H1N1: Swine Flu Vaccine for Children Withdrawn

Hundreds of thousands of swine flu shots for children manufactured by French drug company Sanofi Pasteur have been recalled because tests indicate the vaccine doses lost some strength, government health officials said Tuesday.

The recall is for about 800,000 pre-filled syringes intended for young children, ages 6 months to nearly 3 years. The shots were distributed across the country last month and most have already been used, according to the federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Doctors were notified of the voluntary recall on Tuesday. Dr. Anne Schuchat, a CDC flu expert, stressed that parents don't need to do anything or to worry. The vaccine is still safe, she said.

The issue is the vaccine's strength. Tests done before the shots were shipped showed that the vaccines were strong enough. But tests done weeks later indicated the strength had fallen slightly below required levels. Why the potency dropped isn't clear.

Children in that age group are supposed to get two doses, spaced about a month apart. Health officials don't think children need to get vaccinated again, even if they got two doses from the same lots, said Schuchat.

Swine flu vaccine has been available since early October, and since then manufacturers have released about 95 million doses for distribution in the United States.

The recalled shots were made by Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of France-based Sanofi-Aventis Group. The company reported the potency findings to the government officials and did a voluntary recall. A Sanofi Pasteur representative could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

H1N1: Swine flu toll in Gaza reaches 10

Two more people died of swine flu in the besieged Gaza Strip on Sunday, bringing to 10 the total number of Gazans who have been killed by the disease, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

"Two more cases died today, a 25-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man, bringing the total number of deaths from A(H1N1) to 10," said Hassan Khalaf, a ministry spokesman.

He added that another 67 people have been stricken with the disease, including "a number of serious cases."

Gaza, which has been under strict Israeli closure since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in June 2007, was among the last places in the world to see cases of the virus, the first of which were reported a week ago.

The ministry has demanded 300,000 vaccines for the impoverished territory of 1.5 million people, including some 13,000 vaccines for government and public and private health workers.

Israel has already allowed in 10,000 doses of swine flu vaccine in a bid to prevent the latest outbreak from spreading to the Jewish state, which has lost 67 people to the virus.

Israel said last week it will allow in 30,000 to 40,000 more vaccines supplied by the World Health Organisation, but the transfer has not yet taken place, according to a military spokeswoman.

The Hamas-run government has meanwhile started examining foreigners entering the territory through the Erez crossing with Israel for signs of the disease, including by taking their temperature.

H1N1: 10,000 Deaths in US from Swine Flu Pandemic

Swine flu has already infected 50 million Americans, killing 10,000, most of them children and younger adults, federal officials reported Thursday.

The new estimates suggest that the flu, also known as H1N1, has spread through 15% of the U.S. population since it was first identified in April. As of Nov. 17, 200,000 people have been hospitalised, says Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's about the same number of people hospitalised during the entire flu season, which usually lasts until May.

At least 7,500 adults 18 to 64 and 1,000 children younger than 18 have died of the disease, Frieden said. In a typical flu season, roughly 80 children die.

"Many times more children and younger adults, unfortunately, have been hospitalised or killed by H1N1 influenza than occurs during a usual flu season," Frieden says.

The analysis marks the government's latest assessment of the H1N1 epidemic. The virus has upended expectations of flu by targeting the young rather than the old. In a typical year, 95% of deaths are in people 65 and older; so far, 95% of deaths have been in people younger than 65.

William Schaffner, a flu expert at Vanderbilt University, says the new estimates reinforce the message that "this isn't an infection to be trifled with or blown off."

Although flu seems to be waning — with just 25 states now reporting widespread activity, down from 48 little more than a month ago — the virus remains highly infectious and may come roaring back, Schaffner says.

H1N1: 3 Deaths in Netherlands from Influenza A mutation

A third patient in the Netherlands infected by a mutant strain of the swine flu virus has died, the country's health and environment institute said Tuesday.

The Netherlands has officially reported eight cases of the mutated A(H1N1) virus, including the three fatalities, but claims that the strain is not spreading, the institute said.

"The latest fatality was an adult woman who was already ill," institute spokesman Harold Wychgel said, without giving the date of her death. "There is no cause for panic."

"She had been treated for flu for some time and during treatment built up a resistance to Tamiflu," one of the main anti-flu treatment drugs, he said.

Tamiflu and Relenza have since been revealed to be ineffective in the treatment of the current strains of InfluenzaA.

A total of 42 people have died in the Netherlands after contracting the H1N1 virus, and nearly 2,000 have been hospitalised since April.

