Bird flu deaths spark global concern
FIVE people in China have died after being infected with the H7N9 bird flu virus, and authorities in Shanghai have started a mass slaughter of poultry at a market where the virus was detected.
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pandemic
The following articles have the tag pandemic
Concern over zoonotic disease
Ecological and social changes around the world that allow emergence of novel infectious diseases are increasing at an unprecedented rate, experts warn.
Swine flu deaths at more than half a million worldwide
DEATHS associated with the 2009 H1N1influenza pandemic could be 15 times higher than previously thought, according to estimates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Demands for over-40s to be diabetes tested
ALL Australians over the age of 40 would be funded to undergo annual diabetes testing, according to a broad-reaching new policy document from Diabetes Australia (DA).
GPs an afterthought in pandemic flu response
GPs were left dazed and confused as Australian health officials scrambled to respond to the 2009 swine flu pandemic, a review has acknowledged.
Swine flu threat downgraded to ‘post-pandemic’
THE World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the swine flu pandemic is over. WHO director-general Dr Margaret Chan says while the H1N1 virus has largely run its course, localised outbreaks are still a threat, with some countries including New Zealand currently experiencing significant transmission. Dr Chan said WHO had determined the world had entered a “post-pandemic period” following assessment by its international emergency committee yesterday. However, “pandemics are unpredictable and prone to deliver surprises”, she told a news conference, emphasising a need to continue vaccination of vulnerable groups in the community. The pandemic affected more ...
Expert defends WHO’s links to pharma
AUSTRALIAN virologist Dr Alan Hampson (Hon MD) describes recent criticism of the WHO for accepting pandemic planning advice from experts with ties to the pharma industry as a “witch-hunt”. Dr Hampson, a WHO and Australian Government consultant who chairs the pharma-funded Influenza Specialist Group, says it would be virtually impossible to find experts with no ties to industry because of the way research is funded. An article published yesterday by the BMJ castigates the WHO for a lack of transparency over conflicts of interest, saying key advice on pandemic planning was delivered by scientists who ...
US swine flu vaccine uptake low
MANY Americans do not intend to get the swine flu vaccine for themselves or for their children, and believe the pandemic is no longer a threat. The New York Times reports a poll of 1419 adults found 40% had their children vaccinated against swine flu, but only 13% of the remainder intended to do so. Most parents who had not had their children vaccinated said they felt the threat had passed or that they feared the vaccine, despite the monitoring of 60 million doses showing no significant rate of side-effects.
Swine flu panic prompts surge in ‘worried well’
PUBLIC concern over swine flu may have flooded GP surgeries with the ‘worried well’ over the past three months, a study suggests. Analysis of GP sentinel surveillance data in Victoria showed that the pandemic had produced rates of flu-like illness consistent with moderate flu seasons in previous years, but with an early start and early peak. Since April, when surveillance for 2009 began, the proportion of patients presenting with influenza-like illness who had laboratory-confirmed flu was around 44%, said Associate Professor Heath Kelly, head of epidemiology at the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL). He said ...
Govt’s swine flu record doesn’t inspire confidence
THERE have been moments over the past few weeks, while watching the events of the swine flu pandemic unfold, that have provided a certain level of bemusement for GPs at the frontline. Especially as we were feeling fairly sure that this was a mild illness and perhaps an over-reaction played out in the media. But at the time of writing, we now know of some relatively healthy young people fighting for their lives on cardiac bypass machines, and pregnant mothers being ventilated to save their babies. I am feeling a new level of concern arising among ...
Pressure rising for GP swine flu prophylaxis
THE Federal Health Department has rejected calls for GPs to be given antiviral prophylaxis against swine flu. The move comes as experts debate the benefits of such a move and as intensive care admissions and the death toll continue to rise. Writing in the MJA , epidemiologists and infectious disease experts have said the Australian pandemic management plan recommended continuous pre-exposure prophylaxis to healthcare workers, and they believed this could be accommodated from the national stockpile. However, a spokesperson for the Federal Health Department said GPs would not be given Tamiflu unless they had an ...
Swine flu vaccine is still a long way off
A SWINE flu vaccine may still be many months away, despite the continuing rise in cases, Australia’s first fatalities and the growing threat to vulnerable Indigenous communities. The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is not commenting on whether the vaccine will be fast-tracked, with the manufacturer’s scheduled trial program due to take six months to complete. While batches of the vaccine could be ready for use in August, little trial data will be available to the TGA by then, CSL spokeswoman Dr Rachel David said. “Given that currently the mortality from the H1N1 [flu] is not high, ...
Demands for swine flu all-clear stretching GPs
SWINE flu hysteria is stretching GPs unnecessarily, as employers and childcare centres begin demanding doctors’ certificates from employees and parents to prove they or their children do not have the virus. Dr Adrian Elliot-Smith said his Mount Gambier practice in regional South Australia was straining under the weight of relatively well patients requesting such certificates to enable them to return to work. “We have people coming into our clinic who are not unwell, but have been told they have to leave work because they have a viral illness,” Dr Elliot-Smith said. The practice is now asking ...
