September 13 Flu Update
Indonesia has gone back and reported an additional death from this summer as a bird flu death. Takes their national total to 49.CIDRAP on the additional case in Indonesia, but also on the development of a system in Britain to gather data on patients with flu like symptoms in order to speed up an informed response.
Helen Branswell on an interesting study. According to the study, air travel in September each year helps to spread flu...and after 9/11, with air travel strong curtailed, we saw a much lighter flu season. Study is lending strength to the idea of air travel bans during a pandemic.
CIDRAP also reports that a vaccine using live virus from H5N1 and other flu showed cross-protection against a number of H5N1 strains.
Recombinomics is concerned about the lack of new case reports in Indonesia when there is plenty of disease in birds and cases would be expected.
Dr. Osterholm is speaking at a Church in North Carolina as part of a flu conference.
More on the study of the disease...apparently, bird flu is more in the nose than regular flu (past research has talked about H5N1 being deep in the lung, which is why it isn't more contagious).
If you travel to Vietnam, infrared machines will take your body temperature to attempt to screen for bird flu (I can't imagine this will help).
A Newcastle (UK) company has developed an anti-biotic hand cream to help fight bird flu.
The bird flu test that allowed the UK to diagnosis H7N3 in Norfolk quickly is now available across the country.
Wild birds in Alaska have not shown bird flu in surveillance.
Effect Measure on the somewhat tangential race for WHO DG. Notes Security Council members citizens are running for the spot, against tradition. One of them is the man who founded Doctors without Borders--an outspoken man who would be a big change at WHO.
posted by Orange @ 6:41 AM
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