France, Spain and Norway have all reported deaths related to the mutated form of the virus.

H1N1: Spain reports death from swine flu virus mutation

Spanish health ministry has reported that a Spanish patient, infected by a mutant strain of the swine flu A(H1N1) virus, has died.

"We have registered three cases of this mutation, including one which was fatal. We believe these are three isolated cases, and that there has been no transmission to any other person," a ministry spokesman reports.

It is the sixth officially reported fatal case of this mutation of the A(H1N1) virus in Europe, health minsters have acknowledged one in the Netherlands and two each in France and Norway.

Last month the WHO said that this mutation had been observed in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine, Italy and the United States as early as April 2009.

Pandemic flu is declining in North America: WHO

The World Health Organisation confirmed on Friday that swine flu has peaked in North America and was declining, in its latest weekly data on the pandemic. However, in both Canada and the United States, the virus remains "active and geographically widespread,"

The WHO also added that for the past eight weeks hospitalisation and death rates exceeded those seen in a normal flu season.

H1N1 influenza A, was reaching a peak of intensity in much of western Europe, as the disease progressed eastwards into central Europe and through parts of Asia, the WHO added in its pandemic update.

In the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, the early arriving winter influenza season continues to intensify across central Europe and in parts of central, eastern, and southern Asia.

The UN health agency nonetheless also reported signs of a levelling off of flu activity in eastern European countries that have been hit hard recently, such as Ukraine and Belarus.

As swine flu reached into 207 countries, the global death toll since the H1N1 influenza A, virus was uncovered in April reached 8,768 (an increase of 942) slightly less than the sharp jump recorded the previous week.

The fastest growth in the death toll was recorded in the WHO's European region, which stretches from Ireland to the Pacific coast of Russia, including former Soviet states in Central Asia and Turkey. Some 918 people have died of flu there since the outbreak was recorded, a 41 percent increase in the week to November 29, but still half the surge recorded a week earlier.

In the hardest hit region, North and South America, the toll grew by just under 10 percent to 5,878. Be assured, the WHO are still doing their job in monitoring the widespread outbreak of this pandemic and keeping count of the death toll but do we not expect more than that?

H1N1: Swine Flu virus mutation in Netherlands endangers patients

Dutch authorities said that a patient infected by a mutant strain of the swine flu virus had died, but added that primarily, the virus was not the cause of death, simply a contributing factor.

Tamiflu Resistant
Harald Wychgel, spokesman for the Dutch Institute for Health and the Environment, told AFP that there had been a "mutation or minor change in the virus to make it resistant to Tamiflu," used in the treatment for influenza. He neglected to say that this also makes it resistant to the current vaccine being provided to members of the Dutch and European public.

FUD
The use of Tamiflu as a 'treatment' is, in itself controversial and many consultants believe it has little real effect. The real benefit comes to the pharmaceutical companies that are distributing it widely using FUD selling techniques. (FUD: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) It is helping them ride the storm of economic crisis also sweeping across Europe.

The male patient died on Sunday in the northern city of Groningen. The news of this was witheld until now. "He died not because the virus was resistant but because he was seriously ill and caught the Mexican (swine) flu," Wychgel said.

"We have carried out tests on the patient's associates to see if the mutation had spread but we found no such indications", he said.

Mutated virus spreading
The spread of Tamiflu resistant H1N1 (Influenza A) Swine Flu (Mexican flu) continues and reports said that two more patients in the Netherlands had shown resistance to Tamiflu and therefore the new vaccine.

The death in Groningen is the fifth fatal case of mutated A(H1N1) flu officially reported in Europe, after two in France and two in Norway but many more cases exist worldwide.

The World Health Organisation said last month that mutations had been observed in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, where the swine flu pandemic began, Ukraine, and the United States, as early as April. Italy also reported a non-fatal case on Monday.

"The mutations appear to occur sporadically and spontaneously. To date, no links between the small number of patients infected with the mutated virus have been found and the mutation does not appear to spread," a WHO statement said on November 20.

The WHO also underlined that there was no evidence of more infections or more deaths as a result, while the mutated virus detected up to that point remained sensitive to antiviral drugs used to treat severe flu, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). Unfortunately this is not the case.

Scientists are less complacent and more knowledgable. They know and fear that mutations in flu viruses will continue because that is the nature of viruses, to change and survive. The appearance of a new and potentially virulent strain could cause a more deadly pandemic flu.