Woes continue in H1N1 fight
AS the Federal Government moves to a new, unplanned, ‘Protect’ stage of alert in response to the swine flu epidemic, more stories are emerging of GPs battling H1N1 being left in the dark by poor communication from health authorities. Dr Lyndsey Kabat, a GP at a 24-hour clinic in northern Melbourne, said the Victorian Department of Human Services did not provide clear instructions about where to send tests, how to get results or how to access Tamiflu, causing delays that left patients irate and confused. On the day that Victoria changed from the ‘Contain’ to the ‘Sustain’ ...
Swine flu: replace full PPE with surgical masks
GPs have been urged to wear a surgical mask at minimum when swabbing swine flu suspects, despite acknowledgement that the disease is relatively mild. The RACGP said today it supported the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer’s approach in moving Australia to a newly created ‘protect’ pandemic phase. RACGP pandemic preparedness group spokesman Dr Ron McCoy said the college would modify its advice on wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), which had called for P2 (N95) masks, gowns, eye protection and gloves when swabbing. “If there was a higher case fatality rate we would be still thinking PPE, but ...
Doctor groups roll out urgent pandemic training
LEADING professional bodies have joined forces to offer GPs urgent “pandemic preparedness” training in the wake of the growing swine flu outbreak. The training – to be delivered by the RACGP and the AGPN and funded by the Federal Government – will instruct doctors on identification of influenza H1N1, patient management and the use of personal protection equipment (PPE). AGPN chair Dr Emil Djakic said the network had already been approached by GPs requesting information on best practice in managing swine flu. “They have also raised concerns about access to PPE and appropriate regional protocols for ...
Give high-risk patients flu vaccine for overseas travel
PREGNANT women and those at high risk of complications from influenza are being advised to be immunised against seasonal flu before travelling overseas. However, the department advises the degree of protection against H1N1 influenza 09 (swine flu) is not clear. The latest advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs urges the elderly, children younger than five years and people with chronic conditions to discuss the risks with their GP before deciding to travel overseas. There is currently no specific advice on whether Tamiflu should be prescribed, with the decision being left to the GP. As ...
Swine flu: GPs told to swab anyone with symptoms
GPs are being asked to swab everyone presenting with a febrile respiratory illness, but patients should be triaged over the phone. Following talks with the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer last night, RACGP president Dr Chris Mitchell said doctors should ring public health units for advice as case definitions for swine flu were subject to change. Each state would have different arrangements for fever clinics but more clinics were imminent. The reason for swabbing everyone with flu symptoms was not to diagnose swine flu but to diagnose seasonal influenza, Dr Mitchell said. “Whether general practice or ...
GPs urged to step up swine flu containment measures
GPs are being warned to have high suspicion for swine flu as Australia moves to try to contain internal transmission of the virus. Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon raised the pandemic alert level to the ‘contain’ phase on Friday. Japan and Panama have been added to the list of high-risk countries, meaning GPs should suspect swine flu in a recently returned traveller with febrile respiratory illness. Previously only Mexico, the USA, and Canada were considered high-risk sources. Australia is now in full pandemic alert with 18 cases and confirmed local transmission. Another 40 people ...
Swine flu is more contagious than seasonal influenza
THE strain of swine flu continuing to spread around the world is more contagious than seasonal influenza, the WHO warns. Experts assessing the pandemic potential of the A/H1N1 virus said the severity of illness was comparable with that seen in the 1957 pandemic, but less than the 1918 pandemic. “Transmissibility is therefore substantially higher than seasonal flu,” they wrote in the journal Science . Dr Alan Hampson (Hon MD), a pandemic flu adviser to the Australian Government, said it was important to keep in perspective that swine flu was still not spreading rapidly outside of ...
First Australian transmission of swine flu confirmed
AUSTRALIA’s pandemic alert level may be raised following the first transmission of swine flu locally. A classmate of a Victorian boy who returned from the USA with the virus has contracted swine flu, with the latest national total of confirmed cases standing at 11. Victoria’s Department of Human Services responded by closing his school for the remainder of this week. The Australian Health Protection Committee was meeting this morning to consider upgrading the nation’s pandemic alert status from the ‘delay’ phase, a spokesman for the Federal Health Department said. More than 25 people, mainly ...
Rapid social distancing stymies flu epidemic
WHAT would make the novel influenza A/H1N1 outbreak develop into a pandemic? It depends on the inherent transmissibility characteristics of the virus and how these characteristics may change. At present, much of the biology of this novel influenza virus is unknown, but as epidemiological information is obtained, a clearer picture will emerge. Evidence from past pandemics gives us some guidance as to what may occur as the epidemic develops. In the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, clearly defined multiple ‘waves of infection’ occurred, due, it is thought, to the evolution of distinct strains. The ...
