About History Of Swine Flu

Swine flu is a carefully watched type of flu because pigs vary from most recipients, carriers and transmitters of transmittable flu strains. Unlike most wildlife, they can deal anthropoid and avianborne influenza, recombine it and then put out it in a new, more treacherous and more handling-tough form.

Flu is always being passed around the anthropological population, but hardly has it reached reassuring epidemic proportions.

History of pig flu (H1N1)

In 1976, there was an plague of boar flu at Fort Dix. This computer program is not the same as the 2009 eruption, but it was similar insofar as it was an respiratory tract infection A that had Trojan horsesimilarities to the swine flu worm. The authority decided to foodstuffs a vaccine against this infection, but the vaccine was accompanying with complications (Guillain-Barr syndrome) and was discontinued. Some individuals neural know that formalin, used to inactivate the disease, may have played a role in the of this complication in 1976. There is no evidence that improvement everyone who obtained this vaccine would be inaccessible against the 2009 hog flu. One of the reasons it takes a few months to work out a new vaccine is to test the vaccine for safety to get out of the complications seen in the 1976 vaccine. New vaccines against any flu virus type are by and large made by mounting sickness in eggs. A particleslife-threatening side effect (allergic response such as swelling of the air transport company) to vaccines can occur in people who are allergic to eggs; these people be duty-bound to not get flu vaccines. Individuals with in action infections or diseases of the nervous system are also not recommended to get flu vaccines.

The Present Swine Flu Threat

There was an occurrence of swine flu in the Philippines in 2007. The National Meat Inspection Service there raised a hog cholera red alert warning for the Manila county, then for five regions of Luzon after the health extent to backyard pig farms.

The strain involved in the near 2009 rash involves a illness similar to that found in U.S. pigs since 1999, but there are also resemblances to versions nearby in European boar. One hypothesis believes Asian and European strains traveled to Mexico in seasonal birds, or in people, then combined with North American strains in Mexican pig plant farms before transmitted to Mexican farm individual human resources.

It's hard to believe but, according to an April 22 statement by the U.S. Center for Disease Control, there is no state-owned surveillance system in residence to determine what viruses are circulating in U.S. pigs.

Prevention Tips for Swine Flu

Swine flu H1 N1 Prevention Tips:

Being world's one of big problems, Swine flu is a matter of concern. Recent study says that more than 100 cases are there in India only.
Few Ayurvedic Medicine for Swine Flu-H1 N1 can be effectively used to reduce lack of resistance capabilities.
Few tips are as follows:

1. Take Giloy (Amta)’s one foot long branch and seven leaf of Tulsi and mix it and collect juice of this mixture in a pot and boil this juice and drink it. It increases our body resistant capacities up to three times.
2. Affected patient should be wrapped into a cotton cloth and should be remained isolated from others to prevent it from spreading.
3. People should use mustard oil and sesame oil to clean their nostrils thrice a day and swallow six to eight Tulsi leaves with water every day.
4. Black pepper and fenugreek are antiviral and toxin removers. Their mixed powder with butter milk shoul be taken.
5. Burning incense of neem, camphor can kill germs and virus in the air around.
6. Keep yourself and your house germ free to avoid any kind of infection, one should wash hands regularly as best practice.

About Pandemic Flu

An infection (flu) sickness is at present being forecast by experts at the WHO.It is basically famous as "pandemic", Pan comes from Latin and Greek meaning across or around and Demos means populations.

Pandemic Alert:

1. No viruses circulating among fauna have been reported to cause infections in humans.

2. An physical flu computer program is recognized to have caused septicity in humans.

3. An visceral or anthropoid-innate influenza disease has caused sporadic cases or small clusters of disease in general public, but it has not resulted in social-to-anthropological communication adequate to brook community-level outbreaks.

4. There is confirmed human-to-humanoid broadcast of an bodily or hominoid-instinctive cold worm able to cause community-level outbreaks.

Here are the key steps health experts suggest:

Wash your hands regularly with soap and water, especially after coughing or sneezing.

Avoid close connection with sick society.

Avoid stirring your opening, nose, or eyes.

If you're sick, stay at home. Cover your nose and outlet with a tissue when you sneeze, and shy the tissue in the refuse then.

