Saturday, July 18, 2009

News Clipping Archives

 

 

Maryland / Regional

Five students at MICA diagnosed with probable swine flu (Baltimore Sun)

 

National / International

Blacks are most obese U.S. group, study finds (Baltimore Sun)

Sunscreens have improved. Which is best? (Baltimore Sun)

Count of swine flu cases surpasses 40,000, hospitalizations near 4,800, CDC Says (Baltimore Sun)

CDC says not worried about H1N1 vaccine supply (Reuters)

AlphaVax moves forward with H1N1-flu vaccine (Triangle Business Journal)

UPDATE 1-Baxter can take no more H1N1 flu vaccine orders (Reuters)

Britain prepares for 65,000 deaths from swine flu (Times Online)

H1N1Pandemic Spreading Too Fast To Count – WHO (Reuters)

Argentina declares emergency after flu found in pigs (Reuters)

 

Opinion

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Maryland / Regional

Five students at MICA diagnosed with probable swine flu

 

By Liz F. Kay

Baltimore Sun

Saturday, July 18, 2009

 

Five students in a Maryland Institute College of Art summer program have been diagnosed with probable H1NI influenza infections, commonly known as swine flu, a college spokeswoman said Friday.

 

Three of the students enrolled in MICA's pre-college program who were showing symptoms have gone home, said Kathleen Murray, the spokeswoman. One student has been isolated, as recommended by the Baltimore City Health Department, and another is asymptomatic, beyond the seven-day period of infection, Murray said.

 

The Health Department notified MICA of the probable infections Thursday afternoon, and an e-mail was sent to parents, faculty, staff and students that night, Murray said. As of Friday morning, no new cases had been reported, and the five students were recovering, according to Murray.

 

Pre-college program attendees, typically high school students, stay together in a MICA residence hall, but Health Department officials said there was no need to close any buildings or shut down the program, Murray said.

 

"The only recommendation was to isolate the five students," she said.

 

MICA's building services staff was instructed to sanitize surfaces such as elevator buttons more frequently. Sanitizer was also available at guard desks, college offices and in dining facilities.

 

Maryland health officials have confirmed 732 cases of swine flu statewide. Three of those infected have died from the virus.

 

Summer camps are feeling the impact. Two children were sent home from a Harford County camp after testing positive for swine flu, health officials said this week. Sandy Hill Camp in Cecil County sent campers home midway through a two-week session June 29 after 19 children came down with flu-like symptoms in 48 hours.

 

The Muscular Dystrophy Association also canceled more than half of its weeklong camp sessions -- including two scheduled for Camp Maria in Leonardtown -- amid fears that children with already-compromised immune systems could become critically ill if they came down with flu, something that is more likely in a setting of shared cabins and meals in close quarters.

 

Many people who become ill with the flu-like symptoms are not tested and recover within a week's time, much like seasonal flu.

 

Baltimore Sun reporter Mary Gail Hare contributed to this article.

 

This article incorrectly described when Sandy Hill Camp in Cecil County shortened its session after 19 students exhibited flu-like symptoms when it was initially published online. The Baltimore Sun regrets the error.

 

Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun.

 

National / International

Blacks are most obese U.S. group, study finds

 

The Associated Press

Baltimore Sun

Friday, July 17, 2009

 

Nearly 36 percent of black Americans are obese -- much more than other major racial or ethnic groups -- and that gap exists in most states, a new federal study finds.

 

About 29 percent of Hispanics and 24 percent of whites are obese, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

 

Racial differences in obesity rates have been reported before, and health officials were not surprised to see larger proportions of blacks tipping the scales.

 

But the new CDC report is the first to look at the gap on a state-by-state level, finding blacks had much higher obesity rates in 21 states, and had rates about as high or higher than other groups in an additional two dozen more states.

 

Health officials believe there are several reasons for the differences. People with lower incomes often have less access to medical care, exercise facilities and more expensive, healthier food. In many places, minorities are disproportionately poor.

 

But attitudes about weight also are believed to be a factor, said Dr. Liping Pan, a CDC epidemiologist.

 

"Black and Hispanics are more accepting of high weight," she said, adding that heavy people who are satisfied with their size are not likely to diet or exercise.