Swine flu overreaction?
CYNICS have accused health authorities of pushing the panic button unnecessarily following outbreaks around the world of a so-far mild swine flu. But one thing’s for sure – no-one is likely to rush headlong into mass vaccination. US infectious diseases experts have been recalling the swine flu “debacle” of 1976. That’s when an outbreak of swine flu hit 200 soldiers at an army base, sending health officials into a spin because it was similar to the virus causing the deadly 1918 pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) convinced then President Gerald Ford of ...
Poised for pandemic?
Did communicable disease experts cry wolf over the swine flu threat or is the worst yet to come? Rada Rouse reports. THE emergence in Mexico of an apparently virulent novel strain of influenza that spread rapidly throughout North America triggered a worldwide pre-pandemic alert last month. Was this the ‘big one’ we’d been warned was long overdue? At the end of April, experts said we would have the answer within 48 hours – but nearly a month later, the world is still waiting to know what’s in store. “It’s anyone’s guess as to ...
Social distancing may prevent flu pandemic
THE southern hemisphere should be on alert for possible large-scale swine flu outbreaks this winter, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns. Confirmed cases of the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus in several countries in the southern zone raised concern, the CDC said in a bulletin. The warning came as Australian researchers showed social distancing measures, such as school closures, could be vital in controlling a future influenza pandemic. Experts at the University of Western Australia and the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory simulated the effect of social distancing, such as isolating people ...
UPDATE: Swine flu – what you need to know
How many cases are there worldwide? Australia: 449 people have been tested for H1N1 influenza A 2009 and cleared. A further 27 people are awaiting test results (as at 6 am 6 May). Suspect cases: NSW 19, Qld 3, SA 2, Tas 1, Vic 1, WA 1, ACT 0, NT 0. Worldwide: 21 countries have reported 1490 laboratory-confirmed cases with 30 deaths. Mexico: 29 deaths, 822 cases laboratory confirmed. USA: 1 death, 403 cases. The following countries have reported laboratory-confirmed cases with no ...
Swine flu cases could number 200,000 already: expert
THE number of cases of swine flu overseas is likely to be many thousands more than is showing up in official statistics, according to a leading Australian researcher. Professor Robert Booy, co-director of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, said while the virus was clearly “nasty”, the fatality rate did not appear to be high. His comments came as 114 Australians were awaiting test results for swine flu, and WHO raised its global alert to level 5, one level below declaring a pandemic. As at 30 April, 11 countries had reported 257 confirmed cases ...
Swine flu alert as worldwide cases mount
GPs have been warned to wear full personal protective equipment, including P2 face masks, when taking swabs from people with suspected swine flu, as fears mount that an international outbreak of a new influenza A strain may spread to Australia. Virologists say it’s inevitable that a case of the virus, described as a new subtype of A/H1N1 not previously detected in swine or humans, will turn up in Australia. In Mexico there have been 150 deaths among 1300 suspected cases, with 20 deaths confirmed as being related to swine flu. In the US there have been 20 ...
New pandemic flu vaccine approved
The TGA has approved a second pandemic influenza vaccine for Australia: Emerflu, made by Sanofi Pasteur. A spokeswoman says Emerflu is based on inactivated H5N1 and contains an alum adjuvant. In the event of a pandemic, the vaccine would be reformulated with the precise circulating strain and then manufactured and distributed to GPs as directed by the Australian Government. First responders to a pandemic, including medical and emergency workers, would be given priority access to stockpiles of the mock-up vaccine. As well as Emerflu, Australia’s national stockpile includes CSL’s Panvax, which was registered last year. ...
Handwashing works best for eradicating influenza virus
HANDWASHING with simple soap and water is probably the most effective way for health workers to eradicate live influenza virus on their hands, Australian research shows. To test the theory, researchers contaminated the hands of 20 vaccinated, antibody-positive healthcare workers with live human influenza A virus and then subjected them to five hand hygiene protocols. These included washing with non-medicated liquid soap and water for 40 seconds and paper towel drying, rubbing three alcohol-based hand rubs for 20 seconds, and a control intervention of two minutes air drying. While soap and water and rubs were highly ...
Most practices unprepared for flu pandemic
NINE out of 10 GPs feel their practice is ill-prepared to deal with an influenza pandemic, new research has revealed. During in-depth interviews with researchers from the University of South Australia, 10 GPs discussed their potential responses to such an event and raised a series of concerns, including lack of preparedness, uncertainty about protective measures, and fears for their own health and that of their families. “A number of GPs said they would not practise in the event of a pandemic, as they felt their responsibility to their families outweighed that to their patients,” wrote the authors. ...