Swine Flu

Swine flu, established as 2009 H1N1 type of virus, is a threat at times.The computer program contains genes from swine, bird, and anthropoid flu viruses. Scientists are silent arguing on the order of what the illness should be called, but most people know it as the H1N1 flu sickness.

The swine flu viruses that extent among pigs are different from social flu viruses. But in fact " flu" epidemic is poles apart. It's caused by a new swine flu disease that has reformed in ways that tolerate it to banquet from mien to being and it's happening among people who haven't had any touching base with pigs.

Swine Flu Treatment:

1. Should Call your expert if you have been exposed to H1N1.
2. Isolate the patient from others family members.
3. Provide well-defined fluids.
4. Use OTC medicines other than aspirin, to pleasure symptoms of patients grown-up than 4.
5. Take Tamiflu or Relenza if approved by your Doctor of Philosophy. 

Precautionary actions for Swine Flu at Home:1. Take precautions to avoid spreading the syndrome to any one else and should be Kept the patient insular from the rest of the household.
2. The patient should jacket coughs and sneezes and everyone in the house should be way recurrent hand washing.

3. Patients should avoid connection with people outside the home for 7 days after the first symptoms appear.
4. Make sure the sick creature gets lots of rest and obvious fluids.CDC: Interim Guidance for Swine influenza A (H1N1)2
5. Although over the tent medications may be useful in alleviating flu symptoms, do not give medications containing aspirin to brood or teenagers because of the danger of Reyes Syndrome.

Prevention - To cut the risk of communicable or spreading the Trojan horse you should:

1. cover your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, using a tissue
2. shawl the tissue away hastily and carefully
3. wash your hands repeatedly with soap and sea
4. tidy hard surfaces (like door handles and inaccessible wheel) frequently with a normal cleaning product

All about Swine Flu H1N1

Swine flu is a debasement caused by an infection. It's known as for a Trojan horse that pigs can get. People do not unexceptionally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. The virus is transmissible and can passed from human to human. Symptoms of pig flu in community are similar to the symptoms of set human flu and incorporate malaise, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and energy.

There are antiviral medicines you can take to thwart or extravagance boar flu. There is a vaccine obtainable to protect against hog flu. You can help nip in the bud the plantation of germs that effect breathing illnesses like influenza by:

1. Covering your nose and backchat with a muscle when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the rubbish after you use it.
2. Washing your hands seldom with soap and sea, specially after you cough or sneeze. You can also use alcohol-based hand cleaners.
3. Avoiding sad your eyes, nose or aperture.
4. Trying to circumvent close connection with sick inhabitants.
5. Staying home from work or faculty if you are sick.

Texas Kids Need 2nd Swine Flu Shot

Thousands of kids in Texas may not be fully protected against the H1N1 flu virus, even though they've already had one swine flu shot.

Children younger than 10 years old need a second dose of vaccine to reach a higher level of protection. But most Texas children younger than 10 who received the first shot have not come back for the second, according to numbers from a state system that tracks childhood immunizations.

"It's really a good idea to get that second dose to make sure that your child has that adequate level of protection," said Dr. John Carlo, medical director for the Dallas County Health Department.

According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, 77 percent of children younger than 10 who received the first dose of vaccine have not received the second.

Doctors caution that number may not be entirely accurate because reporting to the state's ImmTrac system is not always complete.  But health officials say the numbers at least show there are more parents who need a reminder to get a double dose of protection for their kids.

Stacia Miller of Mansfield recently got a reminder to bring her daughter, Trinity, in to her pediatrician's office for a second dose.

"I want her body to be fully protected as it can be," Miller said.

But getting that second shot has not always been easy. Some clinics reported shortages around the time many kids were due for their second vaccine last fall.

And then the flu largely faded from media coverage as cases died down.

"The fact that it hit so early in September and was really bad for three weeks -- that got a lot of people in here, and then afterward, everyone was like, 'What's the big deal now?'" said Dr. Laurie Gray, a pediatrician with Cook Children's.

Millions of doses of vaccine are set to expire in June. By mid-summer, Texas will have less than 4.3 million doses left of the more than 11 million doses shipped to the state. Still, it is widely available at the moment at health departments and pharmacies.

Doctors expect H1N1 could make a comeback this summer as kids congregate at summer camps, playgrounds and swimming pools. And the CDC has already reported small spikes in cases in Georgia, especially in areas with lower vaccination rates.

