December 30th, 2009 by MWilhelm

Geographic Spread of Influenza as Assessed by State and Territorial Epidemiologists:

The influenza activity reported by state and territorial epidemiologists indicates geographic spread of both seasonal influenza and 2009 influenza A (H1N1) viruses and does not measure the severity of influenza activity.

• During week 50, the following influenza activity was reported:
  • Widespread influenza activity was reported by seven states (Alabama, California, Delaware, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, and Virginia).

    http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/

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February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

The H1N1 flu is still spreading in North Africa, parts of eastern and southeastern Europe and areas of Asia, but is generally declining, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said last week.

The pandemic virus is still the predominant influenza virus circulating worldwide, posing an increased risk to pregnant women and people with underlying medical conditions such as asthma, it said.

“Activity in general is decreasing,” WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told a news briefing.

Flu peaked in North

Much of the temperate northern hemisphere passed a peak of influenza transmission between late October and late November, the WHO said in a weekly update.

But the H1N1 virus continues to transmit actively in North Africa, including Egypt, limited areas of eastern and southern Europe, and in parts of South and East Asia, including western India, according to the United Nations agency.

In China, the H1N1 pandemic virus has declined substantially since peaking last November, but other influenza viruses have been detected increasingly in recent weeks, the WHO said.

The virus has killed at least 14,711 people worldwide since emerging last April, it said.

The WHO has said it will take a year or two after the pandemic ends to establish the true number of fatalities. – (Reuters Health, February 2010)

February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

As per the latest report of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, death from swine flu has reached to 1235. Also 28,861 cases I have been tested positive for swine flu in India. Around 123397 people have been tested in India as on Feb 1, 2010. In India, 23.3 per cent of people who have tested for swine flu are found suffering from swine flu. Also around 4 per cent of people who have tested positive for Swine flu, have died and could not be saved in India.

Maharashtra with 317 deaths has seen maximum deaths from swine flu in India. Gujarat also has 242 deaths from swine flu till February 1, 2010. Interestingly Gujarat is the only state where Chief Minister has been tested positive for swine flu. Other Indian states suffering from are Rajasthan (176 deaths from swine flu), Karnataka (141 deaths from swine flu), Delhi (93 deaths from swine flu).

Delhi has highest no. of patients who are tested positive for swine flu. In Delhi 9,652 people have been tested positive for Swine flu so far. Maharshtra has 5116 case of swine flu affected patients and Rjasthan has 2101 patients who were tested positive for swine flu till February 1, 2010.

In the states which are severely affected by swine flu, have high exposure to foreigners. Also people from these states make more foreign visits. However the trend is changing now. On Feb 1, 2010 from the 51 patients who tested positive for swine flu, only one has traveled outside India and remaining 50 have infected in the country only.

February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

(AP) — LEXINGTON, Ky. – Doctors applied the paddles to Maddy Kidwell’s little body over and over and over and over.

Four times in 10 minutes.

Four times before her heart began to beat again.

Her parents, Harold and Edith Kidwell, knew something had gone badly wrong because the nurses wouldn’t even let them near the room she was in.

It was just another unreal moment in a string of unreal moments that had led them from watching their almost 3-year-old daughter play happily on the floor to waiting while she fought for her life.

The H1N1 flu virus that hit Maddy so hard “wasn’t even really on my radar,” her mom said. She’d told her kids to keep their hands washed and had bought some hand sanitizer. But she didn’t get them vaccinated. It didn’t seem necessary, she said.

“You never realize how easy it could happen to you.”

Maddy’s case is extreme, but 229 children have died from H1N1 since August, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. State health officials reported that four of the 39 people in Kentucky who died of H1N1 have been children.

The number of cases overall has waned in recent weeks, but CDC officials expect another surge as the nation enters what is typically flu season.

Dr. Philip Bernard, who treated Maddy at Kentucky Children’s Hospital, said H1N1 is “a completely preventable disease because there is vaccine available.”

February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

As the crisis response is scaled down, and vaccines go unused, a number of people are asking what happened to the swine flu pandemic.

Last week the Council of Europe launched an inquiry into the handling of swine flu.

Some claim that it was never really a pandemic at all and that the World Heath Organization may have been overly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry.

