Apr 12, 2010
Experts urge world not to forget other flu threats
Infectious disease experts meeting at an international conference in Vienna warned against complacency in fighting influenza and other illnesses, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. Dr Albert Osterhaus, a Dutch virologist, said he worried that complacency due to the mild nature of the pandemic virus could hamper efforts to control the more lethal H5N1 avian influenza. Experts warned governments to expect stronger seasonal flu outbreaks in the wake of the pandemic.
http://health.yahoo.com/news/afp/heatlhflueccmid_20100410203622.html
Apr 10 AFP story
New Zealand's ethnic groups hit hardest
A review of adults treated at a hospital in New Zealand's Wellington region last summer during the country's pandemic flu wave suggests that Pacific Islanders and native Maori had higher admission rates than expected for their population size, researchers reported in the New Zealand Medical Journal. Reasons for the higher rates are unclear but could include greater household size, higher numbers of younger people, or greater susceptibility.
http://www.nzma.org.nz/journal/123-1312/4057
Apr 9 N Z Med J study
Researchers track developing oseltamivir resistance
Australia researchers, reporting in Antiviral Research, used rolling circle amplification to show rapid emergence of oseltamivir-resistant pandemic flu in treated patients. From a group of 96 samples, 3 of 25 patients who had received oseltamivir had the H275Y mutation. Two were adults whose samples became resistant after 9 days of treatment, and the child's virus showed the mutation during treatment. Rapid detection in severe infections is crucial, they noted.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T2H-4YTN3TH-1&_user=616288&_coverDate=04%2F10%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000032378&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=616288&md5=bc679056477164c519b2b281e8e98b08
Apr 10 Antiviral Res study
Pandemic virus dominates in H3N2 co-infections
In a September flu outbreak at a Beijing college, researchers detected both the pandemic and H3N2 viruses, but found that patterns were similar for patients with different viral infections. The group, reporting in Clinical Infectious Diseases, found no differences in sequences and that all viruses were sensitive to oseltamivir but resistant to adamantane. Because the pandemic virus took precedence, they predicted that circulation of competing seasonal strains seems less likely.
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/652143
Apr 9 Clin Infect Dis abstract