"We can't say that the season's over or that we're out of the woods yet," Carlo said.

Critical illness glues along pregnant ladies with swine flu

eports from the latest study stated that pregnant women with swine flu are 13 times more prone to critical illnesses than non-pregnant women infected with H1N1.
The research, which was conducted by bmj. com, took an account of pregnant women in Australia and New Zealand.
The research found that 11 per cent of mothers and 12 per cent of the babies died when they were admitted to intensive care with swine flu.
The research was a joint effort of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care (ANZIC) Influenza Investigators and the Australasian Maternity Outcomes Surveillance System. In this researchers headed by Dr. Ian Seppelt checked out the data pertaining to women suffering from swine flu, both those who are pregnant and those who had given birth within the last 28 days, between 1 June and 31 August 2009.
It was finally revealed that the ones who were more than 20 weeks pregnant were 13 times more to catch any sort of illness and be admitted to an ICU than non-pregnant women who had swine flu.  more......topnews.in/

Swine flu blamed for rise in pregnancy deaths

The swine flu virus is being blamed for a leap in the number of pregnant women dying in New Zealand and Australia.

New research has found 11 per cent of pregnant mothers admitted to intensive care in Australia later died of swine flu, or H1N1. Twelve per cent of their babies also died.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal this week, comes from analysis of intensive care records during last winter.

Of 209 women of child-bearing age placed in intensive care with swine flu, 64 were pregnant or had recently given birth. Seven of those died, including four in New Zealand.

Researcher Claire McLintock, from Auckland Hospital, said the small numbers in the survey meant they could not draw wide-ranging conclusions about the high number of New Zealand women who died.

McLintock said: "There's normally very few deaths in pregnancy, only a handful each year. Worldwide there will be a big spike in pregnancy-related deaths for 2009 because of H1N1."

None of the 64 pregnant women had received the flu vaccine, despite it being free and encouraged for pregnant women.

Christchurch woman Melissa McDonnell was six months' pregnant when she contracted swine flu.

She said she was unsure what effect the virus would have on her and her unborn baby.

"No one knew what it was going to be like for pregnant women.

"I didn't want to take the Tamiflu vaccine; but if I had broken into a serious fever, I would have."

McDonnell said eating well and lots of sleep helped her through. She now has a healthy 5-month-old daughter, Georgia.

Norma Campbell from the New Zealand College of Midwives was not surprised by the findings.

"Certainly we do know pregnant women are far more at risk and it would seem to be they are later in pregnancy.

"All through history women who are pregnant are more at risk of influenza and H1N1 seems to be particularly so."

Almost 15,000 people died during the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Nineteen New Zealanders are believed to have been among them.

BJP walks out of Rajasthan Assembly over swine flu

The opposition BJP members walked out of the Rajasthan Assembly for the second successive day on Tuesday expressing dissatisfaction over government steps to control the spread of swine flu. They alleged that the official measures were insufficient and had failed to prevent a large number of deaths across the State.

The matter came up during Question Hour when three BJP MLAs sought to know the number of persons found positive with symptoms of H1N1 virus infection and those who had died of the disease. They also asked for information on preventive steps as well as the norms for establishing swine flu testing laboratories.

Medical and Health Minister Aimaduddin Ahmed Khan's reply failed to convince the questioners, who said he was “beating about the bush” and demanded that the Government come clean about its plans for dealing with the dreaded disease.

Mr. Khan's reply, running into 13 pages, consumed more than half of the Question Hour. The BJP members – Mohanlal Gupta, Kalicharan Saraf and Bhawani Singh Rajawat – who had asked the question, listed as the first item in the day's schedule, protested against “jugglery of facts and figures” and an attempt to mislead the House.

The Minister admitted that 3,361 patients had been found suffering from H1N1 influenza and 196 had died till March 9.

When Mr. Khan said there were indications that the global pharmaceutical companies had a “vested interest” in swine flu being declared a pandemic disease in the developing countries, the BJP MLAs created a din saying the international propaganda had nothing to do with the measures expected of the State Government to control its spread.

Mr. Khan said several international newspapers had raised the issue of the World Health Organisation allegedly getting money from influential drug manufacturers on the pretext of conducting research on H1N1 influenza virus.

