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"And, in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." The Beatles "Don't believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see" My Father
penetrates deep into the lungs, creating widespread damage — a pattern similar to what killed millions during previous flu pandemics in 1918 and 1957
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Echoing previous reports, the study, published online in the Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, also revealed that 91 percent of those who died were people with underlying health problems, and most occurred in people between 25 and 49 years old.
More than half of the deaths were caused by bacterial pneumonia.
“The secondary bacterial infection evokes inflammation,” said Dr. William Schaffner, professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “It socks it in the lung and all of a sudden the lung as an organ can’t do its principal job.”
Obesity was a factor in 72 percent of H1N1 deaths, a finding that has caused concern among infectious disease experts.
Yet another reason to not be obese, defined as having a body mass index of 30 or greater. So, for instance, one who is 5′ 8″ and weighs 197 pounds is obese.
Two patients who were infected by a mutation that was also recently detected in Norway have died in France, the government’s Health Surveillance Institute (InVS) said in a statement.
“This mutation could increase the ability of the virus to affect the respiratory tracts and, in particular, the lung tissue,” said a statement “For one of these patients, this mutation was accompanied by another mutation known to confer resistance to oseltamivir,” it added, referring to the main drug being used to treat swine flu, under the brand name Tamiflu.
The case was the first drug-resistant strain found in France among the 1,200 strains experts have analysed here, the InVS said, adding that “the effectiveness of vaccines currently available is not being questioned.”
——
The WHO saidyesterday the death toll had reached at least 7 826 worldwide since the A(H1N1) flu virus was first uncovered in April.
The number of deaths reported to the UN health agency showed the biggest rise in the Americas, where 5360 deaths have now been recorded compared to 4,806 a week ago.
But Europe also posted a substantial increase percentage-wise with at least 650 fatalities now reported, representing a surge of 300 deaths or 85 percent from data posted a week ago.
The WHO said Thursday it was investigating reports of mutations in the virus, after half a dozen countries recorded such cases.
“The question is whether these mutations again suggest that there is a fundamental change going on in viruses out there — whether there’s a turn for the worse in terms of severity,” said Keiji Fukuda, WHO’s special adviser on pandemic influenza.
HONG KONG (Reuters) – China must be alert to any mutation or changes in the behavior of the H1N1 swine flu virus because the far deadlier H5N1 bird flu virus is endemic in the country, a leading Chinese disease expert said.
Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases in China’s southern Guangdong province, said the presence of both viruses in China meant they could mix and become a monstrous hybrid — a bug packed with strong killing power that can transmit efficiently among people.
“China, as you know, is different from other countries. Inside China, H5N1 has been existing for some time, so if there is really a reassortment between H1N1 and H5N1, it will be a disaster,” Zhong said in an interview with Reuters Television.
“This is something we need to monitor, the change, the mutation of the virus. This is why reporting of the death rate must be really transparent.”
The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that H5N1 had erupted in poultry in Egypt, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, posing once again a threat to humans.
“First, it places those in direct contact with birds — usually rural folk and farm workers — at risk of catching the often-fatal disease. Second, the virus could undergo a process of “reassortment” with another influenza virus and produce a completely new strain,” it said.
“The most obvious risk is of H5N1 combining with the pandemic … (H1N1) virus, producing a flu virus that is as deadly as the former and as contagious as the latter.”
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor – 30 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health officials said on Wednesday they are seeing a worrying pattern of serious bacterial infections in swine flu patients, mostly among younger adults not normally vulnerable to them.
The pattern is typical of pandemics such as the current H1N1 pandemic but shows the need for patients and doctors to keep an eye out for the infections and treat them quickly, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told reporters.
“We are seeing an increase of serious pneumococcal infections around the country,” Schuchat told a telephone briefing.
“That is the serious type of pneumococcal disease where the bacteria invades the blood and other internal sites.” These so-called secondary infections can follow infection with a virus such as flu and often are seen among people who die from influenza.
The Oregon Veterinary Medical Association reports the death of an Oregon cat from the H1N1 flu virus. There have also been infections of cats in Iowa and Utah, and in Ferrets in Oregon and Nebraska.
So this particular flu virus has infected humans, swine, birds, and pets; and it’s circulating, and potentially mixing, with the seasonal flu virus.
Though H1N1 infections are, for the present, on the decline; infectious disease control officials continue to express caution, though not alarm. Otherwise officials express their uncertainty as to where the pandemic is headed.
As I have previously noted, when different flu viruses, composed of only eight genes, are present in the same host the viruses are able to exchange complete genes, “reassortment”, or portions of individual genes, “recombination”. Either may occur in birds, humans, swine, and perhaps other hosts.
Flu viruses infect birds and mammals, the avian varieties, it seems, considered to be generally more virulent. The H1N1 virus now circulating is composed of swine and human virus varieties.