The virus scientists reiterated a call for close monitoring of all new variants of H1N1, no matter how 'safe' they appear to be at first. This is no time for rhetoric!

The WHO's role?
The WHO have been trying to downplay the existance of a vaccine resistant variant but has finally come out and admitted it. They also cannot deny that they have lost control of the situation, if they ever had it to begin with.

People are dying from a strain of influenza that they have no vaccine for. Their only role at present is to sit on their comfortable chairs enjoying their comfortable executive life, whilst keeping an accurate count of the mounting deaths, telling everyone that things are not that bad and waiting for the storm to pass.

The Money Trail
Meanwhile, the campaign to vaccinate the entire population of the world with a hastily prepared, poorly tested and potentially damaging vaccine, continues unabated.

After all, there is much at stake; stockpiles of vaccine to be paid for by public funds, process plants churning out millions of doses, sales targets to be met, expenses to be paid, celebratory lobbying events to be organised and incentives to be paid to co-operative government officials; all funded from the meagre profit margins of the pharmaceutical companies, allegedly.

H1N1: Swine Flu Deaths in Turkey now 241

H1N1 Swine flu claimed another 46 lives in Turkey this week, bringing the national death toll to 241, the health ministry said Thursday, amid resistance to the nation's vaccination plans.

Some 230 people infected with A(H1N1) virus remain hospitalised, among them 86 in intensive care, the ministry said on its web site.

Turkey's vaccination campaign, launched on November 2, has been hit by controversy, notably after Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to have an injection and publicly chided the health minister over his insistent appeals on citizens to get vaccinated.

Turkey has planned to vaccinate 28 million of its 71-million population, but officials say the number of people who have so far volunteered for an injection is far below the expectations. Critics of the vaccine say its safety, efficiency and possible side effects have not been sufficiently tested.

Beware H1N1: The Computer Phishing email

Beware the H1N1 phishing e-mail, designed to convince you to put your personal information on a Web page created by a crook so they can steal from you.

Your first clue here may be the address the e-mail purports to be from, cdcmails.gov. According to the domain gurus Whois, this is not a registered domain.

What frightens folks most is its claims that the topic is a real program, and forms part of the official vaccination programs for H1N1. The problem here is that you have to register for the fake H1N1 malware but you don’t have to register for the official program.

Malware and phishing victims are directed to a “personal profile” capture page, run by the scammers.

The US CDC has put out an alert in response to the hoax. They have a special feature on their continuing blog site, called hoaxes_rumors.

It might be interesting if the researchers and analysts compared the spread of this virus with the spread of the real H1N1 strain. I suspect that this one will be more infectious but with a shorter duration.

Caution - Fake H1N1 Alert leads to Malware Attack

Here’s a look at the fake spoofed CDC Web site being used in this attack:

Malicious hackers are using fake alerts around H1N1 (Swine Flu) vaccines to trick end users into installing malware on Windows computers, according to warnings issued by computer security firms.

The latest malware campaign begins with e-mail messages offering information regarding the H1N1 vaccination. The e-mail messages contain a link to a bogus Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site with prompts to create a user profile. During this process, a malware file gets planted on the user’s machine.

This US-CERT advisory contains some of the e-mail subject lines being used in the spam run. Some examples:
“Governmental registration program on the H1N1 vaccination”
“Your personal vaccination profile.”
According to researchers at AppRiver, the scam tricks computer users into believe they are part of a “State Wide H1N1 Vaccination Program” and are required to create a vaccination profile on the CDC website.

“The link provided in the email takes you to a very convincing looking imitation of a CDC web page where you are given a temporary ID and a link to your ‘vaccination profile’. The link is in fact…an executable file that contains a copy of a Trojan most commonly identified as xpack or Kryptik…once installed on your PC, this Trojan will create a security-free gateway on your system and will proceed to download and install additional malware without your authorization. It also enables a remote hacker to take complete control of your computer.”

AppRiver says the messages are being received at a rate of 18,000 per minute, more than one million per hour.

H1N1: Swine Flu Cases in the US drop steadily but deaths above 'normal epidemic threshold'

Influenza infections fell for the fourth week in a row in the United States but the number of flu deaths remained above the epidemic threshold, a government health agency said in a weekly report.

During the week of November 15-21, 32 states reported widespread flu activity, down from 43 states the previous week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its weekly flu report.

Nearly all the cases of flu were A(H1N1), or swine flu, the report said.

