H5N1

El Salvador: Three children with hemorrhagic dengue

Via elsalvador.com: Tres casos por dengue hemorrágico en el Hospital de Niños Benjamín Bloom. [Three cases of hemorrhagic dengue in Benjamin Bloom Children's Hospital.]

I don't have time to translate, but here's the gist: a four-year-old boy, a ten-year-old boy, and a five-year-old girl are in intensive care. They all come from different neighbourhoods. The ten-year-old boy is in "delicate" condition. The three cases bring the country's total for the year so far to 1,530.

Australia: Swine flu 'like bad seasonal flu year'

Via the Sydney Morning Herald: Swine flu 'like bad seasonal flu year'. Excerpt:

The swine flu pandemic in Australia has been equated to a bad year for seasonal flu, and about as deadly but across a broader age group. 

University of WA Professor in Microbiology David Smith said the influenza A(H1N1) virus had not prompted a significant increase in flu deaths in 2009 over what would have occurred in a typical flu season. 

He also said that while people who caught the swine flu felt sicker and were more likely to need hospital care, the virus infected about the same rate of people as were usually hit by seasonal influenza. 

"The estimates of the proportion of the population who (normally) get infected are between 15 and 30 per cent, and it looks like that's been very similar for the pandemic strain last year," Prof Smith told AAP on Monday. 

"... The WHO (World Health Organisation) has said that it will be some time before the true mortality associated with it is known. "I think it is fair to say, however, that if it is increased it is not going to be a lot different than seasonal influenza." 

Prof Smith said influenza usually claimed 1,500 to 3,000 lives in Australia every year, and the toll from swine flu in 2009 would be within that range or slightly higher. 

Collecting data on influenza deaths was complicated by the fact that those most at risk often had chronic illnesses, which could instead be recorded as their primary cause of death.

Georgia: 33 H1N1 deaths

Via News.Az: Another lethal case of H1N1 in Georgia.

Another H1N1 virus case kills a man in the city of Batumi, Adjara Region. Mirza Gogitidze, 46, was undergoing medical treatment at teh City Republican Hospital for several days. 

Doctors said, the man`s delayed hospitalization became the reason of deterioration of his health conditions. He was suffering from bilateral pneumonia. The patient was connected to the respiratory. 

This is the 33rd confirmed case of death from the so-called Swine Flu virus in Georgia.

New Zealand promotes flu "super-shot"

While we try to forget H1N1, the people in the southern hemisphere are trying to prevent a new wave. Via the Wairarapa Times-Age: New shots fired in flu fight - Local News. Excerpt:

A new influenza super-shot will hopefully keep pregnant women, the chronically sick, and elderly people shielded against swine flu in Wairarapa this year. 

The at-risk groups are being targeted from Monday in an early immunisation campaign, but immunisations will also be available to paying customers. 

The improved seasonal influenza vaccine, at GP practices from Monday, will cover recipients against the H1N1 (swine) flu strain, as well as two other strains of influenza prevalent in California and Asia. Swine flu killed 16,000 people worldwide last year. 

The shot will also be aimed at some children with high needs as well as people who are obese, aged over 65, or have chronic illnesses. It works in the same way as other influenza vaccines and following immunisation takes about two weeks to build a good immune response, say specialists. 

There were still stocks of the antiviral medicine Tamiflu in the region, but it was expected the new vaccine would mean little of that would be needed.

Australia: Manunda swine-flu sufferer urges vaccination

Via Cairns.com.au: Manunda swine-flu sufferer urges vaccination. Excerpt:

Swine flu sufferer Zac Forster wouldn't wish the virus he caught late last year on anybody. 

The 23-year-old from Manunda was one of the hundreds of Cairns residents who contracted the virus last year.

During the first wave of the pandemic last year, 41 Queenslanders died from swine flu including seven people in Cairns. 

In Zac’s case, H1N1 left him bed-ridden for two weeks. "I was still feeling the effects for some time," Zac said. "I had aches and pains all over and kept having hot and cold flushes." 

Only 15 per cent of Far Northern residents have been vaccinated against swine flu and doctors fear the region may be ill-equipped for future outbreaks. Another wave is expected by the end of March. 

Zac, who is now vaccinated against the H1N1 human swine influenza, said it was important for everyone to be vaccinated against the virus. 

"The pain I went through having this virus, it’s not worth not being vaccinated," he said.

Paid sick days: A lesson from H1N1

DemFromCT has a new item on Daily Kos: Paid sick days: Interview with Jon Green. Excerpt:

As we watch the battle over health reform play out against the backdrop of an H1N1 pandemic, I am reminded of many of the political lessons learned over the years ("don't get mad, organize", "all politics is local") including the exhortations of many posters here ("are you going to complain, or are you going to do something?") to work for change, real change that you can measure and see and feel. 

As it happens, my home state of Connecticut is also home to a campaign to improve ordinary people's lives by highlighting a local legislative battle to mandate paid sick days for employers of larger companies. This is legislation that's come close to passing before (it's passed each chamber, but not in the same year), and this year, there's a concerted push to get it done. 

