H5N1

Pakistan: Man protecting polio team in Bajaur shot dead

Via Dawn.com: Levies man protecting polio team in Bajaur shot dead. Excerpt:

PESHAWAR: An anti-polio vaccination team was attacked in northwestern Pakistan’s Bajaur tribal region, killing one Levies official, DawnNews reported. 

Unidentified men opened fire on the team in Bajaur’s Mamond tehsil killing the Levies man deployed for the purpose of security. 

After the shooting, the attackers escaped from the site of the incident. 

Subsequently, security forces cordoned off the area and started a search operation. 

Earlier in April, a gunman shot dead a policeman and injured another in an attack on a police team protecting women polio workers in Mardan’s Mosam Koroono area.

Pakistan: 80 new measles cases reported

Via The Nation: 80 new measles cases reported.

With 80 new cases reported during the last 24 hours, the number of measles cases reported in the Punjab in the last five months has reached 12,570. 

According to health department officials, at least 87 deaths have been reported so far while most deaths occured in Lahore, Gujranwala, Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Kasur. 

During the last 24 hours, around 80 cases of measles were reported from Punjab, including 46 from city hospitals. 

Meanwhile, Director General Health Services Punjab Dr Tanveer Ahmed talking to APP said that on investigation it was found the majority of deaths in Lahore were caused by severe pneumonia and delay in reaching hospitals. 

However, measles vaccination is available in all hospitals of the city in ample quantity and patients were being treated free.

UK: 50,000 MMR vaccinations so far in battle to halt Welsh measles epidemic

Via The Independent: 50,000 MMR vaccinations so far in battle to halt Welsh measles epidemic. Excerpt:

More than 50,000 people have been vaccinated against measles in a major campaign to battle a growing epidemic. 

The headline rate of measles in the worst-affected greater Swansea area, in south Wales, hit 1,105 today, with 11 extra cases since Tuesday. 

While the rate of increase is slowing, the two-day rise in one region is still more than the eight cases for the whole of Wales in 2010. 

Public Health Wales (PHW) said 52,502 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jabs were given to people across Wales between the start of March and 13 May. 

Despite major progress protecting thousands against the disease, vaccination up-take remains too low among the worst-hit 10 to 18 age group. 

About 50,000 people across Wales within that age group were without MMR protection at the start of the outbreak. 

More than 15,000 have been vaccinated since the beginning of March but that still leaves 35,000 unprotected.

Canada: Flu carries higher risk of paralytic disease than flu shot

Via The Globe and Mail, a report by André Picard: Flu carries higher risk of paralytic disease than flu shot. Excerpt:

There are long-standing concerns that a small number of people develop a paralytic illness after getting a flu shot. But a new study shows that the risk of developing the condition, Guillain-Barré syndrome, is actually 16 times higher after contracting influenza than after vaccination. 

In the general population, about one in 100,000 people develop GBS, a baffling and potentially fatal condition that resembles polio. 

The new findings, published in the medical journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, show that one additional case of GBS occurs after every million people who get a flu shot. But an additional case of GBS springs up in every 60,000 people who are treated for the flu. 

Dr. Jeff Kwong, a scientist at the Toronto-based Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and lead author of the research, said the findings should reassure people about the safety of influenza vaccination and remind them the flu itself carries many more health risks. 

“The message here is that people shouldn’t worry so much about GBS,” he said. “We’re actually comparing two very small risks, but the risk of not getting vaccinated is higher.”

Pakistan: Two more measles patients die

Via the Daily Times: Two more measles patients die. Excerpt:

Lahore/Rawalpindi: Two more children passed away due to dreaded measles here, counting the number of deaths to 80 in Punjab. 

According to hospital sources, the two kids died in Children Hospital Lahore and many affected children are under treatment. About 9,000 children are affected by measles across Punjab and forcing the provincial health authorities to launch a children’s vaccination week from April 24 to 30. 

However the outbreak is still out of control and causing deaths across the country. 

Meanwhile, measles hit a large number of children in Rawalpindi district causing shortage of beds in Holy Family Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital located on Murree Road. 

An unknown, Riaz, told that he brought his daughter Hina, who suffered from measles to Holy Family Hospital for treatment. The doctors admitted her after medical examination but he was shocked to see that two or three patients were already lying on each bed in the hospital and he brought back his daughter to home for private treatment.

Pakistan: 102 new cases of measles reported from Punjab

Via the Daily Times: 102 new cases of measles reported from Punjab.

LAHORE: There appears to be no end to measles with 102 new cases reported during the last 24 hours. The number of measles cases reported in Punjab during the last five months has now reached 11,921. 

According to health department officials, at least 77 deaths have been reported so far with Lahore, Gujranwala, Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Kasur being the most affected areas. 

During the last 24 hours, around 102 cases of measles were reported from Punjab, including 72 from city hospitals. 

Meanwhile, Director General Health Services Punjab, Dr Tanveer Ahmed said the majority of deaths in Lahore were caused by severe pneumonia and delay in reaching hospitals. 

However, measles vaccination is available in all hospitals of the city in ample quantity and patients were being treated free.

Afghanistan: Taliban renounces war on anti-polio workers

Via The Telegraph, surprising good news: Taliban renounces war on anti-polio workers. Excerpt:

The Taliban has ended its war on polio vaccination workers and admitted immunisation is the only way to protect children from the disease, its leadership said in a statement issued today.

