January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

The last six months have been writhe with worry over infection, primarily through the H1N1 “swine flu” virus. While swine flu has dropped off most people’s radar, there is still the scourge of the norovirus. The norovirus had made its way into a North Carolina Casino, leaving almost 250 players with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

In the height of the H1N1 scare, casinos were diligent about keeping their games clean. According to the Associated Press, Harrah’s Cherokee Casino and Hotel had been undertaking similar cleaning expeditions in order to counteract the norovirus that had been afflicting so many in the casino.

Since January 12th, the cleaning crews have been working to prevent the spread of disease. The staff has been using bleach and water in order keep slot games, hand rails, restrooms, and door knobs cleaned. The workers are moving throughout the casino in an hourly circuit.

Norovirus, responsible for many non-bacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis, what is more commonly called the stomach flu. The virus is very common and spreads very easily, though breaks down very easily under the strength of bleach.

The outbreak of infection has once again shown players why many have begun switching to online casinos. North Carolina Online Casinos suffer from no such outbreak as that found in land based casinos from time to time.

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

With the National Institute of Virology (NIV) admitting that the H1N1 viral transmission has not yet stopped, imported H1N1 vaccine will soon be administered to the high-risk groups of doctors and paramedics dealing with swine flu patients.

In Pune district, where over 10 lakh people have been screened for H1N1 symptoms, information is being collected from 24 hospitals about the requirement of the imported vaccine. NIV director Dr A C Mishra said transmission of H1N1 virus was still on and that it will take time to settle. When contacted in New Delhi, Dr V M Katoch, director general, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), told The Indian Express that an order of 12-15 lakh doses of the vaccine was placed with Sanofi Pasteur Pharmaceuticals. The safety trials will end soon and the imported vaccine will be administered to healthcare workers by mid-February, Katoch said.

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

IMPHAL, Jan 25: The saying goes that only the wearer knows just where the shoe pinches. H1NI till today meant only alarming news headlines and what one read about or heard in the news. Except that I was in the nation of smiles: Thailand, to rapportuer a 3 day Consultation on Harm reduction, drug use and poverty and came back with a raging fever that sent alarm bells ringing within the family, as well as my own self. The trouble started at Bangkok airport: acute shivering and weakness of the limbs coupled with a numbness. Some other colleagues who were getting back with me from the meeting gave me Combiflam and I slept over the worst..or so I thought. Reaching Kolkatta for a night halt, the medication made it impossible for the flu indicator installed at the health check up area of the International airport area. Getting back to Imphal, I was only aware of the repercussions of a possible infection but did not have too much confidence in the 3 people I saw sitting at the health counter at Imphal airport. I got my medications from my Uncle, a doctor who asked me stay away from other family members and to go for a swine flu test..just to be on the safe side.

That’s where the story lies. I went alone and stood in a cramped line to get an OPD ticket. If indeed it turns out that I am positive for H1N1, then I must have infected many others. It took me about an hour to get my OPD, following which I went to the Microbiology Department at JN Hospital. The technician obviously was taking their Government job timings seriously and not there till noon time. I twiddled my thumbs and called up some people who I thought I should inform, in case I was going to be down with swine flu. I even did a mental check up of how some of the people whom I could not inform would hear about what I was going through. I was eventually led to the special ward where a door with a computer print out read “Influenza ward” was opened after much ceremony of finding out where the keys were. The welcome committee was a horde of mosquitoes and a pool of stagnant water in the room where in case of a need for isolation, I was supposed to stay. After another hour during which, doctors and nurses and admin people went in a tizz trying to figure out what procedure to follow etc, there was some semblance of work and someone wearing robot like clothes came in to take my throat swap. More robot type people came in later at irregular intervals: one took my fever history, another examined me and I could vaguely sense some amount of panic for no one came in to tell me what I was supposed to do.

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January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (CBS) -

Students at more than 50 schools in Riverside County will be able to get free swine flu vaccinations this month, Riverside County public health officials said Monday.