Hospitalization rates and deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza were both higher than expected for the time of year, with very young children -- ranging from newly-borns to four years -- having the highest hospitalization rate.

More than eight percent of all deaths reported to the CDC during the week covered by the report were due to pneumonia or influenza, a full percentage point above the epidemic threshold.
Deaths from pneumonia and influenza have been above the threshold for eight consecutive weeks, the CDC said.

Thirty-five of the deaths from flu were in young children, and in 27 of those deaths, swine flu had been confirmed in laboratory tests.

Seven children died of other influenza A viruses, which were not subtyped, and one child died of seasonal flu.

Since the swine flu outbreak was first reported, the CDC has received reports of 198 laboratory-confirmed pediatric deaths from the new strain of H1N1 flu, but that toll is thought to be "an undercount of the actual number," the federal health agency said.

The highest paediatric death toll from seasonal flu in the past three years was 88, CDC officials said last month.

Earlier this month, the CDC unveiled a new method for counting deaths from swine flu, and revised its estimated death toll from the new strain of flu to 4,000 people overall, including more than 500 children.

Worldwide, more than 207 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic swine flu, and 7,820 people have died of the new strain of flu, according to statistics released last week by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In North America, the Caribbean and a limited number of European countries, the WHO said "there are signs that disease activity has peaked."

H1N1: WHO Admit drug resistance in influenza mutation

The World Health Organisation said Friday that a mutation had been found in samples of the swine flu virus taken following the first two deaths from the pandemic in Norway. This is not unusual in itself because viruses, by their nature, will and do, mutate.

However, the WHO denied that the mutation had created a more contagious or more dangerous form of influenza A(H1N1) and they admitted that some similar cases observed elsewhere, had been mild. That was certainly the case for the people who did not die from it.

"The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has informed WHO of a mutation detected in three H1N1 viruses," the WHO said in a briefing note. Realistically, influenza viruses are continually undergoing mutations.

It is important to note that some of these are unsustainable and that some of these will succeed in not only being sustained but also in being drug resistant. It is their nature and follows the normal course of natural variation and selection, that all living things are prone to.

"The viruses were isolated from the first two fatal cases of pandemic influenza in the country (Norway) and one patient with severe illness," the report continued, although it added that no further instances were found in tests.

"Norwegian scientists have analysed samples from more than 70 patients with clinical illness and no further instances of this mutation have been detected (in the lab). This finding suggests that the mutation may not be widespread in the country," the UN health agency assumed, optimistically.

WHO spokesman Gregory Haertl said that the global health watchdog did not believe "that this has any significant impact, for the time being." Presumably, if the mutation proliferates over time, then it will become significant.

However, despite their blind faith and optimism, the agency admitted that a similar mutation had been observed in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine, and the United States, as early as April 2009. Thus, contradicting themselves, whilst confirming the true nature of influenza viruses.

"The mutations appear to occur sporadically and spontaneously (you think!). To date, no links between the small number of patients infected with the mutated virus have been found and the mutation does not appear to spread," the WHO statement said. Some of those cases also produced mild symptoms, Haertl noted.

The WHO also underlined that there was no evidence of more infections or more deaths as a result, while the antiviral drugs used to treat severe flu, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza), were still effective on the mutated virus.

Thus defending their single minded determination to follow this contraversial course of treatment, sponsored by the pharmaceutical agencies involved. Presumably to appear to be doing something in the face of an uncontrollable force of nature.

"Studies show that currently available pandemic vaccines confer(?) protection," it added, as mass vaccine campaigns were slowly gaining ground in the northern hemisphere amid signs of public skepticism in several European nations. (and growing profit margins of pharma companies)

Informed scientists naturally fear that mutations in flu viruses could cause more virulent and deadly pandemic flu. The global health watchdog reiterated a call for close monitoring.

The WHO was still assessing the significance of the latest observation, but it stressed that many such changes in the flu virus do not alter the illness it causes in patients.

"Although further investigation is under way, no evidence currently suggests that these mutations are leading to an unusual increase in the number of H1N1 infections or a greater number of severe or fatal cases," it added.

Norwegian authorities reported the country's first swine flu death on September 3, a 52 year-old Danish truck driver who died just over a week earlier.

On Friday, WHO data showed reported that around 6,750 people had died from swine flu since the virus was first uncovered in Mexico and the United States in April.

That represented an increase of about 500 more than a week ago, as the pandemic took hold in the northern hemisphere during the cold season

The WHO estimates that some 250,000 to 500,000 people die every year from standard seasonal variants of swine flu. Oh well! That's alright then. Sorry we troubled you guys. Let's just let you go back to sleep, whilst the rest of the world sits quietly by, watching people suffer and die.

