H1N1 flu outbreak #2

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 15:45 schreef Fastmatti het volgende:

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Juist heel snel. Besmette mensen die toch beter worden (95%) zijn over het algemeen direct immuun.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 15:50 schreef Fastmatti het volgende:

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Als als als als.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 15:47 schreef Espabilado het volgende:

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Sommige mensen denken echt dat omdat we in 2009 leven de medische wereld overal een antwoord klaar op heeft

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Terwijl de dokters in ziekenhuizen wel beter weten en nu liever met verlof gaan.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 15:51 schreef __Saviour__ het volgende:

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Speculatie, maar dan wel op basis van feitelijke kennis. Virussen bestrijden is gewoon enorm lastig, de griep al helemaal.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House plans a briefing Sunday afternoon to discuss swine flu and the government's response.

The officials who will discuss the situation include Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Richard Besser.

So far, there have been at least 11 confirmed cases of swine flu in California, Texas and Kansas. Patients have ranged in age from 9 to over 50. At least two were hospitalized.

A deadly swine flu strain in Mexico has killed up to 81 people and likely sickened 1,324 since April 13.

President Barack Obama's Homeland Security Council is monitoring the outbreak, along with the State Department and the CDC.

The White House briefing is set for 12:30 p.m. EDT.

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EUR: WHO tries to come up with swine flu plan
By Frank Jordans
26 Apr 2009 11:07 PM

GENEVA, April 26 AP - The World Health Organisation tried to determine on Sunday how to battle a deadly new strain of swine flu, holding teleconferences with staff and flu experts around the world as countries from New Zealand to France reported suspected cases.

WHO stopped short of recommending specific measures to stop the disease, urging governments to step up their surveillance of suspicious outbreaks but leaving further decisions up to individual nations.

Governments across Asia began quarantining those with symptoms of the deadly virus and some issued travel warnings for Mexico.

Some governments were increasing their screening of pigs and pork imports from the Americas or banning them outright despite health officials' reassurances that it was safe to eat thoroughly cooked pork.

In a second day of top-level meetings, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan and senior advisors were trying to determine what measures the agency could recommend to stop the spread of the outbreak, which she called a public health emergency of "pandemic potential" because the virus can pass from human to human.

New Zealand said that 10 students who took a school trip to Mexico "likely" had swine flu. Israel said a man who had recently visited Mexico had been hospitalised while authorities try to determine whether he had swine flu. France said that two people who had returned from Mexico with fevers were being monitored in regions near the port cities of Bordeaux and Marseille.

Spain's Health Ministry said three people who just returned from Mexico were under observation in hospitals in the northern Basque region, in southeastern Albacete and the Mediterranean port city of Valencia.

Governments must report any unusual cases of flu to WHO, and the agency was considering whether to issue nonbinding recommendations on travel and trade restrictions, and even border closures. It is up to governments to decide whether to follow the advice.

"Countries are encouraged to do anything that they feel would be a precautionary measure," WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi said. "All countries need to enhance their monitoring."

H1N1 influenza is a subset of influenza A that is a combination of bird, pig and human viruses, according to the WHO. Symptoms include a fever of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius), body aches, coughing, a sore throat, respiratory congestion and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhoea.

At least 81 people have died from severe pneumonia caused by the flu-like illness in Mexico, according to the WHO.

The virus is usually contracted through direct contact with pigs, but Joseph Domenech, chief of animal health service at U.N. Food and Agriculture Agency in Rome, said all indications were that the virus is being spread through human-to-human transmission.

No vaccine specifically protects against swine flu, and it is unclear how much protection current human flu vaccines might offer.

The WHO's pandemic alert level is currently at to phase 3. The organisation said the level could be raised to phase 4 if the virus shows sustained ability to pass from human to human.

Phase 5 would be reached if the virus is found in at least two countries in the same region.

"The declaration of phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalise the organisation, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short," WHO said.

Phase 6 would indicate a full-scale global pandemic.

Mexico closed schools, museums, libraries and theatres in a bid to contain the outbreak after hundreds were sickened there. U.S. authorities said 11 people were infected with swine flu, and all recovered or were recovering.

Hong Kong and Taiwan said visitors who came back from affected areas with fevers would be quarantined. China said anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms within two weeks of arrival an affected area had to report to authorities.

Tokyo's Narita airport installed a device to test the temperatures of passengers arriving from Mexico.

