Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Avian Flu headlines have caused an increase in the sale of Tamiflu particularly to parents for their children:
http://chealth.canoe.ca/channel_heal...hannel_id=1020

Originally Posted by chealth.canoe.ca/channel_health_news_details.asp?news_id=18828&news _channel_id=1020&channel_id=1020

While sales for all age groups soared during that period, the greatest percentage increase was seen in prescriptions filled for children 17 and younger. Some doctors even wrote prescriptions for babies under a year old, even though the flu drug isn't approved for use for children under 12 months.

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Free video cast from October 5th, the Kinyoun Lecture, Influenza Viruses Past and Future with Dr. Jeffrey Taubenberger, the researcher who helped sequence the 1918 flu virus. Scroll down the link to October 5th.
http://videocast.nih.gov/PastEvents.asp?c=998

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Bird Flu Vaccine for Kids and Elderly:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/...850919452.html
The article is saying kids and elderly will be the most vulnerable in a pandemic. I am not sure if that is true about the elderly, but kids within a certain age group, yes.

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Tamiflu down the drain. Not good news...Leave it to Effect Measure to see this:
http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasur...drain.php#more

Originally Posted by scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2006/10/tamiflu_down_the_drain.php#morel

What happens when someone takes a Tamiflu tablet?...most of the OC... is excreted into the environment... most of those pills will go from us to toilets and then into waterways via sewage discharges....

What are the possible adverse consequences? Mutations or reassortments and/or recombinations during avian co-infections in a low level Tamiflu environment could produce new drug strains with Tamiflu-resistant neuraminidase genes.

We also have not investigated whether the drug might have serious effects on particular species in the environment. Nobody has looked.

It's urgent to investigate this, now that it has been called to our attention. Failure to do so is negligence of the worst kind...

Here is another article on the study they are referring to:
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/press/briefings/2006/tamiflu.asp

Originally Posted by www.nerc.ac.uk/press/briefings/2006/tamiflu.asp

During a flu pandemic, millions of people will all take Tamiflu at the same time. Over just 8 or 9 weeks, massive amounts of the drug will be expelled in sewage and find its way into the rivers. It could have huge effects on the fish and other wildlife."

The build up of Tamiflu in rivers is likely to cause the avian influenza virus in ducks to become resistant to it, eventually resulting in a new wave of flu that is unaffected by the Tamiflu drug. People in south-east Asia, for example, could be more at risk from contracting the new strain of influenza because they have close and frequent contact with wildfowl.

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Indonesia defends H5N1 fight:

http://birdflubreakingnews.com/templ...bc-fluwrap.xml

News on Malaysia:

Originally Posted by www.brunei-online.com/bb/wed/oct18b4.html

Sabah state has had no cases of bird flu as yet, but because it borders the Indonesian province of Kalimantan, where the disease has been widespread among poultry, it must remain on high alert, he said.

Kenya on alert:

http://birdflubreakingnews.com/templ...Fb8de8e630faf3

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

This is superb, looking at avian flu, and other concerns from a risk communicator's perspective. It is a very long link, and not all of it has to do with avian flu. You will have to keep scrolling down the page to find all the parts that do, and there are quite a few mixed in with other subjects. It is worth reading if only to find the section on talking to kids about avian flu. I hope you all have the patience to go through the whole link. Also the section on low path vs high path flu, and what bureaucrats decide to tell the public is very, very good too. Peter Sandman is a risk communicator. If you are not familiar with him see this little blurb first:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php...=Peter_Sandman

So sit back, try to relax. It is a serious subject, addressed clearly and honestly:


http://www.psandman.com/gst2006.htm#link

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

I had been reading about the effect of having a less than perfect immune system, and how it could be an advantage if you contracted avian flu.

Here is a potential problem, that you hardly hear anything about, from an article written last year. It's Africa.
Scientists are genuinely worried about what happens when H5N1 meets up with a host infected with HIV, and rightly so:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4444940.stm

Originally Posted by news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4444940.stm

Experts fear that the widespread infection of birds in this region, coupled with the close mixing of birds and people, could lead to the virus evolving to pose a more deadly threat.

But Dr Webster, of St Jude Children's Research Hospital im Memphis, said the key could be when H5N1 reaches East Africa, where HIV/Aids is rife.

... experience with immune-compromised cancer patients ... had showed they are unable to clear normal flu virus from their systems, and can shed copies of the virus for weeks.
The same could be expected of AIDS patients coming down with H5N1, he said.
"We're all very worried by the prospect," he told the BBC.

Reproducing over a long period inside a human would be the ideal conditions for more infectious forms of the virus to develop.

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

Cautious optimism about vaccines:

http://chealth.canoe.ca/channel_heal...hannel_id=1020

Originally Posted by chealth.canoe.ca/channel_health_news_details.asp?news_id=18842&news _channel_id=1020&channel_id=1020

... an H5N1 vaccine it made using a virus from Vietnam in 2004 triggered production of antibodies that can neutralize the H5N1 virus that caused an outbreak in Turkey ...It provides hope ...the older vaccine might protect people who received it against strains related to the Turkish virus and even future strains. The viruses from Vietnam and Turkey belong to different subgroups or clades ... it was not a given that a vaccine made with one would protect against the other.

Sanofi already has evidence the cross-protection probably doesn't occur across the board with H5N1 viruses.

It also tested to see if the antibodies produced by the vaccine would neutralize a virus like those now circulating in Indonesia - the current hot spot for H5N1 infection.
The antibody response to the Indonesian virus was poor... "It's not universally (cross-reactive) against all the strains from clade 2. Clade 2 is very vast."

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

HHS backs respirator use in caring for pandemic flu patients, elementary, my dear Watson:

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/con...1806masks.html

Originally Posted by www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/oct1806masks.html

... interim guidance document says the use of N-95 respirators—designed to stop 95% of small airborne particles—is "prudent" for medical workers providing any direct care for patients ill with confirmed or suspected pandemic flu and is recommended in caring for those with pneumonia. It also says respirator use is prudent for support workers in direct contact with patients.

Question, do we have enough? When were you fitted for one?

Re: Pandemic Flu - Thread II

BirdfluBreakingnews.com - Article

Originally Posted by BirdfluBreakingnews.com - Article

... USDA will provide 100 percent indemnity for specific costs of eradicating H5 and H7 low-pathogenic avian influenza by program participants.... In previous H5 and H7 detections, states often handled indemnification, and provisions varied.

International animal health standards now require countries to report all H5 and H7 detections.