Jul 26, 2010
CDC outlines steps for expired vaccine
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a question-and-answer document explaining what providers should do with expired H1N1 vaccine. Because the federal government issued the vaccine, the process to return it differs from that for both seasonal flu vaccine and the Vaccine for Children program. The recovery program applies to unopened vaccine that expired Jun 30 (from CSL, Novartis, and MedImmune) but not to Sanofi's multidose vials, which expire in 2011.
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/QA_Central_Vacc_Rcvry_Prog.htm
Jul 23 CDC Q&A
H1N1 hit organ-transplant patients hard
Of 237 cases of pandemic flu in those receiving organ transplants in 26 US, Canadian, and Dutch centers, 167 (71%) were hospitalized because of their infection. Of 230 patients for whom data were available, 73 (32%) had pneumonia, 37 (16%) were admitted to intensive care, and 10 (4%) died. The authors conclude, "Influenza A H1N1 caused substantial morbidity in recipients of solid-organ transplants during the 2009-10 pandemic" and that early antiviral therapy provided clinical benefit.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS147330991070133X/abstract?rss
August Lancet Infect Dis abstract
Diabetes raises risk of H1N1 hospitalizations, ICU
Having diabetes triples a person's risk of being hospitalized for pandemic H1N1, according to a new study. Of 162 patients with lab-confirmed novel H1N1, 22 (14%) had diabetes (9 with type 1 and 13 with type 2). This was three times the 7.1 cases expected, based on population demographics. Also, the diabetic H1N1 patients had quadruple the risk of requiring intensive care compared with other H1N1 patients. The authors conclude that their results corroborate other findings in those with diabetes.
http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/33/7/1491.abstract
July Diabetes Care abstract
Tamiflu-resistant strain still virulent
In a study on mice and ferrets, researchers found that the oseltamivir (Tamiflu)-resistant pandemic flu strain was just as virulent as the oseltamivir-susceptible strain. The two strains differed only by a single change (H274Y mutation) in the neuraminidase protein. The authors state that "the H274Y pH1N1 mutant strain has the potential to disseminate in the population and to eventually replace the susceptible strain," a phenomenon that has already occurred in seasonal flu.
http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1001015?rss
Jul 22 PLoS Pathog study
