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

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.

January 8th, 2010 by MWilhelm

ATLANTA - Swine flu infections continue to drop and only one state — Alabama — was reporting widespread cases last week.

Four states had widespread cases the previous week. The number has been dropping since late October, when nearly all states had widespreadflu reports.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported Friday that there are no signs of seasonal flu right now, only the swine variety. But CDC officials noted there is still more flu around than normally seen at this time of year, and illnesses could increase as kids return to school after the holiday break.

January 8th, 2010 by MWilhelm

(In paragraph 9, corrects to say “has contracts for” instead of “has paid for”)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has made no decision on whether to cancel or sell any of its orders for the H1N1 vaccine, unlike some European countries with a vast oversupply of shots, a federal health official said on Thursday.

Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said demand remains steady and the government’s focus is on getting as many people vaccinated as possible.

New infections of H1N1 influenza have fallen sharply in recent weeks, leaving some governments with an oversupply of vaccines ordered to protect against the virus that emerged last spring.

“Right now we are at a point where we have ample supply,” Schuchat told a media briefing. “We’re really encouraging people to get vaccinated.

“So we haven’t made decisions here in the U.S. about giving back vaccines,” she added.

Germany plans to cancel half the 50 million H1N1 vaccines it ordered from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) , a German health official said on Thursday. Germany was left with an oversupply of vaccine because doctors originally expected that two injections would be needed for immunity instead of one.

Earlier this week, France canceled over half the H1N1 flu vaccines it had ordered to head off criticism after reserving too many shots.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has come under fire for having miscalculated how much vaccine would initially become available and when.

The government has contracts for 251 million doses of bulk vaccine from five makers — Glaxo, AstraZeneca, Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis and CSL Ltd.

The United States has 136 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine, up from 100 million last month and at least 50 million people have been vaccinated, said Schuchat, head of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

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January 8th, 2010 by MWilhelm

8 January 2010 – Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG (VTX:NOVN) said today that France cancelled 7 million out of the total 16 million ordered doses of swine flu vaccine.

France’s decision comes after Germany, Spain and Switzerland also took steps to try to cut deliveries, return unwanted stocks to suppliers or sell them on to other countries due to a low uptake at home.

The French government said on Monday it will cancel 50 million of the 94 million doses ordered from Sanofi-Aventis (EPA: SAN), GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK), Novartis and Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) because of over-supply.

Demand for the H1N1 pandemic vaccine has been lower than expected across Europe due to scepticism about the need for immunisation among the general population and the fact that a single dose, rather than two, is required for immunity.

Last year Novartis anticipated H1N1 vaccine sales of between USD400m (EUR279.4m) and USD700m in the fourth quarter of 2009 after booking sales of USD17m in the third quarter.

The group will provide an update on figures when it reports its fourth-quarter results on 26 January.

January 6th, 2010 by MWilhelm

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Molecular diagnostics company Cepheid said Monday it received special Food and Drug Administration authorization for a test that can detect swine flu in less than one hour.

The company said the FDA granted emergency use authorization to sell the Xpert Flu test, which can identify the 2009 strain of swine flu. The special authorization allows the test to be used in hospitals.

The test is not approved by the FDA and is only authorized to be used until April 26 under the emergency use designation.

The World Health Organization has said that the swine flu outbreak has peaked in North America and Some European countries. According to the agency, more than 11,500 people are known to have died from the disease since the outbreak began in April. Though the swine flu has been labeled a pandemic, it has so far been far less lethal than the seasonal flu, which kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people each year.

Shares of Cepheid rose 3 cents to $12.51 in morning trading.

January 6th, 2010 by MWilhelm

Canada, which has a large surplus of H1N1 vaccine on its hands, is going to lend some to Mexico, the federal government announced Wednesday.

Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced Canada will ship Mexico five million doses of vaccine this week, but expects Mexico to replace the doses by the end of March.

Aglukkaq announced the move in a press release. The Public Health Agency of Canada declined interviews on the decision.

“This is not a donation,” the press release states in the lead paragraph, adding the loan will bridge Mexico until the bulk of its own vaccine purchase is delivered at the end of the month.

“We are privileged that we are in a position to support Mexico’s pandemic response efforts,” Aglukkaq said.

“The immediate response to Mexico’s request by Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial governments serves as testimony to the special relationship that exists between Canada and Mexico.”

Canada bought just over 50 million doses of vaccine in August, when it seemed likely each person would need two doses of vaccine. Studies later showed a single dose is protective for all but young children.

With demand for pandemic vaccine down dramatically both here and internationally, observers have been wondering what the country would do with a surplus that could top 30 million doses.

And they have been puzzled as to why the country has not made a contribution to a vaccine stockpile the World Health Organization is amassing for redistribution to developing countries that don’t have vaccine contracts.

“If you really want to hold a mirror up to our nation, you might ask the question why we’re lending and not just giving,” Dr. Ross Upshur, head of the University of Toronto’s Joint Centre for Bioethics, said when he heard the news.