 

Obesity is based on the body mass index, a calculation using height and weight. A 5-foot, 9-inch (1.75-meter) adult who weighs 203 pounds (92 kilograms) would have a BMI of 30, which is considered the threshold for obesity.

 

The data comes from national telephone surveys of hundreds of thousands of Americans in the years 2006 through 2008.

 

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

 

Sunscreens have improved. Which is best?

 

Los Angeles Tribune

By Shari Roan

Baltimore Sun

Saturday, July 18, 2009

 

Sunscreen There are plenty of sunscreens on the market to choose from, but which is best? The nonprofit Environmental Working Group has waged a three-year campaign to improve the efficacy of sunscreens and recently released its 2009 report.

 

The biggest improvement cited in the report is that 70% of sunscreens now contain strong UVA filters compared withjust 29% last year. Many sunscreens protect against the sun's UVB radiation, but UVA can be just as harmful. The group also found that 19% fewer sunscreens contain oxybenzone, a chemical that is allowed in sunscreens but which the Environmental Working Group and other organizations say is unsafe because it can disrupt hormones in the body.

 

Still, three of five sunscreens either don't protect the skin from sun damage or contain hazardous chemicals or both, the report states. The group argues that the Food and Drug Administration has not published "meaningful sunscreen standards" even though it promised to do so back in 1978 "when gasoline was 63 cents a gallon and the Bee Gees' 'Saturday Night Fever' topped the charts."

 

The report also evaluates daily moisturizers and lip balms with SPF ratings. The Environmental Working Group found that one in five daily moisturizers that advertise SPF protection actually offer little UVA protection. Among lip balms, two in five offer poor UVA protection.

 

The group's panel of scientists, policy experts and computer analysts perused scientific data, legal documents and conducted their own tests to examine 1,572 sunscreens currently on the market. The complete list of top-ranking products can be found on the Environmental Working Group's website. Here's a snippet of the top three in each category.

 

Best sunscreens:

 

    * Badger Sunscreen, SPF 30

    * Trukid Sunny Days Facestick Mineral Sunscreen UVA/UVB Broad Spectrum, SPF 30+

    * Purple Prairie Botanicals Sun Stuff, SPF 30

 

Best moisturizers with SPF:

 

    * Keys Soap Solar Rx Cosmetic Moisturizing Sunblock, SPF 30

    * Marie Veronique Organics Creme de Jour Tinted, SPF 30, no nanoparticles

    * Devita International Daily Solar Protective Moisturizer 30

 

Best lip balms with SPF:

 

    * Purple Prairie Botanicals sunstick lip balm, SPF 30

    * UV Natural Lip screen, SPF 30+

    * Fallene CotzLipCotz, Ultra High Sun Protection, SPF 45

 

Copyright 2009 Baltimore Sun.

 

Count of swine flu cases surpasses 40,000, hospitalizations near 4,800, CDC says

 

By Mike Stobbe

Baltimore Sun

Saturday, July 18, 2009

 

ATLANTA (AP) - The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu, thousands filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time, the government has already taken steps to head that off.

 

Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday.

 

Since the 1980s, the government has protected vaccine makers against lawsuits over the use of childhood vaccines. Instead, a federal court handles claims and decides who will be paid from a special fund.

 

The document signed by Sebelius last month grants immunity to those making a swine flu vaccine, under the provisions of a 2006 law for public health emergencies. It allows for a compensation fund, if needed.

 

The government takes such steps to encourage drug companies to make vaccines, and it's worked. Federal officials have contracted with five manufacturers to make a swine flu vaccine. First identified in April, swine flu has so far caused about 263 deaths, according to numbers released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.

 

The CDC said more than 40,000 Americans have had confirmed or probable cases, but those are people who sought health care. It's likely that more than 1 million Americans have been sickened by the flu, many with mild cases.

 

The virus hits younger people harder that seasonal flu, but so far hasn't been much more deadly than the strains seen every fall and winter. But health officials believe the virus could mutate to a more dangerous form, or at least contribute to a potentially heavier flu season than usual.