A concern amongst disease control officials is that circulating flu viruses might mutate, through reassortment or recombination, into a more virulent virus. Such mutations, on the other hand, might render a particular virus less virulent. It’s a genetic roll of the dice.
Today comes news of flu virus mutations detected in Norway and Whales. It is likely that mutations have occurred elsewhere as well. At this point it seems unclear what might be the practical effects of the mutated virus and public health authorities are not yet sounding an alarm; but Norway health officials indicate that “…the changes seen in the virus may allow it to penetrate deeper into the airways and cause more severe disease.”
So keep washing your hands frequently, particularly when returning from an outing; sneeze into your elbow; keep six feet distance; stay away from discos and such places; take a couple grams of vitamin C each day; and stick to the terrorist fist bump, rather than the traditional handshake.
Meanwhile the CDC reports that the incidences of H1N1 in the USA are on the wane.
“We are beginning to see some declines in influenza activity around the country, but there’s still a lot of influenza everywhere,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, at a news briefing today.
Flu activity is “still much greater than we would ever [normally] see at this time of year,” she said.
All 10 federal regions are starting to see declines in flu activity, but activity is still increasing in some states, including Maine and Hawaii, Schuchat reported.
She stressed that the pandemic remains unpredictable and that she didn’t know if it has peaked: “We don’t know if these declines will persist, what the slope will be, whether we’ll have a long decline or it will start to go up again.”
——
Schuchat also commented on reports that surfaced today of a mutation in H1N1 viruses found in three patients in Norway. The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that the mutation was found in the first two fatal H1N1 cases in Norway and in one patient with severe illness.
“What I can say is the mutation that was identified has no implications for how good the match of the vaccine is and it has no implications for treatment with antiviral medicines, but it’s important to track and look for changes,” Schuchat said.
She further said the mutation has been seen sporadically around the world in both severe and mild cases. “There’s some theoretical reasons why this particular mutation might lead an influenza virus to live easier in the deep part of the lungs and cause lower respiratory infections, but we’ve actually seen lower respiratory infections in severe viral pneumonia without this mutation,” she said. “So I think it’s too soon to say what this will mean long term.”
The WHO said the mutation does not appear to spread and the public health significance of the finding is unclear.
“Although further investigation is under way, no evidence currently suggests that these mutations are leading to an unusual increase in the number of H1N1 infections or a greater number of severe or fatal cases,” the agency said.
The statement said the mutated virus remains sensitive to oseltamivir and zanamivir, and studies show that existing pandemic vaccines provide protection.
‘The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has informed WHO of a mutation detected in three H1N1 viruses,’ the WHO said in a briefing note.
WHO spokesman Gregory Haertl told AFP that the global health watchdog did not believe ‘that this has any significant impact for the time being’. However, the agency revealed that a similar mutation had been observed in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine, and the United States, as early as April.
‘The mutations appear to occur sporadically and spontaneously. To date, no links between the small number of patients infected with the mutated virus have been found and the mutation does not appear to spread,’ the statement said Some of those cases also produced mild symptoms, Mr Haertl noted.
The WHO also underlined that there was no evidence of more infections or more deaths as a result, while the antiviral drugs used to treat severe flu, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza), were still effective on the mutated virus.
I find this Reuters report very interesting, and alarming. The H1N1 flu virus has been transmitted from humans to pigs, humans to turkeys, and now from humans to pets.
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Maggie Fox, Health And Science Editor – Fri Nov 6, 4:56 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – People who think they may have H1N1 flu need to stay away from work, avoid sneezing on their spouses and children and now, they have someone else to worry about infecting too — their pets.
U.S. vets reported this week that a pet cat had been infected with the pandemic swine flu virus, apparently by its owners, who had reported flu-like illness in the days before.
Two pet ferrets also caught flu, again apparently from their owners, and several herds of pigs around the world have been reported infected.
Animals have long been known to be a source of new infections. Influenza itself originates in birds, possibly domestic ducks. AIDS appears to have come from chimpanzees and possibly gorillas. Ebola virus comes from bats while rabies is spread by many different species.
And this strain of H1N1 very likely originated in pigs although it is now infecting almost exclusively humans.
But with flu, at least, it can go the other way, too.
“This is just another illustration of why influenza viruses are so tricky and frustrating and interesting at the same time, is this ability to occasionally jump species,” said Dr. Carolyn Bridges of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Meanwhile Northern Hemisphere H1N1 infections, and deaths therefrom, are on the rise; and deaths amongst children has increased markedly.
Hang on, the flu season is just getting under way, so keep taking mega doses of vitamin C, sneeze and cough into your elbow, stay away from discos and such places, keep your 6 foot distance, and stick to the terrorist fist bump rather than the handshake.
