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H5N1 bird flu virus able to jump to pigs
The 09 Sep. 2010 at 07:43Last newsComments (0)Add a comment
The H5N1 bird flu virus may be evolving the ability to spread from mammal to mammal, says a team who have discovered that pigs in Indonesia have been infected with the disease since 2005.
The H5N1 bird flu kills 60 per cent of the people it infects. However, most infections occur after direct contact with an infected bird and the disease does not appear to spread well between humans. One way the virus could develop the ability to spread among humans is to first infect pigs, which have many biochemical similarities to humans. Flu viruses adapted to pigs have less trouble adapting to humans than do bird flu viruses – one pig-adapted virus caused the swine flu pandemic in 2009.
Chairul Nidom of Airlangga University in Surabaya, Indonesia, and colleagues in Japan have been tracking H5N1 in pigs since 2005 in Indonesia, the country hardest hit by the avian flu virus. They now report that between 2005 to 2007 -when the avian flu peaked- 7.4 per cent of 700 pigs they tested also carried H5N1. There have been sporadic reports of H5N1 in pigs, but this is the first time the extent of the problem has been measured.
Not from pig to pig
In each case, the virus in pigs closely resembled H5N1 from nearby outbreaks in poultry, suggesting it has jumped from the bird to the pig population. That and the small proportion of pigs infected suggest the virus cannot yet spread between pigs. "If the virus was better adapted to pigs it would have spread like wildfire," says Ab Osterhaus of the University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, a flu expert not involved in the research.
Virus can easily evade
Since 2007, avian flu outbreaks have diminished in poultry and in people in Indonesia and the investigators found that the rate of infection in pigs has similarly dropped. The team showed that infected pigs show no symptoms. "H5N1 viruses could easily evade detection as they spread through Indonesia in asymptomatic pigs," warn Nidom and colleagues. Nidom says that in one pig, the virus had developed the ability to bind to a molecule present in the noses of both pigs and humans. That's exactly the kind of change that could allow it to spread between people. "This shows we should keep a close watch on pig flu, as it can change rapidly," warns Osterhaus.
New EU collaboration
The European Union is heeding the call and is funding a scientific collaboration called FLUPIG, to study how bird flu adapts to pigs and how it spreads to people. It will meet for the first time later this month.
[Source: Emerging Infectious Diseases]
128 H1N1 deaths in India in past week:Govt.
The 07 Sep. 2010 at 20:01Last newsComments (0)Add a comment
As many as 128 people have died of influenza A (H1N1) in India in the week ended September 5, an official statement from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare said here today.With this, the toll in the country since the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the swine flu as a pandemic in mid-June last year has gone up to 2241.
The WHO, on August 10, had declared an end to the pandemic but called for continued vigilance, pointing out that pandemics, like the viruses that cause them, are unpredictable.
Of the 128 deaths, 45 occurred in Maharashtra, 32 in Gujarat, 13 in Madhya Pradesh, 12 in Karnataka, 9 in Rajasthan, 5 in Andhra Padesh, 4 each in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and 1 each in Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Chattisgarh.
A total of 1257 fresh cases of the flu were reported during the week, including 381 in Maharashtra, 316 in Delhi, 212 in Karnataka, 70 in Uttar Pradesh, 64 in Gujarat, 55 in Rajasthan and 51 in Andhra Pradesh.
Hong Kong: Children hardest hit by swine flu
The 05 Sep. 2010 at 23:24Last newsComments (0)Add a comment
Natalie Wong
Monday, September 06, 2010
Up to 45 percent of children aged five to 14 were infected with H1N1 during the first wave of the swine flu pandemic in Hong Kong last year, according to a serological study announced at an international flu symposium.
The University of Hong Kong collected blood samples from 40,000 citizens from June to November 2009, and found 11 percent of the local population was infected with swine flu.
The 45 percent infection rate of children was highest. Citizens aged 15 to 59 had infection rates of between 7 and 20 percent.
The five-day flu symposium, which ends tomorrow, is being attended by international influenza specialists at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
"When half of the Hong Kong children were infected with a virus from nowhere, can you just ignore this situation and not make any protective measures?" asked conference chairman Malik Peiris, professor in microbiology at HKU.
The findings justified the government's draconian measures to play safe in the beginning of the outbreak last year. For instance, school suspension was essential in June last year to control transmission, according to another professor from the department, Dr Poon Lit-man.