Npw, the only question left in our minds is whether the WHO's approach to the pandemic is based on blatant incompetence or cynical corruption.

Global swine flu deaths slow as WHO toll passes 6,250

More than 6,250 people have died in the swine flu pandemic, World Health Organisation data showed Friday, as the global death rate appeared to slow.

The number of deaths from the A(H1N1) pandemic in the week to November 8 grew by about 179, against 224 a week earlier and a leap of about 700 in the last week of October.

The pandemic now stretches across 206 countries or territories worldwide, the WHO added in a statement.

The UN health agency said the influenza season showed signs of peaking in North America, but was intensifying across much of Europe and Central and Eastern Asia.

"Very intense and increasing influenza activity continues to be reported in Mongolia with a severe impact on the health care system," it added.

But the WHO found after investigating the sudden reported surge in flu cases in Ukraine in recent weeks that the swine flu virus had shown no signs of becoming stronger.

"The initial analysis of information indicates that the numbers of severe cases do not appear to be excessive when compared to the experience of other countries and do not represent any change in the transmission or virulence of the virus," the statement said.

More than 1.3 million Ukrainians have been taken ill with swine flu and 265 people have lost their lives to the virus since the end of October, the country's health ministry said Friday.

The Americas still account for the largest number of deaths. The WHO estimates 4,512 have died since the pandemic virus was first identified in April in Mexico and the United States, an increase of 113 in a week.

However, new data released late on Thursday, separate from the WHO figures, estimates that swine flu has killed as many as 3,900 people in the United States.

Health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used a new counting method that yielded an estimate six times higher than the last.

The CDC's previous estimated death toll from H1N1 was 672.

While still imprecise, the new numbers provide "a bigger picture of what has been going on in the first six months of the pandemic," Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters.

She said previous estimates were based on "laboratory confirmed cases of hospitalisation and death, potentially giving an incomplete picture of the story of this pandemic."

The WHO said the number of deaths reported in Europe stayed stable at some 300, with signs the pandemic caseload was peaking in parts of Britain, notably Northern Ireland, as well as in Ireland and Iceland.

Meanwhile, the virus spread to the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Friday as authorities there confirmed its first swine flu death.

Neighbouring Turkey, the only country to recognise the TRNC, also announced a further 20 deaths, bringing its total to 60 fatal cases.

Elsewhere in Europe, Hungarian officials said a 55-year-old and a 73-year-old woman had died in hospital from swine. Seven people have died from the virus in Hungary since July.

In Austria, the Kleine Zeitung newspaper said a 26-year-old man became the country's third fatal case after being hospitalised five days ago with an infection.

In Germany, Cologne footballer Christopher Schorch became the first player in the country's top division to contract the virus.

The 20-year-old German is being treated at home and should return to training next Wednesday, according to his club.

Sharp increases in cases were reported in several western and southern Asian nations, including Israel and Afghanistan in recent weeks, while growing numbers were reported in China and Japan.

Pandemic flu was largely on the wane in most of south and southeast Asia and in the warming southern hemisphere.

H1N1: Rules of Contact and Engagement

“In Samoa, people do not touch when they greet each other,” the linguistic anthropologist Alessandro Duranti says.

There is, of course, a catch: “When people whom they respect highly come into a house, they sit down across from you, and there is an elaborate ceremonial greeting: mentioning each person’s titles and social connections, one at a time, usually for an extended period.”

For those outside Samoa, the era of swine flu poses the thorny challenge of how to express cordiality, friendship, even love — while staying, as the authorities recommend, at least three to five feet away from anyone who coughs, sneezes or might otherwise show signs of infection with the H1N1 virus. Let's hope good sense prevails.

H5N1 Bird flu virus linked to inflamation of the brain

As if fever, aching muscles and a sore throat were not enough, researchers have found that flu may also lead to chronic neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Most influenza infections affect the respiratory system, but there have long been suspicions that they are also linked to neurological disorders. The H1N1 flu pandemic in 1918 was followed by an outbreak of encephalitis and later by an unusually high number of cases of Parkinson's disease.

Hard evidence of such a link has been hard to find, however. So Richard Smeyne of the St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, sprayed a solution containing a highly pathogenic subtype of H5N1 avian flu into the noses of 225 mice. The team found that the virus infected nerves in the gut, then entered the brain stem and finally reached the brain. In the brain, it led to chronic activation of the immune system, even long after the viral infection had been cleared.

