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Netherlands reports mutant swine flu death
The Hague (AFP) Dec 3, 2009 Dutch authorities said Thursday a patient infected by a mutant strain of the swine flu virus had died, but added that this was not the cause of death. Harald Wychgel, spokesman for the Dutch Institute for Health and the Environment, told AFP that there had been a "minor change in the virus to make it resistant to Tamiflu," a key treatment for influenza. "He died not because the virus was resistant but because he was seriously ill and caught the Mexican (swine) flu," Wychgel said. The man, whose age had not been given, died Sunday in the northern city of Groningen, local health official Hans Coenraads said. "We have carried out tests on the patient's associates to see if the mutation had spread but we found no such indications", he said. Reports said that two more patients in the Netherlands had shown resistance to Tamiflu. It is the fifth fatal case of mutated A(H1N1) flu in Europe, after two in France and two in Norway. The World Health Organisation said last month that mutations had been observed in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, where the swine flu pandemic began, Ukraine, and the United States, as early as April. Italy also reported a non-fatal case on Monday. "The mutations appear to occur sporadically and spontaneously. To date, no links between the small number of patients infected with the mutated virus have been found and the mutation does not appear to spread," a WHO statement said on November 20. The WHO also underlined that there was no evidence of more infections or more deaths as a result, while the mutated virus detected up to that point remained sensitive to antiviral drugs used to treat severe flu, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). Scientists fear that mutations in flu viruses could cause more virulent and deadly pandemic flu. The global health watchdog reiterated a call for close monitoring. "Although further investigation is under way, no evidence currently suggests that these mutations are leading to an unusual increase in the number of H1N1 infections or a greater number of severe or fatal cases," it added.
No major problems with swine flu jab so far: EU watchdog About 10 million people have been vaccinated against the A(H1N1) virus across the 27-nation bloc so far and "to date, no unexpected serious safety issues have been identified", the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) said. "The vaccine adverse effects reported so far have mainly been symptoms such as fever, nausea, headache, allergic reactions and injection site reactions, confirming the expected safety profile of the three vaccines," it said. The London-based EMEA used information obtained from EudraVigilance, a database system used to collect and evaluate reports of suspected adverse reactions to drugs across the European Economic Area. Thursday's update was the first of a series of weekly bulletins it intends to issue about adverse reactions to the vaccines. Figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control issued on November 27 show 858 people have died in Europe from swine flu since the virus first appeared in Mexico in April.
Internet scam targets swine flu vaccine seekers The bogus message says that although vaccination against pandemic (A)H1N1 flu is not obligatory, anyone aged 18 or older whether they have had the vaccine or not, is required to create a "personal H1N1 (swine flu) vaccination profile" with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If recipients of the scam email try to comply with the message and click on a link it says will take them to the CDC website, they could be at risk of "having malicious code installed on their system," the CDC warned. "The CDC has NOT implemented a state vaccination program requiring registration on www.cdc.gov," the federal health agency said in a statement. When the United States launched a swine flu vaccination campaign in October, high demand was met by low supply, and many people were turned away empty-handed from free vaccination clinics. The head of the CDC, Thomas Frieden, said this week that there are now around 70 million (A)H1N1 vaccine doses available. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Epidemics on Earth - Bird Flu, HIV/AIDS, Ebola
China swine flu death toll triples in two weeksBeijing (AFP) Dec 2, 2009 China's official swine flu death toll has tripled in the past two weeks after the government ordered more accurate reporting of fatalities amid suspicions of a cover-up. A statement posted on the health ministry's website late Tuesday said the number of people reported killed by the influenza A(H1N1) virus had jumped to 178 at the weekend, up from a previously reported nationwide tally of ... read more |
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