Pandemic Information News: Swine flu vaccine production hits a snag: yield so far is 'less than optimal'

Swine flu vaccine production has hit a snag, with manufacturers reporting a disappointingly low yield when vaccines viruses are grown in eggs.

The World Health Organization says so far the yield for egg-based production is half or less what manufacturers get when they make vaccine to protect against seasonal H1N1 viruses. The lion's share of influenza vaccine is made by companies that grow the viruses in eggs.

New seed strains are being made in the hopes of increasing the vaccine yield, a report by the WHO's vaccine chief, Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny says.

But if the yield cannot be increased, it will slow the rate at which pandemic vaccine comes out of the production pipeline, adding to the time it takes to protect populations in countries like Canada that have purchased vaccine. And countries that haven't pre-ordered pandemic vaccine would face substantial delays before manufacturers have product to sell to them.

'There's nothing to suggest it will take longer to make vaccine, if in fact everything goes as planned. The question is: How much?' says Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

'There is nothing magical about making this virus. The questions will be: How much? When? and Where will it be available?'

The yield problem is revealed in presentations WHO staff made to last week's special meeting of the expert panel that advises the Geneva-based global health agency on vaccine issues.

Pandemic Information News: Swine flu vaccine production hits a snag: yield so far is 'less than optimal'

U.S. To Spend Another $1 Billion To Fight Swine Flu

The United States is ready to announce another $1 billion in orders for swine flu vaccinations.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says she will announce Monday that Washington has approved another billion dollars to buy components of the vaccine.

Sebelius said on Sunday that research is under way to provide a safe and effective vaccine to fight a flu strain that could be a pandemic.

Sebelius and other top officials are bracing for fall's flu season.

She said leaders are watching the Southern Hemisphere for clues how serious the U.S. flu season might be.

Sebelius appeared on CNN's "State of the Union."

U.S. moves forward with preparations for H1N1 vaccination campaign

The Obama administration on Thursday said a nationwide vaccination program could begin as early as mid-October to protect Americans from the H1N1 (swine flu) virus and pledged $350 million to help prepare communities across the country for this effort.

"I think it's clear that although we were fortunate not to see a more serious situation in the spring when we first got news of this outbreak, the potential for a significant outbreak in the fall is looming," President Obama said, speaking by phone from the G8 summit in Italy to U.S. health officials who gathered in Maryland for a daylong flu summit organized by his Cabinet, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. "We want to make sure that we are not promoting panic, but we are promoting vigilance and preparation," he said.

"The White House has drawn up a battle plan for taking on the virus when influenza season returns to the northern hemisphere in several weeks' time," contingent on the development of a viable H1N1 vaccine. Clinical trials on the first H1N1 vaccine are scheduled to start next month, according to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "We know that a safe and effective vaccine is the best means of both preventing the disease in individuals and stopping the community spread of the virus," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.

U.S. moves forward with preparations for H1N1 vaccination campaign

NZ Herald: Be prepared, or face the consequences when the pandemic peaks

In a column in the New Zealand Herald, Gill South wrote:

"For many New Zealand businesses, the swine flu virus has arrived at the worst possible time; when they are already leaning heavily on a depleted staff, with many personnel doing more than one job, the idea of losing even more employees for a period is enough to send many management teams into despair.

The Ministry of Health says businesses can expect absenteeism to be as high as 50 per cent for a two-week period during the peak of the pandemic, and businesses need to be aware the overall pandemic could last around eight weeks.

There has been plenty of news about how to handle the clinical side of things in the workplace, but how should companies respond in a more considered managerial way?

Business continuity specialist David Dunsheath, who runs Business Continuance Planning, says managers should be trying to protect their reputation, operation and finances. Don't think of this as a pandemic, think of it as a business continuity challenge, he says. 'It's about preparedness.'

The consultant recommends larger operations not only have a crisis management team, but a business continuity team and a clinical health team."

NZ Herald: Be prepared, or face the consequences when the pandemic peaks

U.S. scientists discover why A/H1N1 flu virus spreads less effectively

The new A/H1N1 strain of flu has a form of surface protein that binds inefficiently to receptors found in the human respiratory tract, which make it spread from person to person less effectively than other flu viruses, scientists said.

A team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the discovery Thursday in the online edition of Science.

