Over the weekend, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) fleshed out more details on 22 recent H7N9 avian flu cases, 8 of them fatal, that were reported Apr 28 to May 4 from China's mainland, signaling continued steady activity in the country's fifth and biggest wave of infections.
Vaccine effectiveness was 65% in preventing deaths in healthy children and 51% in high-risk kids.
The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health (MOH) reported one new case of MERS-CoV today in a woman who had indirect contact with camels.
Animal health officials in Alabama yesterday reported one more low-pathogenic H7N9 avian influenza outbreak, this time affecting a commercial farm in Cullman County, located in the north central part of the state, not far from where earlier events occurred.
Yesterday Saudi Arabia announced one new MERS-CoV case in a healthcare worker from Wadi Al-Dawasir. This is the tenth case in what appears to be a hospital-based outbreak in that city.
The patient is a 36-year-old expatriate man who presented with no symptoms of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus). His infection is listed as secondary and acquired in a healthcare setting.
Vietnam today reported two more highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu outbreaks, raising the number of affected provinces this year to seven, according to a report from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
The vaccine cut deaths 36.4% in a severe flu season but not at all in the next season.
The new H1N1 strain mirrors the change the WHO made last September for the Southern Hemisphere flu vaccine.
Effectiveness so far this season is 48% in the US and slightly lower in Europe.
Getting a flu shot 2 years in a row apparently can, under certain circumstances, backfire.
