Reuters: Novartis eyes rapid H1N1 vaccine production

Novartis AG has produced a first batch of a vaccine to fight the H1N1 flu outbreak, will start clinical trials in July and expects to be able to ramp up manufacture rapidly.

The first results achieved with H1N1 wild type strain showed that it was quicker to make the vaccine through cell-based production compared to egg-based manufacturing, the Swiss drugmaker said in a statement Friday.

'Novartis has successfully completed the production of the first batch of influenza A(H1N1) vaccine, weeks ahead of expectations,' it said, adding it expects to get a license in the autumn.

'Cell-based manufacturing technology allows vaccine production to be initiated once a pandemic virus strain is identified without the need to adapt the virus strain to grow in eggs, as with traditional vaccine technologies,' the group said.

'This advance has cut weeks off the time required to begin vaccine production,' Novartis said."

Reuters: Novartis eyes rapid H1N1 vaccine production

WHO | World now at the start of 2009 influenza pandemic

Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General of the World Health Organization

Ladies and gentlemen,

In late April, WHO announced the emergence of a novel influenza A virus.

This particular H1N1 strain has not circulated previously in humans. The virus is entirely new.

The virus is contagious, spreading easily from one person to another, and from one country to another. As of today, nearly 30,000 confirmed cases have been reported in 74 countries.

This is only part of the picture. With few exceptions, countries with large numbers of cases are those with good surveillance and testing procedures in place.

Spread in several countries can no longer be traced to clearly-defined chains of human-to-human transmission. Further spread is considered inevitable.

I have conferred with leading influenza experts, virologists, and public health officials. In line with procedures set out in the International Health Regulations, I have sought guidance and advice from an Emergency Committee established for this purpose.

On the basis of available evidence, and these expert assessments of the evidence, the scientific criteria for an influenza pandemic have been met.

I have therefore decided to raise the level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 5 to phase 6.

The world is now at the start of the 2009 influenza pandemic."

WHO | World now at the start of 2009 influenza pandemic

The world is in a swine flu pandemic, WHO tells some members

The World Health Organization has privately told several countries that the global pandemic level will be raised to Phase 6 before the end of Thursday, as experts held an emergency meeting in Geneva to discuss the spread of the virus.

Health ministries in Thailand and Indonesia said an email alert from WHO advised them that a pandemic would be declared by midnight local time.

WHO director general Margaret Chan called an emergency conference call with leading flu experts to discuss the outbreak of the virus, which has spread to 74 countries.

Chan will hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. ET, when she is expected to make the official announcement that a pandemic has been declared.

Moving to Phase 6 — the highest level — means a pandemic has been confirmed and the H1N1 virus is spreading from person to person in a sustained manner outside North America, where the outbreak began in April.

The world is in a swine flu pandemic, WHO tells some members

WHO press conference 1800 hrs (GMT+1)

When: 18.00 hrs Geneva time, Thursday 11 June 2009

Where: Executive Board room, WHO headquarters

Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) will hold a press conference at 18:00 hrs Geneva time, Thursday, 11 June 2009 on influenza A(H1N1) in the Executive Board room at the WHO headquarters.

Interpretation in French and Spanish will be provided.

Link to the audio file

Live webcast of the press conference

Full coverage of influenza A(H1N1)

The Canadian Press: Argentina's medical services say they are being swamped

Argentines worried they may have swine flu have overwhelmed some emergency medical services at the onset of the South American winter flu season, health officials said Wednesday.

The Health Ministry said Argentina's confirmed caseload has grown to 281, with an additional 1,032 possible cases being studied in labs. More than two-thirds of those sickened were young people, and 29 schools in Buenos Aires and the surrounding area have been closed for two weeks after children tested positive.

Sergio Alejandre, hospitals director for Buenos Aires province, said Wednesday that public hospitals are beefing up because with the arrival of the Southern Hemisphere winter, 'consultations begin to increase ... for respiratory problems, adult flu and bronchitis in children.'

Argentina's medical services say they are being swamped

WHO concludes emergency meeting; pandemic declaration expected

GENEVA (BNO NEWS) -- The World Health Organization concluded an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon and is expected to declare a full scale swine flu pandemic within hours, BNO News has learned.


'The emergency meeting has finished,' Sarah Russell, who is a spokeswoman for the health organization, told BNO News. Russell, who was not able to provide details on the outcome of the meeting, said that Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan would be holding a press conference at 12 p.m. EDT (6 p.m. Geneva time). 'The Director-General has decided to give a press conference at six so she can explain what is going on to everybody then,' she said. The briefing will be held in the Executive Board room of the WHO headquarters in Geneva.

Russell said the council discussed a number of topics, including the pandemic alert scale. It is widely expected that the organization will now raise the pandemic alert level from 5 to 6, declaring the H1N1 flu virus, better known as swine flu, as a global pandemic. The disease has seen a sustained worldwide spread in the past month although most of the cases have been mild. According to the latest update, there have been 27,737 confirmed cases of swine flu, 141 of them resulting in fatalities.

