Influenza Virus Mashup

Via Thanh Nien Daily: Bird flu returns to northern Vietnam. Excerpt:

Two communes in the northern mountainous province of Dien Bien reported cases of bird flu on Wednesday. 

Around 1,500 fowls have been disposed of in two communes of Dien Bien District since Monday after the H5N1 virus was spotted on January 14, the second time in 11 months at Thanh Hung Commune and third time at Thanh Yen Commune. 

The provincial government has banned the slaughter and transport of chicken as well as trading in fowls from the two communes. 

It also tightened control over poultry breeding in other communes around the district and at the province’s capital city of Dien Bien Phu.

Via the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau: Consolidated status of influenza AH1N1 as on 28th January 2010. India reports 28,711 confirmed cases and 1,210 deaths.

Via Antara: Hundreds of chickens die of bird flu. Excerpt:

Hundreds of chickens have died of bird flu (Avian Indluenza) at Teluk Kuali village, Tebo Ulu sub district, Tebo District, Jambi Province, a local official said here on Thursday. 

The death of the chickens was reported last Tuesday (Jan. 26), according to Muhsin, head of the Tebo district animal husbandry and fishery office.

Via Thaindian News, a report datelined New Delhi: Bird flu spreads to more areas in West Bengal. Excerpt:

While culling continued in bird-flu hit West Bengal, new epicentres have emerged since the government confirmed the virus Jan 14, health authorities said here. 

Nearly 125,751 birds have been culled in the state, authorities said. 

“Culling of birds has started and so far 125,751 birds have been culled. About 15,453 eggs have been destroyed,” said a statement issued here. 

Officials also said the avian influenza is spreading to new areas. The government notified the outbreak in Hazrabati and Nagar villages in block Khargram of district Murshidabad Jan 14 and since then more epicentres - Haripur, Ninur, Pathai, Jhajra and Sankarpur - have surfaced in the same block, officials added. 

State health authorities have also confirmed outbreaks in the Faridpur, Budua, Khorjona, Simulia villages of Burwan block.

Via STV News: Swine flu cases on the rise. Excerpt:

The number of people catching swine flu in Scotland increased in the past week, figures revealed. 

An estimated 3,980 Scots contracted the H1N1 virus, compared with 3,770 the previous week. 

The rate of GP consultations for flu-like illness decreased from 92.9 to 89.6 per 100,000. Of those, 12.3% tested positive for the virus. 

Six people required hospital treatment for swine flu over the week.

Via BBC News: Woman with swine flu dies in Northern Ireland. Excerpt:

A woman with swine flu has died in Northern Ireland. 

The woman had underlying medical conditions. Her death was announced in the Department of Health’s weekly swine flu update. 

To date, 20 people from Northern Ireland who had swine flu have died. Eighteen of them died in NI, one in England and one in Spain. 

Overall, swine flu consultations, detections and hospitalisations are continuing to decline.
This was welcomed by Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride, although he said he was concerned this could “lead to complacency”. 

“I must reinforce the importance of vaccination of those in the at-risk groups,” he said.

(Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:01:00 +0000)

# 4302

It’s been nearly 2 months since I last highlighted CIDRAP’s Promising Practices Website, and since that time they’ve added a number of locally created preparedness programs that can serve as an outline for other communities to learn from or follow.  

If you are interested in starting a community preparedness program, rather than re-invent the wheel, a visit to this website makes a lot of sense.  

Some of the newest entries on the site include:

 

· H1N1 Vaccine Clinics for Medically Fragile Children (RI) describes a process for holding H1N1 vaccination clinics for children with severe neurological illnesses or other severe, chronic medical conditions. View Practice

 

· Resource Manual Ensures Smooth Clinic Operations (SC) details how public health officials created a manual with all of the materials and protocols necessary to ensure consistent vaccination clinic operations throughout the region. View Practice

 

· Mass Vaccination Clinic Held at Baseball Stadium (IL) describes how Illinois used a baseball stadium, a team mascot, and a Santa Claus to provide a comfortable environment in a mass vaccination clinic for children. View Practice

 

· Tracking H1N1 Trends Through Electronic Prescription Records (RI) describes how the health department uses electronic prescription records to identify outbreaks or inappropriate use of antivirals. View Practice

 

· Faith-Based Collaboration Provides Outreach in Multiple Languages (CT) details how establishing communication channels with community organizations can make important information available to hard-to-reach populations. View Practice

 

· Training for Community Agencies to Plan for H1N1 and People with Special Needs (RI) describes a three-day seminar to train community leaders in responding to H1N1 issues among their clientele. View Practice

 

These are but a few of the more than 220 practices available.   If you’ve never visited their site, or haven’t been there in awhile, point your browser in their direction.  

But you’d better pack a lunch.

There’s a lot to be gleaned there.

Via Radio Prague: Klaus steps in to stop mandatory swine flu vaccinations for soldiers. Excerpt:

President Vaclav Klaus has stepped in to stop mandatory vaccination of Czech soldiers against swine flu, telling Army staff the order to vaccinate all 16,000 soldiers was “highly controversial, if not unacceptable.” 

