Friday, June 29, 2007
CDC: 2007 Influenza Vaccine Update
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The CDC has just released Prevention and Control of Influenza Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 2007
"The 2007 recommendations include new and updated information. Principal updates and changes include 1) reemphasizing the importance of administering 2 doses of vaccine to all children aged 6 months--8 years if they have not been vaccinated previously at any time with either live, attenuated influenza vaccine (doses separated by >6 weeks) or trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine (doses separated by >4 weeks), with single annual doses in subsequent years; 2) recommending that children aged 6 months--8 years who received only 1 dose in their first year of vaccination receive 2 doses the following year, with single annual doses in subsequent years; 3) highlighting a previous recommendation that all persons, including school-aged children, who want to reduce the risk of becoming ill with influenza or of transmitting influenza to others should be vaccinated; 4) emphasizing that immunization providers should offer influenza vaccine and schedule immunization clinics throughout the influenza season; 5) recommending that health-care facilities consider the level of vaccination coverage among HCP to be one measure of a patient safety quality program and implement policies to encourage HCP vaccination (e.g., obtaining signed statements from HCP who decline influenza vaccination); and 6) using the 2007-2008 trivalent vaccine virus strains A/Solomon Islands/3/2006 (H1N1)-like (new for this season), A/Wisconsin/67/2005 (H3N2)-like, and B/Malaysia/2506/2004-like antigens."
Thursday, November 23, 2006
National Influenza Vaccination Week starts November 27th
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National Influenza Vaccination Week -- November 27--December 3, 2006
[A]nnual influenza vaccination is recommended for the following groups:
Persons at high risk for influenza-related complications and severe disease, including:
- children aged 6--59 months,
- pregnant women,
- persons aged >50 years,
- persons of any age with certain chronic medical conditions
and
Persons who live with or care for persons at high risk, including:
- household contacts who have frequent contact with persons at high risk and who can transmit influenza to those persons at high risk, and
- health-care workers.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
If it's not one virus, it's another
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Bird flu has been very much in the news, but now another type of virus is also threatening: chikungunya virus (named with a Swahili word meaning 'bent up').
"The chikungunya virus has infected around one-third of the population (about 250,000 people) on the French island of Réunion since early 2005. It has also hit the neighbouring islands of Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Mayotte, and reared its head in India."
With only a little over 200 deaths it's not near as big a killer as H5N1 might be, but it would wreak havoc nonetheless. Fevers over 102 and arthralgias. Yuck.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Bird Flu Now Cat Flu....in Germany
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Bird Flu Found in Cat in Germany after eating infected bird.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Influenza Map--through Jan. 14, 2006
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Thursday, December 22, 2005
Another report of H5N1 resistance to Tamiflu
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NEJM Case Report: Oseltamivir Resistance during Treatment of Influenza A (H5N1) Infection [free full text]
Thursday, November 24, 2005
NEJM: The Origins of Pandemic Influenza--Lessons from the 1918 Virus
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The Origins of Pandemic Influenza--Lessons from the 1918 Virus [free full text]
"...monitoring of the sequences of viruses isolated in instances of bird-to-human transmission for genetic changes in key regions may enable us to track viruses years before they develop the capacity to replicate with high efficiency in humans. Knowledge of the genetic sequences of influenza viruses that predate the 1918 pandemic would be extremely helpful in determining the events that may lead to the adaptation of avian viruses to humans before the occurrence of pandemic influenza. We could then conduct worldwide surveillance for similar events involving contemporary avian viruses. "
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Bird flu virus reported to resist Tamiflu
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More popular press stories on drug resistance in bird flu:
"An avian influenza virus isolated from an infected Vietnamese girl has been determined to be resistant to the drug oseltamivir, the compound better known by its trade name Tamiflu, and the drug officials hope will serve as the front line of defense for a feared influenza pandemic. [Science Blog - Science News Stories]"
The New England Journal of Medicine has a recent free article summarizing our current state of knowledge titled Avian Influenza A (H5N1) Infection in Humans:
"High-level antiviral resistance to oseltamivir results from the substitution of a single amino acid in N1 neuraminidase (His274Tyr). Such variants have been detected in up to 16 percent of children with human influenza A (H1N1) who have received oseltamivir. Not surprisingly, this resistant variant has been detected recently in several patients with influenza A (H5N1) who were treated with oseltamivir."
This is not to say, however, that we have no other neuraminidase inhibitor tricks up our sleeves.
Monday, March 14, 2005
WHO warns of human bird flu mutation
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ABC News Online--WHO warns of human bird flu mutation.:
" The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the bird flu virus may be changing into a form that humans can pass on.
The WHO is worried that bird flu, which has killed 47 people in Asia, could mutate into an easily spread form that sparks the next influenza pandemic.
The organisation has identified a cluster of human bird flu cases among relatives and possibly health workers in Vietnam.
"Such cases can provide the first signal that the virus is altering its behaviour in human populations and thus alert authorities to the need to intervene quickly," the WHO said in a statement.
The main concern of the WHO was a series of cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in a family in the northern Vietnam province of Thai Binh and the possible infection of two nurses who cared for one of the patients.
The WHO also says it has received confirmation of an additional 10 cases of human infections from Vietnam's Health Ministry.
The new cases were detected in early March or through re-examination of older cases, some of which dated back to late January and three of which had been fatal, the WHO said. "
See the WHO web site for details.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
New Manifestations of Avian Influenza A (H5N1)
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NEJM--Fatal Avian Influenza A (H5N1) in a Child Presenting with Diarrhea Followed by Coma:
" In southern Vietnam, a four-year-old boy presented with severe diarrhea, followed by seizures, coma, and death. The cerebrospinal fluid contained 1 white cell per cubic millimeter, normal glucose levels, and increased levels of protein (0.81 g per liter). The diagnosis of avian influenza A (H5N1) was established by isolation of the virus from cerebrospinal fluid, fecal, throat, and serum specimens. The patient's nine-year-old sister had died from a similar syndrome two weeks earlier. In both siblings, the clinical diagnosis was acute encephalitis. Neither patient had respiratory symptoms at presentation. These cases suggest that the spectrum of influenza H5N1 is wider than previously thought. "
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