Vietnam: The risk of flu outbreak more dangerous

02.17.2012

Weather of season is more favorable conditions for developing strains of influenza virus. But only a few sporadic cases of the disease, but if not careful, it will spread the risk of dangerous flu.

According to Tran Thanh Duong - Deputy Director of Department of Preventive Health (MOH), the influenza A - H1N1 strain of influenza is a common nowadays. It also causes most human flu. However, recent weather elements are unusual, unfavorable environment influenza A had the new varieties.

Specifically mention the possible varieties of influenza virus as influenza A danger - H1N1 in humans, influenza A - H3N2 in pigs, influenza A - H5N1 in chickens. These are dangerous strain, with great force, causing high mortality risk. Often less incidence, spread slowly (except influenza A-H1N1), but if getting the death rate may be 100%.

Currently, to deal with this disease, the Health Ministry has instructed the Department of Preventive Medicine of measures to strengthen surveillance in all key regions of pigs and poultry in the country. Also, ask the Pasteur Institute in the country, the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology an update and report regularly to the disease situation has plans to direct and timely.

Currently influenza A - H5N1 in poultry is happening in many places across the country, to actively prevent flu transmission from animals to humans, the Department of Preventive Medicine has called for strengthening people measures for personal hygiene and living environment. From the beginning of the year, the country has recorded three cases of dangerous flu. Including 2 cases of influenza A - H5N1 have died. The cases of influenza A - H3N2 has been recorded on the morning of 15.02. The patient had of danger and are being tracked, monitored and treated.

Captain veterinarians reject the decision of "agriculture" to restart the slaughter pigs in Cairo #H5N1 #BIRDFLU

Captain veterinarians reject the decision of "agriculture" to restart the slaughter pigs

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - 14:44

Dr. Sami Taha captain veterinarians


Rejection of Dr Sami Taha, Captain veterinarians, decision of the Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation to open and run the lines of slaughter pigs governorates of Cairo and Alexandria, while not eliminated the government of the hotbeds of avian and swine, and continued: "The decision whether or not is not the responsibility of the Minister of Agriculture, but the responsibility of Board of Veterinary Medicine. "
The captain veterinarians, in remarks for the "seventh day", that the body of Veterinary Medicine made ​​the decision after meeting pig farmers close all slaughterhouses to prevent the outbreak of the disease and the high pace to end the epidemic, and continued: "There are no farms pigs in Egypt, but mounds of garbage they live pigs, and thus there is no reason to restart the metaphor again. "
The Minister of Agriculture Mr. Mohammad Reza Ismail took the decision to open and run the lines of slaughter pigs governorates of Cairo and Alexandria, and was to send a picture for each of the two provinces the decision to work during the coming period.

The issue had been decision to close slaughter pigs since 2009 following the outbreak of swine flu.

http://www3.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=585607&SecID=97&IssueID=0

New Flu Strain Puts Pork Industry on Alert After 2009 Pandemic #h5n1 #H3N2 #BIRDFLU

[This is also named S-OtrH3N2 and we have information on it located in the right side-bar]

New Flu Strain Puts Pork Industry on Alert After 2009 Pandemic

Wednesday, 04 Jan 2012 10:25 AM

A new flu virus thought to have originated in pigs has agricultural producers on alert two years after a swine flu pandemic caused sales to drop and disrupted U.S. pork exports.
Twelve people in five states have been infected, with three hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. At least six reported no recent exposure to pigs, suggesting “limited human-to-human transmission,” according to the report. Eleven of those stricken were children.

The virus may not become as prevalent as the 2009 variant, known as H1N1, which led to as many as 89 million cases and 18,300 deaths in the U.S. in the first flu pandemic in more than 40 years, according to the CDC. Still, livestock producers are concerned that consumers may fear they can get a potentially lethal disease from eating pork. Flu is transmitted through droplets of infected body fluids when people cough, sneeze or talk.

