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NEWS
5 Sep 2009
WHO: H1N1 has killed 2,837 and virus has not mutated
Geneva: H1N1 flu has killed at least 2,837 people but is not causing more severe illness than previously and the virus has not mutated, the World health Organization (WHO) said.
The WHO is carefully monitoring the virus to detect any mutation which might signal that it has become more deadly.
“There is no sense that the virus has mutated or changed in any sense,” WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told a news briefing yesterday. “ We are continuing to see increased number of deaths because we are seeing many, many more cases.”
About a quarter of a million cases have been laboratory-confirmed worldwide, but this is far fewer than the true number according to the United Nations agency which has stopped requiring countries to report individual cases.
A WHO weekly statement on the latest strain, commonly known as swine flu, was expected later yesterday.
The agency’s previous update of Aug 28 showed at least 2,185 deaths.
Meanwhile the US Institute of Medicine released a report commending the use of special masks called N95 respirators for healthcare workers treating people with suspected H1N1 flu, but also saying much more research is needed into how flu spreads.
A N95 respirator covers the nose and mouth tightly, filtering out tiny particles that can carry viruses and bacteria. Research suggests that surgical masks, commonly worn in Mexico during the height of the pandemic, do little to protect the wearer.
A survey commissioned by the US Meat Export Federation showed that nearly two-thirds of consumers in China, the world’s largest pork producer and consumer, stopped eating pork in the early stages of the pandemic.
The survey of 1,200 Chinese consumers also showed that more than one in five Chinese consumers still wrongly believe that eating pork can result in catching the flu virus – Reuters.
4 September 2009
Singapore News
H1N1 found in pigs, but pork safe to eat: AVA, Singapore
The Agri-Food & Vetenary Authority (AVA) announced that the H1N1 virus had been confirmed in 12 pig samples taken from pigs from a farm in Pulau Bulan, an Indonesia island.
The farm is owned by KMP, a Singapore registered firm. It supplies 21% of Singapore pork supply. It is the island’s only source of live pigs with 1,000 pigs being imported daily from Pulau Bulan.
The AVA stressed that pork sold in Singapore is safe to eat.
The world health authorities such as World Health Organization, World Organization for Animal Health and Food and Agriculture Organization have stated that there is no evidence that the H1N1 virus is transmitted y food.
Besides, the health authorities have also said that pork and pork products handled in accordance with good hygienic practice will not be a source of infection. The cooking of pork to an internal temperature of 70o Celcius will also kill bacteria and viruses including H1N1 virus.
AVA is stepping up its monitoring and inspection to ensure food safety in Singapore.
The 12 positive samples came from an overall sample size of 7,000 pigs on Sept 2, and were confirmed as carrying the same H1N1 virus that is affecting human.
Out of the 12, 4 had originated from the abattoir in Singapore and 8 from the farm in Pulan Bulan. There are currently about 230,000 pigs on the farm.
None of the 12 samples testing positive for the H1N1 virus have originated from the meat itself.
The farm has put in place enhanced measures like weekly farm inspection and increased pre-export testing.
The H1N1 virus had earlier been detected on Canadian and Australian pig farms in April and July this year.
5 September 2009
Firm : Single dose of vaccine is enough
Zurich: Novartis AG said a single dose of it’s a(H1N1) flu vaccine might protect against the virus raising hopes that potentially tight supplies could go further when mass immunization starts this month.
Novartis said on Thursday a single dose of Celtura H1N1 vaccine, boosted with an immune-stimulating compound called an adjuvant, produced desired effects in 80 out of 100 volunteers.
The new H1N1 strain of flu, declared a pandemic on June 11, could eventually infect 2 billion people, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates.
Because it is a new strain, infectious disease experts have said people will need two doses to get full immunity against the virus. They are rushing vaccine programmes as the weather cools in the Northern Hemisphere and the traditional flu season starts.
Chinese health authorities have given a green light to Sinovac, which says its vaccine needs only one shot to be effective. “This is good news as one dose of Celtura may be sufficient to protect adults against A(H1N1) flu. This potentially boosts that availability of flu vaccines for the upcoming flu season when a large outbreak of A(H1N1) flu is expected,” said Karl-Heinz Koch, an analyst at Swiss brokerage Helvea.
But health officials are cautious.
“While we do not yet have full details, these appear to be encouraging results. Any vaccine which can be administered in one dose only will substantially increase the number of overall doses available to the world’s people,” said WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl.
Dr Thomas Freiden, director of the US Centres for Disease Control And Prevention noted that the Novartis vaccine uses the MF59 adjuvant, while the United States will only use vaccines without an adjuvant.
Cell-based vaccines like Novartis’s are quicker and easier to manufacture than traditional flu vaccines grown in chicken eggs. However, supplies are limited for now and currently make up about 30% of the Swiss group’s capacity.
Novartis said a pilot trial of Celtura run by Britain’s Leicester University with 100 volunteers showed a potentially protective immune response in 80% of patients after one dose and more than 90% after two doses. Other studies with 6,000 adults and children are continuing.
Sinover, the first company to complete clinical trials, received approval from Chinese health authorities to mass produce a vaccine for the new strain H1N1 and raised its annual sales forecast. - Reuters.
12 September 2009
Aussie resistant to flu vaccine
Sydney: Australian health officials revealed the country’s first case of Influenza A(H1N1) resistant to anti-viral drug Tamiflu, but insisted the public was not at risk.
West Australian authorities said a 38-year old Perth man initially responded to the drug but relapsed when the resistant strain developed and is now in critical condition.
