H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu)

News outlets are reporting this morning that the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is advising medical personnel in Canada that one of its batches of H1N1 flu vaccine may trigger a life-threatening allergy.

A GlaxoSmithKline spokesperson, Gwenan White, is quoted as saying the recall was issued after determining that one batch of H1N1 vaccine may be responsible for more allergic reactions than what is being seen with other batches.

The identified batch consists of 172,000 doses of the H1N1 vaccine.  The spokesperson declined to divulge how many doses had already been administered before the recall was issued.

The Oregon State Public Health Veterinarian confirmed Nov. 18 that a cat in Oregon has died from presumed 2009 H1N1 influenza virus infection, according to the American Veterinary Medication Association.

It’s believed that this is the first feline H1N1 fatality and the third case of a cat with the virus, according to the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association. The other two cats from Iowa and Utah have recovered.

The deceased 10-year-old male cat lived with three other cats that also became ill with different degrees of sneezing and coughing. The other three did not have  elevated temperatures and their nasal swab samples yielded no  positive results for H1N1, according to the OVMA.

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There are growing signs that the H1N1 flu pandemic is waning in North America, based on a number of indicators from health officials and doctors.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says that, as of the week ending Nov. 14, the number of outbreaks at schools and hospitals, the prevalence of flu-related doctor visits and the number of flu cases for testing across the country declined.

In Ottawa, the number of flu cases fell far enough for local health authorities to closed all but one of the city’s flu assessment clinics. In Vancouver, a flu clinic at the B.C. Children’s hospital also shut down this week as the number of patients eased.

“This is an outbreak that rose for the first four weeks, peaked three weeks ago and is now in freefall,” said Dr. Richard Schabas, Ontario’s former chief medical officer.

South of the border, fewer Americans are visiting their doctor because of swine flu, according to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Absentee rates at U.S. schools have returned to normal as well.

The evidence suggests that the virus is spreading more slowly than it was in September and October, and the number of lab samples testing positive for H1N1 is dropping.

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During the coming holidays, two things can happen, says health director Caroline C. Baisley: People keep their eye on the ball when it comes to preventive measures to keep H1N1 from spreading; or they get wrapped up in the holidays and turkeys and presents and let down their guard, and the flu escalates.

“Nationwide we’re off the charts right now,” Ms. Baisley says of the H1N1 infection, which is now in all 50 states and D.C. “This can be very dangerous. It’s a novel virus, we have no immunity to it and it’s spreading like wildfire.”

Last week the Centers for Disease Control released new estimates that paint a fresh picture of how the disease has been spreading. In the past six months, the report says, 22 million Americans have come down with H1N1 flu and 3,900 have died, with about 540 of those deaths pediatric.

The numbers tracking the spread in the Connecticut area, Ms. Baisley said, are fluid, a moving target. The first wave, which lasted from April 1 to Aug. 30, saw 1,996 people come down with the virus in Connecticut.

As of Nov. 10, just three months into the second wave, which will last through the spring, there are already 440 confirmed cases, with Hartford County leading the way at 146, New Haven County 112, and Fairfield running third with 87.

The age range is from 1 to 81, but the mean is 18, evenly split between male and female.

One reason the pandemic may be affecting more younger people than older ones, Ms. Baisley said, is that anyone born before 1957 may have gotten vaccinated during the swine flu epidemic of 1976, or have been exposed to it, thus giving them a slight edge. That virus had components similar enough to today’s H1N1 that it could be acting like a vaccine from the past.

“Scientifically, it makes sense,” says Ms. Baisley. It could also explain why older people are much more vulnerable to the regular seasonal flu. Were it not for this imbalance, things could get bad.

And they are bad enough. “We anticipate there will be many more hospitalizations,” she said. Nationwide, there are 200,000 hospitalizations in a cycle of seasonal flu, with 37,000 deaths. “What will those numbers be when these two viruses collide?”

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