One More H1N1 Victim Reported in Vietnam

Today's article about H1N1 cases.

The Center for Preventive Medicine in the central province of Quang Nam has confirmed the death of 47 Do Van Tuong Tam Ky Town deadly H1N1 virus. This is the first death in the Central Province.

Tuong was admitted to the General Hospital on Feb. 22 with symptoms of fever and respiratory failure. When his condition worsened, he was transferred for further processing in a large hospital in Da Nang. However, all efforts by doctors have not been successful because his condition worsened. He died four days later.

The doctors at the Center for Preventive Medicine has helped her parents in the conduct of funeral procedures in accordance with the rules. They also took blood samples from relatives and all doctors who have had contact with him in the general hospital. Test results showed that the wife and daughter were H1N1 positive cases. They were immediately quarantined.

Seasonal Flu Vaccination Result in Higher Risk of Pandemic Flu Infection?

These article about seasonal flu vaccination.

Recent studies have suggested that vaccination with seasonal influenza vaccine resulted in an apparent higher risk of infection with pandemic influenza H1N1 2009. Geoffry N. Mercer, of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at Australian National University in Canberra, Australia, and colleagues, constructed a simple mathematical model incorporating strain competition and a hypothesised temporary strain-transcending immunity to investigate this observation. The model assumes that seasonal vaccine has no effect on the risk of infection with pandemic influenza.

The researchers say that results of the model over a range of reproduction numbers and effective vaccination coverage confirm this apparent increased risk in the Northern, but not the Southern, hemisphere. This is due to unvaccinated individuals being more likely to be infected with seasonal influenza (if it is circulating) and developing hypothesised temporary immunity to the pandemic strain. Because vaccinated individuals are less likely to have been infected with seasonal influenza, they are less likely to have developed the hypothesised temporary immunity and are therefore more likely to be infected with pandemic influenza. If the reproduction number for pandemic influenza is increased, as it is for children, an increase in the apparent risk of seasonal vaccination is observed. The maximum apparent risk effect is found when seasonal vaccination coverage is in the range of 20 percent to 40 percent.

Mercer, et al. conclude that only when pandemic influenza is recently preceded by seasonal influenza circulation is there a modeled increased risk of pandemic influenza infection associated with prior receipt of seasonal vaccine. Their research was published in BMC Public Health.

H1N1 Vaccine Launched in Cameroon

Article about Cameroon launches huge H1N1 vaccine campaign.

The government says it only has a restricted amount of the vaccine from the WHO and is targeting population segments with the highest risks of astringent the H1N1 virus.

Dr.Robinson Mbu is director of the Family Health Department of Health says that 1.3 million doses of vaccine available for children 5 to 15 years, people over 65, women at least the fourth month of pregnancy, labor health and people with chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, sickle cell anemia and HIV.

The nationwide vaccination effort follows a government announcement in October that 75 cases of H1N1 had been detected. The Ministry of Health says no deaths have been recorded. A swine flu pandemic killed tens of thousands across the world last year.

H1N1 is a contagious respiratory virus containing a combination of different influenza viruses endemic in pigs. Scientists say transmission from animals to humans is not common. They say it is not contracted by eating properly cooked pork, although people who often come in contact with swine may be more exposed to the virus.

It is spread among people when infected persons cough, sneeze or speak. People can also get infected by touching contaminated surfaces and objects. Within a day, they may be contagious, even before they begin to exhibit symptoms, including fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue. Health care practitioners say the resemblance to flu makes early detection a problem and can facilitate its rapid spread.

Last May, 35 African countries formally notified the WHO of a combined total of 18,500 confirmed cases of the flu and a death toll of 168. South Africa alone accounted for more than two-thirds of the cases.

As a preventive measure; Cameroon inoculated a thousand supporters of its soccer team travelling to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. But the effort was not enough to prevent infections.

The renewed effort to eradicate the disease is being carried out by hundreds of health workers at public hospitals across the country. Others are going house-to-house and school-to-school to ensure its success amid concerns that pockets of resistance may emerge.

Previous vaccination campaigns for other diseases have met with resistance, especially from some religious groups that suspect a veiled scheme by the West to render parts of the population sterile.

