Mar 23, 2010
Australia logs its first serious case of year
Australia's Influenza Complications Alert Network (FluCAN) picked up the nation's first pandemic H1N1 case this year requiring hospitalization, a woman of childbearing age with an underlying illness, according to an Australian Associated Press (AAP) story today. The woman, described as of "child-bearing years but not pregnant," was the first case since Dec 11 reported by 13 major hospitals that are part of FluCAN. An official used the occasion to remind Australians to get a flu shot.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/swine-flu-new-case-in-wa/story-e6frg13u-1225844445681
Mar 23 AAP story
Louisiana flu clinics target rise in flu activity
Reports from clinics and hospitals of rising flu-like illnesses over the past few weeks prompted Louisiana health officials to launch walk-in pandemic H1N1 flu vaccine clinics throughout the state this week. Louisiana's state health officer warned in a press release that another wave of infections could occur and urged residents to get vaccinated. The department also noted that other southern states, including the border states of Arkansas and Texas, were seeing rises in flu activity.
http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/news.asp?Detail=1594
Mar 22 Louisiana health department release
France to reimburse vaccine makers $65 million
France will pay three H1N1 vaccine manufacturers a 16% reimbursement fee of $65 million for doses it cancelled, Reuters reported today, citing the newspaper Le Figaro. The government will pay Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, and Sanofi Pasteur for cancelling 50 million vaccine doses. A French health ministry spokesperson declined to comment on the article, which did not name a source for the information. When France ordered its vaccine, it assumed two doses would be needed instead of one.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE62M0T520100323
Mar 23 Reuters report
Scientists show 3D view of H1N1 binding
Researchers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) influenza division have used x-ray crystallography, which allows a 3D view of structure and function, to analyze changes in the hemagglutinin of the pandemic H1N1 virus. Reporting in Public Library of Science (PLoS) Currents, they said the protein's receptor binding shows a strict preference for human-type receptors and noted that their research technique can help develop better interventions.
http://knol.google.com/k/hua-yang/structure-and-receptor-binding/250q41vwql45q/3#
Mar 22 PLoS Currents study
X-ray findings may predict serious flu outcomes
Findings on chest radiographs may help predict outcome in patients with pandemic H1N1 infections, but normal findings can't exclude serious outcomes, researchers reported in Radiology. They based their findings on x-ray reviews of 179 patients who were hospitalized from May through September. Thirty-nine patients (40%) had abnormal findings. Extensive involvement of both lungs and bilateral peripheral opacities were linked to adverse outcomes.
http://radiology.rsna.org/content/255/1/252.abstract?rss
Apr Radiology abstract
