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EPIDEMICS
Swine flu shots for infants, toddlers recalled in US

S.Korea to send flu aid to N.Korea this week
Seoul (AFP) Dec 15, 2009 - South Korea will send antiviral drugs worth more than 15 million dollars this week to help North Korea fight an outbreak of swine flu, officials said Tuesday. North Korea has agreed to receive the supplies worth 17.8 billion won (15.3 million dollars) at a border road crossing, the South's unification ministry said. South Korea will use eight cold-storage trucks on Friday to deliver enough Tamiflu for 400,000 patients and enough Relenza for 100,000 more, spokesman Chun Hae-Sung told reporters. Sanitation supplies will be shipped later, he said. The shipment will be the first direct South Korean government aid since relations soured last year, although Seoul has funded assistance to Pyongyang through private groups. North Korea has reported nine cases of (A)H1N1 in the capital Pyongyang and the city of Sinuiju bordering China. No death toll was given. Observers say the virus could pose a particular threat to the North because of malnutrition amid persistent food shortages and a lack of drugs.
by Staff Writers
 Washington (AFP) Dec 15, 2009
 More than three-quarters of a million doses of swine flu vaccine for infants and children were recalled Tuesday in the United States after routine tests showed they had lost potency.

Four lots of Sanofi Pasteur's injectable (A)H1N1 vaccine for children aged six months to three years old were recalled after tests conducted after shipping in November showed that the shots had lost strength, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a health alert sent to doctors.

The recall involves some 800,000 doses of vaccine, some of which could well have been administered to young children.

The drop in potency was minimal and children who have been innoculated with vaccine from the recalled lots would not need to be revaccinated, the CDC said.

But children less than 10 years old who have only received one dose of vaccine so far should still receive a second, booster dose, the CDC cautioned.

Clinical trials have shown that children under 10 need two doses of swine flu vaccine, while older children and healthy adults show a robust immune response with one dose.

The recalled vaccines all met manufacturer and US federal government standards for purity, potency and safety at the time of shipping. The drop in potency was found by Sanofi Pasteur in routine testing conducted after the vaccines had been distributed to health care providers.

Sanofi Pasteur is still trying to work out what caused antigen levels in the vaccines to fall.

The recall only affects injectable vaccines for infants and children under three years; no potency drop has been found in vaccines for older children and adults.

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