But Dr. Tsafack Rose Ernestine, a vaccination team leader in Cameroon’s largest city, Douala, says the claims are unfounded.

She says she is counting on journalists to deflect such myths. In principle, the campaign should end on October 30 but will be extended if resistance emerges. She says about 65 million people around the world have received the vaccine and are not complaining of sterility.

The vaccine being administered in Cameroon is branded Paneza and is made in Spain. Health care practitioners say it provides immunity for between 9 and 12 months. They say its only known side effect is mild dizziness. But they warn that persons allergic to eggs should avoid getting the shot because some batches are made from them. In those who are allergic, the vaccine can provoke Guillain-Barre, a rare syndrome that can cause nervous and muscle disorders.

Local traditional rulers are joining the effort to inform the public about the vaccine. A Douala canton chief, HM Essaka Ekwalla, is calling on his subjects to ignore the skeptics and rush to be vaccinated.

He says there is nothing to lose because the vaccine is free and causes no pain. He says old people like himself will benefit hugely from getting vaccinated because if they are Suffer with the virus, it will become hard to breathe, and they could die. The vaccine, says the conventional rulers, is cover against premature death.

Meanwhile, the government has been applauded by WHO and its partners to provide the H1N1 vaccine for free. Health Minister, Andre Mama Fouda, says that poor countries like Cameroon could not afford to fund mass vaccines on their own.

H1N1 Killed 70 Children in 9 Months

About UK study show H1N1 killed 70 children in 9 months.

Scientists studying swine flu have found that 70 children died from it in England in a 9 month period during the H1N1 pandemic and death rates were worst among ethnic minority children and those with other health problems.

In a study in the Lancet medical journal, Liam Donaldson, the former Chief Medical Officer for England, said children from the country's Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities had much higher mortality than white British children, as did children with serious pre-existing illnesses -- especially chronic neurological diseases such as cerebral palsy.

These high-risk groups should be a priority for H1N1 vaccination, Donaldson and his research team said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), which declared the pandemic over in August, some 18,450 people worldwide are confirmed to have died from H1N1, including many pregnant women and young people. But the WHO says it will take at least a year after the pandemic ends to determine the true death toll, which is likely to be much higher.

Experts say H1N1 swine flu virus has now taken over as the main seasonal flu strain and health authorities that run annual flu campaigns have included it in regular seasonal flu vaccines.

Donaldson's team said their findings of high death rates among ethnic minorities were consistent with reports from the United States of minorities suffering more severe illness during the H1N1 pandemic.

"This finding might be attributable to clustering of pandemic influenza A H1N1 cases in areas of England with high ethnic minority populations -- such as London and the West Midlands," they wrote in their study.

The findings in England also showed that from 26 June 2009 to 22 March 2010:

* The overall childhood death rate for H1N1 was 6 per million population.

* The rate was highest for children aged under 1 year, at 14 deaths per million population.

* Death rates were higher for Bangladeshi children (47 deaths per million population) and Pakistani children (36) than for white British children (4).

* Of the 70 children who died of H1N1, 21 percent were previously healthy and 64 percent had severe pre-existing disorders.

* Overall, 45 of the children had received the antiviral flu drug oseltamivir, sold under the brand name Tamiflu, but only seven had had it within 48 hours of the onset of their symptoms and only three had it before they were admitted to hospital.

* Only two of the children who died had received an H1N1 vaccine -- too late for it to be effective.

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.

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.

H1N1 Positive Cases

Four more positive H1N1.

Four relatives of the 27-year-old woman from Mahbubnagar who succumbed to swine flu on Thursday, tested positive on Friday.

The four have not been admitted to the hospital but have been home quarantined. All four had been in contact with the woman before she passed away. These four cases are among the 14 who are currently under observation for showing symptoms of the virus.

State health officials said that people with swine flu symptoms should report to notified health facilities at the earliest.

An update on H1N1

These about H1N1.

The number of GP consultations for influenza-like illness appears stable after increasing over the past three weeks. Many general practices are seeing more young children who are unwell. There is certainly evidence of winter illnesses in the community and the predominant influenza virus is likely to be the pandemic strain. 