This immune system activity later led to protein aggregation and neuron loss in the brain, and to symptoms like tremor and loss of coordination – the hallmarks of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Brain strains

"Infection with influenza virus might leave the brain vulnerable to damage from future infections with new influenza strains," says Smeyne, adding that this is more likely to happen in young children or during an flu pandemic.

Smeyne suspects that all flu viruses, including the current H1N1 swine flu pandemic, could cause symptoms of encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain. But he says that there is currently no proof that flu viruses other than the H5N1 he worked with can enter the central nervous system.

Reports of extra encephalitis during outbreaks of seasonal flu in Japan and the US, and most recently of swine flu-infected children hospitalised with neurological symptoms in Dallas, Texas, hint at a related mechanism, however.

"The link between flu infection and neurological disorders has been the elephant in the room [ever since 1918]," says virologist John Oxford, a virologist at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary, University of London.

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0900096106

Confusion over giving antivirals to children with flu

Another pertinent study from the BMJ casts doubt over the UK's strategy to combat H1N1 Swine Flu, is well founded.

Specifically, whether all children suspected of having H1N1 Swine flu, should be given antiviral drugs such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza).

The UK government Health Ministers, insist that everyone suspected of having H1N1 Swine flu should be offered antivirals as part of a "safety first" strategy but the BMJ study, published in their journal, suggests the strategy is misguided, at best.

Small help
It concludes that treating children under 12 with antivirals does very little, shortening the duration of disease by just a day or so, and decreasing by just 8 per cent the likelihood that an infected child will spread it to others.

Also, Tamiflu causes additional vomiting in 5 per cent of children already vomiting because of their illness. Nor does it bring any benefits for asthmatics, as implied by advice from the UK government's Health Protection Agency.

"The results show the beneficial effect is fairly small for most children," says Matthew Thompson of the University of Oxford, who led the research.

His team's advice is for parents to treat mild flu symptoms with the usual medicines and the priority is in controlling the high fever, ensuring the patient gets plenty of rest and their fluid intake is maintained.

Beneficial Value unknown
Even if complications develop, the beneficial value of giving antivirals to children is unknown, the researchers say. "What we need are studies large enough to let us know if antivirals reduce the risks of serious complications such as pneumonia or hospitalisation in children," Thompson says.

Another bonus of limiting treatment in children is that it will reduce the risk of the mutating virus developing resistance to the drugs.

UK Government's response
Responding, the British government's Department of Health said that the BMJ study is based on seasonal flu and so may not apply to swine flu. This is a very weak knee-jerk response with little substance.

"Whilst there is doubt about how swine flu affects children, we believe a safety-first approach of offering antivirals to everyone remains a sensible and responsible way forward," said a spokesperson. "However, we will keep this policy under review as we learn more about the virus and its effects."

The government can see their ass-covering strategy diminishing in the face of evidence based criticism.

Viral Influenza A
Thompson accepts that his review only looked at seasonal flu. "But about two-thirds of the studies were influenza A, which is what the current strain is," he says. "So we would expect our results to be applicable to swine flu."

Sharp shooting
Thompson says that other countries are deploying a more considered and targeted approach, unlike the scattergun approach in the UK. "Canada, Ireland and the US are only recommending antivirals for patients at particularly high risk, or with severe illness," he says.

Good Advice
"It may be worth the UK Department of Health taking the new research on board and consider having a more targeted approach to the use of antivirals, or urgently conducting randomised controlled trials of children and adults to identify whether there are subgroups of children who will benefit from antivirals, and whether they do have an impact on severe complications such as pneumonia or hospitalisation," says Thompson.

Fortunately, the decisions lie not only with the UK Government. "I hope the evidence from such trials will help parents and family doctors make sensible decisions about which children to treat."

Results and Conclusions from BMJ Study: BMJ, DOI: 10.1136/bmj.b3172

Review methods: Eligible studies were randomised controlled trials of neuraminidase inhibitors in children aged 12 in the community (that is, not admitted to hospital) with confirmed or clinically suspected influenza. Primary outcome measures were time to resolution of illness and incidence of influenza in children living in households with index cases of influenza.

