H1N1 FLU BREAKING NEWS: Household transmission, brain death, obesity as risk factor, Arab response

H1N1 2009 Pandemic Influenza

Household transmission lower for H1N1
A study of household transmission of the novel H1N1 virus in San Antonio, Tex., during the first pandemic wave found that children were most affected and were more likely to transmit the virus to other children at rates that were generally lower than seasonal flu. The median time to illness onset between contacts was 4 days. The Emerging Infectious Diseases study found secondary attack rates of 4% for confirmed novel H1N1, compared with rates ranging from 13% to 30% for seasonal flu.
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/16/4/pdfs/09-1658.pdf
Mar 11 Emerg Infect Dis study

Brain death reported in H1N1 patient
Doctors writing in Clinical Infectious Diseases report the case of a 7-year-old girl infected with pandemic H1N1 flu who developed encephalopathy that led to brain death. She had had fever and malaise for 1 day but no upper respiratory symptoms. Her condition then deteriorated, and on admission to intensive care she had signs of severe neurologic compromise. Brain death was confirmed within 3 days, in the first such instance documented in the pandemic, according to the authors.
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/651501
Mar 10 Clin Infect Dis abstract

Study cites obesity as risk factor for severe H1N1
To identify risk factors, French researchers compared the frequency of preexisting health conditions in patients who had severe H1N1 flu with their frequency in the general French population. Writing in PLoS Currents, an online journal that screens content but does not use full peer review, they report that pregnancy, obesity, heart failure, and diabetes were risk factors for admission to an intensive care unit. But only obesity, heart failure, and diabetes were risk factors for death.
http://knol.google.com/k/thomas-hanslik/preliminary-estimation-of-risk-factors/1v20hce9mm0m3/2?collectionId=28qm4w0q65e4w.1&position=1#
PLoS Currents report

Arab states cooperate to fight pandemic flu
Ministers of health from Arab nations are meeting to discuss various health topics, including their response to pandemic H1N1 flu, Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported today. Kuwaiti Minister of Health Dr. Hilal Musaed Al-Sayer said there is full coordination among members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), especially in the seasons of pilgrimage and lesser pilgrimage, on fighting the pandemic, as well as on exchanging data and statistics related to the infections and deaths.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2067523&Language=en
Mar 11 KUNA article

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