Healthline, New Zealand's free health 24 hour health advice line has seen a slight increase in the number of calls regarding people with influenza-like illnesses. Over the past week just over 17% of all calls to Healthline were people calling with influenza-like illnesses.

Kerala: H1N1 takes on 16 lives

Above about H1N1 in Kerala.

New Delhi, June 15^th: The Union Government today decided to send a three-member team to Kerala as a fresh outbreak of influenza A (H1N1) in two districts of the state has caused at least 16 deaths in the past one month.

An official press release said the the pandemic had started showing an increasing trend with the onset of the monsoon in Kerala. It said the outbreak was confined to Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts of south Kerala.

In all, there had been 201 laboratory-confirmed cases of the flu and 16 deaths, the release said. Nine of those who died were pregnant women.

The central team, that is expected to leave here tomorrow, will consist of Dr Sunil Gupta, Joint Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi, Dr Pradeep Khasnobis, Epidemiologist, NCDC, and Dr B V Tandale, Scientist, National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.

The release said the State Government had sought support in terms of drugs, vaccines and personal protective equipment (PPE) and these were being sent to the state immediately. The items include oseltamivir capsules, oseltamivir suspension, vaccines and masks.

The release said Kerala had earlier received 45,000 doses of vaccine. The utilisation for healthcare workers is about 92 per cent, it said.

According to the release, the state government had sought one lakh doses of vaccine to vaccinate pregnant women. It said the bridging study of Sanofi Pasteur or the clinical trials conducted by Zydus Cadila did not include pregnant women.

H1N1 (Swine Flu)

Here’s about H1N1 nowadays.

The head of the WHO said Tuesday that her decisions about swine flu were not influenced by advisers’ links to pharmaceutical companies, which were pointed out in a critical journal article this month.

Three scientists out of 22 who worked on the guidelines were named as having received some money from pharmaceuticals. The scientists did not work at the drug companies, but were paid for things like speaking at meetings sponsored by them.

The guidelines recommend, among other things, that countries consider buying antivirals and vaccines to combat a pandemic. The authors of the BMJ article suggest, without providing direct evidence, that these scientists’ ties to pharmaceutical companies influenced WHO’s recommendation that countries buy drugs and vaccines — adding to those drug companies’ profits. “Our investigation has revealed damaging issues,” wrote Deborah Cohen of BMJ and journalist Philip Carter. “These conflicts of interest have never been disclosed by WHO.

WHO’s handling of the outbreak is being reviewed by a 29-member expert panel that will report its findings next year. Critics say many of those panelists are also trusted WHO advisers and government employees who could end up whitewashing any failures. “At no time, not for one second, did commercial interests enter my decision-making,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said.

Chan insisted she was open to the panel’s criticism. “Should this committee decide that the current definition of a pandemic and the phases leading up to its declaration need to be tightened or otherwise revised, this will be another recommendation that we will welcome, and act on.”

The U.S. Health and Human Services department defended the U.N. body. “WHO handled the outbreak in a very measured and appropriate manner,” said Bill Hall, an HHS spokesman. “Their decisions were driven by the existing and evolving conditions at the time.” He said there was “no indication whatsoever that any of their decisions were influenced by industry.” Other leading officials agreed.

“There was nothing in those guidelines that was not based on the best science available,” said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota who has advised the U.S. on pandemic preparations. He said the scientists consulted were the world’s top flu experts and to not include them would have been a major flaw. Osterholm said that because flu viruses are unpredictable, it was impossible for anyone to predict last spring that swine flu would not evolve into a more lethal strain.

He slammed the BMJ article, calling it “irresponsible and reckless,” and said its authors had not substantiated their claims WHO behaved inappropriately during the pandemic. “It’s akin to shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre without regard to the consequences,” Osterholm said. He said while WHO should be subjected to the highest scrutiny, BMJ’s accusations had done “untold damage to the public health infrastructure of the world.”

Harvey Fineberg, the president of the Institute of Medicine in Washington, said the review panel which he heads will hear from critics of WHO when it next meets from June 30 to July 2. A report published by the Council of Europe last week said the guidelines from WHO, European Union agencies and national governments led to a “waste of large sums of public money and unjustified scares and fears about the health risks faced by the European public.” The agency is not an EU body.

