During the WHO’s recent executive board meeting, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan reflected on public health gains over the past decade and the challenges that lie ahead, Nigeria’s Guardian reports. Chan commended the international community’s response to H1N1 and global efforts to reduce child mortality, fight malaria and tuberculosis…
WHO spokesperson Gregory Hartl on Monday rejected accusations that the organization miscategorized H1N1 (swine flu) as a pandemic, calling such accusations “irresponsible,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports…
Long-Term Rebuilding Strategy ‘Vital’ To Haiti An Economist editorial examines the relief and recovery efforts in Haiti and the “vital” importance of planning for rebuilding the country “before the world’s generosity turns to cynicism. Fortunately there is a blueprint, drawn up by Haiti’s government and presented to donors last year…
“Whilst numbers of infections continue to drop we are now in the traditional flu season and I encourage anyone invited to receive a swine flu jab to take up the offer. “We are now vaccinating children aged from six months and up to five years…
Ordinary face masks and hand hygiene can effectively reduce the transmission of influenza-like illness during flu season. The finding comes from a new study, now available online, published in the Feb. 15 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases…
The BC Centre for Disease Control has launched an influenza genome sequencing project to better understand how the pandemic H1N1 flu virus has evolved in British Columbia, and may continue to evolve in the coming months…
A new study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) concerning the severity of H1N1 influenza has found that admissions to an intensive care unit (ICU) were associated with a longer interval between symptom onset and treatment with antivirals and with presence of an underlying medical condition…
An article published Online First and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet reports that blood samples taken as part of the UK Health Protection Agency’s regular annual monitoring programme show that the proportion of children in high risk areas in England infected with H1N1 influenza during the first pandemic wave was ten times higher than estimated from clinical surveillance…
The Welsh Assembly Government is encouraging parents/guardians of children aged from six months and under 5 years of age to have their children vaccinated against swine flu. Children in this age group are far more likely to end up in hospital if they contract the virus and vaccination offers the best protection against it…
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…