Clinics will be held in several school districts in Perris, Riverside, Banning, Menifee, Moreno Valley, Corona, Temecula and Jurupa, according to Sean Nealon, a spokesman for the Riverside County Department of Public Health.

Children will also be vaccinated at private schools in Riverside, Palm Desert, Indio, San Jacinto and Murrieta, Nealon said. A complete list of schools is available at the Riverside County Department of Public Health’sWeb site.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for parents to ensure their children are vaccinated,” Eric Frykman, a Riverside County public health officer, said.

Since November, the county’s public health teams have visited more than 30 schools and nearly 50 child care facilities.

Some 2,559 confirmed and probable cases of the H1N1 virus have been reported in Riverside County since April, and 33 people have died from complications, according to county health officials.

The vaccine will still be available at 10 county family care centers for free on a walk-in basis from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The centers are located in Banning, Corona, Hemet, Indio, Jurupa, Lake Elsinore, Palm Springs, Perris, Riverside and Rubidoux.

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

Douglas County Emergency Management is partnering with Carson City Health and Human Services to offer free H1N1 vaccinations at East Fork Fire Station 7 in the Gardnerville Ranchos from 9 a.m.-noon on Feb. 6.

Station 7 is at 940 Mitch Drive.

Flu season lasts until May and with ample vaccine supplies, now is an excellent time to get vaccinated, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I hope that all who are interested in being vaccinated will be vaccinated. It’s the best way to protect yourself and your family from illness, serious illness, hospitalization or death,” he said.

The Saturday clinic is open to all. H1N1 vaccinations are also available at the Douglas County Community Health Nursing Clinic, 1133 Spruce St., Gardnerville.

Their vaccination hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, closed for lunch. Information call 782-9038.

Carson City Health and Human Services, 900 E. Long St., Carson City, offers H1N1 vaccinations on Thursdays only from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. for lunch. Information, call 887-2190.

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

INLAND EMPIRE – Riverside County health officials are launching an offensive against the Swine flu over the next six weeks.

Free vaccinations are being offered for children in more than fifty schools. Health care workers have already visited about thirty schools and fifty child care facilities.

Upcoming clinics will be held in the following school districts: Perris Elementary, Riverside, Banning, Menifee, Moreno Valley, Perris Union High School, Corona-Norco, Alvord, Temecula Valley and Jurupa.

Children are also getting the vaccine at private schools in Riverside, San Jacinto, Murrieta, Palm Desert and Indio and at family care centers.

As of earlier this month, the Inland Empire was the only area of California with ‘localized’ outbreaks of Swine flu. (INT)

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

By Mary Ann Roser | Monday, January 25, 2010, 11:01 AM

Right after I wrote about a nurse who was fired from Seton Medical Center for refusing flu shots and then declining to a wear mask all day, several medical professionals chided me for failing to report that masks do not prevent the spread of flu.

There is controversy about whether surgical masks reduce the spread of flu, and research on the topic is limited. A new study sheds some light on the use of wearing masks for reducing flu spread in community settings, but it didn’t test masks in a hospital setting.

A little background:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said during the H1N1 swine flu pandemic last year recommended that health care professionals wear respirators. It also said that while masks did not filter out particles as tiny as viruses, they were better than nothing in places that might be short of respirators.

Specifically, the guidance said the masks “are a barrier to splashes, droplet sprays, and autoinoculation of influenza virus from the hands to the nose and mouth. Thus, they should be chosen over no protection.”

The new study of 1,437 young people living in university residence halls during the 2006-2007 flu season found the highest reductions in flu illness during the four to six weeks that students wore face masks and washed their hands, in comparison to two other groups: those who only wore masks and a control group. Specifically, researchers found a 35 percent to 51 percent reduction when compared with the control group.

The research published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases by scientists at the University of Michigan School of Public Health said they believed their work would be helpful during a pandemic, especially when vaccine is limited.

