Response: Swine flu wasn't overhyped – research meant we had to play it safe
by Tom Sheldon
There was no conspiracy or panic. Scientists were right to prepare us for a major crisis
Simon Jenkins's distaste for scientists leads him to declare that they deliberately overstate risks, and make panic predictions (Swine flu was as elusive as WMD. The real threat is mad scientist syndrome, 15 January). In reality, scientists worked calmly – not "frantically" as Jenkins asserts – to predict the progress of the disease and to understand risk.
Jenkins says of the initial predictions about the spread of swine flu: "The chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, bandied about any figure that came into his head, settling on '65,000 could die', peaking at 350 corpses a day."[...]
Source: Guardian
Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/21/swine-flu-panic-health-tamiflu
Research
UK child H1N1 flu rate was much higher than thought
One child in three caught the pandemic H1N1 flu in the first wave of infection in hard-hit areas of England in 2009 -- up to 10 times more than originally thought, scientists said on Thursday.
Blood samples suggest children are central to flu's spread and should be a key target group for vaccination, experts from Britain's Health Protection Agency (HPA) wrote in the study in The Lancet medical journal.
"This...study shows the true extent of H1N1 infection in the initial wave of the pandemic in England in 2009. Its findings should be applicable to other countries that have experienced a similar first wave," they said.
For their study, the scientists used around 1,400 blood serum samples taken in 2008 as a base line and compared them with more than 1,900 serum samples taken in August and September 2009, after the first British wave of H1N1 infection.
They found that rates of infection in the first wave were greatest in children under 15, with an estimated 42 percent of schoolchildren aged 5 to 14 years infected in high incidence areas like London and parts of central England.
The blood sample data also showed the child infection rate for the British capital, where 32 percent of under 15s were infected, was 10 times higher than original HPA estimates.
Elizabeth Miller, who led the study with HPA colleagues, said children "have an important role in transmission of influenza and would be a key target group for vaccination, both for their protection and for the protection of others through herd immunity." [...]
Source: Reuters
Read more: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100121/tsc-uk-flu-britain-011ccfa.html?printer=1 Comment
Comment
Infectious Disease Events, Crises, and Disasters: An Operational Definition
by James M. Wilson V, MD
O’Neil and Naumova recently highlighted the controversy of imprecise public health definitions of outbreak, epidemic, and pandemic. They observed, “the public health community has not settled on a solid definition of ‘outbreak’ except in a very broad sense”. 1 While neither the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s public website, nor the American Public Health Association (APHA)’s Control of Communicable Diseases Manual, provide a definition for the term outbreak, APHA defines epidemic as “the occurrence in a community or region of cases of an illness (or an outbreak) with a frequency clearly in excess of normal expectancy”. 2 Merriam-Webster defines outbreak as “a sudden rise in the incidence of a disease” and defines the term epidemic as “affecting or tending to affect a disproportionately large number of individuals within a population, community, or region at the same time”. 3 The terms outbreak and epidemic are often used interchangeably in the literature, by practitioners, and especially by the media. The term pandemic is generally reserved for epidemics that span multiple continents.
Stallings suggested that disasters should be considered as disruptions to daily-expected routines to the point where social functioning is threatened without action. He posits that a disaster should not be considered as such if it does not affect all facets of society. 13This confounds an attempt to categorize patient- or hospital-level infectious disease events as disasters. Stallings’ viewpoint drew upon Coleman’s original theory of community integration, which proposed “vital processes” of a community “keep it alive as a community and prevent its disorganization”. These processes included:
- work
- education of children
- religiously related activities
- organized leisure activities
- unorganized social play of children and adults
- voluntary activities for charitable or other purposes
- treatment of sickness, birth, death (healthcare)
- buying and selling of property
- buying consumable goods (food, etc.)
- saving and borrowing money
- maintenance of physical facilities (roads, sewers, water, light)
- protection from fire
- protection from criminal acts [...]
Source: Biosurveillance blog
Read more: http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/2010/01/infectious-disease-events-crises-and-disasters-an-operational-definition.html
Risk Communication
Facebook Flu Fighters
Screenshot of some of the Flu Fighter characters [Facebook]
Children’s Hospital Boston and Health and Human Services have developed together a Facebook application called “I’m a Flu Fighter!”
The app is part of a project designed “to empower individuals to promote positive health behaviors amongst their friends and family through the use of social networks.”
It has several elements: you can pick a flu-fighter character for your profile, advertiseyour vaccination status, and “challenge” your FB friends to “join you in the fight against flu.” It also includes info on flu vaccines.
Source:
Read more: http://www.fluportal.org/2010/01/facebook-flu-fighters/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Fluportalorg+%28FluPortal.org%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
Photo
AP PhotoA man wearing a mask looks on while people wait in line to get a vaccine against swine flu in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010. Thousands turned up to get a flu vaccine following a sharp rise in fatalities over the past days according to health officials.
Source: Daylife
Read more: http://www.daylife.com/photo/08op0dvd8O7qq?q=swine+flu
Quote
"In response to this intervention by India, it was agreed that WHO would formally write to national focal points in all countries clarifying the factual position about the H1N1 pandemic to quell all doubts that had been created".
Source: Business Week
Read more: http://rss.businessweek.com/%7Er/bw_rss/asiaindex/%7E3/qiXmXi6s_6E/who-to-clarify-h1n1-data-after-false-pandemic-claim-india-says.html
News Flash
Swine Flu Still a Threat for West Africa
Though the threat of the H1N1 pandemic appears to be waning in the United States and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, the World Health Organization is still concerned about potential outbreaks of swine flu in West Africa.
This week, health officials in the West African country of Nigeria reported its first swine flu-related death and said the country has 11 confirmed cases of the virus. Last week, Mali's Health Ministry reported six confirmed H1N1 cases in Bamako, the country's capital.
Source: VOA News
Read more: http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Swine-flu-Still-a-Threat-for-West-Africa-82170742.html
1918 And 2009 H1N1 Flu Probably Not Spread By Birds
Medical News Today
The two strains of the H1N1 influenza virus responsible for the 1918 and 2009 global flu pandemics do not cause disease in birds. The results of the study, published in the February issue of the Journal of General Virology, also show it is unlikely that birds played a role in the spread of the H1N1 virus in these pandemics.
Read more: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/176578.php
Swiss warn on flu vaccine with autoimmune disease
Reuters
Switzerland's medical regulator recommended patients with serious autoimmune diseases should not use an H1N1 flu vaccine from Novartis, saying there were no studies assessing the innoculation in that population.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60J1X120100120
Estée Lauder Companies Says Second Quarter Results Will Exceed Earlier Expectations Financial Results to be Reported on January 28, 2010
PR Inside
[...] The lower spending versus plan, which continued from the fiscal first quarter, reflected the Company’s measured approach to investing, particularly in advertising and promotion, in light of the global economic downturn, and several external potential risks, such as the H1N1 pandemic, which have not materialized in the quarter. [...]
Read more: http://www.pr-inside.com/est-e-lauder-companies-says-second-quarter-r1679318.htm
Disclaimer: Newsletter ini hanya merupakan kumpulan dari artikel/liputan/tulisan yang diambil dari berbagai sumber mengenai situasi terkini pandemi influenza di seluruh dunia termasuk Indonesia. Namun demikian isi/ilustrasi/foto tidak mewakili kepentingan atau kebijakan KOMNAS FBPI secara langsung
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