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January 6th, 2010 by MWilhelm

Overall flu activity decreased slightly in the United States during the week of December 20-26, 2009, as reported in FluView. The number of states reporting widespread flu activity decreased from 7 to 4.  Visits to doctors for influenza-like  illness increased, although the proportion of tests for influenza that were positive continued to decline and the overall hospitalization rates for this season were unchanged from the previous week.  Flu-associated deaths among all ages increased from the previous week, but fewer deaths in children were reported compared to the prior week (4 versus 9). Flu is unpredictable and activity can rise and fall throughout the season, but flu is likely to continue for months, caused by either 2009 H1N1 viruses or regular seasonal flu viruses. In addition to seasonal flu vaccine, a vaccine against the 2009 H1N1 virus has been produced and is the best way to protect against the pandemic virus. Supplies of this vaccine are increasing and many places have opened up vaccination to anyone who wants it. Find a vaccine.

January 6th, 2010 by MWilhelm

Giant Foods partnered with a health care service to start giving H1N1/swine flu vaccinations at in-store pharmacies today.

Those without insurance to cover the cost of the shot will be charged $15. Inoculations will be administered by Maxim Healthcare Services professionals and Giant and Martin’s pharmacists.

Information on the stores’ vaccination schedules can be found on Giant’s Web site.

January 6th, 2010 by MWilhelm

Hawai’i health officials will lift their restrictions on H1N1 vaccine injections sometime next week and are urging people in high-risk groups to get vaccinated against the swine flu in the next several days before everyone else becomes eligible.

With demand for the injectable form of swine flu vaccine apparently decreasing, state health officials plan to tell doctors, pharmacies, hospitals and other vaccine providers as early as next week that everyone will be eligible for the injectable form, said state Health Department spokeswoman Janice Okubo.

In December, the nasal mist form of the H1N1 vaccine became available to everyone. But it is not recommended for some people, such as children under 2 years old, pregnant women, people age 50 and older, and those with conditions such as asthma, diabetes or chronic heart or lung disease.

Hawai’i this week became the last state to continue to limit the injectable form of the H1N1 vaccine, after Louisiana health officials on Monday made their supply available to everyone.

“We were just waiting to make sure we had the amount of vaccine to be comfortable to open it up,” said Sean Smith, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. “Now everyone that wants it can come get it.”

Hawai’i health officials continued to limit their supply of injectable H1N1 vaccine, in part, because they wanted to make sure there is enough for people who should not be vaccinated with the nasal mist form.

‘GOOD SUPPLY NOW’

The Islands were allocated a total of 523,300 doses of H1N1 vaccine from the national supply as of Dec. 30 — and 366,140 doses have been shipped or are in transit, Okubo said.

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January 4th, 2010 by MWilhelm

The WHO director-general, Margaret Chan, has said that the swine flu — influenza A(H1N1) — pandemic may not be conquered until 2011.

She said it was “prudent and appropriate” to monitor the evolution of the virus for the next 12 months, Reuters reported last week (29 December).

Cases have peaked in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, she said, but are still increasing in countries such as Egypt and India.

Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s special advisor on swine flu, said last month (19 December) that logistical and regulatory issues caused delays in distributing A(H1N1) vaccines to the developing world [46kB].

The organisation had planned to start sending vaccine in November, with Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Mongolia first in line, said Fukuda.

Chan added that the decision by AstraZeneca and Sanofi-Aventis to recall some A(H1N1) vaccine because it was not potent enough was not related to vaccine safety.

As vaccine becomes increasingly available, the required number of doses is still being debated. The Lancet published three studies last month (16 December) from China* and Hungary* and the United States*. All three say that one dose is enough for an adult but that children (under nine in the US study and under 12 in the Chinese study) need two. The Hungarian study did not include children.

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December 28th, 2009 by MWilhelm

(MCT) — People donned masks, got vaccinated and soaked their hands in hand sanitizer this year as the threat of a strain of influenza known as H1N1 spread around the world.

After an outbreak in Mexico, the virus made its way into the United States in April. On June 11, the World Health Organization declared that a pandemic was under way.

This virus originally was called swine flu because laboratory testing revealed many of the genes in the virus were similar to influenza viruses normally found in North American pigs.

But further research found the virus was quite different from the viruses that circulate in pig populations.

Unfortunately, the moniker stuck and the $85 billion U.S. pork industry — centered in Iowa — figured to lose about $1.1 billion in lost sales as 27 countries blocked U.S. imports.

In Jasper County there were seven confirmed and probable hospitalizations due to H1N1.

Not only was the H1N1 virus found in humans, it also was detected in an Iowa cat in November.

“We had our first wave of the virus in May, and it went down over the summer, and we had a second wave when kids went back to school around September and October, and it’s now gone back down,” said Iowa Department of Public Health Medical Director Patricia Quinlisk.

Demand to create a flu vaccine aimed for mass distribution in October ran high. As the first vaccine doses slowly rolled out, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention limited them to high-risk groups such as children and pregnant women.

Many who wanted a vaccine became frustrated when they couldn’t find one or had to stand in long lines. Meanwhile, distribution of the annual seasonal flu vaccine got off to an earlier-than-usual start.