Dangerous or exaggerated?

Above about H1N1.

When H1N1 broke out in Mexico, many reports of death and widespread illness were made. While it is true that many people died or became very ill in countries like Mexico, this is mostly because of a lack of treatment opportunities. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization, or WHO, has blown it out of proportion and made US citizens think it was fatal no matter where you lived. I do think that H1N1's reputation was amplified when people got word of it and panicked. Many schools were actually shut down because of just a couple of cases, and clinics were created just to test for symptoms.

There were fewer deaths from Swine Flu than from the normal influenza, and less than 1% of patients are currently being hospitalized. H1N1 is expected to come back during the normal time when flu comes, and seems like it will be around for a while. However, unless if it mutates into something worse, there is nothing to be afraid of.

H1N1 flu incidence rated low

Above About H1N1.

The last update of the spread of influenza in Florida, shows sporadic activity in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties and 24 counties reported no known activity at all.
Florida Department of Health has published its findings on Wednesday, February 3rd. They showed that 201 Floridians died of the flu virus H1N1, which began the exchange in the world last spring. A total of 1233 people were hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed H1N1. Influenza activity is similar to the flu season earlier this time.
There is no evidence that the virus has evolved into a more virulent form, or in Florida, and the rest of the United States or elsewhere in the world.

H1N1 flu cases

Here about H1N1 flu case.

A 7-year-old boy is the latest case of novel influenza H1N1 to be confirmed at Fort Gordon, the post announced Wednesday.

The boy was seen at Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center on July 15, given anti-viral medication and sent home to recover, according to a news release. The boy is a child of a military member, but it was unclear where the child resides.

The child is the 18th case at the post this year, spokeswoman Marla Jones said. The fort has contingency plans to isolate sick personnel should the need arise, but those plans are not in effect, she said.

"We would have to have a large number of cases that the hospital couldn't handle," Ms. Jones said.

As with most of the military samples, the tests are being confirmed in the laboratory of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine in San Antonio. Georgia, which is only testing severely ill and hospitalized patients suspected of having the new virus, has seen 178 confirmed cases as of last week, with one confirmed death.

South Carolina has had 228 lab-confirmed cases as of July 10, including 13 in Aiken County.

Talks about volunteers needed H1N1 vaccine trials

Above about H1N1 vaccine trials.

Healthy volunteers may help the rest of us stay that way if the H1N1 virus makes a comeback in the fall.

In August, Rochester Clinical Research in Irondequoit will begin testing vaccines against the so-called swine flu, and the company needs about 300 volunteers of all ages.

Six vaccines are being tested among more than a dozen sites across the country, and RCR will be testing four, according to Patricia Larrabee, president and chief executive officer. Should any or all of the vaccines prove effective against H1N1, they could be used during the upcoming flu season.

RCR is the only Monroe County site involved in testing vaccines.

The University of Rochester is not involved in clinical trials to test the effectiveness of H1N1 vaccines being developed. But if the vaccines are used during the flu season, UR researchers would track how well they do the job.

H1N1 has stayed in the news since emerging this spring and there is concern that it could re-emerge in the fall with a vengeance. Research to be published in the journal Nature reported that swine flu multiplies in the respiratory system with more severity than seasonal flu. The current H1N1 has been compared to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

Questions remain about how an H1N1 vaccine would be administered and which age groups would get priority. Traditionally, the elderly have been given precedence with vaccines against seasonal flu. But H1N1 has tended to be more troublesome for younger people. “Under 20 is where we’ve seen the bulk of the disease,” said Dr. Andrew Doniger, director of the Monroe County Health Department.

Public health officials also have to determine whether an H1N1 vaccine would be given at the same time as a seasonal flu vaccine. Other logistical issues, such as how the vaccine would be distributed, still need to be worked out.

But, as Doniger points out, fall — when flu vaccines start to be given — is coming. Usually it takes months for researchers to get to the stage of a clinical trial. For example, researchers have been working for two years on a vaccine for avian flu, Larrabee said.

