Hong Kong finds 1st case of H1N1 resistant to Tamiflu
HONG KONG, July 3 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's health department said on Friday it had detected a strain of human swine influenza virus, or H1N1, that was resistant to Tamiflu, the main antiviral flu drug.
"This is the first time Tamiflu resistance in HSI virus (was) found in Hong Kong," a spokesman said in a statement, adding that similar cases had been reported in Denmark and Japan. (Reporting by Michael Flaherty; Additional reporting by Sam Cage; Editing by Alex Richardson)
wiid said:Am I the only one who thinks this "pandemic" is fucking bullshit.
July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Swine flu, which has spread to 114 countries since April, may be at least 40 times less lethal than an earlier estimate, researchers in New Zealand said.
The probability of dying from the pandemic flu strain may be 1 in 10,000 cases and possibly as low as 1 in 100,000, doctors at the University of Otago in Wellington found. They applied four methods to calculate the proportion of fatal cases, and compared the results with an earlier estimate based on data from Mexico of 4 in 1,000.
Fatalities would be more common if the new A/H1N1 virus mainly affected the elderly, for whom flu usually poses the greatest risk, the scientists said in a study published in the journal Eurosurveillance last week. Gauging the pandemics ability to kill and cause serious disease is a key measure in assessing and determining how to respond to the threat, said co- author Michael Baker, an associate professor of public health at the university.
The implications are potentially huge in terms of where you focus your effort responding to this, Baker said in a July 2 telephone interview. One of the reasons why this influenza pandemic might be having a very low case fatality is simply because it is infecting mostly younger people.
The pandemic bug appears to be as contagious as seasonal influenza, and is spreading faster among people aged 10 to 45 years, according to the World Health Organization. The severity of the disease ranges from mild symptoms such as sore throat and muscle ache to severe illnesses including pneumonia that can result in death, WHO said.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new H1N1 influenza virus bears a disturbing resemblance to the virus strain that caused the 1918 flu pandemic, with a greater ability to infect the lungs than common seasonal flu viruses, researchers reported on Monday.
Plinko said:This is big news today...
http://www.reuters.com/article/heal...edType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&rpc=22&sp=true
...but why is this big news? Didn't we know this already? Wasn't the WHO already acting as if this was the case?
It's not good news by any means, but we're better off right now for three reasons:
1) It still hasn't mutated. A person or two developing resistance to Tamiflu is NOT mutation. As the CDC said, it's expected with every flu.
2) In 1918, they had no flu vaccine which we will probably have by the end of the year.
3) In 1918, they had no antivirals to combat the flu.
Flynn77 said:Seriously this is bullshit. As a UK gaffer I can tell you that this story was popularised right at the time of the worst phase of the MP expenses scandal. It was pretty obvious that it was being wheeled out as a smokescreen. Trouble is as time goes on and given enough media hype, it starts to take on a life of it's own.
Over here they are now reporting deaths, and expected death totals everyday, only thing is, they are conveniently excluding the word 'with' when reporting on deaths. ie 'this is the 19th person to have died of swine flu'.
I've had it, (thank you Glastonbury!) and it's not much more than a normal cold. Kind of like a watered down version of the flu. It knocks your energy levels a bit, you feel a bit shitty and you get a sore throat, thats it.
MIMIC said:Is it safe to come out now? Nobody's talking about it anymore so maybe everyone's dead.....
God, this was such bullshit. Who bought the vaccine? :lol
MIMIC said:Is it safe to come out now? Nobody's talking about it anymore so maybe everyone's dead.....
God, this was such bullshit. Who bought the vaccine? :lol
:lolMIMIC said:Is it safe to come out now? Nobody's talking about it anymore so maybe everyone's dead.....
God, this was such bullshit. Who bought the vaccine? :lol
Damn I was hoping it would be Captain TripsMIMIC said:Is it safe to come out now? Nobody's talking about it anymore so maybe everyone's dead.....
God, this was such bullshit. Who bought the vaccine? :lol
BigJonsson said:I saw a stat that 57 million Americans caught H1N1......so the concerns were warranted