Results: We identified four randomised trials of treatment of influenza (two with oseltamivir, two with zanamivir) involving 1766 children (1243 with confirmed influenza, of whom 55-69% had influenza A), and three randomised trials for postexposure prophylaxis (one with oseltamivir, two with zanamivir) involving 863 children; none of these trials tested efficacy with the current pandemic strain. Treatment trials showed reductions in median time to resolution of symptoms or return to normal activities, or both, of 0.5-1.5 days, which were significant in only two trials. A 10 day course of postexposure prophylaxis with zanamivir or oseltamivir resulted in an 8% (95% confidence interval 5% to 12%) decrease in the incidence of symptomatic influenza. Based on only one trial, oseltamivir did not reduce asthma exacerbations or improve peak flow in children with asthma. Treatment was not associated with reduction in overall use of antibiotics (risk difference –0.30, –0.13 to 0.01). Zanamivir was well tolerated, but oseltamivir was associated with an increased risk of vomiting (0.05, 0.02 to 0.09, number needed to harm=20).

Conclusions: Neuraminidase inhibitors provide a small benefit by shortening the duration of illness in children with seasonal influenza and reducing household transmission. They have little effect on asthma exacerbations or the use of antibiotics. Their effects on the incidence of serious complications, and on the current A/H1N1 influenza strain remain to be determined.

Tamiflu not suitable for Children: TV Personality's daughter 'almost died'

pa.press.net
Health Secretary Andy Burnham has defended giving swine flu drug Tamiflu to children as TV presenter Andrew Castle said his daughter "almost died" after taking it.

Mr Burnham was confronted by Castle on GMTV after research cast doubt that the anti-viral drug's benefits outweighed its side-effects.

The presenter said: "I can tell you that my child - who was not diagnosed at all - she had asthma, she took Tamiflu and almost died."

Fatal Consequences

Castle said his daughter, Georgina, had a severe reaction, "respiratory collapse" and "suffered very heavily" after being "just handed" the drug without having been properly diagnosed.

All this is in the light of last week, when a 2 yr old child died of Meningitis, after being wrongly diagnosed as having Swine Flu. She and her parents were dismissed and turned away by off-hand, hospital, medical staff.

Sympathy on Offer

Mr Burnham sympathised with Castle, saying it must have been "very worrying", but maintained that the current advice being given to parents to treat swine flu with Tamiflu, remained unchanged, despite the wave of severe doubts and criticisms coming from consultants and specialists alike.

Given that swine flu had a "disproportionate effect" on children, he maintained that Tamiflu was "our only line of defence" or, the only line of defense being considered. A policy that puts children in as much danger from the cure as from the disease.

Specialists Warn against Tamiflu

On Monday, Oxford University researchers made a serious announcement that children should NOT be given the anti-viral drug to combat swine flu. They urged the Department of Health to urgently rethink its policy on giving the drug to youngsters affected by the current flu pandemic.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), warned that Tamiflu can cause severe vomiting in some children, which can lead to dehydration and the need for emergency hospital treatment.

Cure worse than Disease

The researchers stated strongly that children should NOT be given the drug if they have a mild form of the illness. In such cases the cure is worse than the disease. They urged parents and GPs to remain vigilant for signs of complications and to avoid 'off the shelf' solutions and knee-jerk reactions.

Child dies of Meningitis after Swine Flu wrongfully diagnosed by 16 year old responder

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Health bosses are investigating whether a two-year-old girl who died from suspected Meningitis was wrongly diagnosed with swine flu by medical responders, one of which was under age.

16 Year Old Responders
News of her death comes after it emerged at least one call centre for the Government's National Flu Pandemic Service for England was employing 16-year-olds, sparking concern about the inexperience of staff.

Remote or Off-Hand Diagnosis
The parents of Georgia Keeling from Norwich claim paramedics "diagnosed her before even looking at her" and gave Tamiflu before her condition worsened and she died in hospital.

The parents of Georgia, who died at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on Tuesday, said they were twice told her symptoms sounded like swine flu before she was finally taken to hospital, in a state of emergency and in the last throws of Meningitis.

Didn't Fit the H1N1 Profile

Their local health centre first said, Georgia 'probably' had swine flu and advised them to call the swine flu helpline. They told them that Georgia had only one of the symptoms and suggested that they should call NHS Direct.

NHS Direct; Dangerously poor advice
NHS Direct then advised them to take the little girl to hospital only if her temperature rose above an astounding 40 degrees C, enough to cause hallucinations and fits in a young child. An hour later, Georgia's condition worsened and her distraught mother called an ambulance.

