Government is obliged to develop a special committee for animal derived infectious disease (zoonotic disease) after previous related committee, a bird flu committee, Komnas FPBI, had ended its term of duty on March 2010. 

The urgencies had frequently showed up during the seminar of One World One Health: The Disease Battles of the 21th century, Tuesday (9/3). 

“The Komnas FPBI has ended its term on this March, so we are now processing the next plan for infection disease control,” said the consultant of Komnas FPBI, Arie Rukmantara. 

The seminar which was held by the collaboration work between National Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Influenza Pandemic Preparedness (Komnas FPBI), was also exposing bird flu problems and other infectious diseases in other countries, like Thailand, India, and Indonesia. 

One of infectious disease control speaker from West Kalimantan, Indonesia, the Head of Livestock and Animal Health Service, Abdul Manaf Mustafa, claimed that West Kalimantan was one of the areas which had been successfully eradicating bird flu outbreak. “We received the bird flu clear status on January 2010,” said Manaf.

India is 'most likely' to administer imported swine flu vaccine to the high risk groups from next week, a senior health ministry official said Wednesday. 

"Most likely, we will start the vaccination next week," V.M. Katoch, secretary (Health Research) in ministry of health and family welfare, said. 

Katoch said multinational pharma company Sanofi Pasteur has already completed its bridge study and the data has been given to a health ministry committee for analysis. 

"The last set of data from Sanofi Pasteur's bridge study in India came to us Feb 28. The data is now with a government committee, which is analysing it. 

"We expect the analysis to end in a few days and vaccination most likely to start the coming week," he said, adding that the high risk groups like doctors and paramedics will be vaccinated first.

El Ministerio de Salud informó ayer de la presencia de un nuevo caso de gripe AH1N1. Un niño de 11 años dio positivo en el diagnóstico del mal en el departamento del Beni, a pesar de que el virus había dejado de manifestarse en el país desde hace más de tres meses. 

The Ministry of Health reported a new case of H1N1 flu yesterday. An 11-year-old boy tested positive in the Department of Beni, although the virus had disappeared from the country over three months ago.

El responsable del Programa Nacional de Influenza, René Lenes, confirmó que el menor detectado en ese departamento con los síntomas está catalogado como nativo, porque nunca viajó a otro lugar donde pueda haberse contagiado.

The head of the National Influenza Program, René Lenes, confirmed that the boy is considered a native case, since he had never travelled anywhere else where he might have become infected.

The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) said in a statement Wednesday that the country was clear of swine influenza but the agency went on to urge members of the public to carry on having themselves vaccinated in preparation for the next flu season. 

According to the agency about half of the population had been vaccinated. 

"It has been estimated that if about two-thirds of the population was vaccinated swine influenza would not become an epidemic again," the THL statement said.

How can Pneumovax vaccine reduce deaths from a viral infection like Swine flu?

How can Pneumovax vaccine reduce deaths from a viral infection like Swine flu? is a post from: Everything Swine Flu

So far, the swine flu seems no more dangerous than the seasonal flu. Yet everyone is supposed to be vaccinated. Why? If they’re worried about swine flu mutating into a more dangerous flu, wouldn’t the vaccines fail to protect against the mutated version anyway? So why should we get vaccinated against swine flu?

Why are we getting vacines to protect against the Swine Flu? is a post from: Everything Swine Flu

Via The New York Times, a fascinating report: Flu Shots in Children Can Help Community. Excerpt:

An unusual study done in 49 remote Hutterite farming colonies in western Canada has provided the surest proof yet that giving flu shots to schoolchildren protects a whole community from the disease. 

Although previous studies have demonstrated what scientists call “herd immunity,” none have been so incontrovertible, because they were done in less isolated places with more sources of flu passing through. 

Also, only one other study, done 42 years ago, immunized over 80 percent of a community’s children, as this one did. Success repeated in many separate communities with very high vaccination rates implies that the shots themselves — rather than luck, viral mutations, hand-washing or any other factor — were the crucial protective element. 

The study, done by scientists from several Canadian universities and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee, was paid for by the governments of Canada and the United States. It was published online Tuesday by The Journal of the American Medical Association. 

“This is quite a definitive study, and it took a Herculean effort,” said Dr. Carolyn B. Bridges, an expert in influenza epidemiology at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “My hat’s off to them.” 

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which supported the project, called it “a really nice study” and added that, even though it was done with seasonal flu shots in the 2008-9 winter, its results validated the American government’s decision to vaccinate children first during the recent swine flu pandemic. 

“Not only was that clearly needed to protect the kids, but they probably wound up protecting the older people, too,” Dr. Fauci said.

The Hutterites are very interesting people: Like the Amish, they're Anabaptists, but they're high-tech. You might call them Christian communists: They live communally with very little personal consumption, but their readiness to use the latest technology makes them extremely productive farmers. Their high birthrate, combined with limits on the size of their communities, means they're always looking for new land for new communities. This, plus their agricultural success, often annoys their rural neighbours.

Annoying or not, the Hutterites offer an alternative way of life we might learn from.

While dengue fever affects an estimated 100 million people worldwide annually, most of us in Florida have never heard of it. That all may have changed a few months ago. 

According to the Monroe County Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control, there were 22 cases of dengue fever identified in Key West in 2009. 

Usually found in tropical and sub-tropical countries, dengue fever is a viral illness spread by mosquitoes. This particular type of mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is known for laying its eggs in standing water near residential areas, including urban areas. 

The virus is spread when an infected person is bitten and spread when it bites another individual shortly thereafter. 

Sometimes called "break-bone fever," dengue is a rapid onset illness with fever and headache as well as muscle and joint pains. The fever typically lasts for about one week and can be followed by a period of fatigue that can last for weeks. 

In the summer of 2008, I had the opportunity to see cases of dengue fever while working in Honduras with the U.S. Army. The treatment for dengue is simpler than you might think. In fact, there is no specific treatment for dengue other than rest, fluids and medications to relieve the symptoms, which resolve on their own with time.

Turkey has held talks with pharmaceutical companies to return unused swine flu vaccines after the H1N1 virus was reported to be gradually decreasing within the country. 

Turkish Health Minister Recep Akdağ said on Tuesday that Turkey had ordered 43 million doses last year but ended up buying only 17 million doses. 

"We held talks with manufacturers to give a significant part back," Akdağ said. "However, we will keep 2-3 million doses in reserve for emergencies." 

In January, Akdağ said the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, killed over 600 people in Turkey this winter. Now he said, "The swine flu pandemic has almost petered out in Turkey." 

The number of deaths caused by swine flu was 415 in Turkey as of mid-December when the health ministry officials last announced the number of deaths.