Vomiting Bug Norovirus Nears Pandemic Level At Nearly 3 Million

Almost three million people have been affected by the norovirus stomach bug so far this winter, figures suggest.

Surveillance from the Health Protection Agency shows cases in England and Wales are double those seen last year.

Doctors advise people to stay at home for 48 hours after symptoms have gone to cut the risk of the bug spreading.

The HPA said the norovirus season began unusually early. For every one of the 1,922 reported cases, it is estimated another 1,500 have been unreported.

These cases will have been in people who did not visit the doctor.

This equates to around 2.8 million people affected so far this winter and the virus is still circulating.

Norovirus – also known as winter vomiting disease – is the most common cause of infectious gastroenteritis in the UK.

Hospitals have been affected by outbreaks with many wards around the country having to close to new admissions to prevent the spread of the illness.

Easily spread

Onset is very sudden with vomiting and diarrhoea.

Some people may also feel feverish.

Illness can occur at any age because immunity to it is not long-lasting.

It is not normally dangerous but the very young and very old are most at risk of complications from dehydration.

The HPA said they had expected a higher number of recorded cases as methods used for detecting norovirus in the laboratory had improved.

But they advised people to practise good hygiene including hand washing and disinfecting contaminated surfaces if anyone has become ill.

Food preparation should also be avoided until 48 hours after symptoms have disappeared.

There is no specific treatment for norovirus other than letting the illness run its course but it is important to drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration, especially in the very young or elderly.

Professor Steve Field, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said the advice issued last week on staying at home if you become ill and not rushing back to work was helping to slow the spread of the illness.

“Anecdotally the pressure seems to be coming off – were delighted that people are following the advice and taking the pressure off the health service.”

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Deadly Strain of Bird Flu Found At Childrens Petting Zoo In Israel

A deadly strain of the bird flu virus has infected chickens in northern Israel, local daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on its website on Thursday.

According to the report, the virus was found at a kindergarten petting zoo in the northern Israeli city of Binyamina, more than ten kilometers south to the city of Haifa.

The report said 18 of the 25 chickens in the petting zoo were found dead earlier Thursday morning.

The Haifa District Physician Prof. Shmuel Rishpon confirmed that the chickens were infected by the H5N1 bird flue virus.

Rishpon was quoted as saying that “The kindergarten staff has been given preventive medicines and as far as we know, none of the children or their parents came in contact with the birds.”

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Fourth Woman Dies of Bird Flu in Egypt

A woman died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu in northern Egypt on Monday, the country’s fourth fatality from the virus in less than a week, the World Health Organisation said.

John Jabbour, an Egypt-based official with the WHO, said this and all other recent cases were believed to have been caused by exposure to sick or dead back-yard birds.

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Bird Flu – Egyptian Woman Dies Bringing Total To 3 Dead In One Week In Egypt

An Egyptian woman who had been in contact with sick birds died of the avian influenza virus on Monday, the third death in the most populous Arab country from bird flu in less than a week, the Health Ministry said.

The ministry said in a statement Firdaus Mohamed Hadad of Menoufia province in the Nile Delta was taken to hospital on Saturday and died early on Monday.

“She suffered from a high fever and difficulty breathing and had a pulmonary infection after coming into contact with birds suspected of being infected with avian flu,” the statement said. “She was placed on a respirator but died at dawn on Monday.”

The death was the 18th bird flu fatality and the 43rd human case in Egypt since the deadly H5N1 virus arrived in early 2006.

It came a day after a 25-year-old Egyptian woman died of bird flu in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura. Another woman, Ola Younis, died of bird flu on Wednesday in Beni Suef province south of Cairo.

It is the third winter that the virus has struck after lying low during Egypt’s hot summers, when it is much less likely to spread from one carrier to another.

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Bird Flu Scare – Alarm Over Dead Pigeons in Jeddah

The death of a large number of pigeons at a public park in Al-Hamrah district in Jeddah is worrying both the general public and government officials.

On learning about the deaths, the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday sent a veterinary team to find out if it was caused by bird flu or some other disease.

Mahmoud ibn Saeed, assistant director general of Agricultural Ministry in Jeddah, told Arab News yesterday that the preliminary investigations by the doctors revealed that the bird deaths were caused by polluted water. The official said that similar cases were reported in the past. Then the deaths occurred after the birds drank water from sewages and other polluted sources, he said.

“The results of the laboratory reports on the bird deaths would be available shortly and there is no reason to panic,” said Saeed.

The ministry is on guard about any development related to birds in the light of the cases of bird flu reported from some parts of the Kingdom, he said.

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U.S. Still Not Ready To Cope With Biological Attacks and Flu Pandemics

According to a newly released report the U.S. remains unprepared to deal with disasters such as biological attacks and flu pandemics.

