Influenza Virus Mashup

Via the Daily Mail: British children on holiday in Egypt held in filthy hospital for five days due to swine flu fears. Excerpt:

Forty British children - some as young as four - were marched off by armed airport guards as they landed for half-term holidays in Egypt because they were thought to have swine flu.  

Horrified parents watched as officials used draconian legislation to hold anyone with a temperature of more than 38C. 

Some children were kept apart from their parents for five days in a squalid makeshift hospital - even though they had no symptoms of the H1N1 virus. 

Sarah and Chris Kemp said they were terrified when daughter Ellie, eight, was grabbed after the family was scanned by hidden thermal imaging cameras in the terminal at Sharm el Sheikh International.  

Mr Kemp, 39, and Ellie were forced to spend five days of their £1,650 holiday in a ‘hellhole’ hospital, sharing a urine-stained bed in a mosquito-filled room with about 30 other families. 

He said: ‘We were at passport control when this policeman, who was dressed all in white and had a gun, came and grabbed my daughter’s arm without warning. 

‘She was screaming. At first I slapped his hand off her arm but they said as her temperature was 38C they needed to take her to hospital. 

‘They demanded our passports at gunpoint and then refused to give Ellie’s back.’  

Armed guards stopped Mrs Kemp, 36, who insists her daughter had no swine flu symptoms, from staying with them.

Via the Wall Street Journal: Swine Flu Fears Grip Ukraine. Excerpt:

Ukraine introduced some of the strictest measures in the world on Friday to combat swine flu after a spate of deaths in the west of the country. 

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko imposed travel restrictions, banned public gatherings and closed schools and universities for three weeks after the health ministry declared an epidemic of the H1N1 virus. 

The ministry released figures Sunday showing 53 people had died from flu and respiratory infections, although it was unclear how many of these were caused by the H1N1 virus. 

The authorities called for calm as panic and rumors spread. In the capital Kiev, long queues formed at pharmacies on Friday, many of which ran out of medication and face masks. Many put the frenzied reaction down to people’s lack of trust in the authorities. 

“Everyone believes that they have to look after themselves as they cannot rely on the state,” said Tetyana Barvitska, who was queuing at a pharmacy in downtown Kiev having already tried five others.

Via Xinhua: S Korea reports 5 more death cases related to A/H1N1. Excerpt:

South Korea on Sunday reported five more death cases related to A/H1N1 flu, raising the country’s death toll from the new contagious disease to 40.      

According to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, a 45-year-old woman and an 80-year-old woman both living in Seoul area, and a 79-year-old man living in Jeolla area, have died recently due to complications caused by the new contagious disease such as pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.     

The three, who have long suffered from chronic disease, were all regarded as “high-risk” patients, the ministry said.     

Moreover, two earlier death cases were also confirmed directly caused by the new flu virus.     

The two victims were a 24-year-old woman who died on Oct. 29 and was not categorized as a “high-risk” patient, and a 53-year-old man who has long suffered from chronic disease and died on Oct. 30.     

Thus, the new contagious disease has so far claimed 40 lives in South Korea.

Via B92: 162 confirmed swine flu cases. Excerpt:

The number of persons infected with the swine flu is steadily increasing in Serbia, reaching 162 cases thus far. 

Member of the working group for following the swine flu, Nada Milić, said that the three persons who are in serious condition as a result of swine flu infections are currently stable. 

Milić said that the epidemiological situation is being followed closely and that further measures will depend on how the situation develops.

Via the Kyiv Post: Ukraine gets assistance pledge from 12 countries to help combat A(H1N1) flu epidemic. Excerpt:

Twelve countries have expressed their preparedness to provide Ukraine with consultative assistance and equipment and medicines supplies to suppress the A(H1N1) flu epidemic.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko announced this during the conference call meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Saturday. 

Poroshenko said he sent on October 30 letters to the Ukrainian embassies abroad with the instruction to apply to the governments with a request for assistance in the suppression of the epidemic. The letters contained a list of medical equipment and medicines, which has been agreed with the Health Ministry. 

According to the Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine has received answers from 12 countries and the contact with them has been established at the level of the health ministries. He said the contact has been established with member-states of the European Union, the NATO Headquarters, and the World Health Organization. 

He said the contact has been established with the Embassy of India, where 16 pharmaceutical producers have proposed to supply medicines to Ukraine for free.

Via NPR, an interview with presidential adviser David Axelrod: Axelrod On H1N1 Vaccines: ‘We Overpromised’. Excerpt:

David Axelrod, President Obama’s senior adviser, says the administration based its predictions about how many doses of the H1N1 vaccine would be available by mid-October on bad information. Host Scott Simon visited the White House on Friday to ask Axelrod about the criticisms of the government’s handling of the H1N1 vaccine, how the administration counted the number of jobs the stimulus is responsible for, and the controversy over the DNC promising donors access to senior officials at the White House. 

On H1N1 

Scott Simon: On Friday, the president talked about his frustration that H1N1 vaccine hasn’t gotten out to more Americans. In August, the Centers for Disease Control said that 120 million doses would be available. They later scaled that back to 45 million. We’re speaking today, on the last day of October, 25 million doses reportedly are ready. Did the government overpromise? 