Mr Klaus – formally commander-in-chief of the Czech Armed Forces – announced in a statement on Wednesday that he’d asked the Defence Ministry to make vaccination voluntary. The ministry, it seems, has jumped to attention. 

President Klaus appears unconvinced that the Czech Republic is in the grip of a swine flu epidemic. On Thursday he published a letter to the country’s chief hygiene officer asking him to clarify whether the swine flu situation in the Czech Republic indeed constituted an epidemic or pandemic. This information, he said, was crucial in his decisions as commander-in-chief of the Czech Army. 

Mr Klaus has already published a statement saying soldiers were “not guinea pigs” and called mandatory swine flu vaccination of all 16,000 soldiers plus civilian staff “unacceptable”. 

So far the Czech Republic has registered 2,381 confirmed cases of swine flu, with 95 deaths, the vast majority of them among people with existing medical conditions. 

A number of Czech doctors have publicly refused to vaccinate either themselves or their patients, saying the possible health risks outweighed the benefits. The Health Ministry has accused them of ignorance, saying they lack the proper information.

(Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:31:00 +0000)

# 4301

A couple of weeks ago I referred to the overwrought charges being levied against the WHO (World Health Organization) over their declaration and handling of the pandemic as a `witch hunt’  (see WHO To Review Their Pandemic Response).

Since then, the political grandstanding has reached bizarre (and dangerous) heights, culminating with the Council of Europe hearings earlier this week  (see CIDRAP Summary Of The Council Of Europe Hearings).

Today the Reveres of Effect Measure have a scathing assessment of the leader of the inquisition, Wolfgang Wodarg.

While rated PG for language, this is the `must read’ of the day.

Fire in the hole: Wolfgang Wodarg and WHO

(Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:18:00 +0000)

# 4300

As if my last blog on Vietnam’s H5N1 woes wasn’t enough this morning, we’ve more news coming out of Indonesia on their recent outbreak of bird flu in Central Java  (previous reports here and here).

Map by Ida at BFIC.

On January 20th, a 22 year-old man from Cirebon died in a Karanganyar hospital, after contracting what is suspected to have been H5N1 in his home town.  He is the second suspected H5N1 case from Cirebon in the past week, and we’ve reports of poultry deaths spreading through four villages there.

Ida at The Bird Flu Information Corner has several items this morning from the local media, including:

Karanganyar, Central Java ::: Officials collect bird samples from deceased bird flu suspect’s  neighborhood

January 28, 2010

Karanganyar – Livestock and Fishery Service of Kabupaten Karanganyar conducted investigation to chicken samples such as cloacal and throat swab of birds in Desa Wonorejo, Jatiyoso, regarding to the death of bird flu suspect patient named WD, 22 years old.

 

Head of Animal Health Division, Saptawan Hadiputra mentioned officials had collected about 25 chicken samples to be subjected for laboratory test, since they did not find any bird flu evidence by field investigation.

 

Victim is a meatball seller (meatball is bakso in Bahasa Indonesia. Typically, sellers are circulating with their cart to get costumers. -adm-), and suggested to have caught infection around his place in Cirebon.  For this evidence, Livestock and Fishery Service of Kabupaten Karanganyar, Central Java, had contacted its counterpart in Kabupaten Cirebon, West Java for more investigation.

 

Wd, resident of Desa Wonorejo, Jatiyoso, possibly died of bird flu infection on Wednesday (20/1). Patient finally died after refused to be transferred from Wonogiri regional hospital to Dr Moewardi regional hospital to get medical treatment.

 

Source: Indonesia local newspaper, Solo Pos.

 

 

Cirebon, West Java; Rembang, Central Java ::: H5N1 outbreak in birds

January 28, 2010

Outbreak report from Cirebon, West Java. H5N1 seems to surge in Cirebon. Officials linked this incident with two suspected human cases, a 41-year-old and deceased 22-year-old.

 

Other report mentioned H5N1 in Kabupaten Rembang, also in birds.-adm-

 

Paliaman – Animal Health Center in Kaliwedi, Kabupaten Cirebon found bird flu H5N1 had been spreading to four villages in three sub-districts, Desa Ciawi, Kecamatan Paliaman, Desa Danawinangun and Desa Pekantingan, Kecamatan Klangenan and Desa Kedungsana, Kecamatan Plumbon.

 

Head of Animal Health Center Kaliwedi, Suharto said the virus currently transmitted among animals. Until now, no positive case in human found from those three sub-districts.

 

Meanwhile, Head of Health Service, Rinny R. Sechan confirmed that a resident of Keluarahan Tukmudal, Kecamatan Sumber, named Duramham Suherman (DS) had been treated in isolation unit of Gunung Jati regional hospital because of suspected of contracting bird flu (H5N1) infection.

 

DS had fever after contact with suddenly dead chickens before been admitted to hospital. Until now officials are still waiting blood test result for bird flu confirmation of DS.

Since it has been more than a week since the unfortunate death of this young man, presumably someone at the Indonesian Ministry of Health knows the test results.

As we’ve seen over the past couple of years, however, the MOH is often very slow to release such information.