Flu
T-shirt mask could help in flu pandemic
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The world may be unprepared for a bird flu pandemic, but U.S. researchers said on Wednesday they had come up with one low-tech answer to widespread shortages of medical equipment—a mask made out of a T-shirt.
Their mask fit comfortably over the face and appeared to filter out potentially infectious particles, the team at the University of Pittsburgh said.
“A simple, locally made, washable mask may be a solution if commercial masks are not available,” Virginia Dato, David Hostler and Michael Hahn wrote in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
H5N1 infection ruled out in latest Indonesian cases
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For the past four days, Indonesian health authorities and WHO have been monitoring cases of influenza-like illness in four nurses who were involved in the care of confirmed H5N1 patients.
Test results have now convincingly ruled out H5N1 infection in all four nurses.
Two of the nurses cared for siblings, a 10-year-old girl and her 18-year-old brother, who were hospitalized in Bandung, West Java, on 22 May and died the following day. Test results for both nurses are negative for H5N1 infection. One nurse was shown to be infected with a seasonal influenza A (H1N1) virus, which is now circulating widely throughout Indonesia. The second nurse experienced only mild and transient symptoms, but was tested urgently as a precautionary measure. Her test results were also negative for H5N1 infection.
Flu vaccine safe in healthy infants
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The trivalent influenza vaccine can be safely given to healthy children 6 to 24 months of age, doctors report in the journal Pediatrics.
“We see no indications of serious side effects from the influenza vaccine in young children, and we would urge parents to have their young children vaccinated against influenza,” Dr. Michael J. Goodman from HealthPartners Research Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota told Reuters Health.
“The whole reason this vaccine is now being recommended for infants and young children is that they can get quite sick with influenza,” Goodman explained. “Over the past few years, several studies have shown that the rate of hospitalization related to influenza for young children is similar to that for people over age 65.”
Bird flu will not reach US soon
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Sick poultry and infected people, rather than migratory birds, are more likely to bring the H5N1 bird flu virus into the United States, although that is unlikely to happen soon, a leading virologist said.
Robert Webster from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the United States said the virus is more likely to be introduced via human activities, such as poultry smuggling.
“There is no H5N1 in the United States. And I don’t think it is going to get there this year by wild birds…maybe not even next year,” he said on the sidelines of a conference organized by Fort Dodge Animal Health, a unit of Wyeth.
Seven new cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus in Indonesia
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The Ministry of Health in Indonesia has confirmed an additional seven cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. Six of the cases were fatal.
One fatal case, in a 38-year-old woman, occurred in the city of Surabaya, in East Java. She developed symptoms on 2 May, was hospitalized on 7 May, and died on 12 May. The case is the first reported from this area.
The remaining six cases are from the village of Kubu Sembelang in the Karo district of North Sumatra. All six are members of an extended family, and all but one lived in neighbouring houses.
WHO confirms six bird flu cases in Indonesia
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The World Health Organization confirmed six more human cases of bird flu infections in Indonesia on Wednesday, including five members of a family whose case has triggered fears of human-to-human transmission.
“There are six confirmations. One from Surabaya and five from Medan. One from Medan is still alive,” said Sari Setiogi, the WHO’s Indonesia spokeswoman.
An outbreak of H5N1 bird flu involving up to eight members of a family at Medan in North Sumatra province has worried health agencies around the world but a Health Ministry official said on Wednesday it was not a case of human-to-human transmission.
Bird flu not spread on the wings of wild birds
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According to a Dutch environmental organisation, the on-going fear that flocks of wild birds will spread the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu through Africa and Europe may be ill founded.
Wetlands International say laying the blame on the wild bird population is possibly an impulsive and dangerous conclusion.
H5N1 has been spreading steadily from Asia to Africa and Europe since 2003 and at least 113 people have died from the strain, which led to the slaughter of more than 200 million animals to prevent what health officials had warned could be a pandemic.
Experts say bird flu virus survives longer
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Leading influenza experts urged nations not to lower their guard against the deadly and hardy H5N1 virus, saying it now survives longer in higher temperatures and in wet and moist conditions.
Scientists previously found the virus to be most active and transmissible among birds in the cooler months from October to March in the northern hemisphere, and many people were hoping for some respite in the coming summer months.
But influenza expert Robert Webster warned against complacency and underestimating the virus, which made its first documented jump to humans from birds in 1997 in Hong Kong, killing six people.
China confirms 12th human bird flu death
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A man in central China has died of bird flu, the official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday, reporting the country’s twelfth H5N1 virus death since November.
There have been more than 30 outbreaks in poultry in a dozen provinces over the past year in China, making it one of the countries worst-hit by a virus that has spread with surprising speed this year, with outbreaks in more than 30 countries.
Epidemiologists fear that bird flu could mutate to a form where it could pass easily among humans, potentially triggering a pandemic in which millions could die.
Pakistanis on alert as bird flu crops up on another farm
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According to authorities in Pakistan there has been another outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus on a poultry farm.
The Agriculture Ministry has confirmed that laboratory tests have established the latest case of the bird flu virus has occurred on a chicken farm in Sihala, 15 miles east of Islamabadon.
Health officials have reportedly destroyed 3,600 chickens at the farm and are testing poultry at nearby farms.
U.S. expert says one wild bird does not make a pandemic
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U.S. expert says one wild bird does not make a pandemic, while Egypt finds bird flu case # 12
Egyptian health officials have reported another case of human bird flu in the country bringing the total there to date to 12.
According to Health and Population Minister Hatem el-Gabali the latest case is an 18-year-old woman from a province north of Cairo who caught the virus after handling infected birds.
Engineers could aid bird flu vaccine effort
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Avian flu experts appealed on Monday to engineers—a group largely left out of flu preparedness efforts—to come up with potential breakthroughs for speeding vaccine production in case of a deadly pandemic.
The hope is that engineers could use their expertise in areas such as assembly lines and production techniques to help vaccine developers jump hurdles.
The matter has gained urgency as the H5N1 flu strain moves quickly among birds in Asia, Europe and Africa. Experts worry it could change to a form that spreads easily among people and kills millions.
UN health body confirms four Egypt bird flu cases
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that four Egyptians have caught bird flu, including two who died from the virus, an Egyptian health ministry official said on Monday.
Nasr al-Sayyed told Reuters that a WHO laboratory in Britain had verified the four cases. The result was received on Sunday, he said. The Egyptian government sends samples from people it suspects have caught the virus to the WHO for final confirmation.
The government says a total of eight Egyptians have been infected by bird flu. Two of those have recovered, while the others are still being treated.
U.S. will dispose of feed infected by bird flu
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To help prevent the spread of bird flu, the Food and Drug Administration will draw up rules for the disposal of livestock feed that might carry avian influenza viruses, a U.S. official said on Thursday.
FDA also will develop tests for antiviral drug residues in poultry during fiscal 2007, which begins October 1, said Bruce Gellin, director of the National Vaccine Program Office at the Department of Health and Human Services.
UK Plans for Pandemic Flu Don’t Go Far Enough
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The UK’s contingency plans for pandemic flu don’t go far enough, argues a director of public health in this week’s BMJ.
Plans for pandemic flu in the United Kingdom are said to be among the best in the developed world, but important lessons from the past have been missed, writes Hilary Pickles. These include the need to prepare for high death rates, being open with the public, and understanding population behaviour. Clear and appropriate accountability and communications are also needed, she concludes.
In response, David Salisbury, Director of Immunisation at the Department of Health, argues that preparedness has been strengthened through cross government working, enhanced communications, and international cooperation.
