The Ministry of Health has reported three new confirmed cases of human infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus, including one fatality. Two cases have been confirmed at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) and one case has been confirmed at the Pasteur Institute, Ho Chi Minh City.
written by Avian influenza
The Ministry of Health of Egypt has announced five new cases of human H5N1 avian influenza infection.
written by Avian influenza
4 March 2010
written by Avian influenza
The H1N1 strain of influenza virus has been detected in some pigs at a farm in Yamagata Prefecture, making it the second confirmed swine infection with the virus in Japan, following the first case last October in Osaka Prefecture, the farm ministry said Wednesday. The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said it asked the farm's operator not to move pigs out of the facility, and suggested the virus may have been transmitted by a human.
written by Kyodo News (New Flu)
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry approved Wednesday the domestic use of H1N1 flu vaccines made by British and Swiss companies, paving the way for their use in Japan around early February for inoculation from around mid-February. Japan has concluded import contracts with the two companies, with vaccines for 7.4 million people to be purchased from GlaxoSmithKline plc of Britain and those for 2.5 million people from Novartis AG of Switzerland.
written by Kyodo News (New Flu)
Elderly people in their 60s and over are relatively immune to the new H1N1 influenza because it is similar to H1N1 viruses that circulated before 1943, a group of researchers said Friday in a study released by British publisher BioMed Central Ltd. The group comprising Japanese, U.S. and Dutch researchers, including Hiroshi Nishiura from the Japan Science and Technology Agency, came up with the finding by comparing the gene sequence of the novel virus' hemagglutinin -- a protein related to immune reaction in humans -- with those of H1N1 viruses from 1918 to the present.
written by Kyodo News (New Flu)
The health ministry will conduct an epidemiologic investigation into whether H1N1 influenza vaccination can increase death risks for people with serious chronic diseases, ministry officials said Wednesday. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare plans to begin such an investigation next spring amid an increasing number of reports on deaths and serious side-effects among the people who have received shots of domestically produced vaccines against the virus.
written by Kyodo News (New Flu)
The World Health Organization emergency committee suggested Tuesday it is premature to conclude that the H1N1 flu pandemic has passed its peak. The committee had been expected to assess that the pandemic has crested, but apparently backed off because of objections from experts who pointed out that infections of the virus were still spreading in West Africa and some other areas, according to sources close to the meeting.
written by Kyodo News (New Flu)
The number of confirmed deaths from the H1N1 influenza has surpassed 15,000, the World Health Organization said Friday. Pandemic activity is declining across most of the world, including the United States and Japan, the WHO said.
written by Kyodo News (New Flu)
Shionogi & Co. said Tuesday it will market a new drug for treatment of the H1N1 strain of influenza, starting Wednesday. The drug is named Rapiacta (generic name: peramivir) and is for intravenous drip infusion. It is the third medicine to treat the new strain of influenza to be made available in Japan, following Tamiflu and Relenza.
written by Kyodo News (New Flu)