most benefit accrues when higher-income countries provide additional resources to lower-income countries, particularly those that have high-volume air traffic," said Dr. Hosseini. "International authorities should earmark more aid for the poorest countries where the risk of emerging infectious diseases is highest, in order to detect infections as early as possible, and to reduce the human and economic disaster of global pandemics."

2009 H1N1 Outbreak Lessons Learned

By May 2009, two weeks after cases of the A/H1N1 strain was first reported, the disease had already spread to 24 countries, 40 U.S. states, and nine Canadian provinces. The rapid spread of this disease was due in large part to consumer air travel exacerbated by slow reporting in countries with the fewest healthcare resources. "We might one day be able to predict the emergence of viruses and develop vaccines more quickly; however, in order to do so, we first need to have greater surveillance in countries with the fewest healthcare resources," Hosseini said.

Last year's strain of H1N1 was relatively mild; however, if a more dangerous strain like the H5N1 "avian flu" subtype were to spread similarly, the outcome would be catastrophic in terms of human suffering and economic damage. Were this to occur, the economic cost has been estimated between $71 billion and $167 billion. "The measures we propose are likely to have economic benefits that far outweigh their costs," according to Hosseini.

Among the key conclusions and strategies recommended in the report were the following:

1. Expanded surveillance for diseases in livestock populations – Only through surveillance can scientists predict the emergence of diseases, and develop vaccines in advance of their spread; however, even dramatic reductions in the international live animal trade may not prevent the exposure of local livestock to new types of viruses from distant locations.
2. Leverage major airport hubs to halt the spread of disease – Rather than rely solely on travel restrictions, airports serving as major transportation hubs could also become venues both for disease surveillance, as well as serve double duty as facilities to train people and stockpile medicines in preparation for pandemics.

Read more: http://www.centredaily.com/2010/10/06/2254487/ecohealth-alliance-study-highlights.html#ixzz11kko0hHV

400 new Patient in North

Above about 400 new patient.

Over 400 new patients in the northern region of Thailand have been diagnosed as infected with Influenza Type A(H1N1) in only the month of September, the Office of Disease Prevention and Control 10
in Chiang Mai reported on Wednesday.

Following the ongoing spread of the A(H1N1) virus in the eight northern provinces, Dr Saowanee Wiboonsanti, deputy director of the Chiang Mai prevention and control office, confirmed that 437 new patients had contracted the A(H1N1) flu based on laboratory test results last month.

Most new infections were found in Chiang Mai, Lampang and Phayao.

In Chiang Mai, the number of new patients stands at 97 while this year’s cumulative toll has reached 664.

Meanwhile, 157 new cases were reported in Lampang with the 2010 total of 226 patients.

Phayao residents currently suffering from the A(H1N) strain reached 145 while the number of overall patients totalled 271 persons.

Dr Saowanee explained that most new infections, 53 per cent of the new patients, were students, followed by young children.

According to the report, this year’s cumulative number of deaths in the eight northern provinces was 11 which included nine fatalities registered in Chiang Mai.

In response to the current spread of the A(H1N1) flu, local health workers will closely monitor the situation, and common flu patients, as well as educating the public about hygienic measures to prevent the spread of the disease,
Dr Saowanee said.

She also urged high-risk groups to receive anti-A(H1N1) flu shots, aiming to boost immunity against the virus.