 

"We do expect there to be an increase in influenza this fall," with a bump in cases perhaps beginning earlier than normal, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

 

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration approved the regular winter flu vaccine, a final step before shipments to clinics and other vaccination sites could begin.

 

The last time the government faced a new swine flu virus was in 1976. Cases of swine flu in soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J., including one death, made health officials worried they might be facing a deadly pandemic like the one that killed millions around the world in 1918 and 1919.

 

Federal officials vaccinated 40 million Americans during a national campaign. A pandemic never materialized, but thousands who got the shots filed injury claims, saying they suffered a paralyzing condition called Guillain-Barre Syndrome or other side effects.

 

"The government paid out quite a bit of money," said Stephen Sugarman, a law professor who specializes in product liability at the University of California at Berkeley.

 

Vaccines aren't as profitable as other drugs for manufacturers, and without protection against lawsuits "they're saying, 'Do we need this?'" Sugarman said.

 

The move to protect makers of a swine flu didn't go over well with Paul Pennock, a prominent New York plaintiffs attorney on medical liability cases. The government will likely call on millions of Americans to get the vaccinations to prevent the disease from spreading, he noted.

 

"If you're going to ask people to do this for the common good, then let's make sure for the common good that these people will be taken care of if something goes wrong," Pennock said.

 

AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report from Washington.

 

On the Net:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/H1N1flu/

 

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

 

CDC says not worried about H1N1 vaccine supply

 

Reuters

Friday, July 17, 2009

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is not worried about being able to secure enough vaccines against the new H1N1 swine flu virus, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official said on Friday.

 

"We're on track and not concerned about not meeting expectations," the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat told a telephone briefing.

 

On Thursday, Baxter International, one of the companies making H1N1 vaccine for the U.S. market and four other countries, said it could not take any more orders.

 

Copyright 2009 Reuters.

 

AlphaVax moves forward with H1N1-flu vaccine

 

By Frank Vinluan

Triangle Business Journal

Friday, July 17, 2009

 

Durham vaccine developer AlphaVax is preparing materials for a clinical trial of its H1N1 flu vaccine after receiving positive results from early studies, the company announced Friday.

 

The company said that mice inoculated with the company’s flu vaccine showed a protective antibody response after a single dose. The responses were boosted by a second dose given three weeks later.

 

Chief Scientific Officer Jonathan Smith said in a statement that AlphaVax’s vaccine platform offers advantages over other vaccines because it can be produced and tested quickly.

 

AlphaVax’s vaccine is made in cell cultures, which is a faster method than growing the flu vaccine in egg cells. The vaccine also does not require an adjuvant, an ingredient that boosts the immune system and reduces the amount of antigen needed to make the vaccine.

 

The design of future clinical trials of the AlphaVax H1N1 vaccine will be based on the two previous successful flu vaccine trials run by the company, one carried out in healthy young adults and the other in elderly adults.

 

AlphaVax said it expects to begin making the vaccine for clinical testing next week.

 

Copyright 2009 Triange Business Journal.

 

UPDATE 1-Baxter can take no more H1N1 flu vaccine orders

 

By Bill Berkrot

Reuters

Thursday, July 16, 2009

 

NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) - While at least 50 governments have placed orders or are negotiating with drug companies for supplies of flu vaccine against the fast-spreading H1N1 strain, the lone U.S.-based maker has already taken on as much as it can handle.

 

Baxter International Inc (BAX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it has taken orders from five countries, including Britain, Ireland and New Zealand, for a total of 80 million doses of H1N1 vaccine and will not take any more.

 

"At this time we're not in a position to take additional orders," Baxter spokesman Chris Bona said.

 

However, Bona said the company has agreed to allocate a portion of its commercial production to the World Health Organization to address global public health issues.

 

The Illinois-based company said it should be ready to ship H1N1 vaccine by the end of July or early August. Oddly enough, the United States will not be a beneficiary of the Baxter-made vaccine as it has not received Food and Drug Administration approval.

 

The other four companies producing the vaccine are all European based drugmakers – GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Novartis AG (NOVN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Sanofi-Aventis SA (SASY.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and AstraZeneca (AZN.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), through its MedImmune unit.