El Dictamen reports that yesterday José Ángel Córdova, secretario de Salud, reported an increase in new flu cases. 529 new cases have been detected between the secretary’s press briefing last Thursday and yesterday.
Schools have been closed in a number of areas of the country when A H1N1 infections have been detected, most notably in the state of Sinaloa, where 2,500 schools were closed. The schools reopened yesterday.
The secretary also reported that he expects Mexico to receive 5 million does of A H1N1 vaccine in late October. First in line for vaccinations are health care professionals and members of the military.
AFP reported on Saturday that
Mexico City, Sept 19 (AFP) Mexico was hit with 1,341 new swine flu cases since Monday, bringing the total to 26,338 ahead of the usual autumn flu season, health officials said.
The Health Ministry said one more person died from the A(H1N1) virus between Monday and Thursday, bringing the death toll to 218 in the country where the virus first emerged in April before becoming a pandemic.
In late August, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova estimated that nearly one million people could be infected by the virus during the winter, out of a total population of 100 million in Mexico.
The global flu death toll has reached 3,486, up 281 from a week ago, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which has reported 296,471 known cases of infection.
That number is seen as far below actual figures as some countries lack systematic analysis.
Bloomberg reports of an outbreak of the H1N1 2009 flu at a “piggery” in Northern Ireland, though health officials haven’t yet established how the 4,500 pigs contracted the virus. There have been previously reported outbreaks at industrial hog farms in Canada, Argentina, and Australia.
Hogs, you will remember, are considered effective “mixing vessels”, wherein various flu viruses which might happen to contemporaneously infect the same animal are able to swap one or more of the viruses’ 8 genes, “reassortment”, or portions of genes, “recombination”. The greatest concern, so far as I understand, is a more virulent avian flu variety swapping genetic material with a flu virus to which humans are more susceptible, perhaps creating a nightmare scenario.
Flu season in now getting underway in the Northern Hemisphere and both the seasonal and H1N1 2009 will be circulating. So, again, take lots of vitamin C, wash your hands frequently and immediately upon returning home from an outing, sneeze into your elbow not your hand, keep six feet distance from others, and greet your friends with the terrorist fist bump.
WHO has also been notified of 12 cases of oseltamivir resistant virus. These isolates have a mutation in the neuraminidase (referred to as H275Y) that confers resistance to oseltamivir, though the viruses remain sensitive to zanamivir. Of these 8 have been associated with oseltamivir post exposure prophylaxis, one with treatment of uncomplicated illness, and two have been from immunocompromised patients receiving oseltamivir treatment. These isolated cases have arisen in different parts of the world (Japan 4, USA 2, China, Hong Kong SAR China 2, and 1 in Denmark, Canada, Singapore and China), and there are no epidemiological links between them. There is also no evidence of onward transmission from these cases.
Oseltamivir is the anti-flu viral drug marketed under the trade name Tamiflu. And what the above says is that 8 cases of the Tamiflu resistant flu virus occurred in patients to which Tamiflu was administered as preventive treatment following their exposure to the H1N1 virus. And that the cases detected in the various countries are unrelated, and that as of yet there is no evidence of the transmission of resistant flu viruses. Which seems to indicate, to your completely uneducated on the subject correspondent, that the H1N1 fairly readily develops resistance to Tamiflu.
Now, it seems to me, would be a bad time to buy Hoffmann–La Roche stock.
Again, take a gram or two of vitamin C each day; do the “Dracula sneeze”, that is into your sleeve at your elbow; keep a six foot distance from other potential sneezers; use the terrorist fist bump rather than handshaking; and wash your hands frequently, particularly when you return home from outings and after interacting with children, who tend to be a bit less discriminating as to where they put their hands than are adults.
Further disturbing flu news. Aljazeera. net, and a slew of other news outlets, reports “the presence of an A(H1N1) virus has been detected in two farms in the Valparaiso region…”
“The presence of an A(H1N1) virus has been detected in two farms in the Valparaiso region,” which lies west of the Chilean capital, Santiago, the agriculture ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Jeanette Vega, a senior health ministry official, said the virus detected in the turkeys was not a mutated form of the A(H1N1) virus.
“What happened in this case is that we, human beings, infected the turkeys. The virus identified in the turkeys is the human sort; there is no mutation,” she said.
So to review, the H1N1 virus as been transmitted from swines to humans, humans to swing, and now humans to birds. Additionally, Tamiflu resistant strains of the virus have emerged in a number of locations around the world.
Fortunately no mutations of the virus have yet been detected; but the more it circulates the greater the chance the virus will infect concurrently with the seasonal and/or avian flu viruses and mutate. And disease control officials suggest it will circulate very widely during the coming Northern Hemisphere flu season.
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