Chief health officer Tarun Weeramanthri said the case was rare and isolated, and did not pose a risk to the public - AP.
12 September 2009
China braces for H1N1 infections
Beijing:
Tens of millions of people could be infected with Influenza A(H1N1) virus in China in the coming months, a health ministry official said, adding that fatalities would be “unavoidable”.
“According to expert estimates, our nation during the autumn season might have several tens of millions infected with A(H1N1).” Liang Wannian, deputy director of the ministry’s health emergency office, told a press conference yesterday.
Liang said of that total, “half of them could experience clinical symptoms, several millions will seek medical help, and serious cases and fatalities will be unavoidable.”
The spread of H1N1 in China has gathered pace as the autumn months approach. Liang said, with over half of the nation;’s nearly 7,000 cases detected between Aug 24 and Sept 10.
Of those cases, nearly 95% were contracted within China, whereas the vast majority of cases reported from June to August originated abroad, he said.
“The situation we face is not optimistic,” Liang said, noting that the virus had been found in all of China’s 31 provinces and regions.
“We are facing severe challenges in our prevention and control work.” China has so far reported no H1N1 flu deaths.
The State Council or Cabinet, on Thursday issued new regulations on handling H1N1 outbreaks, ordering the ministries of health and education, and the food and drug administration to coordinate prevention and control.
Since June, China has witnessed over 200 “large-scale” outbreaks of H1N1 with over 85% of them occurring in schools or at school-related activities, Liang said.
12 September 2009
One Dose of New Vaccine “looks strong enough”
Washington: Fighting the Influenza A(H1N1) virus may have gotten more manageable.
Australian and US researchers said on Thursday that one dose of the new H1N1 flu vaccine looks strong enough to protect adults - and can begin protection within 10 days of shot.
Australian shot maker CSL Ltd published results of a study that found 75% to 96% of vaccinated people should be protected with one dose - the same degree of effectiveness as the regular winter flu shot. That’s remarkable considering scientists thought it would take two doses.
US data confirm those findings and show the protection starts rapidly. Dr Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Health said “This is quite a good news.”
The dose question has an important ramification: It means people will have to line up for influenza vaccinations twice this year instead of three times - once for the regular winter flu shot and a second time to be inoculated against H1N1 flu, what doctors call the 2009 H1N1 strain.
Thursday’s H1N1 flu vaccine reports centre on adults: studies in children are not finished yet.
But scientists had feared that people of all ages would need two shots about a month apart because the new H1N1 strain is so genetically different from normally circulating flu strains that most of the population has little if any immunity.
Chinese manufacturers gave the first hint a week ago that one dose could be enough. But different manufacturers make different formulations of vaccine, so more evidence was needed - AP.
26 September 2009
Better treatment fro A(H1N1) patients considered
Kuala Lumpur: Improved methods against the A(H1N1) virus, particularly those applied successfully by other countries, would be used to treat patients here.
Mainland China and Hong Kong for instance, were using serum or plasma from patients who recovered from the infection on patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said.
“We will look at the methods used by other countries and upgrade our treatment methods,” he said here yesterday.
Currently the ministry uses anti-virus and immunoglobin to treat the influenza patients.
Liow had just returned home from the World Health Organization Western Pacific regional meeting where various countries shared their views on influenza A(H1N1) treatment.
At the meeting, WHO officials also alerted participants to a second wave of the pandemic that was likely to hit the world and reminded people to be vigilant.
On some studies by Canadian scientists that seasonal flu shots might increase the risk of catching influenza A(H1N1), Liow said it was just a preliminary study and the ministry would monitor the situation.
As of yesterday, there were no deaths from influenza A(H1N1) in Malaysia and the total number of fatalities remained at 77.
Liow said there were no new admission to intensive care units while four cases were discharged yesterday.
There were 135 new cases with influenza-like illness (ILI) warded in hospitals nationwide while 108 were discharged leaving the total at 704.
Of the total ILI patients still under treatment, 184 or 26% were confirmed H1N1 cases.
In Malacca, Liow said the decision by WHO to set up its first regional centre in Cyberjaya was a recognition of the country’s role in the global health arena.
3 October 2009
Second H1N1 wave coming – Number of flu cases jumps in Britain
London – The number of new A(H1N1) flu cases in Britain jumped in a week, indicating the start of a second wave of infections as the northern hemisphere winter nears, health officials said.
About 14,000 people contracted A(H1N1) virus in England in the previous week up from 9,000 the week before, while cases in Scotland almost doubled to 13,800, according to the Health Protection Agency.
“It’s steadily mounting,” Chief Medical Officer Liam Donaldson said on Thursday.
“We’re not seeing the sort of explosive increase, doubling week on week that we’ve seen in some previous pandemics, but it is the start of the second peak, we are pretty confident of that,” he told the BBC.
The figures are nowhere near the peak of more than 100,000 new cases in a week in July. But Donaldson said: “There is still time for that to happen.”
Vaccinations are expected to start later this month throughout Britain.
“The good news about the vaccine is that we got the green light, the approval of the vaccine in Europe and we expect to be able to begin to administer it in the second half of October,” he told Sky News.
The number of deaths of people with A(H1N1) flu stands at 85 in Britain with 72 in England, 10 in Scotland, 2 in Northern Ireland and one in Wales.
The Republic of Ireland reported on Thursday two more death, bringing the total number of flu-linked fatalities there to four.
British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline announced on Wednesday that it would next week begin shipping its H1N1 flu vaccine Pandemrix across Europe, following approval by regulators.