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Eliza
 Posted:
Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:39 pm |
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Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved emergency use of the experimental intravenous antiviral drug peramivir
Responding to a request from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved emergency use of the experimental intravenous antiviral drug peramivir to treat hospitalized patients with pandemic H1N1 influenza.
Tamiflu, the primary drug used to treat swine flu, is given orally, and Relenza, also used, is given as a nasal spray. Some experiments have been conducted with an intravenous form of Relenza and it has been credited with saving at least one swine flu patient's life, but it is considered more experimental than peramivir.
The problem with existing drugs is that some people have difficulties tolerating the oral Tamiflu and that the nasal spray Relenza may not get deep enough into the lungs to reach the swine flu virus when it causes viral pneumonia. The emergency use authorization says peramivir can be used when other drugs have failed or when delivery by a route other than intravenous is not expected to be feasible.
Peramivir, manufactured by BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc., is still in Phase 3 clinical trials. Known side effects include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and decreases in white blood cell count, all of which stop when its use is halted. It has not been tested in pregnant women.
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
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Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| Eliza
Posted:
Sat Nov 21, 2009 1:42 am |
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Hmmmmm....
A/H1N1 flu vaccine withdrawn in Canada due to high number of allergic reactions
www.chinaview.cn 2009-11-20 23:36:46 Print
OTTAWA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- About 170,000 doses of A/H1N1 flu vaccine are being withdrawn in Canada from Friday after health officials reported an unusually high number of allergic reactions.
Health officials in the western province of Manitoba reported Thursday a higher-than-usual number of allergic reactions after using vaccine from a batch manufactured by a factory of British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in Quebec.
Usually one or two allergic reactions are expected for a batch of that size, but Manitoba has recorded six severe allergic reactions.
GSK said Friday in a statement that the recall was a precaution and they would investigate to see whether there was something wrong with the batch.
Another province which has been using the vaccine did not report any rise in adverse reactions.
Of the 6.6 million people that had been vaccinated, there were 36 serious adverse reactions, Dr. David Butler-Jones, the country's chief public health officer, said earlier this week.
One person was believed to have died from a serious reaction to the vaccine, but the death had not been conclusively linked to the flu shot, he said.
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
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Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| AC
Posted:
Sat Nov 21, 2009 6:09 am |
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Eliza...thanks for these posts.
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Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 7169
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| Eliza
Posted:
Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:55 am |
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Week #45 ending on 11/14/09
Pneumonia and Influenza (P&I) Mortality Surveillance
During week 45, 7.5% of all deaths reported through the 122-Cities Mortality Reporting System were due to P&I. This percentage was above the epidemic threshold of 6.8% for week 45. Including week 44, P&I mortality has been above threshold for seven consecutive weeks.
This simply means that 7 1/2% of all deaths reported were related to pneumonia and influenza.
We've been above the epidemic threshold for seven straight weeks now.
I believe the very slight improvement, is due to warm tempratures.
Bigfish-
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 6327
Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| Eliza
Posted:
Thu Nov 26, 2009 12:54 am |
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We've been reccomending the pneumonia shot for some time
| Quote: | Experts believe bacteria living in the nose and throat get into lung tissue that has been inflamed by fighting the flu virus and cause pneumonia. They may then reach the blood or brain, causing even more dangerous infections. The most common sign, Dr. Schuchat said, is a sudden relapse in a flu patient who had been recovering.
Dr. Schuchat was both alerting doctors to watch for such infections and endorsing a vaccine that prevents them. The Pneumovax vaccine, which protects against 23 strains of the most common pneumonia bacteria, is routinely given to adults over 65. But any adult with asthma, emphysema, a smoking habit, diabetes, or lung, heart, kidney or liver disease should get it now, Dr. Schuchat said. Only a quarter of those younger adults have probably had it. |
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 6327
Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| Eliza
Posted:
Fri Dec 11, 2009 4:21 pm |
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Does "Scamiflu" work?
New review questions benefit of Roche drug Tamiflu
Tue, Dec 8 2009
By Ben Hirschler
LONDON (Reuters) - There is no clear evidence that Roche's widely used drug Tamiflu prevents complications such as pneumonia in people with flu, a group of medical experts said on Tuesday.
Governments around the world have mobilized Tamiflu stockpiles to fight swine flu but an updated review of past clinical trial results found there was insufficient data to know if the medicine cut complications in otherwise healthy people.
Roche contested the finding and said it stood behind the robustness and integrity of previous data showing a benefit.
Sales of the antiviral drug, also known by the generic name oseltamivir, have soared since the start of the current H1N1 flu pandemic in April due to massive government orders.
