Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 — WHO Update 81

As of 27 Dec 2009, worldwide more than 208 countries and overseas
territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases
of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including at least 12 220 deaths.
WHO is actively monitoring the progress of the pandemic through
frequent consultations with the WHO Regional Offices and member
states and through monitoring of multiple sources of data.
snip
The most [...]

France:Many H1N1 Cases Do Not Show Severe Symptoms

French experts say not all swine flu cases are presenting severe symptoms. There could be some with high fever and muscle cramps and others with symptoms that are hardly noticeable.
According to a study released this week, the so-called “asymptomatic” cases, which can be easily mistaken for the common cold, are making infection rates in France [...]

Recombinomics: Ukraine Fatalities Spike to 675 – Two Day Total 42

Recombinomics Commentary 20:08
December 29, 2009
3,669,751 Influenza / ARI
207,013 Hospitalized
675 Dead
The above figures are from the Ukraine Ministry of Health and represent a spike of 42 fatalities in the past 48 hours. Oblast reporting 5 or more fatalities in the past 2 days includes Donetsk (7 to 80), Kharkiv (6 to 29), Dnipropetrovsk (5 to 32), [...]

Recombinomics: The WHO Surprise on D225G / D225N H1N1 Fatalities

Recombinomics Commentary 17:48
December 29, 2009
After considering the current available virological, epidemiological and clinical findings and following discussions on an earlier draft with WHO and its European-based Collaborating Centre ECDC has come to a preliminary formulation namely that the G222D/N variants exist in a small proportion of sporadic severe, as well as mild cases of 2009 [...]

Helen Branswell: H1N1 pandemic poses big communications challenge for global health agency: Chan

Helen Branswell, Medical Reporter, THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA – For the director general of the World Health Organization, the best news of the decade is the fact that the first influenza pandemic of the 21st century is a moderate – some would even call it mild – one. Still, that lucky break, disease-wise, has created a [...]

H1N1 Tamiflu Resistance in UK Jumps Higher

Recombinomics Commentary 10:15
December 25, 2009
There is limited evidence of antiviral resistance in Scotland: seven of the 30 oseltamivir resistant viruses in the UK have been identified in Scotland.
The above comments are from the latest (week 51) influenza update from Scotland.  The above numbers represent an increase of 5 from the prior week for the UK [...]

Surge in drug resistant bacteria growing public threat

Researchers from Washington DC recently analyzed the increase in drug resistance, finding a growing public health threat that the scientists say must be addressed by pharmaceutical companies. The scientists analyzed data from 300 hospitals around the country that showed the bacteria Acinetobacter has become increasingly more resistant to the powerful antibiotic imipenem, marketed under the [...]

Recombinomics: D225G/D225N H1N1 Fatal Cluster in San Lois Potosi Mexico

Recombinomics Commentary 23:54
December 24, 2009
The recently released HA sequences from fatal cases in Mexico has identified a cluster(25M and 40M) with D225G and D225N.  Both isolates, A/Mexico/InDRE50625/2009 and A/Mexico/InDRE50617/2009) have mixed signals and were collected within a day of each other from San Lois Potosi, Mexico.  They are the first two isolates from patients in [...]

Brazil: Autopsies Reveal Three Patterns of H1N1 Death

By Michael Smith, North American Correspondent, MedPage Today
Published: December 23, 2009
Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and
Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner
Brazilian researchers have found three distinct patterns of lung damage in patients who died of the H1N1 pandemic flu.
They also found evidence of a so-called “cytokine [...]

Recombinomics: Widespread Transmission of H1N1 Tamiflu Resistance

Recombinomics Commentary 16:05
December 21, 2009
As the number of H274Y cases continue to expand, the transmission of these cases comes into sharper focus.  The recently released sequences from Japan, which include eight sequences with H274Y defines a number of sub-clades with multiple examples of H274Y, signaling the transmission of H274Y.
One example involves sequences which have H274Y [...]