“It’s always something that we need to keep an eye on, that it doesn’t get more severe or spread more quickly,” Liz Wagstrom, chief veterinarian with the National Pork Producers Council, which has offices in Des Moines, Iowa, and Washington. “It’s very important the public understand you can’t get flu from eating pork.”

Import Ban
During the H1N1 pandemic, China and Russia closed their markets to U.S. pork and industry revenue was estimated to have fallen by nearly $2.2 billion in the last eight months of 2009, according to the council. The H1N1 strain contained genetic material from five different flu viruses, including North American swine and bird flu and two swine flu viruses found in Europe and Asia.
The Des Moines, Iowa-based National Pork Board, which conducts research on pork and promotes the food, has sent out alerts, said Wagstrom. Veterinary labs that test samples from sick pigs are on the lookout for the strain, she said.

U.S. agencies are not referring to the new strain as swine flu, mindful of the popular description of H1N1 that upset markets and producers. Such illnesses contain a genetic mix of viruses seen in pigs, birds and people and get the moniker because the overall structure is the type that affects pigs.

“We are aware of the pork industry’s concerns,” said Jeff Dimond, an agency spokesman, in an interview.
CDC has “gone overboard” not to use the description, he said.

Genetic Similarity
The new virus, called H3N2v, contains a gene from the 2009 variant, according to the CDC. The agency is “taking this situation very seriously” and has increased surveillance in areas where cases occurred, according to a Dec. 9 CDC report. As a precaution, a candidate vaccine has been developed and provided to manufacturers so they can begin production if necessary, according to the report.

The strain has been detected in Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, according to the Atlanta-based health agency.
Despite the added surveillance, government scientists haven’t made conclusions about the durability of the new strain.
All the people sickened have recovered and no continuing transmission has been detected, according to the CDC. Human immunity may be a concern because it’s a new virus.

‘Could Get Legs’
“This particular strain could get legs, so to speak, or just die out,” Dimond said.
The strain isn’t too worrisome because it doesn’t seem to be spreading quickly, said Peter Katona, associate clinical professor of infectious diseases at the University California, Los Angeles, in an interview.
The reported cases have prompted “concern, but I wouldn’t say it’s super high,” John Treanor, chief of the infectious disease division at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, said in an interview.
It’s important to track such viruses so the U.S. can respond if they begin spreading rapidly and become more virulent, he said.
“Will the viruses be able to emerge from pigs into humans and cause another pandemic in humans?” said Treanor. “That’s why we keep track of what kinds of viruses are emerging.”

Use of Lean Response to Improve Pandemic Influenza Surge in Public Health Laboratories

Emerging Infectious Diseases
Volume 18, Number 1—January 2012
Research
Abstract

A novel influenza A (H1N1) virus detected in April 2009 rapidly spread around the world. North American provincial and state laboratories have well-defined roles and responsibilities, including providing accurate, timely test results for patients and information for regional public health and other decision makers. We used the multidisciplinary response and rapid implementation of process changes based on Lean methods at the provincial public health laboratory in British Columbia, Canada, to improve laboratory surge capacity in the 2009 influenza pandemic. Observed and computer simulating evaluation results from rapid processes changes showed that use of Lean tools successfully expanded surge capacity, which enabled response to the 10-fold increase in testing demands.

[click on title for full document]
Judith L. Isaac-RentonComments to Author , Yin Chang, Natalie Prystajecky, Martin Petric, Annie Mak, Brendan Abbott, Benjamin Paris, K.C. Decker, Lauren Pittenger, Steven Guercio, Jeff Stott, and Joseph D. Miller
Author affiliations: Provincial Health Services Authority, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (J.L. Isaac-Renton, Y. Chang, M. Petric, A. Mak, B. Abbott, J. Stott); University of British Columbia, Vancouver (J.L. Isaac-Renton, N. Prystajecky, M. Petric); Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, Virginia, USA (B. Paris, K.C. Decker, L. Pittenger); Public Health Agency of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (S. Guercio); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (J.D. Miller)