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

New Delhi, Jan 25 : Two more people have died of swine flu in the national capital, raising to 92 the number of fatalities from the viral disease, health authorities said Monday.

Of the two deaths, one is that of a 33-year-old woman and the details of the other casualty is yet to be known.

“A 33-year-old woman died at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital,” Anjana Prakash, deputy nodal officer in charge of swine flu control in Delhi, told IANS.

Besides, the city also reported two fresh cases of swine flu. With these two new cases, the cumulative number of infections in the city has gone up to 9,636. The toll so far is 92 in Delhi.

Copyright Indo Asian News

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

Utah health officials are reporting one new swine flu-related death for the week that ended Saturday.

The total number of H1N1-related deaths is now 27 this flu season.

The Utah Health Department says influenza is circulating at a level that is typical for what’s seen during regular flu seasons. Influenza-like activity in Utah increased slightly from what was reported last week.

The health department also says there have been 883 hospitalizations due to both the seasonal flu and swine flu reported this influenza season. That’s two more than were reported last week.

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl on Monday rejected accusations that the organization miscategorized H1N1 (swine flu) as a pandemic, calling such accusations “irresponsible,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. “WHO also dismissed claims it colluded with drug companies to bring economic benefit to the industry by playing up the danger of the new H1N1 [swine flu] influenza strain,” the news service writes.

The organization is scheduled to meet Tuesday with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, “the watchdog body [that has] questioned whether the U.N.’s health agency acted under undue influence,” according to the AP/Washington Post (1/25).

Agence France-Presse reports WHO Special Adviser on Pandemic Influenza Keiji Fukuda will attend the meeting. The article also includes comments made by Hartl on Friday, in which he defends the WHO’s response to H1N1 (1/23).

In its latest update on the toll of H1N1 around the world, the WHO on Friday said at least 14,142 people worldwide have died from H1N1 since the virus emerged, Xinhua reports (1/23). According to the WHO, North Africa, South Asia and parts of Eastern Europe continue to see the most intense transmission of the virus, Agence France-Presse/IOL reports (1/25).

In other news, the Wall Street Journal examines why the H1N1 projections initially made by the CDC appear to have been overestimates. The CDC “said last week that about 55 million Americans have been ill with H1N1 and about 11,000 have died – a far smaller toll than projected in a report last summer commissioned by the White House. That report warned of a scenario in which 60 million to 120 million people would become sick last fall and this winter and 30,000 to 90,000 people would die of swine flu,” the newspaper writes. The article examines possible explanations for the disparity in the predictions and current estimates (Bialik, 1/23).

On the vaccine front, France has run into some difficulties in its attempts to cancel millions of orders of H1N1 vaccines with drugmakers, Agence France-Pressereports. “France earlier this month moved to cancel purchases of 50 million swine flu vaccines after ordering far more than needed, but was confident at the time that it would not have to compensate the big companies that provide them,” the news service writes. “But the negotiations with the British drug firm GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi of France and Novartis of Switzerland are ‘extraordinarily tough,’ [French Health Minister] Roselyne Bachelot, told Europe 1 radio station on Friday” (1/22).

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

Swine flu in Wales remains stable and the number of people contacting their GP with flu symptoms across Wales as a whole is at a lower level than doctors would expect to see in a normal flu season at this time of year.

The National Public Health Service for Wales influenza surveillance scheme, which records reports of diagnoses of flu from more than 300 GP practices across Wales, shows that on latest estimates there were 13.6 cases of a flu-like illness diagnosed by GPs out of every 100,000 people in Wales – the equivalent of 408 people in Wales contacting their GPs in seven days with flu like symptoms.

Not all of these people will have swine flu and not everyone with flu like symptoms will contact their GP.

The report also shows levels of influenza activity in each county of Wales. On 13 January the rate of diagnosis of flu-like illness at a local level ranged from 2.0 per 100,000 people in Merthyr Tydfil to 21.9 per 100,000 people in Pembrokeshire.