David Axelrod: Well, I think the manufacturers overpromised, and what was reported was the representations that were made to us. The fact is that this is a problem that’s abating every day. And yes, we thought we would have 40,000 now, we have 26 — 

Simon: — Forty million — 

Axelrod: — I’m sorry, 40 million. Now we have 26 million. We believe that that is improving on a daily basis, and we’re going to have an ample supply in very short order. So yes, we probably did overpromise, and we overpromised on the basis of what was represented to us.

(Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:26:00 +0000)

# 3924

Pregnant women are understandably reluctant to take any unnecessary medications while carrying a child, and so the uptake rate of flu vaccines in that group is less than many doctors would like to see.

We’ve reports of 3 studies, recently presented at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) in Philadelphia, that indicate benefits of seasonal flu vaccination to the mother and unborn child, that will hopefully improve the rate of vaccination.

With pregnant women more than 6 times more likely to be hospitalized with the pandemic H1N1 virus than other groups, and the poor outcomes that many pregnant women have experienced with this infection, vaccination of pregnant women against influenza has taken on a greater urgency this fall.

Two reports, first from ABC News, and then an excerpt from a longer report by Maryn McKenna at CIDRAP.

Flu Vaccine Benefits Moms and Babies

Doctors May Recommend Flu Shot To Pregnant Patients, Research Suggests

By MICHAEL SMITH
MedPage Today North American Correspondent

For pregnant women, an influenza vaccination leads to bigger babies and infants who are less likely to get the flu, according to three studies presented here.

 

For pregnant women, an influenza vaccination leads to bigger babies and infants who are less likely to get the flu, according to three studies presented at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

 

Experts said the findings — presented at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America — might help persuade pregnant women reluctant to get a flu shot.

 

It might also bring the issue to the attention of obstetricians, who typically do not raise the notion of a flu shot with their patients, said Dr. William Schaffner, infectious disease specialist and chair of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

 

“This is powerful information for obstetricians and pregnant women to have,” said Schaffner, who moderated a news conference at which the studies were discussed.

 

The findings are all the more persuasive, he said, because different investigators, using varied methods, “all came out with the same answer.”

(Continue . . .)

Statins may help patients with severe seasonal flu

Maryn McKenna Contributing Writer

Vaccine benefits in pregnant women

Protection against flu was also recorded in two separate pieces of research announced Thursday. Researchers from Emory University, the Georgia Division of Public Health and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found that seasonal flu vaccination during pregnancy reduced the chance that a woman would give birth prematurely or to a baby of low birth weight.

 

That is probably because infections— even mild ones in which the mother does not realize she is ill—reduce the amount of nutrition that flows from mother to fetus, said co-author Dr. Mark Steinhoff of Cincinnati Children’s. But the authors said women are not taking advantage of that protection: There were 6,410 births during the 2-year study, but only 15% of the mothers had been vaccinated during their pregnancies.

 

In a separate paper, researchers from Yale University School of Medicine found that seasonal flu vaccination during pregnancy appears to protect infants from serious disease during their first 6 months of life, when they cannot receive flu vaccine. In an ongoing, matched case-control study of infants hospitalized for flu or for other reasons, flu vaccine given to the mothers during pregnancy was 85% effective in preventing infants from being hospitalized.

(Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:20:00 +0000)

# 3923

Tomorrow, Monday November 2nd, is the first annual World Pneumonia Day which seeks to increase greater awareness and response to a treatable disease that kills 2 million children every year.

Pneumonia, as a cause of death in children, has largely been defeated in the developed world with the help of antibiotics and vaccines such as the Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) and Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.

But in developing countries around the world, pneumonia continues to take a terrible toll.

WorldPneumoniaday.org brings together an impressive coalition of partners. 

The World Pneumonia Day Coalition is comprised of over 50 organizations including international NGO’s, faith-based groups, academic and medical institutions, professional societies, charitable and advocacy groups and developing country organizations. The Coalition receives technical support from the Centers for Disease Control and Unicef. We welcome new members.

If your organization would like to join the Global Coalition Against Pneumonia: Click here.

There are a variety of social media  tools, videos, and resources available on the WorldPneumoniaday.org  website.

Buttons: Use some of these button templates to make your own button to wear on November 2 and spread the word about World Pneumonia Day.

Fact Sheets and Key Messages: Use these quick and easy information sheets to learn more about who pneumonia is affecting and how we can stop it.  These facts are great things to tell friends, post on your blog, tweet on twitter or put on your social networking profile.

Logos and Flyers: Use one of our logos on your blog or facebook page!  We’ve got a great flyer about wearing blue jeans on November 2.  Pass it around to your office!

Maps & Other Links: These maps show the global disease burden and where life-saving vaccines are available.  These are fabulous visual references to show the global impact of pneumonia and vaccines.

Ressources en Français: Key messages about the disease burden, prevention, protection and treatment in French.  Also, for francphone countries, we have the the World Pneumonia Day Logo in French.

Slides: Find ideas and tips for commemorating World Pneumonia Day, and learn about the activities other countries are planning

Videos: These short video clips are great advocacy and education tools.  Pass them around to friends, family and colleagues.

Web Banner Ads: Show your support for World Pneumonia Day by installing one of our advertisements to your Web site, blog, or social networking profile.

Another great resource can be found at Save The Children, which is a coalition partner in World Pneumonia Day.   

You can do your part, by donating to any of the agencies around the world working to help eradicate this treatable scourge in children, such as CARE, SAVE THE CHILDREN, or UNICEF.

You can also show your support by using the social media tools to spread awareness.