'While the virus is able to bind human receptors, it clearly appears to be restricted,' says Ram Sasisekharan, director of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) and the lead MIT author of the paper. Sasisekharan and his laboratory co-workers have been actively investigating influenza viruses.

That restricted, or weak, binding, along with a genetic variation in an H1N1 polymerase enzyme, which MIT researchers first reported three weeks ago in Nature Biotechnology, explains why the virus has not spread as efficiently as seasonal flu, says Sasisekharan.

Sasisekharan and CDC senior microbiologist Terrence Tumpey have previously shown that a flu virus's ability to infect humans depends on whether its hemagglutinin protein can bind to a specific type of receptor on the surface of human respiratory cells.

U.S. scientists discover why A/H1N1 flu virus spreads less effectively

ABC News: "Babies should wear face masks"

A New South Wales Health Department expert says all children younger than two should wear face masks to prevent the spread of swine flu.

The senior clinical adviser to the department's Chronic Disease Program, Professor Ron Penny, says parents should heed his advice because influenza has a higher mortality rate in babies.

Professor Penny says anyone with flu symptoms or lung disease should also wear face masks.

He says Australians need to accept responsibility to prevent disease spreading.

ABC News: "Babies should wear face masks"

First Chinese A/H1N1 fatality "was electrocuted"

A 34-year-old woman who became the first swine flu victim to die in China may have actually been electrocuted in the hospital toilet, it has emerged.
The unnamed patient was found dead early on Wednesday morning in the Number One People's Hospital in the eastern city of Hangzhou.

The woman had been admitted to the hospital on June 23, but had shown signs of recovery as her fever abated.

Doctors told Xinhua, the state newswire, that her temperature had been normal for a week and that her only remaining symptom was occasional coughing.

Yesterday, relatives of the woman attacked the hospital, smashing the entrance lobby and an ambulance with rocks. They said the woman had died from an electric shock while using the bathroom.

First Chinese A/H1N1 fatality "was electrocuted"

China A/H1N1 flu patient dies "accidentally"

BBC NEWS | Health | Swine flu in UK 'cannot be contained

The rising number of swine flu cases mean trying to contain the virus is no longer an option, the government says.

Ministers said the emergency response would now move to a new 'treatment' phase across the UK as there may soon be 100,000 new cases a day.

It means anti-flu drugs will no longer be given to the close contacts of those infected nor will lab testing be done to confirm cases.

BBC NEWS | Health | Swine flu in UK 'cannot be contained

Reuters: Roche finds 1st case of H1N1 resistance to Tamiflu

(Reuters) - A patient with H1N1 influenza in Denmark showed resistance to Roche Holding AG's Tamiflu, the main antiviral flu drug, a company executive said on Monday.

'While receiving the drug, the patient appeared to develop resistance to it,' David Reddy, Roche's pandemic taskforce leader, told reporters on a conference call on the Danish case. 'This is the first report we have of it in H1N1.'

The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic flu alert on the H1N1 flu virus to phase 6 on a six-point scale, indicating the first influenza pandemic since 1968 is under way.

Reuters: Roche finds 1st case of H1N1 resistance to Tamiflu

Latest Swine Flu Europe News: German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk

(Reuters) Germany's federal agency for infectious diseases said on Tuesday there were signs the H1N1 swine flu virus had started to mutate and warned it could spread in the coming months in a more aggressive form.

Experts were concerned about how the flu was developing in Australia and South America, said Joerg Hacker, head of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.

'It's possible the virus has mutated. In autumn the mutated form could spread to the northern hemisphere and back to Germany,' Hacker told a news conference in Berlin.

Latest Swine Flu Europe News: German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk

Germany's federal agency for infectious diseases said on Tuesday there were signs the H1N1 swine flu virus had started to mutate and warned it could spread in the coming months in a more aggressive form.
Photograph by: Ramzi Haidar, AFP/Getty Images

How to Avoid Getting The H1N1 Flu Virus | eHow.com

It is still flu season and with a new flu strain such as the Swine Flu epidemic makes many of us feel uneasy. There are many different methods of preventing the flu.

Things You'll Need:

• Mask
• Gloves
• Cleaner such as bleach and water
• Herbs such as Garlic and Onions

Read the rest on eHow.com:

How to Avoid Getting The H1N1 Flu Virus

Indian Country Today: Inuit hit hard by H1N1 swine flu

H1N1 influenza outbreaks in Canada’s predominantly Inuit territories of Nunavut and northern Manitoba could trigger the World Health Organization to declare a global pandemic.