361 people in the UK with swine flu have died £“ 28 in Wales, 251 in England, 65 in Scotland and 17 in Northern Ireland. The majority had underlying health conditions.

Dr Roland Salmon, Director of the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, National Public Health Service for Wales, said: “The number of people who test positive for swine flu, as a proportion of all those being tested, is falling.

“Nevertheless, flu is still circulating so I still strongly advise people to be aware of the symptoms of swine flu and of the steps that can be taken to prevent its spread.”

January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

No, the swine flu has not gone away.

But it is in retreat, public health officials say.

Even so, they urge people to get vaccinated, just in case.

According to figures released recently by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rates of swine flu have dropped dramatically across the country over the last two months.

No states are reporting widespread outbreaks. Florida has only sporadic cases.

And there are no flu hospitalizations in Lee County, according to the health department.

That’s a turnaround from last year’s grim statistics, when the flu was considered widespread. Between April and December, up to 16,000 Americans died from swine-flu related illnesses.

Five were in Lee County.

Dr. Judith Hartner, director of the Lee County Health Department, answered some of the more frequently answered questions about the 2009 pandemic.

Q: We haven’t heard much about the swine flu lately. Does this mean things are all-clear in Lee County and the rest of Southwest Florida?

A: H1N1 (swine flu) activity has certainly slowed down around the state and in Southwest Florida. Visits to hospital emergency departments for influenza-like illness are comparable to the rates that were seen for the past two years. It is much too early to consider an “all clear.” The peak of traditional flu season is still ahead of us.

Q: Are there any indications new incidents of swine flu rates will spike again here?

A: Influenza is not predictable. We need to continue to monitor disease and remind folks it is certainly not too late to get their H1N1 vaccine. We have enough doses for all who want it. It is available at physician’s offices,

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January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

Indonesia needs to establish an epidemic mitigation agency, similar to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US, a virus expert said Saturday.

“An equivalent of the CDC  would enable the government to provide rapid and effective measures

against epidemics as well as give the government the capability to continuously monitor and study the development of possible epidemics,” Prof.  I Gusti Ngurah Kade Mahardika said in his acceptance speech to faculty members of Udayana University.

The German-educated scientist was honored with the title of professor in front of a packed ceremony at the university’s main campus in Bukit, Jimbaran.

Known for his jovial character and no-nonsense attitude, Mahardika is one of only a handful of the island’s academics who have actively and passionately campaigned for comprehensive measures against epidemics to be put in place following the outbreak of the H1N1 virus.

Mahardika has identified a lack of coordination among government agencies in terms of which body has the authority and responsibility to deal with epidemics. The lack of coordination, he said, had prevented the government from providing a unified and comprehensive strategy.

“We need a government agency that is tasked solely with mitigating epidemics. That agency must be given clear authority to devise and enforce scientifically tested strategies to deal with ongoing and possible epidemics.”

Mahardika believes the CNC is the perfect model for a similar agency in Indonesia.

“If an epidemic occurs  in the US, all the available resources are automatically placed under the CDC’s command and all government agencies are perfectly aware that under such circumstances the CDC has the last say on every aspect mitigating the epidemic,” he said

He also warned the resort island was vulnerable to epidemics due to its high human and animal population.

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January 25th, 2010 by MWilhelm

Ahmedabad, Jan 24 (PTI) Two persons died of swine flu in Gujarat today taking the death toll so far to 213, while 11 new cases were reported from different parts of the state.

According to health department officials, Anand Mavjibhai (32) died of swine flu at PDU hospital in Rajkot while Pratap Gandabhai (35) died at general hospital in Bhavnagar.

In all 213 persons have died due to H1N1 virus while 1,144 people have tested positive with the infectious disease.

Today, new cases were reported from Vadodara,Junagadh, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Ahmedabad.