The report by the Trust for Americas Health says many states still lack a stockpile of drugs, masks, gloves and other equipment needed to battle with a pandemic despite five years of constant and detailed warning.

The report says until all states measure up, the United States is not safe and also says overall federal funding for state and local preparedness has declined.

Trust for Americas Health is a nonprofit organization which has been issuing reports every year for five years.

According to the report seven states performed adequately in each of the 10 categories that were measured, which earned them a score of 10; top scores went to Illinois, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia, while bottom were Arkansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Nevada, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The Trust says the 2001 anthrax attacks, in which five people died, and the disasters caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, should have been a wake-up call and galvanized more action.

The report says though those disasters highlighted a range of problems with U.S. preparedness, preparedness remains spotty and 13 states are without adequate plans to distribute emergency vaccines, antidotes, and medical supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile.

Another 21 states do not have statutes that allow for adequate liability protection for healthcare volunteers during emergencies and 12 states do not have a disease surveillance system compatible with the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions National Electronic Disease Surveillance System.

Seven states have not purchased any portion of their federally subsidized or unsubsidized antivirals to use during a pandemic flu and seven states and along with Washington D.C. lack sufficient capabilities to test for biological threats.

The Department of Health and Human Services say states have until June 2008 to get their orders in.

This is despite health experts worldwide predicting the threat of a pandemic of some sort, with the H5N1 avian influenza currently doing the rounds as the most likely candidate.

Experts have expressed concern that federal funding levels for hospital preparedness, now at about $400 million annually, are inadequate and health officials say money for emergency preparedness needs to be distributed through the states.

World Health Organization experts are currently investigating a cluster of human H5N1 cases in Pakistan where some form of human to human transmission of the virus appears possible.

The virus which is a disease passed between birds usually involves close contact with infected fowl to affect humans.

Egypt – Egyptian Woman Dies of Bird Flu

An Egyptian woman of 25 has died of bird flu, the Egyptian Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.

It was the first human death in Egypt from the virus since June and the 16th since the disease arrived in early 2006.

Story will be updated when additional details become available.

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Bird Flu – Preparing For Disaster

On a snowy day, Catherine A. “Jackie” Mitchell spread her message of influenza pandemic awareness.

Set up outside Kmart on Route 20, Mitchell had a poster board that proclaimed “Are You Pandemic Ready?”

She had a table set up with examples of what someone would need if an outbreak happened, stores were closed and supplies scarce: water, hand sanitizer, salt, cleaning wipes, canned soup and tuna and bleach.

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Bird Flu Outbreak in South Russia Spreads

A fifth case of bird flu has been confirmed at a farm in the Rostov Region, south Russia, close to the site of previous outbreaks, the regional emergencies ministry said.

“The outbreak at two smallholdings was registered on Saturday, samples were taken and sent for analysis, they came back positive for bird flu,” the ministry said.

All 79 birds on the smallholding have been culled. A quarantine zone has been introduced in the Tselinsky district near the site of the first case of the deadly virus.

The first bird flu outbreak was discovered in late November at the Gulyai-Borisovskaya poultry farm in the Rostov Region. The farm’s entire population of 500,000 chickens was culled. Later a bird flu outbreak was registered at a smallholding close to the farm.

Another outbreak was then discovered at a farm in the Tselinsky district.

The Rostov Region is particularly vulnerable to bird flu as part of the Krasnodar Territory, which is on a route taken by migrating birds in winter. In September, the region was hit by the H5N1 strain and 230,000 birds were culled.

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Human-use Bird Flu Vaccine Safe and Effective

China announced here Monday that its human-use bird flu vaccine proves “safe” and “effective” during the second phase of clinical tests.

The vaccine was jointly developed by the Beijing-based vaccine producer Sinovac Biotech, the first in the world to develop SARS vaccine, and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The program was also under support of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health.

Zhang Jiansan, vice-general manager of the Sinovac Biotech, said the second phase of clinical tests was carried out from September to November with approval of the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration. A total of 402 people aged from 18 to 60 took the test.

Test results showed that the major index of the vaccine all reached international standard and performed well in human body. None of the test takers were found with serious negative reaction, which proved that the vaccine was safe.

Zhang said test takers of different ages were given different dosage of vaccine, and the result was also positive. “It means the vaccine could give multiple choices in treating flu infected people.”

“We were able to control the dosage and immunization procedure during the second phase of clinical tests, which also provided us scientific and effective methods to combat highly infective influenza,” Zhang said.

Observers said China has completed its technological preparation to combat influenza with the success of human-use bird flu vaccine research and clinical tests.

“China is also capable to produce human-use bird flu vaccine in appropriate quantity,” Zhang stressed

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