The announcement comes just weeks after the Afghan government launched a new campaign to immunise more than eight million children between six months and five years old throughout the country. It said it had trained 46,000 volunteers to conduct the campaign which is funded by the American aid agency USAID, the World Health Organisation and Unicef. 

Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria are the three remaining countries in the world where polio remains a serious threat, but efforts to eradicate the disease have been sabotaged by the Taliban and other Islamic militants who have assassinated immunisation volunteers in all three countries. 

Eleven polio workers were killed in Pakistan last year, including five women who were shot dead in Karachi in December last year. Earlier this year a police officer protecting vaccination campaigners was shot by motorcycle gunmen in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. In Afghanistan, a 16 year old girl involved in an anti-polio vaccination campaign in Kapisa province was shot six times in the stomach outside her home last December and died later in hospital. 

In March this year the Afghan government was forced to abandon its polio vaccination campaign in Nuristan province where, it said, Taliban opposition had made it impossible.

Pakistan: New polio cases

Via The News International, a discouraging report: New cases pour cold water on anti-polio strategy.

PESHAWAR: Two new polio cases reported in a single day from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas have raised questions about the strategy for countering the refusal cases.   

The first polio case was reported from a chronically refusing family in Mardan district. Official documents of the National Virology Laboratory (NVI), Islamabad revealed that a seven months old male child from Mardan was diagnosed with the crippling poliomyelitis-1 strain of the poliovirus. His father had refused to allow polio teams to vaccinate his child.   

An official of the provincial Health Department, Nauman Khan, said over six polio campaigns were conducted during the last six months in Mardan but the father of the child could not be convinced to get the child vaccinated.   

The official said the country reported around 70,000 refusal cases during the recently concluded polio campaign whereas almost 50 percent of the total countrywide refusals were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.   

Health experts believe the biggest opportunity to counter the refusal cases in the country had already been lost as a local organisation the National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF) developed differences with the Pakistan Polio Control Programme.   

Another polio case was reported from Bara in Khyber Agency on Thursday, where an 11 months old child identified as Fawad was diagnosed with the disease.With the two new polio cases, the number of the affected children reached nine during the current year.   

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is leading in the numbers, with four polio cases so far, followed by Fata having two cases whereas Punjab and Sindh have reported one case each.

Osterholm on providing an H7N9 vaccine

Via JAMA, Dr. Michael Osterholm of CIDRAP writes: Major Challenges in Providing an Effective and Timely Pandemic Vaccine for Influenza A(H7N9). Excerpt:

The emergence of avian influenza A(H7N9) virus in humans has public health authorities around the world on high alert for the potential development of a human influenza pandemic. As of May 8, 2013, authorities had identified 131 confirmed cases and 32 deaths among residents of 8 provinces and 2 municipalities in China.  

Three primary scenarios exist for how this A(H7N9) virus outbreak will unfold. First, the virus could disappear in the animal reservoir, ending new human cases. Second, the virus could persist in the animal reservoir, resulting in sporadic human infections. Third, the virus could, through mutation or reassortment, become readily transmissible between humans, resulting in a global pandemic. 

The arsenal of public health tools to reduce morbidity and mortality from an influenza pandemic is limited. Options include vaccines, antiviral drugs, and interventions such as respiratory protection and social distancing. 

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Influenza vaccination is the most important intervention in reducing the impact of influenza, and a key component of the WHO response and preparedness efforts for influenza of pandemic potential, including avian influenza A(H5N1), A(H9N2) and A(H7N9).” 

However, seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines have significant limitations, including limited vaccine effectiveness, the inability to identify reliable correlates of protection, and the need to distribute large quantities of vaccine early in the pandemic course.

Pakistan: Polio virus about to break loose in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Via The News International: Polio virus about to break loose in KP. Excerpt:

PESHAWAR: The highly-paid officials of WHO, Unicef and the ‘rich and prosperous’ provincial Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) may face a lot of criticism in the days ahead as “The News” has received credible information that polio virus is about to get out of control in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and adjoining tribal areas.

Official documents seen by this correspondent reveal that two more highly suspected cases of poliomyelitis called the ‘Acute Flaccid Paralysis’ (AFP) were reported from the volatile North Waziristan Agency during the last 48 hours.

Besides, samples of another highly suspected case from Bara in Khyber Agency and Mardan district were sent by the provincial health department for further tests at the polio laboratory in Islamabad. “We have received these samples at the polio virology laboratory in Islamabad,” said an official of the National Institute of Health (NIH).

According to documents of the provincial polio programme, the samples of a 36-month male child who belongs to Khushali village in Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan and was reported ill on April 22 have been sent to the NIH for diagnosis.  

The child did not receive any dose of the polio vaccine as the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led Taliban in North Waziristan banned anti-polio vaccination campaign on June 16 last year while demanding halt to the US drone strikes.

After the ban, around 160,000 kids have been deprived of anti-polio vaccines in North Waziristan.A 10-month old female child Gul Dasta, daughter of Mustafa and granddaughter of Agha Jan belonging to Maizer village near Miranshah was reported ill on April 25. She did not get any dose of the polio vaccine due to ban on immunisation. 

Official sources could only confirm that many more such “highly suspected” cases were in the pipeline and that the polio cases’ tally may cross all previous records reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

The most serious development is that the provincial government and the relevant organisations have made no headway in convincing the Taliban leadership to lift the ban on polio immunisation in North Waziristan.