The BBC’s Imogen Foulkes reports.

February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

(MYFOX NATIONAL) – The widely publicized swine flu pandemic of the past few years may have been largely over-hyped, according to recent reports.

While the swine flu scare may have cost panicked citizens lots of time, money and quality of life, the anxiety made some people very wealthy. For many who believed the hype, stockpiles of unused pharmaceuticals now translate to a big waste of money — particularly undesirable in this down economy.

“The panic leading up to the anticipated pandemic was a multibillion-dollar windfall for big drug companies like GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Novartis AG, and Sanofi-Aventis SA,”Portfolio.com reports. “But some countries are now negotiating with the companies to cancel part of their orders.”

A Jan. 26 article from Time magazine speculates on the issue and asks not only who raised the alarm, but why.

“By the summer of 2009, shortly after the H1N1 flu pandemic had first emerged, there was a waiting list for the first several million doses of the forthcoming new flu vaccine. At the head of the line, naturally, were the world’s richest nations,” reads the Time article.

The Time article notes that admonitions against rich nations’ greed from World Health Organization head Margaret Chan may have prompted a ramp up of production and buying.

A Wall Street Journal article from April 2009 noted that an H1N1 scare not only causes people to stay home from work out of fear, but also damages tourism, while strengthening healthcare and drug company stock portfolios.

“Flu concerns were helping pharmaceutical and health-care stocks,” the WSJ article said.

February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

A voluntary, non-safety related recall is underway of  six lots of Sanofi Pasteur H1N1 influenza vaccine.

The recalled lots are:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the recalled vaccines have a lower strength than what is required.

More than 28,000 doses of the affected vaccine lots were distributed to approximately 169 medical facilities in New York City between November 2009 and January 2010.

February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

Reviewing the swine flu response will help in future emergencies

Hawaii has been lucky so far to get through the H1N1 pandemic with one wave of “mild to moderate severity,” but flu is unpredictable, cautions Dr. Sarah Park, the state epidemiologist.

“We’re certainly not saying we’re over it yet,” she said in an interview. “Hawaii has not, and hopefully will not, see a second wave, but recent deaths highlight that vaccinations can do something for you, even with a low level of disease.”

Park, chief of the state Health Department’s Disease Outbreak Control Division, urges residents who have not been vaccinated for H1N1 or swine flu to take that step to protect themselves and those around them.

Although flu activity has waned on the mainland, the pandemic is worldwide, with a lot of activity in some areas with travel potential to and from Hawaii, she said. The first cases here were travelers, she pointed out.

Thirteen deaths associated with H1N1 — most with underlying medical conditions — have been reported in Hawaii since the first three cases of the virus were confirmed here May 5. The latest two deaths were in December and the week of Jan. 10.

Bill Gallo, with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says he is concerned about a potential new wave hitting the state with “a lot of vaccine unused.”

“I think maybe a lot of people struggled to get vaccinated early on when the supply was limited and gave up,” he said in an interview. “While we’re having a lull in flu activity, we all know there could still be a wave in store.”

Because of the delay by manufacturers in getting vaccine out, said Gallo, Hawaii and other states “dealt with a lot of challenges just trying to manage the flow and everything. We’re hoping next time it will go quicker. The best solution is improving vaccine technology.”

Gallo, the CDC’s senior management official for Hawaii and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands, said “there is a lot to be learned” from the pandemic, “and hopefully all states and counterparts” will share stories and learn from each other. For example, he said, Hawaii can teach other states about school-based flu vaccination clinics.

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February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

Boston (DbTechNo) – The government of Rwanda has announced that there are no more swine flu cases in their country.

This news was made public by an official in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Justin Wane.

He said that following 4 months in which the country was dealing with numerous cases of the virus, as of last week there are no reported cases, and all who developed the swine flu have recovered.

“Since last week, we have not received any reports about emerging cases and certainly the situation is under control now. We mainly attribute the success of this fight to increased hygiene among all Rwandans,” he said.

“It is also important to note that those who contracted the flu made it a point not to infect others. Behavioral change also contributed a great deal to this achievement and we hope that the situation will remain as it is,” Wane added.