WHO briefed reporters June 9 that reports to the agency of infections in Inuit communities in Canada showed “disproportionate numbers of serious cases occurring,” said WHO senior official Keiji Fukuda.

He said the agency is seeing “a larger number than expected of young Inuit people developing serious illnesses requiring hospitalization,” but said any speculation as to causes such as genetic, environmental or due to underlying diseases is premature.

The agencies concern followed reports that the number of H1N1 cases doubled June 9 in the aboriginal community of Nunavut, from 25 to 53. In northeast Manitoba more than half of the 26 persons hospitalized on respirators are aboriginals.

Nunavut’s chief medical officer, Dr. Isaac Sobol, downplayed WHO’s report, telling reporters June 9 he didn’t see a “disproportionate number of serious cases,” in Inuit communities.

But the next day, CBC News Canada reported that 43 new cases were confirmed in Nunavut, bringing the total to 96. Manitoba reported four new aboriginal cases among 16 new cases.

Indian Country Today: Inuit hit hard by H1N1 swine flu

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Double loss for swine flu family

The family of the first person in Europe to die after being diagnosed with swine flu has suffered a double tragedy with the death of her baby.

Jacqueline Fleming, 38, from Glasgow, died on Sunday at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley.

Her son Jack, who was born 11 weeks early, died a day later in a special care baby unit at the same hospital.

Ms Fleming had been suffering from underlying health problems since the birth of her son.

In a statement, her partner William McCann said it was an extremely distressing and difficult time for the family.

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Double loss for swine flu family

TVNZ - H1N1 cases in New Zealand reach 100

The number of confirmed H1N1 flu cases in New Zealand has cracked the 100 mark.

The latest cases are from Canterbury, where 13 people have been confirmed with the virus.

They are linked to one person who visited Melbourne this month.

The virus is now affecting the lives of hundreds of New Zealanders, with several schools sending students home.

Year 12 students at Auckland's Westlake Girls High School have been asked by the Ministry of Health to stay home for the week, while Burnside High School in Christchurch has more than 70 students in isolation.

Meanwhile, the Government is continuing a strategy of trying to contain the flu, in a bid to stop hospitals being overloaded with flu victims.

TVNZ - H1N1 cases in New Zealand reach 100

Reuters: Novartis won't give free H1N1 vaccines to the poor

Swiss drugs company Novartis will not give free vaccines against H1N1 flu to poor countries, though it will consider discounts, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

'If you want to make production sustainable, you have to create financial incentives,' the FT quoted Novartis Chief Executive Daniel Vasella as saying in an early edition of Monday's paper.

The director-general of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, has called for drugs companies to show solidarity with poor countries as they develop vaccines against the pandemic H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu.

Reuters: Novartis won't give free H1N1 vaccines to the poor

The Independent: Swine flu could grow far deadlier, says WHO adviser

One of the world's leading virologists warned last night that the swine flu virus shares worrying similarities with Spanish flu – which wiped out 50 million people in 1918 – and that we should be prepared for the worst.

As the pandemic continues to escalate, Professor Albert Osterhaus, an adviser to the World Health Organisation (WHO), expressed his fears that swine flu may develop into a far deadlier strain. 'In a doomsday scenario, we could have a severe pandemic, similar to the Spanish flu, and that could arise out of a mutation of the virus,' he said.

'Spanish flu also started as a relatively mild strain, comparable to the seasonal flu virus. Then, after half a year, there was a major peak and tens of millions of people died worldwide.' Both viruses seem to target largely healthy adults and children, he added.


The Independent: Swine flu could grow far deadlier, says WHO adviser

The Associated Press: UK reports its first swine flu death

A person has died of swine flu at a hospital in Scotland in the first death from the illness reported in Britain, officials said Sunday.

It also was the first death from the H5N1 strain of influenza reported outside the Americas by the World Health Organization in Geneva or the European Centers for Disease Control in Stockholm, which both keep tabs on confirmed cases of swine flu and deaths from the illness in countries around the world.

Scotland's government said the patient suffering from swine flu died at a hospital there. It said the patient was one of 10 people being treated for the influenza at the facility.

The statement did not identify the patient or the hospital. 'The patient had underlying health conditions,' the government statement said, without saying what they were.