 

Sanofi said it would supply vaccine to the United States and had this week taken a $61 million order from the government on top of a previous $190 million U.S. order.

 

But Sanofi spokesman Len Lavenda said he could not immediately comment on whether the company is taking more orders.

 

MedImmune said it too would supply H1N1 vaccine to the United States and had so far taken two orders totaling $151 million.

 

"We anticipate that we may get some additional orders and are able to fill those," said MedImmune spokeswoman Karen Lancaster.

 

The company expects to be able to produce at least 40 million finished doses of its intranasal vaccine formulation.

 

Glaxo spokesman Kevin Colgan said the Britain-based drugmaker has taken H1N1 vaccine orders and continues to have discussions with governments on other potential orders.

 

Glaxo and Sanofi both said they would have a better idea of production needs and manufacturing capacity after they come up with test batches of their vaccines and test it on people.

 

Swiss-based Novartis said earlier Thursday that it had secured several orders for H1N1 vaccines and is in talks with more than 35 governments.

 

"The company is doing everything it can to produce as much as possible as fast as possible," said Sarah Coles, a spokeswoman for Novartis. "In fact, all three of our sites in Europe are in full production of H1N1."

 

The World Health Organization said up to 4.9 billion doses could be produced in 12 months for the pandemic it has called unstoppable. But if more than one shot per person is needed and production yields are lower than for seasonal flu vaccine, far fewer people would have access to protection, WHO said.

 

(Reporting by Bill Berkrot and Ransdell Pierson; editing by Carol Bishopric)

 

Copyright 2009 Reuters.

 

Britain prepares for 65,000 deaths from swine flu

 

United Kingdom

Times Online

Friday, July 17, 2009

 

The NHS has been told to plan for a worst-case scenario of 65,000 swine flu deaths this year. The news came as the number of people to die after contracting the virus rose sharply.

 

Health officials said that 29 people had now died — up from 17 confirmed deaths on Monday. There were unconfirmed reports that the new cases included a young boy from Kent.

 

Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, said that it was not yet known whether the most recent victims had underlying health problems. In all, 26 people have died in England and 3 in Scotland, including an ill baby in London and a tourist with significant medical problems who died in hospital in Inverness. The results of a post-mortem on Chloe Buckley, 6, who died last week, are not yet known.

 

About 55,000 people reported flu symptoms last week. The number of patients in hospital with swine flu has doubled to 652, of whom 53 are in intensive care. Visits to GPs and calls to NHS Direct have risen sharply.

 

The surge prompted officials to announce the launch next week of the National Pandemic Flu Service, as disclosed yesterday in The Times.

 

The advice to prepare for 65,000 deaths is based on 30 per cent of the population falling ill. Children under 14 are being hit hardest and the NHS was told to plan for a worst-case scenario of up to half of all children being infected during a first pandemic wave.

 

President Obama has allocated $1.8 billion to fight the pandemic. The money will buy vaccine ingredients, allow vaccines to be approved quickly and help US health officials to plan for immunisation campaigns.

 

Sir Liam said there was now “exceptional influenza activity” across most of the country apart from Yorkshire and the Humber.

 

Tower Hamlets in East London has the highest proportion of GP visits, with 759 consultations about flu-like illness per 100,000 of the population.

 

Other boroughs badly affected include Hackney, Islington and Lewisham. “Some of these will have the worried well among them,” Sir Liam said.

 

Cherie Blair is among those with the virus. The wife of the former Prime Minister has had to pull out of a number of public engagements.

 

The planning model given to the NHS shows that deaths could range from 19,000 to 65,000 if 30 per cent of the population fell ill.

 

In the pandemics of 1957-58 and 1968-70, between 25 and 30 per cent were infected. In the former, 33,000 people died; in the latter it was a few thousand fewer.

 

The model says that the NHS should prepare for up to 12 per cent of the workforce to be off sick.

 

However, it emphasises that its figures are not a prediction but based on a “reasonable worst-case scenario for planning purposes”.

 

It adds that the spread of the virus might slow during the summer holidays, peaking in October after children go back to school.