Indonesia increased surveillance at all entry points for travellers with flu-like symptoms - using devices at airports that were put in place years ago to monitor for severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and bird flu. It said it was ready to quarantine suspected victims if necessary.

A Russian health agency said any passenger from North America running a fever would be quarantined until cause of the fever is determined.

Hong Kong and South Korea warned against travel to the Mexican capital and three affected provinces. Italy's health ministry also advised citizens to postpone travel to affected areas.

Serbia on Saturday banned all imports of pork from North America, despite reassurances from the FAO that pigs appear not to be the immediate source of infection.

Italy's agriculture lobby, Coldiretti, warned against panic reaction, noting that farmers lost hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) because of consumers boycotts during the 2001 mad cow scare and the 2005 bird flu outbreak.

Japanese Agriculture Minister Shigeru Ishiba appeared on TV to calm consumers, saying it was safe to eat pork.

In Egypt, health authorities were examining about 350,000 pigs being raised in Cairo and other provinces for swine flu.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 15:49 schreef Lambiekje het volgende:

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paniekzaaien doet NU.nl met hun onwetende achterlijk gezwets

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 15:50 schreef F04 het volgende:
Dit is gewoon SARS 2.0. Wel frappant dat zulke heftige virussen nooit in Europa of US ontstaan.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 15:50 schreef F04 het volgende:
Dit is gewoon SARS 2.0. Wel frappant dat zulke heftige virussen nooit in Europa of US (spaanse griep) ontstaan.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 15:55 schreef Lambiekje het volgende:

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Worden ze JUIST wel, daar worden ze ontwikkeld. In 3e en 2e wereldlanden worden ze dan EXPRES uitgezet. Mexico is nu bepaalt omdat het daar toch al lekker oorlogrelletjes heeft met het drugsverkeer.
Dit met het zwijnvirus is gewoon een stap tot Mexamericanada.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 15:55 schreef Lambiekje het volgende:

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Worden ze JUIST wel, daar worden ze ontwikkeld. In 3e en 2e wereldlanden worden ze dan EXPRES uitgezet. Mexico is nu bepaalt omdat het daar toch al lekker oorlogrelletjes heeft met het drugsverkeer.
Dit met het zwijnvirus is gewoon een stap tot Mexamericanada.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 15:55 schreef Lambiekje het volgende:

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Worden ze JUIST wel, daar worden ze ontwikkeld. In 3e en 2e wereldlanden worden ze dan EXPRES uitgezet. Mexico is nu bepaalt omdat het daar toch al lekker oorlogrelletjes heeft met het drugsverkeer.
Dit met het zwijnvirus is gewoon een stap tot Mexamericanada.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 15:27 schreef TC03 het volgende:

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Ik vind het een inhoudsloos cliché. Aangezien de tijd geen einde kent, is het nogal makkelijk om te stellen dat het ooit gaat gebeuren. Jouw ongelijk kan per definitie nooit bewezen kan worden, daarom is zo'n stelling dus nutteloos.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 16:03 schreef Fastmatti het volgende:
Ik ben trouwens benieuwd wanneer de eerste berichten komen van een ingestorte verkoop van varkensvlees.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 16:03 schreef Fastmatti het volgende:
Ik ben trouwens benieuwd wanneer de eerste berichten komen van een ingestorte verkoop van varkensvlees.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 16:05 schreef -0- het volgende:

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Ik denk dat die verkoop morgen al instort.
Hoewel het er natuurlijk niks mee te maken heeft, denk ik dat grote groepen onwetenden geen varkensvlees meer kopen.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 16:05 schreef sig000 het volgende:

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Dat is op zich geen probleem, zolang ze maar niet met de tractor de snelweg op gaan.

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Op zondag 26 april 2009 16:06 schreef trustychords het volgende:

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Ah, goedkoop varkenshaas scoren. Nice.

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Swine influenza frequently asked questions

26 April 2009
• What is swine influenza?
• What are the implications for human health?
• Where have human cases occurred?
• How do people become infected?
• Is it safe to eat pork meet and products?
• What about the pandemic risk?
• Is there a human vaccine to protect swine influenza?
• What drugs are available for treatment?