But the quick start to this trial has researchers running a drill. RCR received word in June that it would run a clinical trial. Its first trial begins the first week of August. Another will start two weeks later and a third is scheduled for September.

Depending on the age group, Larrabee said that RCR needs as few as 10 people and as many as 160 for the trials. Worldwide, several thousand people will be needed.

RCR’s job is to make sure volunteers are eligible to participate, then administer the vaccine and prepare the volunteers’ blood to be analyzed.

In order to protect the integrity of the study, neither the researchers nor the volunteers will know who gets a placebo and who gets the vaccine.

11th death of H1N1 in New Zealand

Here about death of H1N1.

The number of deaths from Influenza A/H1N1 in New Zealand rose to 11 on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health said.

    The latest death was a child who had underlying medical conditions and died within the past week.

    There were a total of 2,443 confirmed cases of Influenza A/H1N1in New Zealand on Tuesday, up from 2,368 on Monday.

    But the actual number of confirmed cases will be significantly higher, as only a small proportion of people with symptoms are being tested.

    There are 74 people in hospital with influenza A/H1N1, 26 of whom are in intensive care. Half of those in intensive care are in hospitals in Auckland.

    The New Zealand government said Influenza A/H1N1 has not yet peaked and health services remain under pressure.

    The health authorities said they were prepared for a possible increase in flu cases which the Health Ministry said could happen as a result of children returning to school from holidays this week.

H1N1 cases hit Becker County

Above about H1N1 flu.

After 10 children attending a Concordia Language camp at Maplelag were sent home on July 11 with suspected H1N1 infection, Becker County Human Services is concerned that when the virus hits a large population of Becker County, particularly during the school year, they may not have sufficient funds to handle the pandemic or distribute vaccines.

Four of the 10 children, who are from all around the country, including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and Virginia state, were tested and confirmed to have the H1N1 virus, also known as Swine Flu, said Becker County Community Health Supervisor Ronda Stock.

In addition, camp workers have likely also been affected, Stock said.

Although the spread of H1N1 has been so fast that it is now considered a pandemic, she stressed that the severity of the flu is not as bad as some people think – certainly not as bad as the famed 1918 Spanish flu that killed millions.

“It’s a flu, but for those of us that are reasonably healthy, we’re going to withstand this,” she said. “But we need to stay home and not spread it.”

Only four of the 10 children were tested for the virus, Stock said, because the policy right now is to mainly go with “symptomology,” and only test severe cases.

The main concern for the county at this point, she said, is the ramifications that come from a wide population being sick for seven to nine days – the recommended length of isolation if a person has H1N1.

“If you have three or two children that are school age, and they can’t go to school for seven days and two more days after they’re symptom free, that’s nine days of daycare you don’t have, that’s nine days of reimbursement for the schools,” she said. “The ramifications are quite huge, not to mention, if you talk high school age, how are those kids going to make requirements for graduation? It’s really quite huge. I don’t want to minimize the impact of this.”

At Tuesday’s joint city-county-school board-chamber meeting, Nancy Nelson, Becker County’s Human Services director, expressed concern that the county won’t be able to pay for an imminent pandemic.

“In unallotments, the money for this was slashed — we have no money,” she said. “In the event that there is a vaccine this fall, which is up in the air, we need the funds to give that. We have none. We have not even the supplies to give that, but also for the staff to do a large mass dispensive.”

Stock also said it was a “huge concern.”

“I have no funds for a pandemic,” she said. “I’ve got seven nurses for 30,000 people … I can only hope that if the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) does give me the antivirals, that they’ll give the stuff to do it with, the syringes, the gloves, the Band-Aids, all that has to come out of local public health dollars.”

Nelson said at the meeting that she was confident it would hit hard during the school year.

“That’s what we’re planning for. We do think it’s going to hit,” Nelson said. “To say it’s a possibility is not realistic, I think it’s going to happen. How hard it happens is the thing.”

Although these are the first confirmed cases, Stock said it’s likely there have been other people in the county that have had it and not been tested, which she said is fine for people that are in good health and can handle it.

Symptoms are similar to a seasonal flu, including headaches, sore throat, and a fever, but mostly very bad body aches.