When the first swine flu case was confirmed in May last year, the government quarantined visitors at Metropark Hotel in Wan Chai for seven days.
After the early outbreaks in North America in April 2009, the pandemic spread around the world.
Figures released last month by the World Health Organization showed 18,630 laboratory-confirmed deaths were reported in 125 countries.
The WHO declared last month that the swine flu pandemic was officially over. The organization's head of Global Influenza Program, Sylvie Briand, said although the virus is relatively mild, there was widespread community transmission in all areas.
"We have to continue with a global network of surveillance, as it is impossible to predict when the ever changing influenza virus is going to mutate," said Briand, who also defended the WHO against accusations that it hyped the swine flu pandemic.
"We prepared for the worst and hoped for the best, and as the information became available, there was adaptation of the plan, and adaptation of the recommendations in order to really tailor the response to the reality. But it took some time."
In Hong Kong, 2,491 swine flu cases were recorded in the first half of the year, with the July figure of 79 cases dropping from 1,092 cases in January. the Centre for Health Protection said.
Virus expert: Bird flu still pandemic danger, warns against complacency
The 05 Sep. 2010 at 18:26Last newsComments (0)Add a comment
WHO declared the swine flu pandemic over last month. The latest death toll is just over 18,600 - far below the millions that were once predicted.
Hong Kong : A leading virus expert has urged health authorities around the world to stay vigilant even though the recent swine flu pandemic was less deadly than expected, warning that bird flu could spark the next global outbreak.
WHO declared the swine flu pandemic over last month. The latest death toll is just over 18,600 - far below the millions that were once predicted. The head of the global health body has credited good preparation and luck, as the H1N1 swine flu virus didn't mutate as some had feared.
Speaking to reporters at a conference in Hong Kong, researcher Robert Webster warned against complacency and predicted that the next pandemic could be sparked by a virus that spreads from water fowl to pigs and then onto humans - such as the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed 300 people over the past seven years.
Influenza B was behind Moradabad mystery fever
The 05 Sep. 2010 at 15:24Last newsComments (0)Add a comment
LUCKNOW: The riddle of mystery fever in Bhansiya village of Moradabad district of UP has finally been solved. According to the report submitted by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), the infectious fever, which claimed seven lives, was caused by Influenza B virus. The report has confirmed the presence of H1N1 virus in the area.
Confirming the news, chief surveillance officer, integrated disease surveillance programme, UP, Dr Purnima Srivastava said, "we have been communicated about the findings. In the wake of this, health authorities in the Moradabad division have been directed to increase surveillance in their area so that no patient is left untracked.''
To recap, death of seven children following a `mystery' fever in Bhansiya village sent alarm bells ringing late last month. Around 35 children with similar symptoms were hospitalised and the development sent entire health machinery into a tizzy. A committee was constituted by the state government to probe the reason. Later, swab samples of all the affected kids were sent to NICD for a confirmatory test.
The team headed by director, medical care, Dr Shobhnath, had said after preliminary investigation that the deaths were apparently caused by diphtheria. It had recommended that all children in the village be given NDPT shots to avert the recurrence of the disease. A couple of days later, experts from the epidemic control cell, UP, reached the spot to re-expedite the matter. Dr NN Tripathi and Dr AK Awasthi along with others claimed that it was probably a viral infection that caused the trouble.
Incidentally, as the bodies of the children had been disposed by the time the probe team got into action, its job to track down the reason became even more difficult. "Parents of the children who died had gone to private practitioners...we came to know about it a little late,'' Dr Rakesh Saxena, chief medical officer, Moradabad told TOI.
In its report, the team from epidemic control cell had pointed out that malnutrition killed two of the seven children while high grade viral fever `could' have taken toll on others. "Any disease...even simple fever gets fatal for children who are undernourished,'' pointed out Dr Sanjay Niranjan of Indian Paediatric Association.
The reason, explained Dr Awasthi, secondary bacterial infections like tonsillitis and pneumonia spread very fast when a malnourished child is under influence of a virus. "In fact, antibiotic treatment is given to any patient suffering from viral diseases to avert manifestation of secondary infections,'' he added.
Both the committees found that there were some 2,000 children in the village up to the age of five years, most of whom were malnourished. They added that poor personal hygiene and sanitation in the village added to their condition.