The Associated Press: UK reports its first swine flu death

Dr. Ellie Cannon in The Daily Mail: Anxious about swine flu? If you're over 60 you can relax

London GP Dr. Ellie Cannon wrote a column on the website of the British newspaper The Daily Mail:

There is good news at last for the older patients in my surgery. If you are over 60, it appears you will be immune to developing swine flu.

That's the interesting pattern doctors and health protection agencies worldwide have noticed, even though this week the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially declared the outbreak a pandemic.

The virus has spread to 74 countries and the mortality rate is similar to that of 'normal' flu, with 141 deaths out of 30,000 cases. You would expect the most vulnerable to be older people - as is the case in our UK winter flu epidemics - but it is not.

It seems to be young adults who are succumbing to swine flu. 'The bulk of cases are among younger people - mainly in their 20s,' says Dr Keiji Fukuda, of the WHO.

Dr. Ellie Cannon in The Daily Mail: Anxious about swine flu? If you're over 60 you can relax

CIDRAP: Communication expert endorses WHO's delay on pandemic declaration

A well-known risk-communication expert said the World Health Organization (WHO) acted wisely in delaying its declaration of an influenza pandemic until yesterday, but he simultaneously expressed concern that the move may lead to complacency about the situation.

The WHO drew considerable criticism for putting off announcing a phase 6 pandemic alert in the face of evidence that the virus was spreading on several continents. But Peter M. Sandman, PhD, a New Jersey-based consultant and close watcher of pandemic preparedness, said the WHO's go-slow approach gave the world a chance to get used to the idea that a pandemic declaration was coming soon.

However, he also worried that declaring a pandemic of an illness that is usually mild may lead many people to think that a pandemic is not a serous concern.

Sandman observed, as have others, that the WHO has been trying to steer a course between unduly frightening people and lulling them into complacency.

Officially, yesterday's WHO announcement means that the H1N1 virus is spreading in communities in more than one region of the world. The virus first emerged in April in the United States and Mexico and has since spread to 74 countries. Its spread in places far from North America, including Australia, Chile, and the United Kingdom, had led to growing pressure on the WHO to announce that a pandemic was under way.

But at the urging of several governments, the WHO held off on taking the step for weeks out of concern that it would cause excessive alarm in a world that has learned to link the concept of a pandemic to the H5N1 avian influenza virus, which rarely infects humans but kills about 60% of those it does infect.

CIDRAP: Communication expert endorses WHO's delay on pandemic declaration

EDCD: Over 2000 infections in Europe

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control sees a rapid spread of H1N1 on the European continent.

ECDC SITUATION REPORT
Influenza A(H1N1)v infection
Update 13 June 2009, 17:00 hours CEST
Main developments in past 24 hours

237 new cases were reported in EU and EFTA countries;
6315 new cases were reported from non-EU and EFTA countries;
UK has reported 200 new cases;
Netherlands has reported 19 new cases of in-country transmission;
USA has reported 4638 new cases and 18 deaths during the week ending 6 June.

This report is based on official information provided by the national public health websites, or through other official communication channels. An update on the number of confirmed cases as of 13 June, 17:00 hours CEST, is presented in Table 1 and Table 2.
Disclaimer: the number of confirmed cases reported is based on laboratory test results, except for the US. Depending on the national laboratory testing policies, the actual number of cases by country may therefore be higher.

Epidemiological update

The number of EU and EFTA countries reporting cases did not change, with 26 of 31 EU and EFTA countries reporting confirmed cases. In the past 24 hours, 237 cases were confirmed in seven EU and EFTA countries (Table 1). The majority of the newly reported cases were from the UK (200), the Netherlands (16), Italy (8) and France (7). On the 13th June 2009, the Netherlands reported a total of 19 cases of in-country transmission.

Outside of the EU and EFTA countries, a total of 34,293 cases are currently reported, an increase of 6,315 cases (23%) over the previous situation report dated 12 June 2009 (Table 2). Mexico reported one more death, bringing their total to 109.

USA had 4638 cases and 18 deaths reported for the week ending 6 June. This represents an increase in their weekly reports of 46.6% over the 3164 cases reported for the previous week (ending 30 May). This brings the current total of influenza A(H1N1)v cases in the USA to 17855, with 45 deaths in all.

Other countries with large increases in their reported cases were Chile (641 new cases), Canada (537 new cases), Australia (134 new cases) and Argentina (127 new cases).

The complete EDCD Situation Report as PDF file