“Where your skin, your eyelashes, your toenails absolutely ache, and you can’t do anything,” Stock said.

Since a vaccine hasn’t been developed yet, Stock said the best prevention measures are basic hygiene rules like washing your hands, coughing into your elbow, and staying home if you think you’re sick.

H1N1 spread so fast

 

Above about virus H1N1 spread too fast.

GENEVA, July 16 (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday that the H1N1 flu pandemic was the fastest-moving pandemic ever and that it was now pointless to count every case.
The United Nations agency, which declared an influenza pandemic on June 11, revised its requirements so that national health authorities need only report clusters of severe cases or deaths caused by the new virus or unusual clinical patterns.
"The 2009 influenza pandemic has spread internationally with unprecedented speed. In past pandemics, influenza viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks," it said in a statement on the new strain, commonly known as swine flu.
It has become nearly impossible for health authorities and laboratories to keep count of individual cases -- which have mostly been mild -- as the virus spreads, according to the 193 member-state agency.
The new flu strain can be treated by antivirals such as Roche Holding's (ROG.VX) Tamiflu or GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK.L) Relenza, but many patients recover without medical treatment.
Flu experts say at least a million people are infected in the United States alone, and the WHO says the pandemic is unstoppable.
"It is very much agreed that trying to register and report every single case is a huge waste of resources," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
Such tracking has limited authorities' capacity to investigate serious cases and is no longer essential to monitor the level or nature of the risk posed by the virus, WHO said.
However, all countries should still closely monitor unusual clusters of severe or fatal infections from the pandemic virus, clusters of respiratory illness requiring hospitalisation or unexplained or unusual clinical patterns.
"Signals to be vigilant for include spikes in rates of absenteeism from schools or workplaces, or a more severe disease pattern, as suggested by, for example, a surge in emergency department visits," it said.
Britain reported on Thursday that 29 people had died to date after contracting the virus. Health Minister Andy Burnham said this month the government was projecting more than 100,000 new cases a day of the flu in the country by the end of August.
The WHO will no longer issue global tables showing the numbers of confirmed cases for all countries -- which stood at 94,512 cases with 429 deaths as of its last update on July 6.
Instead, it will issue regular updates on the situation in newly affected countries, which should report the first confirmed cases, weekly figures and epidemiological details.
Countries should still test a limited number of virus samples weekly to confirm that disease is actually due to the pandemic virus and to monitor any virological changes that may be important for the development of vaccines, it said.

About Swine influenza

Above about Swine influenza.

Swine influenza (also called swine flu, hog flu and pig flu) is an infection of a host animal by any one of several specific types of swine influenza virus. In 2009 the media labeled as "swine flu" flu caused by 2009's new strain of swine-origin A/H1N1 pandemic virus just as it had earlier dubbed as "avian flu" flu caused by the recent Asian-linage HPAI (High Pathogenic Avian Influenza) H5N1 strain that is still endemic in many wild bird species in several countries.

A swine influenza virus (SIV) is any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is usually hosted by (is endemic in) pigs.^[2] As of 2009, the known SIV strains are the influenza C virus and the subtypes of the influenza A virus known as H1N1, H1N2, H3N1, H3N2, and H2N3. Swine flu is common throughout pig populations worldwide.

Transmission of swine influenza virus from pigs to humans is not common and does not always cause human influenza, often only resulting in the production of antibodies in the blood. The meat of the animal poses no risk of transmitting the virus when properly cooked. If transmission does cause human influenza, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People who work with pigs, especially people with intense exposures, are at increased risk of catching swine flu. In the mid-20th century, identification of influenza subtypes became possible, which allows accurate diagnosis of transmission to humans. Since then, fifty confirmed transmissions have been recorded. Rarely, these strains of swine flu can pass from human to human. In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general, namely chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort. Pigs can also become infected with human influenza, and this appears to have happened during the 1918 flu pandemic.^[3]

The 2009 swine flu outbreak in humans is due to a new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 that contains genes closely related to swine influenza.^[4] The origin of this new strain is unknown. However, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reports that this strain has not been isolated in pigs.^[5] This strain can be transmitted from human to human,^[6] and causes the normal symptoms of influenza.