Asked what a level 6 would mean, Russel said: 'It means that an influenza pandemic is underway and a pandemic means that a virus which is new to humans has appeared, that its spreading, and that it is causing disease in many parts of the world.'

The pandemic alert scale has seen a lot of criticism, especially since the outbreak of the H1N1 virus, as it does not reflect the severity of the outbreak. Russel said she was not aware of any plans to possibly change the criteria for the scale.

UPDATE: Moments after the WHO concluded their emergency meeting, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced it would also hold a press conference at 12.45 p.m. EDT regarding H1N1. It is the first such press conference since May 28, another indication the WHO has decided to raise the alert level to six.

Swine flu outbreak closes Japanese school in Germany

The Japanese school in Dusseldorf has been closed following an outbreak of swine flu which has infected at least 30 pupils, officials in the west German city said Thursday.

Nearly all the cases involved children aged 12, said Heiko Schneitler, head of the Dusseldorf Health Office. Most of the cases were not severe, but one child required hospital treatment, he said.

All the affected students have been placed in quarantine at home with their families, Schneitler said, adding the number of infections was expected to rise because other children had complained of flu symptoms.

Some 30 teachers and 560 students are at the school, which will remain closed until the end of next week, school officials said.

The outbreak raised to more than 100 the number of swine flu cases in Germany, Europe's most populous nation.

Swine flu outbreak closes Japanese school in Germany

Hong Kong Closes Schools as WHO Considers Declaring Pandemic

Hong Kong has closed schools Thursday after the discovery of the city's first cluster of swine flu infections. This comes as the World Health Organization holds an emergency meeting in Geneva to discuss the latest development on the spread of the H1N1 virus.

The cluster of infections was found in a secondary school, where at least 12 pupils fell ill with the H1N1 swine flu virus.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang cut short his trip in mainland China and returned to the territory to take charge of the city's response to the outbreak. On Thursday, Tsang ordered all nurseries, kindergartens, primary and special schools to close for 14 days, in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.

Hong Kong Closes Schools as WHO Considers Declaring Pandemic

Reuters: WHO poised to declare first flu pandemic since 1968

The World Health Organisation (WHO) was poised on Thursday (11th june) to declare that the new H1N1 virus has caused the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years, health sources said on Thursday.

The move will trigger heightened health measures in the WHO's 193 member states as authorities brace for the worldwide spread of the virus that has so far caused mainly mild illness.

Flu experts advising WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan, who were due to convene at 1000 GMT, were expected to recommend moving to the top phase 6 on the WHO's six-point scale, the sources said.

That would reflect the fact that the disease was spreading geographically, but not necessarily indicate how virulent it is.

Reuters: WHO poised to declare first flu pandemic since 1968

PilotOnline.com: US Navy: 24 Iwo Jima sailors and Marines hit by H1N1 virus

The US Navy has confirmed that 24 sailors and Marines associated with the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima have been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus.

The first three cases were confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control on May 27, the day before the ship left New York after visiting the city for Fleet Week.

Those victims were from other units but were temporarily attached to the ship. They were treated at the Veterans Affairs hospital in New York and have since returned to their home units, said Cmdr. Cappy Surrette, a Navy spokesman.

An additional 21 sailors and Marines, all ship’s company, then came down with the virus while on board. They have received treatment and returned to work, he said.

PilotOnline.com: US Navy: 24 Iwo Jima sailors and Marines hit by H1N1 virus

Worldwide Pandemic Flu Declaration 'Close'

GENEVA, Switzerland (ENS) - The World Health Organization is 'getting close' to declaring a worldwide pandemic of the novel H1N1 influenza virus, a senior official said today.

The virus, also called human swine flu, has spread to 73 countries that have reported 26,563 laboratory confirmed cases of the illness, with 140 deaths, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general for health, security and environment, told reporters on a teleconference today.

'We are getting close to declaring a pandemic. But we are trying to get as much information out to countries as we can that would relieve anxiety,' Dr. Fukuda said. 'Right now we consider the situation to be relatively moderate.'

Worldwide Pandemic Flu Declaration 'Close'

WHO | Influenza A(H1N1) - update 43

WHO: As of 06:00 GMT, 3 June 2009, 66 countries have officially reported 19,273 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 117 deaths.

The breakdown of the number of laboratory-confirmed cases by country is given in the table and map.

Map of the spread of Influenza A(H1N1): number of laboratory confirmed cases and deaths
As of 06:00 GMT, 3 June 2009

WHO | Influenza A(H1N1) - update 43, table

New York Times: WHO Says It Is Closer to Declaring Flu Pandemic

The World Health Organization said Tuesday that it was moving closer to declaring swine flu a worldwide pandemic.

The disease has reached 64 countries, and there have been dozens or hundreds of cases in several nations outside North America, including Britain, Spain, Japan, Chile and Australia.

The Southern Hemisphere countries are now of chief interest because their winter flu season is just beginning and another strain of the H1N1 virus, widespread last winter, was resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

To raise the flu alert to its highest level, Level 6, the W.H.O. would need to find evidence of widespread “community transmission” — meaning beyond travelers, schools and immediate contacts — on two continents. Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the agency’s chief of flu, said that finding had not been made.