Paramedic Turned Ambulance away
A paramedic who arrived first said it sounded to him like Georgia had swine flu (H1N1). Having decided that it was a 'False Alarm', and nothing but another 'Hysterical Mother', he advised the ambulance despatchers not to send an ambulance.

Calpol and Tamiflu
Georgia's mother Tasha Keeling was given Calpol and Tamiflu and told to put Georgia to bed, the girl's father said.

An hour later, her near hysterical mother again called for an ambulance again, this tie it came but far too late. Georgia was taken to hospital where she died soon after.

Meningitis; Wrongly Diagnosed
A hospital spokesman said the suspected cause of death was meningitis. Sources said the investigation into the little girl's death would look into all aspects of her care - including the possibility that she may have been wrongly diagnosed as having swine flu.

A Tragedy of Errors
A horrendous story of incompetence and lack of support for the public. The NHS panic about Swine Flu has blinded them to the greater risk of more prevalent and more deadly diseases e.g. Meningitis, Clostridium difficile (C Diff), etc. C Diff kills more people every week in hospital than Swine Flu will ever do.

50% of Young Children Suffer Side Effects from Tamiflu

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More than half of children taking Tamiflu suffer side-effects such as nausea, insomnia and nightmares, researchers have said.

Two studies from experts at the Health Protection Agency (HPA) showed a "high proportion" of British schoolchildren reporting problems after taking the anti-viral drug.

Data was gathered from children at three schools in London and one in the South West who were given Tamiflu earlier this year after classmates became infected.

The researchers behind one study said that, although children may have attributed symptoms that were due to other illnesses to the use of Tamiflu, "this is unlikely to account for all the symptoms experienced".

Their research, published in Eurosurveillance, looked at side-effects reported by 11 and 12-year-old pupils in one school year in a secondary school in South West England. The school was closed for 10 days in response to a pupil being confirmed with swine flu on return from a holiday in Cancun, Mexico.

A total of 248 pupils took part in the study and were given Tamiflu prophylactically. Compliance with prophylaxis was high, with 77% of children taking the full course, the researchers said. But they added: "Fifty-one per cent experienced symptoms such as feeling sick (31.2%), headaches (24.3%) and stomach ache (21.1%).

The researchers said "likely side-effects were common" and the "burden of side-effects needs to be considered" when deciding on giving Tamiflu to children prophylactically. The researchers concluded that a "high proportion of school children may experience side-effects of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) medication".

No Swine Flu Vaccine for the Elderly

What has happened to the normal adage of Woman and Children first?

Elderly swine flu victims should be sacrificed and sent to the back of the queue for anti-viral treatment, when supplies of the drugs are limited, according to new research in Italy.

Scientists found there were circumstances in which anti-virals such as the relatively ineffective Tamiflu, should be rationed in favour of younger adults.

The controversial strategy could be the most effective way to save lives and prevent illness, it was claimed.

Priorities
It is very interesting because it is not only indicative as to how these organisations think now but it is also how they will respond in the face of a fully blown Pandemic, when lives will be sacrificed and priorities will be established.

Italian Research
The research focused on Italy, which was said to have only enough anti-virals to treat seven million people, or 12% of the population.

Mathematical modeling showed that governments should stockpile enough drugs to treat at least a quarter of their populations, assuming moderate levels of infection. This in itself may lead to strategic prioritisation against the poor and elderly.

If supplies were lower than this, it made sense to ration the anti-virals according to age-specific fatality rates.

Historical Influence
When swine flu followed the pattern of the great 1918 pandemic and was most lethal to younger adults, treatment should not be targeted at the elderly, said the researchers. Instead, it should be reserved for the young.

This is the reverse of the policy adopted during outbreaks of normal seasonal flu, when priority is given to the over-65s. It is also academic because a new and effective ant-viral vaccine has yet to be developed and tested safely, prior to its distribution.

New Vaccine Risks
On release of the new vaccine, the risks are clear; the priority will be given to those deemed to be the youngest and most important; economically and politically powerful and influencial.

Unfortunately, if the vaccine is flawed, this will damage these very same people and cause a shift in the balance of power across the globe, affecting a tidal change in a large number of countries, organisations and populations.

Weathering the Storm
The first ones into the lifeboats to save their sinful souls, may find themselves in further peril at sea. Like rats jumping off the Titanic onto the iceberg for safety. Their fate remains unchanged, just the method is different.

We are all victims in a Pandemic but the great benefit of being economically and politically powerful and influencial is that you can make choices, whereas others can only wait, endure and accept, with stoicism and dignity.