With the Question Hour nearing its end, the BJP members registered their protest against the Minister's reply with the allegation that he was trying to evade his responsibility and walked out.

Source : http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article248150.ece

WHO : Global swine flu toll reaches 16,713

GENEVA — Swine flu has claimed at least 16,713 lives around the world since it was first uncovered in Mexico and the United States last April, the World Health Organisation said Friday.

The pandemic, which has spread to 213 countries and territories, has since waned in much of Europe and North America, but data indicated that transmission may be increasing in West Africa.

"In Sub-Saharan Africa, limited data suggests that on-going community transmission of pandemic influenza virus continues to increase in parts of West Africa, without clear evidence of a peak in activity," said the WHO.

More cases were being detected in Senegal, Ivory Coast and Rwanda, it said.

The A(H1N1) virus was also spreading in Southeast Asia, with transmission "most active in Thailand," added the UN health agency.

More ..http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g-7lLAUKg7E8EhrZwtwwmytJaFnQ

57 million Americans hit by Swine flu, kills 17,000

 The deadly H1N1 influenza virus, also known as swine flu, may have affected more than 57 million Americans and killed as many as 17,000 of them, according to new official estimates.

Though 2,498 confirmed deaths linked to the H1N1 virus had been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta as of January 30, the agency estimates that between 8,330 and 17,160 people actually have died from H1N1.

The overwhelming majority of the people who died - between 6,390 and 13,170 - were 18 to 64 years old, according to the CDC estimates released Friday. Between 880 and 1,810 children 17 years old and younger also died from this flu, it estimated.

In comparison, the CDC says that in a regular flu season, about 36,000 people in the United States die from seasonal flu, with 90 percent of the deaths usually occurring in people age 65 and older.

While the new figures show the H1N1 pandemic virus is still spreading, they also reflect a slowdown in the transmission of the illnesses since last October. The CDC had last estimated about 55 million Americans had been sickened, 246,000 were hospitalised and about 11,100 had died through mid-December.

While health officials have yet to declare the end of the influenza pandemic, a new round of widespread illness is increasingly unlikely now that a substantial portion of the American population has been either sickened by or vaccinated against the H1N1 pandemic virus. About 70 million people have been vaccinated.

In a separate weekly report of H1N1 influenza activity, the CDC said most influenza strains circulating as of Feb 6 are the H1N1 strain and not strains that cause seasonal influenza.

As of Feb 6, the majority of states reported “sporadic” transmission of the H1N1 virus, the CDC said. However, the CDC said doctor visits for influenza-like illnesses increased slightly over the previous week but “remain low overall.”

Fifth Swine Flu Vaccine recommendation by European regulator.

LONDON — The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) on Friday recommended a swine flu pandemic vaccine produced by French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis for European use.
"The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended the granting of a conditional marketing authorisation for Humenza from Sanofi Pasteur," the EMEA said in a brief statement.

"This is the fifth pandemic vaccine recommended for use by the committee, and the second to be assessed using an emergency procedure which fast-tracks the evaluation of new vaccines developed during a pandemic influenza."

The other four swine flu vaccines are
Arepanrix and Pandemrix, both produced by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline,
Focetria from Swiss peer Novartis,
and Celvapan which is made by US firm Baxter.
 
Celvapan, Focetria and Pandemrix have all won approval for use from the European Commission. However, Arepanrix has not yet been cleared for European usage.

The World Health Organisation's emergency panel of swine flu experts will meet later this month to formally determine whether the pandemic has passed its peak.

The A(H1N1) flu pandemic was generally tailing off in most parts of the world and appeared to be entering a transitional period, according to the UN health agency.

Swine Flu

During the past week, less than 5,000 people were affected by swine flu. The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, said in a statement, “Levels of pandemic ‘flu are currently very low, virtually concluding the second wave of the infection in this country.”
He further informed that the hospitals still have 211 patients of swine flu in England out of which 62 are in critical beds. He also says that for most people it has been a serious illness but children and younger adults developed serious conditions.
In England alone, there have been 28 more swine flu deaths since the last set of figures were announced, making the total figure go up to 279. The total number of deaths across UK amount to
390.
Even children and pregnant women have died with swine flu. This includes 21 deaths in children below five years of age and 12 pregnant women. Adults above the age of 65 were less than a fifth of the totalswine flu deaths.
The reason for fewer deaths, in adults above 65 years of age, is that they develop immunity to previous pandemics during their lives.
People who died of swine flu in England had a moderate or severe underlying health condition.
Under the swine flu vaccination programme in England, 3.7 million jabs have been given to priority groups. These groups included 132,000 pregnant women and 214,000 healthy children in the new six months to five year old group.