 

London

 

Officials confirmed four of the cases yesterday, all with underlying health problems. They included a baby, a woman of 39 and a man of 70.

 

Some years there can be as many as 20,000 extra deaths in the winter that are linked with influenza.

 

Sir Liam said that the aim of the new flu service was to alleviate pressure on hospitals and GP services in England so that they could concentrate on those most seriously ill. The Government was trusting the public not to abuse the service, he added.

 

People will obtain a diagnosis over the telephone or by completing an internet questionnaire.

 

They will then be given a reference number so that a “flu friend” can pick up the antiviral drug from a depot. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have not yet set up such a service but may do so.

 

The Health Protection Agency estimates that there were 55,000 new cases in England and that up to 85,000 people could now be affected.

 

The Department of Health defended its preparations amid accusations that it was providing conflicting advice.

 

A health trust memo passed to The Times had said that guidance was “muddled and contradictory”.

 

Copyright 2009 Times Online.

 

H1N1Pandemic Spreading Too Fast To Count - WHO

 

By Stephanie Nebehay

Reuters

Thursday, July 16, 2009

 

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that the H1N1 ( http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/swineflu )flu pandemic was the fastest-moving pandemic ever and that it was now pointless to count every case.

 

The United Nations agency, which declared an influenza pandemic on June 11, revised its requirements so that national health authorities need only report clusters of severe cases or deaths caused by the new virus or unusual clinical patterns.

 

"The 2009 influenza pandemic has spread internationally with unprecedented speed. In past pandemics, influenza viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 ( http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/swineflu )virus has spread in less than six weeks," it said in a statement on the new strain, commonly known as swine flu ( http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/swineflu ).

 

It has become nearly impossible for health authorities and laboratories to keep count of individual cases -- which have mostly been mild -- as the virus spreads, according to the 193 member-state agency.

 

The new flu strain can be treated by antivirals such as Roche Holding's Tamiflu or GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza, but many patients recover without medical treatment.

 

Flu experts say at least a million people are infected in the United States alone, and the WHO says the pandemic is unstoppable.

 

"It is very much agreed that trying to register and report every single case is a huge waste of resources," WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.

 

Such tracking has limited authorities' capacity to investigate serious cases and is no longer essential to monitor the level or nature of the risk posed by the virus, WHO said.

However, all countries should still closely monitor unusual clusters of severe or fatal infections from the pandemic virus, clusters of respiratory illness requiring hospitalization or unexplained or unusual clinical patterns.

 

"Signals to be vigilant for include spikes in rates of absenteeism from schools or workplaces, or a more severe disease pattern, as suggested by, for example, a surge in emergency department visits," it said.

 

Britain reported on Thursday that 29 people had died to date after contracting the virus. Health Minister Andy Burnham said this month the government was projecting more than 100,000 new cases a day of the flu in the country by the end of August.

 

The WHO will no longer issue global tables showing the numbers of confirmed cases for all countries -- which stood at 94,512 cases with 429 deaths as of its last update on July 6.

 

Instead, it will issue regular updates on the situation in newly affected countries, which should report the first confirmed cases, weekly figures and epidemiological details.

 

Countries should still test a limited number of virus samples weekly to confirm that disease is actually due to the pandemic virus and to monitor any virological changes that may be important for the development of vaccines, it said.

 

At least 50 governments have placed orders for vaccines against the new H1N1 ( http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/swineflu )strain or negotiating with drug makers, WHO vaccine chief Marie-Paule Kieny told Reuters.

 

The WHO does not report figures for cases of seasonal influenza, which it says is linked to 250,000 to 500,000 deaths a year globally.

 

Copyright 2009 Reuters.

 

Argentina declares emergency after flu found in pigs

 

By Lucas Bergman

Reuters

July 17, 2009

 

BUENOS AIRES, July 17 (Reuters) - Argentina's government declared on Friday a national sanitary emergency due to the presence of the new H1N1 flu virus in pigs.

Earlier this month, animal health officials said workers at a pig farm in Buenos Aires province were suspected of having passed the new strain onto the animals.

 

(Reporting by Lucas Bergman; Writing by Dana Ford; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

 

Copyright 2009 Reuters.

 

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