That has provided a windfall for the Swiss drugmaker, which said in October it expected Tamiflu revenue to reach 2.7 billion Swiss francs ($2.65 billion) this year.
The latest analysis, which updates an earlier 2006 review, was published online by the British Medical Journal, whose editor-in-chief, Fiona Godlee, said it left important questions about Tamiflu's effectiveness unresolved.
"Governments around the world have spent billions of pounds on a drug that the scientific community now finds itself unable to judge," she said.
The BMJ report was also the subject of a Channel 4 News story on British television.
At issue is whether or not certain previously published trials on Tamiflu should be included or excluded when analyzing the drug's effectiveness.
For the latest review, a team led by Chris Del Mar from Bond University in Australia looked at 20 trials -- but they decided to drop eight that were included in the earlier review because they were unable to independently verify the results.
As a result they concluded that while Tamiflu reduced flu symptoms by about a day they had no confidence in previous claims that it cut the risk of flu complications.
David Reddy, Roche's pandemic taskforce leader, said the expert group was wrong to exclude the data from the eight studies.
He told reporters that Roche would have supplied full data on the contested studies if the investigators had signed confidentiality agreements, which were drawn up to protect patients.
"We fully stand behind the robustness of the data and the integrity of that data, particularly the efficacy and safety of Tamiflu, the conduct of our clinical studies and the publication process," Reddy said.
Tamiflu, which Roche manufactures under license from Gilead Sciences, has been commercially available for 10 years as a treatment for seasonal flu and used by around 68 million people worldwide.
The pill competes with another less widely used flu medicine from GlaxoSmithKline, called Relenza, which must be inhaled.
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 6327
Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| Eliza
Posted:
Sat Dec 12, 2009 12:03 am |
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It's NOT over folks...
This news is very disturbing. Week 47, I believe the death rate was 7.2%. I really expected the news, or week 48, would be that the P&I index, would have fallen below the epidemic threshold.
E
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
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Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| Eliza
Posted:
Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:01 pm |
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Please read!
Tragedy
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 6327
Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| Eliza
Posted:
Fri Jan 01, 2010 11:58 pm |
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Week 51 ending 12/26/09...
Pneumonia and Influenza (P&I) Mortality Surveillance
During week 51, 7.7% of all deaths reported through the 122-Cities Mortality Reporting System were due to P&I. This percentage was above the epidemic threshold of 7.4% for week 51.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 6327
Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| Eliza
Posted:
Sun Jan 03, 2010 10:19 pm |
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http://www.vancouverite.com/2010/01/02/swine-flu-spikes-again-in-u-s/
Swine Flu spikes again in U.S
ATLANTA – There has been an upsurge in visits to doctors for Swine Flu and deaths associated with flu and pneumonia are again higher than the national epidemic threshold, the CDC said in a report released on Saturday.
“Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) nationally increased slightly this week over last week. This is the first increase in this indicator after eight consecutive weeks of national decreases,” said the CDC.
“The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report increased over the previous week and is now back above the epidemic threshold after dipping below it last week for the first time in 11 weeks,” it said.
But there is no indication that the expected third wave of Swine Flu has struck. One explanation for the increase in visits to doctors is that people sometimes put off visits until after Christmas as is often seen in other flu seasons.
But the CDC did not offer an explanation about why the number of deaths from flu and pneumonia moved higher again after dipping the previous week for the first time. Other experts had suggested Christmas gatherings may cause the virus to spread more.
Swine Flu continued to kill more children. The CDC has said the pandemic virus killed five times more kids than a regular flu season.
“In addition, four flu-related pediatric deaths were reported this week compared to 9 reported last week: two of these deaths reported this week were associated with laboratory confirmed 2009 H1N1, and two were associated with influenza A viruses that were not subtyped (suspected to be Swine Flu.)
“Since April 2009, CDC has received reports of 289 laboratory-confirmed pediatric deaths: 243 due to 2009 H1N1, 44 pediatric deaths that were laboratory confirmed as influenza, but the flu virus subtype was not determined, and two pediatric deaths that were associated with seasonal influenza viruses.”
“Since August 30, 2009, CDC has received 225 reports of influenza-associated pediatric deaths that occurred during the current influenza season (42 deaths in children less than 2 years old, 25 deaths in children 2-4 years old, 83 deaths in children 5-11 years old, and 75 deaths in children 12-17 years old),” said the agency.
“One hundred eighty-three (81%) of the 225 deaths were due to 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus infections, 41 were associated with influenza A virus for which the subtype is undetermined, and one was associated with an influenza B virus infection. A total of 243 deaths in children associated with 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus infection have been reported to CDC.”
Between August 30 and December 26, there had been 37,090 hospitalizations and 1,697 deaths caused by influenza and pneumonia. The CDC says while there are lab confirmed cases, the actual figures are far higher.
