BB FANS

China’s Tough Measures on Flu Appear to Be Effective

Quarantines and medical detentions are among the aggressive measures that Chinese officials have taken to slow the transmission of H1N1, which quickly spread worldwide after being first diagnosed in North America.

To howls of protest from around the world, China isolated entire planeloads of people entering the country if anyone on the plane exhibited flu-like symptoms. Local authorities canceled school classes at the slightest hint of the disease and ordered students and teachers to stay home. China was virtually alone in taking such harsh measures, which continued throughout most of the summer.


NYTimes

Top public school closed as swine flu strikes 100 pupils

A leading public school has closed after an outbreak of swine flu was feared to have infected more than 200 pupils.

Parents at Christ’s Hospital in West Sussex have been told to remove their children from the boarding school this weekend.
Headmaster John Franklin wrote to parents to inform them that around 100 pupils were infected but this was expected to double by the start of the school week.

Staff hope the school, near Horsham, will reopen by next weekend.
Mr Franklin said pupils who were too unwell to travel would be cared for at the school health centre until they could go home.

Christ’s Hospital, whose 840 pupils achieve some of the best GCSE and A-level results in the country, charges parents on a sliding scale up to £11,635 a year.

DailyMail

Man dies in Germany after swine flu vaccination

A 55-year-old man died in the east German city of Eichsfeld on Thursday only hours after being vaccinated against the swine flu virus, the daily Thueringer Allgemeine reported Sunday.

Berlin, Nov 16, (IRNA) -- The unidentified victim received the swine flu shot Thursday morning but died late Thursday night. An autopsy is expected to be performed on the man.

It was unclear whether the victim had a previous illness.

At least 15 people have died so far and tens of thousands have been diagnosed with having the swine flu disease.

The German government began last month a nationwide vaccination program, however many people were initially reluctant to get the vaccination because of the unforeseen side-effects of the swine flu vaccine.

Depending upon how many people are vaccinated, the program will cost the government and private insurers between 600 million euros and one billion euros.

Only every fourth German can presently be vaccinated as a result of the sluggish production of H1N1 vaccine.


mathaba.net

2009 H1N1 Swine Flu vaccine side effects and safety update by WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) released an update on the safety and side effects reported from the H1N1 vaccine seen so far in the 16 countries it has information on, of the 40 countries currently vaccinating for H1N1 worldwide.

Examiner.com

Strain of swine flu found that is resistant to drugs
By Jeremy Laurance, Health editor
Indepdent

Swine flu kills four in Saudi Arabia on Hajj pilgrimage

Four pilgrims have died of swine flu as they take part in this year's annual Mecca pilgrimage, Saudi officials say.

Three of the victims, a woman from Morocco and men from Sudan and India, were in their seventies.The fourth was a 17-year-old girl from Nigeria.

The Health Ministry said none of the four foreign victims had been vaccinated against the H1N1 virus.

BBC

Glaxo Puts Hold on Some Swine Flu Shots in Canada

Bloomberg

Schoolboy, 5, dies of suspected swine flu

A primary school closed today after the death of one of its pupils who may have contracted swine flu.

Tests were being carried out to determine whether or not the five-year-old boy died from the H1N1 virus.

He had been admitted to Milton Keynes Hospital, where he died in the early hours of Sunday.

DailyMail

Do H1N1 mutations make the swine flu vaccine less effective?

H1N1 mutations are being found all over the world, including in the United States. From the strain found in Norway and the Ukraine that is said to totally destroy the lungs, to a Tamiflu-resistant strain found in various locations, including a cluster in North Carolina, it is clear that the H1N1 virus is changing. The vaccines created to prevent an influenza infection are only effective for the particular strain of virus used in their creation. Does this mean that the swine flu vaccine will not be effective against the H1N1 mutations?

examiner.com