Swine flu first hit the country of Rwanda back in October, and since then more than 400 cases have been reported.

Swine flu has taken the world by storm since April of last year, prompting the World Health Organization to label it as a pandemic.

The virus first emerged in April in the country of Mexico and since then has swept across the globe, infecting hundreds of thousands and killing thousands.

February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

Six more people have died of influenza A (H1N1) in Gujarat, taking the toll due to the swine flu pandemic in the country so far to 1235, an official statement said here today.

Three of the deaths were reported during the day, while reports of three deaths that occurred earlier were also conveyed by the health authorities of the state to the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare today, it said.

Of the total swine flu deaths in the country so far, Maharashtra now accounts for 317, while 242 lives have been lost in Gujarat, 176 in Rajasthan, 141 in Karnataka, 93 in Delhi, 52 in Andhra Pradesh, 38 in Punjab, 36 each in Kerala and Haryana, 22 in Madhya Pradesh, 18 in Uttar Pradesh, 13 in Uttarakhand, 8 each in Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh, 7 in Tamil Nadu, 6 each in Chhattisgarh and Puducherry, 5 in Goa, 4 in Jammu & Kashmir, 3 in Orissa, 2 in Assam and 1 each in Mizoram and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

The statement said 51 new cases of swine flu were reported from different parts of India today, including 28 in Maharashtra, 5 in Delhi, 4 in Rajasthan, 3 in Haryana, 2 each in Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab and Gujarat, and 1 each in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

With these, the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus reported in the country so far has gone up to 28,861, the statement added.

February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

A north Shropshire woman who works for the NHS and had the swine flu vaccination has been left unable to walk properly after the jab triggered a rare medical condition.

But married mother-of-two Alison Dygnas today urged others not to be put off having the jab themselves after she developed myasthenia gravis – a neurological condition which has left her with limited mobility and unable to lead the active life she led before.

In the space of three months she has been forced to give up work, an active lifestyle and many of the things she loved doing.

She said: “It’s entirely a personal choice and I wouldn’t want people to die because they never got the jab.

“It’s a rare side effect of the jab and there’s a one in a million chance of this happening.”

Mrs Dygnas was urged to have the jab because she works in the NHS.

February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

Not for the first time, the World Health Organization is under fire for its handling of the current H1N1 influenza pandemic. Initially, it was criticized for being too slow to alert the world when the disease, often called swine flu, first broke out in Mexico. Now, the organization faces a diametrically opposite charge: that it was influenced by the pharmaceutical industry to create a false pandemic when none existed, so that drug companies could sell more vaccines. The W.H.O.’s critics are barking up the wrong tree. This is a real influenza pandemic, not an imaginary disease cooked up by public health agencies around the world and the pharmaceutical industry. Though for the vast majority of people the disease has been mild, it has killed small children, pregnant mothers and otherwise healthy teenagers. This is not an innocuous disease. Take a look at the lungs of those whom it as killed: The virus has turned them into a wasteland of devastated tissue, in a way that the normal flu virus never can.

The world has been fortunate that this virus has not mutated to cause more severe illness in larger numbers of people. This could still happen. In China, in less than a month’s time, one of the world’s great annual movements of people will take place as millions travel to their home towns and villages during the Chinese lunar new year holidays. Travel and the movement of people provides opportunities for the virus to spread to new environments and change to a more lethal form in the process. The changing flu seasons that see the focus of outbreaks move from the northern to the southern hemisphere, and then back again to the northern hemisphere later in the year, also bring risks of the virus changing to a more severe form.

The non-debate over whether there is a new type of flu sweeping the world has detracted from a real issue: The world’s poorest countries have yet to receive the vaccine they were promised, while many of the world’s rich countries are wondering what to do with vaccine supplies their citizens do not want. Ninety percent of the world’s influenza vaccine production is concentrated in Europe and North America. With production well short of demand, governments in these countries had contracts in place to buy the bulk of the first year’s production. Most poor and middle income countries (with the exception of countries like China, which has built up its vaccine production capacity) would have had to wait for at least a year for their first supplies.

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February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

According to a recent statement by Dr. Justin Wane, an official in the Ministry of Health, all the cases of the infectious influenza A, H1N1 virus– or swine flu – have recovered; and, as of now, there are no more cases of the disease in the country.