What is swine influenza?
Swine influenza, or “swine flu”, is a highly contagious acute respiratory disease of pigs, caused by one
of several swine influenza A viruses. Morbidity tends to be high and mortality low (1-4%). The virus
is spread among pigs by aerosols, direct and indirect contact, and asymptomatic carrier
pigs. Outbreaks in pigs occur year round, with an increased incidence in the fall and winter in
temperate zones. Many countries routinely vaccinate swine populations against swine influenza.
Swine influenza viruses are most commonly of the H1N1 subtype, but other subtypes are also
circulating in pigs (e.g., H1N2, H3N1, H3N2). Pigs can also be infected with avian influenza viruses
and human seasonal influenza viruses as well as swine influenza viruses. The H3N2 swine virus was
thought to have been originally introduced into pigs by humans. Sometimes pigs can be infected with
more than one virus type at a time, which can allow the genes from these viruses to mix. This can
result in an influenza virus containing genes from a number of sources, called a "reassortant" virus.
Although swine influenza viruses are normally species specific and only infect pigs, they do
sometimes cross the species barrier to cause disease in humans.

What are the implications for human health?
Outbreaks and sporadic human infection with swine influenza have been occasionally reported.
Generally clinical symptoms are similar to seasonal influenza but reported clinical presentation ranges
broadly from asymptomatic infection to severe pneumonia resulting in death.
Since typical clinical presentation of swine influenza infection in humans resembles seasonal
influenza and other acute upper respiratory tract infections, most of the cases have been detected by
chance through seasonal influenza surveillance. Mild or asymptomatic cases may have escaped from
recognition; therefore the true extent of this disease among humans is unknown.

Where have human cases occurred?
Since the implementation of IHR(2005)1 in 2007, WHO has been notified of swine influenza cases
from the United States and Spain.

How do people become infected?
People usually get swine influenza from infected pigs, however, some human cases lack contact
history with pigs or environments where pigs have been located. Human-to-human transmission has
occurred in some instances but was limited to close contacts and closed groups of people.

Is it safe to eat pork and pork products?
Yes. Swine influenza has not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly
handled and prepared pork (pig meat) or other products derived from pigs. The swine influenza virus
is killed by cooking temperatures of 160°F/70°C, corresponding to the general guidance for the
preparation of pork and other meat.

Which countries have been affected by outbreaks in pigs?
Swine influenza is not notifiable to international animal health authorities (OIE, www.oie.int),
therefore its international distribution in animals is not well known. The disease is considered endemic
in the United States. Outbreaks in pigs are also known to have occurred in North America, South
America, Europe (including the UK, Sweden, and Italy), Africa (Kenya), and in parts of eastern Asia
including China and Japan.

What about the pandemic risk?
It is likely that most of people, especially those who do not have regular contact with pigs, do not have
immunity to swine influenza viruses that can prevent the virus infection. If a swine virus establishes
efficient human-to human transmission, it can cause an influenza pandemic. The impact of a pandemic
caused by such a virus is difficult to predict: it depends on virulence of the virus, existing immunity
among people, cross protection by antibodies acquired from seasonal influenza infection and host
factors.

Is there a human vaccine to protect from swine influenza?
There are no vaccines that contain the current swine influenza virus causing illness in humans. It is not
known whether current human seasonal influenza vaccines can provide any protection. Influenza
viruses change very quickly. It is important to develop a vaccine against the currently circulating virus
strain for it to provide maximum protection to the vaccinated people. This is why WHO needs access
to as many viruses as possible in order to select the most appropriate candidate vaccine virus.

What drugs are available for treatment?
1 International Health Regulation (2005) http://www.who.int/ihr/about/en/
Antiviral drugs for seasonal influenza are available in some countries and effectively prevent and treat
the illness. There are two classes of such medicines, 1) adamantanes (amantadine and remantadine),
and 2) inhibitors of influenza neuraminidase (oseltamivir and zanamivir).
Most of the previously reported swine influenza cases recovered fully from the disease without
requiring medical attention and without antiviral medicines.
Some influenza viruses develop resistance to the antiviral medicines, limiting the effectiveness of
chemoprophylaxis and treatment. The viruses obtained from the recent human cases with swine
influenza in the United States were sensitive to oselatmivir and zanamivir but resistant to amantadine
and remantadine.
Information is insufficient to make recommendation on the use of the antivirals in prevention and
treatment of swine influenza virus infection. Clinicians have to make decisions based on the clinical
and epidemiological assessment and harms and benefit of the prophylaxis/treatment of the patient2.
For the ongoing outbreak of the swine influenza infection in the United States and Mexico, the
national and the local authorities are recommending to use oseltamivir or zanamivir for treatment and
prevention of the disease based on the virus’s susceptibility profile.

2 For benefits and harms of influenza-specific antivirals, see
http://www.who.int/csr/di(...)gement/en/index.html