Swine flu vaccine in four to seven months

New Delhi: India is at the forefront of developing a swine flu vaccine that will be available in "four to seven months", the government announced Friday as 96 new infections were reported.

Speaking to reporters here Friday, union Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said: "The process has been already set in motion and India is at the forefront of developing a vaccine."

"But the vaccine will be available by four to seven months from now," he added.
There is no known vaccine so far to tackle the virus that has infected over 700 people in the country so far.

Dayal said the World Health Organisation had given the "seed stock" of the influenza A (H1N1) virus to India.

The seed stock is the cultured virus, which has the highest vaccine immunity and is commonly present in majority of the affected cases. If the vaccine is developed from the seed virus then it is likely to be effective for other strains.

In India, three pharmaceutical companies - Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech and Panacea Biotech - are working on developing the vaccine.

The WHO is already collaborating with the Serum Institute of India for developing a seasonal flu vaccine.

Dayal said Serum Institute of India has made a lot of progress and started animal testing of the vaccine.

No need to panic over swine flu: Govt

As panic gripped people in the metros over swine flu and a record 96 new cases came up, the Indian government Friday assured that it was equipped to tackle the virus that has killed one and infected over 700 people so far in the country.

The government also announced a slew of steps to tackle the fast-spreading flu, including decentralising the drug supply and allowing accredited private laboratories to conduct the tests.
Union Health Secretary Naresh Dayal said the government is decentralising the availability of the Tamiflu drug in the country so that there is no paucity and is ready to allow accredited private laboratories to conduct the test to detect the virus provided they have the facilities.

"A lot of panic has been created in the last two days, especially since the death of the girl in Pune. There is no cause for people to go into panic mode," Dayal told a press conference here.
Rida Shaikh, 14, died in Pune Monday of swine flu, and health officials blamed the death to "delayed treatment".

Schoolchildren In Some areas Had Swine Flu

Estimates were based on the numbers of people seeing their GP or contacting the flu line with symptoms but this did not capture the cases which were mild or had no symptoms, the Health Protection Agency experts said.

In an article published online in The Lancet medical journal Prof Elizabeth Miller and colleagues described how blood samples taken before and after the swine flu outbreak has found many more people had the disease.

Before the outbreak only 1.8 per cent of children aged up to four years had any immunity against H1N1 rising to almost a third of people over 80 who were probably exposed to very similar viruses in previous pandemics.

But in August and September the proportion of children aged up to four with H1N1 antibodies rose to one fifth in London and the West Midlands. Almost half of children aged between five and 14 had antibodies, they said.

Prof Miller wrote: “Rates of infection with 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza in the first wave were greatest in children younger than 15 years of age, with an estimated 45 per cent of schoolchildren aged five to 14 years being infected in high incidence regions.

"This finding is consistent with the high level of susceptibility in children and the increased potential for transmission that occurs within schools. We also showed substantial differences between regions in the extent of infection during the first wave.

“This serological study shows the true extent of H1N1 infection in the initial wave of the pandemic in England in 2009. Its findings should be applicable to other countries that have experienced a similar first wave.”

In a separate study it was found that because so many children were infected in the first wave that by the time the second wave hit, after the schools reopened in September, there was little impact the vaccine could make on the spread of the disease.

This supports the approach taken by government to vaccinate people at risk of complications if they contracted swine flu rather than a blanket programme aimed at slowing the spread of the disease.

Prof Miller added “This model, together with the serological data, would suggest that by the time vaccine became available in the UK in late October, 2009, the potential for mitigating the overall effect of the second wave by vaccination was limited.

“Around one child in every three was infected with 2009 pandemic H1N1 in the first wave of infection in regions with a high incidence, ten times more than estimated from clinical surveillance. Pre-existing antibody in older age groups protects against infection. Children have an important role in transmission of influenza and would be a key target group for vaccination both for their protection and for the protection of others through herd immunity.”