Nonetheless, the situation is being constantly and closely monitored by theMinistry of Health, via TRAC Plus, the National Reference Laboratory and other organs.

Noting that Rwanda has been relentlessly battling with the H1N1 virus for the past four months, Wane – the head of the Swine Flu response team – said that even the Kigali Central Prison’s most recent confirmed swine flu cases recovered completely last week.

Saying that thus far nearly 400 “severe but rather very mild” cases of swine flu have been treated and fully recovered in Rwanda, Wane added: “Since last week, we have not received any reports about emerging cases and certainly the situation is under control now.”

Giving the Rwandans credit for the “truly commendable” turnaround in the swineflu situation, Wane added: “We mainly attribute the success of this fight to increased hygiene among all Rwandans. It is also important to note that those who contracted the flu made it a point not to infect others. Behavioral change also contributed a great deal to this achievement and we hope that the situation will remain as it is.”

February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

Mumbai: Swine flu kills one more in Egypt: After confirming its first case of H1N1 death on July 19, 2009, Egypt registered one more death on Sunday.

Now the swine flu death toll of the nation has reached 258. A 53-year-old man from Assiut governorate succumbed to the deadly flu.

The first victim was a 28-year-old Egyptianwoman coming back from Saudi Arabia after her pilgrimage to Mecca.

February 1st, 2010 by MWilhelm

According to a Yuma Country news release, residents can still receive flu shots for both the H1N1 virus or swine flu as it is also known, and for seasonal flu, as well.

Vaccines will be offered by workers from the Yuma County Public Health District from 8:00 a. m. to Noon and 1:00 p. m. to 4:30 p. m. Monday through Thursday for the month of February. For receiving the vaccines you will have to visit Room 256, the Nursing Division, at 2200 W. 28th St. in Yuma.

According to the release, the H1N1 vaccine is being provided at no cost, though the seasonal flu shots come at a cost of $25 for adults and $10 for children, with cash, Medicare and AHCCCS (Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System) accepted.

Clinics will be open to people of all ages having a physical address in Yuma County, with shots given on a first come, first serve basis.

As per the county news release, so far, area physicians, Fry’s, Mollen clinics, Walgreens and Healthwaves have received the distributed vaccines, and will continue to receive them for the rest of the flu season.

Call the 2009-2010 Flu Season phone line with recorded information at (928) 373-1025 for more information on both kinds of flu vaccines.

And while, pharmacies across the stateline continue to offer vaccinations, a free flu clinic is being set up in Ogle County tomorrow, from 9:00 a. m. to Noon at the Oregon Health Department. It is completely free.

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

Dispute is over $106 million alleged ‘personal services’ contract

The Health and Human Services Department’s inspector general has accused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of violating federal contracting rules  in CDC’s administration of a $106 million professional services contract, according to a new report.

The case involves a CDC contract that HHS IG Daniel Levinson alleges was a personal services pact prohibited by the Federal Acquisition Regulation. CDC officials are disputing the allegation and defending their handling of the contract.

Under the federal rule, “personal services” are defined as those in which an employer-employee relationship is created between the government and contractor personnel. Factors to be considered include whether the contract worker is subject to relatively continuous supervision by agency personnel, whether the contractor performs the work on site, whether the government furnishes the equipment and tools, whether the work carries out the agency’s mission, and whether the need for the service can be expected to last beyond one year.

Under federal rules, agencies that hire contractors for personal services are circumventing federal civil service hiring. Such contracts are prohibited except in special cases.

Levinson audited a 2003 CDC contract for management and consulting services awarded to an unidentified minority- and woman-owned professional services certified small business contractor. The contractor subsequently received 149 task orders totaling $106 million from 2003 to 2008.

The IG’s audit covered eight task orders valued at $18.9 million, which required an estimated 110 contractor personnel.

Levinson concluded that CDC inappropriately administered all eight task orders as personal service contracts. “By using contractor personnel for personal services, CDC violated the Federal Acquisition Regulation,” Levinson wrote. The Jan. 11 IG report recommends that CDC further evaluate its contracts for compliance and institute additional policies and procedures.

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