Who doesn't have paid sick days? Among others, day care and nursing home workers, bus drivers, grocery workers and very likely your neighbors or someone you know. And from a societal and public health perspective, coming to work sick for these folks is a great way, for example, to spread flu and other illnesses, exactly what you don't want.

El Salvador goes to yellow alert over dengue

Via El Nuevo Diario in Nicaragua: Alerta amarilla por dengue en El Salvador.[Yellow alert over dengue in El Salvador] Excerpt, with my translation:

La Dirección General de Protección Civil (DGPC) de El Salvador decretó este sábado alerta amarilla (de prevención) ante la epidemia de dengue que vive el país centroamericano desde principios de año, precisó en un comunicado el organismo. 

The National Directorate of Civil Protection of El Salvador this Saturday decreed a yellow (preventive) alert over the dengue epidemic that has existed in the country since the start of the new year, according to a release from the agency.

Sobre la base de un análisis técnico del ministerio de Salud, la DGPC aseguró que decretó la alerta amarilla a nivel nacional, “con el fin de garantizar la vida e integridad física de las personas, como parte de las facultades definidas en el artículo 1 de la Ley de Protección Civil”. 

On the basis of a technical analysis by the Ministry of Health, the NDCP said it declared the yellow alert on the national level, "with the goal of protecting the lives and health of persons as defined in Article 1 of the Law of Civil Protection."

La alerta amarilla, que implica la activación de comisiones departamentales y municipales para la ejecución de un plan integral, se suma a la declaración de “emergencia sanitaria nacional” que hizo la noche del viernes la ministra de salud, María Isabel Rodríguez.

The yellow alert, which implies the activation of departmental and municipal commissions to carry out a unified plan, results from the declaration of "national health emergency" announced Friday night by the Minister of Heatlh, María Isabel Rodríguez.

Cuba: Teenager recovers from H1N1

Thanks to the reader who sent the link to this Cuban News Agency report: Cuban Teen Thanks Doctors for Recovery from A (H1N1). Excerpt:

A 13-year-old girl, Claudia Nery Toro Conde, thanked the doctors that treated her after catching the influenza A (H1N1), as well as her parents and professors, who played an important role in her fast recovery. 

Her teachers became aware of the possible disease at the school when the teen referred about having a headache and a sore throat, besides high fever and her nose was running constantly. 

Right away she was suspended from school and her parents were informed on the situation, while the family doctor and the Eduardo Agramonte Piña Children Hospital provided specialized advises on how to deal with the case. 

Claudia was home-hospitalized for 15 days after a throat exudates performed on her confirmed the disease. “The medical attention was very good, the family doctor and the nurse were coming every day to my house to find out how I was doing”, recalls Claudia. 

Her mother, Barbara, told ACN news agency about the measures they took at home, such as keeping the house clean, washing sheets and clothes on daily basis, while preventing people from coming in and the girl coming out, in order to avoid the influenza to spread. 

Barbara thanked the Cuban revolution for the doctors’ care, who visited them every afternoon, as well as the teachers; and all that without having to pay a dime.

Brazil: Five cities have 30% of country's dengue cases

Via Mauricio Beltran's excellent Precavido blog: Cinco cidades concentram 30% dos casos de dengue do país. [Five cities concentrate 30% of the country's dengue cases] Excerpt, with my translation:

Quatro das cinco cidades que concentram um terço dos casos de dengue no país já tinham sido avisadas sobre os riscos do avanço da doença. O alerta foi dado em novembro de 2009 por meio do Levantamento de Índice Rápido de Infestação por Aedes aegypti LIRAa, relatório divulgado periodicamente pelo Ministério da Saúde que aponta as áreas em que há altos índices de presença do mosquito. 

Four of the five cities that concentrate a third of the country's dengue cases have now been advised of the risk of the advance of the disease. The alert was made in November 2009 through the medium of LIRA, the Rapid Index of Infestation by Aedes aegypti, reported periodically by the Ministry of Health to identify areas with indications of high numbers of the mosquito.

O Ministério da Saúde divulgou que os casos de dengue aumentaram mais de 100% em janeiro e fevereiro, em relação ao mesmo período do ano passado.

The Ministry of Health said that the cases of dengue have more than doubled in January and February in relation to the same period last year.

Ghana: Malaria is a threat to the economy

Via allAfrica.com, a report from The Ghanaian Chronicle: Malaria is Threatening Survival of Our Economy - Aidoo. Excerpt:

The Western Regional Minister, Mr. Paul Evans Aidoo, has observed with regret the growth rate of malaria cases in Ghana, and the Western Region in particular, as reported by the Ghana Health Services (GHS) during its 2009 Annual Performance Review Conference. 

He said the situation, if not reversed immediately by stakeholders, could pose great danger to the economy. 

In an address read on his behalf at the closing ceremony of the Annual Performance Review of the GHS held in Takoradi on Wednesday, the Minister said, "Malaria continues to be the number one cause of morbidity and mortality in the region, accounting for 46.2% of OPD attendance, 47.5% of hospital admissions, and 22.6% hospital deaths. 

"We have to intensify the fight against malaria, by promoting cost-effective interventions against malaria, such as the use of insecticide-treated bed nets, and intermittent preventive treatment for malaria in pregnancy."