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December 9th, 2009 by MWilhelm

Research published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found the antiviral could cut the length of time people have symptoms by just ONE day.

It also found there was no clear evidence the drug prevented complications like pneumonia.

More than a million courses of antivirals including Tamiflu have been given out to people across Britain since the start of the swine flu pandemic.

But plans to inoculate more than three million kids with the antivirals are in disarray.

The Government and GPs have failed to reach an agreement on the swine flu vaccination programme for under-fives.

The BMJ research was carried out by a team of experts from the Cochrane Collaboration.

They found Tamiflu “did not reduce influenza-related lower respiratory tract complications”.

The drug was found to induce nausea while evidence of negative reactions to the drug were “possibly under-reported”.

But they did find Tamiflu was effective in treating people preventatively after they had come into contact with somebody who was infected.

Dr Fiona Godlee, editor in chief of the BMJ, said: “Governments around the world have spent billions of pounds on a drug that the scientific community now finds itself unable to judge.”

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December 9th, 2009 by MWilhelm

A new study has raised doubts about whether the drug Tamiflu can help prevent pneumonia and other complications in healthy adults who develop flu. Tamiflu has been widely prescribed in the UK to prevent such problems in people with swine (H1N1) flu, with the government spending an estimated £500 million on the drug this year.

What do we know already?

Tamiflu is an antiviral drug. The scientific name is oseltamivir. It works by slowing down how fast the flu virus can reproduce in the body.

Tamiflu is licensed to treat all types of flu in adults and children over the age of 1 year. It isn’t used much for ordinary (seasonal) flu in the UK, but it is being used widely for swine flu. Some doctors think it should be used only if people have severe symptoms or are at risk of being seriously ill with swine flu (for example, people who have other health problems). But, in practice, most people with symptoms of swine flu are being offered Tamiflu.

One reason for this is research showing that Tamiflu can reduce the risk of pneumonia, bronchitis, and other complications among healthy people who develop seasonal flu. In a 2006 review of studies, researchers found that Tamiflu can cut the risk of related respiratory illnesses by 58 percent. But, after this review was published, it was pointed out that these findings were based entirely on studies conducted by the drug’s manufacturer (a company called Roche), which hadn’t released most of its data for scrutiny by outside researchers. This raised questions about the reliability of these findings.

Now, the researchers have updated their review to reassess the benefits and risks of Tamiflu. They also looked at a similar drug called zanamivir (brand name Relenza), although they didn’t explore its effects on flu complications.

What does the new study say?

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December 9th, 2009 by MWilhelm

The man with the nickname “Dr Flu”, Professor Albert Osterhaus, of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam Holland has been named by Dutch media researchers as the person at the center of the worldwide Swine Flu H1N1 Influenza A 2009 pandemic hysteria. Not only is Osterhaus the connecting person in an international network that has been described as the Pharma Mafia, he is THE key advisor to WHO on influenza and is intimately positioned to personally profit from the billions of euros in vaccines allegedly aimed at H1N1.

Earlier this year the Second Chamber of the Netherland Parliament undertook an investigation into alleged conflicts of interest and financial improprieties of the well-known Dr. Osterhaus. Outside Holland and a mention at the time in the Dutch media, the only note of the sensational investigation into Osterhaus’ business affairs came in a tiny note in the respected British magazine, Science.

Osterhaus’s credentials and expertise in his field were not in question. What is according to a short report published by the journal Science, are his links to corporate interests that stand to potentially profit from the swine flu pandemic. Science carried the following brief note in its October 16 2009 issue about Osterhaus:

“ For the past 6 months, one could barely switch on the television in the Netherlands without seeing the face of famed virus hunter Albert Osterhaus talking about the swine flu pandemic. Or so it has seemed. Osterhaus, who runs an internationally renowned virus lab at Erasmus Medical Center, has been Mr. Flu. But last week, his reputation took a nosedive after it was alleged that he has been stoking pandemic fears to promote his own business interests in vaccine development.Last week, his reputation took a nosedive after it was alleged that he has been stoking pandemic fears to promote his own business interests in vaccine development. As Science went to press, the Dutch House of Representatives had even slated an emergency debate about the matter.”

On November 3, 2009 it appeared that Osterhaus emerged with at least the damage somewhat under control. An updated Science blog noted, “The House of Representatives of the Netherlands today rejected a motion asking the government to sever all ties with virologist Albert Osterhaus of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, who had been accused of conflicts of interest in his role as a government adviser. But Dutch health minister Ab Klink, meanwhile, announced a “Sunshine Act” compelling scientists to disclose their financial ties to companies.” ²

The Minister, Ab Klink, reportedly a personal friend of Osterhaus,³subsequently issued a statement on the ministry’s website, claiming that Osterhaus was but one of many scientific advisers to the ministry on vaccines for H1N1, and that the Ministry “knew” about the financial interests of Osterhaus.⁴Nothing out of the ordinary, merely pursuit of science and public health so it seemed.

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