Delaware, Maine, New Jersey and Virginia are the only states reporting widespread Swine Flu activity.
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 6327
Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| Eliza
Posted:
Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:31 pm |
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January 8, 2010
The Official Word to All, Get a Swine Flu Vaccination Now
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Citing mistakes made in the 1957 flu pandemic, federal officials on Thursday urged hesitant Americans to get vaccinated now against swine flu to prevent any possibility of another wave of illness and deaths.
Vaccine is now plentiful across the country, and most states are encouraging people of all ages to get shots, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of immunization and respiratory disease for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When supplies were short, most states tried to limit the vaccine to children, pregnant women and others at higher risk.
In 1957, Dr. Schuchat said, officials “gave the all-clear whistle” in midwinter and did not encourage flu shots, which were then rarer and also less purified. As a result, she said, there was another substantial wave of deaths in March 1958.
But she conceded that no pandemic was identical to any other. The death rate from swine or H1N1 flu appears to be about a quarter of that of the 1957 flu, but that may be because of antiviral drugs and better ventilators, not the virus itself.
Flu activity across the country is far below its late-October peak, but still higher than normal for this time in most years. It is almost all still swine flu; almost no seasonal flu has been found, and Dr. Schuchat urged doctors to send more samples to state laboratories.
Pneumonia and flu deaths ticked up slightly, which officials were “really keeping our eye on,” she said. The percentage of doctor visits that involved flu symptoms also rose, but that is normal during Christmas vacation because few people schedule routine checkups. There is no way to know if the unusually cold weather has played a part, she said.
The disease centers’ “best guess” is that 60 million people have been vaccinated. There are now 136 million doses available from many sources, including city clinics, schools, private doctors and pharmacy chains.
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 6327
Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| Eliza
Posted:
Sun Jan 10, 2010 9:44 pm |
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| Quote: | Jan. 10 kicks off National Influenza Vaccination Week. Monday targets health-care workers; Tuesday is for people with underlying health conditions; Wednesday is for children, pregnant women, and families. Thursday is for young adults. Bringing up the rear, on Friday, are seniors—the group at greatest risk of dying from H1N1.
Find this article at
http://www.newsweek.com/id/229947 |
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 6327
Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| yankee-in-france
Posted:
Mon Jan 11, 2010 9:35 am |
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... better late than never, Eliza.
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YIF
Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 10453
Location: France
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| Eliza
Posted:
Sun Jan 17, 2010 3:36 pm |
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FWIW, any real news, coming out regarding the H1N1 flu has slowed substantially.
Just recently, I plodded through over 500 articles that had been forwarded to me and only a handfull contained any real news. When things were popping, I was receiving, and reading, over a hundred reports a day. Mostly reporting deaths and outbreaks.
Most of the more current reports, are local articles touting where vaccine stations were being planned or reporting that vaccine supply has greatly outpaced demand. Public intrest has waned. The media is moving on to other things.
Thankfully, we've weathered the storm and the worst is past.
A big thanks to YIF, Fash, Hannie, Kay, VC, and Joy for allowing us to maintain this data base at RU.
I will continue to follow the Pandemic and post any pertinant information.
Thank you,
E-
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 6327
Location: Deep in the hills with my Bible, rifle, and pony.
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| yankee-in-france
Posted:
Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:25 pm |
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--- and a big thanks for all of your efforts, Eliza. 
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YIF
Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 10453
Location: France
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| Eliza
Posted:
Sun Jan 31, 2010 6:48 pm |
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http://beforeitsnews.com/story/14585/Spike_In_US_Pneumonia_and_Influenza_Deaths.html
Spike In US Pneumonia and Influenza Deaths|
Friday, January 29, 2010 8:56:23 PM
The CDC Week 3 influenza report has been released and once again there were no reported cases of seasonal influenza A. 2 cases of influenza B were reported and the vast majority of cases (98%) were pandemic H1N1, indicating seasonal influenza A has been crowded out in the US. The frequency of influenza detection has risen slightly and is at the highest level since week 50, signaling the end of the fall wave and the beginning of a winter wave. However, although the detection rate rose slightly, the P&I deaths spiked higher and are now well above the epidemic threshold and as high as it has been since the peak of the 2008/2009 season.
This dramatic jump in deaths raises concerns that the current H1N1 is more virulent and lethal than the H1N1 circulating in the fall. The early appearance of that virus dramatically increased the P&I, which then declined as the H1N1 levels declined. However, the current jump is well ahead of such a corresponding jump in H1N1, which would support a more lethal H1N1.
Recent reports from Tennessee have described a higher frequency of children with H1N1 entering the ICU as well as a higher percentage dying.
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
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