New York Times: WHO Says It Is Closer to Declaring Flu Pandemic

Forget about H1N1 or swine flu, Lujo will be the new scare

A new member of the arenavirus family, Lujo virus, has been identified in patients who died during an outbreak of hemorrhagic fever in late 2008. Sequence analysis reveals that Lujo is a new arenavirus, genetically distinct from other members of the family which includes Lassa virus.

A patient with unexplained hemorrhagic fever was identified in Zambia in September 2008. After transfer to Sandton for further care, four health care workers involved with the case also became ill. The first four patients died, and the fifth survived after treatment with ribavirin.

Sequence analysis of total liver and serum RNA from the patients revealed the presence of a new member of the arenavirus family. The virus has been provisionally named Lujo based on its origin in Lusaka, Zambia, and Johannesburg, South Africa.

Lujo virus appears to be highly lethal in humans, based on the deaths of 4 out of 5 of the infected patients.

Virology Blog: Lujo virus, a new hemorrhagic fever virus from Southern Africa

WHO | Influenza A(H1N1) - update 39

As of 06:00 GMT, 26 May 2009, 46 countries have officially reported 12 954 cases of influenza A(H1N1) infection, including 92 deaths.

The breakdown of the number of laboratory-confirmed cases by country is given in the following table and map.

Map of the spread of Influenza A(H1N1): number of laboratory confirmed cases and deaths

WHO | Influenza A(H1N1) - update 39

H1N1 (Swine Flu) Blog: H1N1 Is Casting A Wide Net

"H1N1 is spreading more widely than official figures indicate, with a footing established in at least three regions – North America, Asia and Europe.

One in 20 cases is being officially reported in the U.S., meaning more than 100,000 people have probably been infected nationwide with the new H1N1 flu strain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the U.K., the virus may be 300 times more widespread than health authorities have said, the Independent on Sunday reported yesterday.

Japan, which has reported the most cases in Asia, began reopening schools over the weekend after health officials said serious medical complications had not emerged in those infected. The virus is now spreading in Australia.
(...)
Rather than changing the definition it would be far more helpful if WHO helped everyone understand that our current is more like 1957 or 1968 rather than 1918. And of course….it could change."

H1N1 (Swine Flu) Blog: H1N1 Is Casting A Wide Net

WHO Considers Revising Definition of "Pandemic" : ScienceInsider

Responding to mounting confusion, the World Health Organization (WHO) has sent the definition of a full-scale, phase 6 influenza “pandemic” to the rewrite desk. But no formal revisions have been made yet, leaving the old definition in place, and that says a phase 6 alert should be triggered if two regions of the world have sustained community spread in humans of an animal or animal-human hybrid of a flu virus.

ScienceInsider: WHO Considers Revising Definition of "Pandemic"

ABC News: Some Older People May Be Immune to Swine Flu - ABC News

Older adults might have some pre-existing immunity to H1N1 swine flu, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


(Getty Images)

Lab tests showed that some adults, particularly those older than 60, had antibodies against the new strain, but Dr. Anne Schuchat of the CDC cautioned against reading too much into the finding.

'We don't know yet what that will mean in terms of actual immunity or clinical protection,' she said on a conference call with reporters.

As the worldwide H1N1 flu outbreak progresses, evidence continues to point to a disproportionate number of infections in school-age children and younger adults.

Of the swine flu cases reported to the CDC, 64 percent are in 5- to 24-year-olds and just 1 percent are in individuals older than 65. That's an unusual pattern compared with seasonal influenza, which primarily affects the very young or old.

ABC News: Some Older People May Be Immune to Swine Flu

AFP: Mexico City lifts flu restrictions

MEXICO City officials on Thursday fully lifted health restrictions imposed last month when the deadly H1N1 flu virus first spread shockwaves throughout the country, particularly in the capital.

The A(H1N1) virus has killed 75 in Mexico and infected 3,817 people, according to the health ministry.

The website of the the sprawling capital dropped its five-level alert to the lowest level green on Thursday, signaling that schools, businesses and transport could function as normal, without extra health precautions.

Most children returned to school last week across the country, while a handful of states with suspected cases waited until this week to re-open, as officials assured the public that the virus is on the wane.

'We can calm down now,' said Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard in a news conference.

AFP: Mexico City lifts flu restrictions

Time Magazine: A New Pandemic Fear: A Shortage of Surgical Masks

If the currently circulating flu virus does in fact reach full-fledged pandemic proportions, U.S. health officials say there won't be enough face masks to go around.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says the nation would need more than 30 billion masks — 27 billion of the simple surgical kind, which can be worn safely for only about two hours before needing replacement, and 5 billion of the sturdier respirator variety, which also requires regular replacement — to protect all Americans adequately in the event of a serious epidemic.

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Strategic National Stockpile currently contains only 119 million masks — 39 million surgical and 80 million respirator.

Time Magazine: A New Pandemic Fear: A Shortage of Surgical Masks