Feb 11, 2010
Pandemic virus may have interfered with RSV
Writing in Eurosurveillance, French researchers report that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) circulation in France in late 2009 was reduced and delayed compared with a year earlier, and that this might be explained in part by H1N1 flu. "The influenza pandemic wave of 2009 seems to have partially overcome the RSV epidemic," they write. Viral interference and/or increased hygiene measures in response to H1N1 might have affected RSV activity, they suggest.
http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=19485
Feb 11 Eurosurveillance report
Myocarditis reported in young flu patients
Although acute myocarditis as a complication of a viral infection is fairly rare, physicians from a San Diego children's hospital yesterday described four cases that occurred in a 30-day period in children who had pandemic H1N1 infections. They reported their findings in a letter in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Of three children who had fulminant myocarditis, one died and two required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The fourth had acute perimyocarditis.
http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/full/j.jacc.2010.01.004v1
Feb 10 J Am Coll Cardiol letter
School outbreaks reported in Minnesota
While flu activity in Minnesota remained low last week, two schools reported flu-like illness outbreaks, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reported yesterday. Also, a story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune noted that seasonal flu viruses have been almost totally absent this winter and said experts are increasingly confident that pandemic H1N1 will be the only virus around for the rest of the winter. The experts also said the pandemic virus is likely to continue to predominate next fall.
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/flu/stats/index.html
Feb 10 MDH weekly flu report
T-shirts, sign-twirlers used to promote vaccination
The Mississippi Department of Health is providing free "Fast Lane" H1N1 flu vaccination clinics throughout the state today and tomorrow, with vaccinees getting free T-shirts. Meanwhile, Riverside County officials in California have posted dancing sign-twirlers at H1N1 vaccination clinics to lure passersby, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported. And health workers in Morrow County, Ore., offered H1N1 shots at a highway rest stop near Boardman yesterday, the Oregonian reported.
http://www.healthyms.com/msdhsite/_static/23,9339,341.html
Feb 11 Mississippi news release
