Apr 22, 2010
Alabama reporting 1 H1N1 death per week
One fourth of Alabama's 52 pandemic flu deaths have occurred this year, health officials report, and over the past several weeks the death toll has risen. The Montgomery Advertiser reports today that, after recording five H1N1 deaths in January and February, the state has already seen eight in March and April. "It looked like it [death rate] had peaked and was reaching the lower end of the bell curve," said Dr. Jim McVay of the Alabama Department of Public Health. "Then it increased."
Study highlights bacterial complications in kids
Researchers studying children hospitalized with parapneumonic empyema from 2004 to 2009 compared rates of the condition before and during the H1N1 pandemic and found an increase in pneumonia complicated by empyema during the pandemic. The study, published in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, found infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae and S pyogenes associated with H1N1 flu. The authors call for better understanding of bacterial complications of pandemic flu.
http://journals.lww.com/pidj/Abstract/publishahead/Association_of_2009_Pandemic_Influenza_A__H1N1_.99315.aspx
Apr 19 Ped Infect Dis J abstract
British Columbia tries to recoup loss of expired vaccine
British Columbia hopes to get back at least some of the $20 million it paid for 2.5 million doses of adjuvanted H1N1 vaccine that is becoming ineffective long before its expiration date, CBC News reported. The vaccine was supposed to last 18 months but had only a 6-month shelf life. Provincial health minister Ida Chong said officials are seeing what they can do "to find out if there is any kind of recovery." The province, which had a 40% vaccination rate, has some unadjuvanted vaccine available.
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/04/21/bc-swine-flu-vaccine-spoiling.html
Apr 21 CBC News report
