SWINE FLU H1N1

All educational institutions and public places in financial capital Mumbai will be closed for a week from thursday to arrest the spread of the H1N1 virus .
Malls and multiplexs shall be shutdown for 3 days .
The government has ordered the closure of all schools, colleges and other educational institutions in the city from tomorrow till Aug 20. Similarly, malls, theatres and multiplexes shall be closed for three days from tomorrow as a precaution," a state government official said. Many private schools in the state have already closed down for two days -- Wednesday and Thursday. Thereafter, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are already official holidays. However, there was confusion over the fate of other business and commercial establishments and whether they would continue to function as usual in the city.
Although schoolkids comprise just 15% of the total number of positive cases (99) in Mumbai, neither parents nor schools seem to be willing to heed the central government’s guidelines that prohibit indiscriminate closure of schools given the fact that H1N1 is known to severely affect kids and the elderly. In Vadodara, a seven-year-old schoolgirl died of swine flu on Tuesday
Sensing an opportunity, the MNS went around forcibly closing schools in central Mumbai on Tuesday morning. The Dadar police detained three MNS activists in this connection. By Tuesday evening, the College Principals Association, asked all non-government colleges to remain shut till Sunday, saying there was a lot of pressure on them from students and parents for this. Late on Tuesday night, state health minister Rajendra Shingane said several ruling party MLAs too had demanded closure of schools and that he would take up the issue with the CM on Wednesday. In Thane, civic authorities on Tuesday decided to shut the 132 primary municipal schools for one week. Elsewhere in the city and extended suburbs, the panic reflected in the number of people wearing masks in local trains and buses. Around 4,000 people turned up for screening at the centres in 13 designated public hospital as opposed to 2,000 on Monday. In another development, 19 private and 2 government hospitals showed their willingness to screen and treat the H1N1 patients. However, these hospitals will be allowed to start the service for this epidemic only after a team of health and civic officials give them a green signal. This means that Mumbai’s wait for private hospitals to treat swine flu cases will be stretched for another seven days.

Oscar Arias, Costa Rica's President, Has Swine Flu

2009-08-12T02:47:00.001-07:00

Oscar Arias, Costa Rica's President, Has Swine Flu

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Bollywood Hit By Swine Flu

2009-08-12T02:41:00.001-07:00

Bollywood Hit By Swine Flu

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Consumer Reports Swine Flu Survival Kit Prepares Consumers for Potentially Tough Flu Season This Fall

2009-08-12T02:37:00.000-07:00

Consumer Reports Swine Flu Survival Kit Prepares Consumers for Potentially Tough Flu Season This Fall

SWINE FLU Traces back to 1918

2009-08-12T02:30:00.000-07:00

Swine flu penetrates deeper into the lungs and can inflict more damage than ordinary seasonal flu, scientists have found.
The discovery could explain why the virus is able to cause severe illness in people with no underlying health problems.
Experts also believe swine flu is closely related to strains responsible for the 1918 pandemic which killed up to 40 million people worldwide.
Evidence suggests that people born after 1920 have little natural resistance to the virus.
US and Japanese researchers tested the ability of swine flu strains obtained from infected patients to cause disease in mice, ferrets, and macaque monkeys.
They found that swine-origin influenza viruses (S-OIVs) were about five times more harmful than seasonal versions of the H1N1 flu strain.
Their effect on the lungs was reminiscent of H5N1 bird flu, which is almost always fatal when it infects humans. But in the case of swine flu, most victims recover.
The viruses were also found to infect pigs without causing disease symptoms. This could be why there were no reports of flu outbreaks in pigs before humans started to get ill
A report on the research appeared online today in the journal Nature.
The scientists, led by Dr Yoshihiro Kawaoka from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US, wrote: "Most human infections with swine-origin H1N1 influenza viruses (S-OIVs) seem to be mild; however, a substantial number of hospitalised individuals do not have underlying health issues, attesting to the pathogenic potential of S-OIVs..
"Our findings indicate that S-OIVs are more pathogenic in mammalian models than seasonal H1N1 influenza viruses."
The good news from the research was that Tamiflu and other antiviral drugs were effective against swine flu viruses.
However the scientists warned that sustained person-to-person transmission might lead to the emergence of more dangerous, drug resistant strains.
Commenting on the research, Professor Ian Jones, from the University of Reading, said: "This complete analysis of the current H1N1 is what we've been waiting for. It shows that the new virus is about five times more pathogenic than seasonal H1N1 but that, nonetheless, the major outcome to infection is recovery. For the few cases of severe infection the data will help in clinical management of hospitalised patients."
Professor Wendy Barclay, chair in influenza virology at Imperial college London, said: "By comparison with a seasonal human H1N1 virus, it is shown that the sw (swine) origin H1N1 infect cells deeper into the respiratory tract. It must be borne in mind that typical circulating human strains of H1N1 have been associated with rather mild illness in recent years, and that the sw origin H1N1 may be behaving in these animal models more like the type of H3N2 viruses that caused a pandemic in 1968.

2 more deaths in Maharastra

2009-08-11T23:24:00.000-07:00

A out of seven deaths in caused by the the infection in maharastra five are from pune , while one is from Mumbai , and one from thane .

Death Toll mounts to 11

2009-08-11T21:47:00.000-07:00

Four More persons -one each in pune , mumai , vadodhara, Thiruvanthapuram .
Kerala recorded its first fatality
Virus spreads to jammu and meghalaya .

SWINE FLU can hurt Economy

2009-08-11T04:36:00.000-07:00

Panic-stricken IT firms ask staff to cut travel

A recent study says that the rate at which swine flu is spreading across the world, chances are that 30 per cent of the population might get infected. In India, that would mean more than 30 crore people being affected!

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has raised its pandemic alert to the highest level of six, formally declaring that the widely spreading A/H1N1 influenza has developed into a global pandemic.

India could be affected on many other counts too:
Markets: Indian markets have yet to press the panic button yet over swine flu, but there might be some impact like there was at the time of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in Asia. Some investors are already drawing parallels between swine flu and SARS.
High treatment cost: Healthcare costs are likely to soar if the epidemic spreads further in India.
Demand to be hit: With people keeping away from crowded areas (like shopping malls, retailers, theatres, restaurants), demand for various goods, especially 'non-essential' goods, is likely to drop. With consumption levels declining, the economy will be badly affected.
Absenteeism: As more people get infected, there is a strong likelihood of absenteeism rising at workplaces, leading to loss of man-hours and slippage in productivity.

Impact on Travel and tourism

Many travel and tourism companies are experiencing a loss of business as people postpone their non-essential travel plans. Many tours to infected nations have been cancelled. Although no particular advisories have been sent out by other nations against travel to India, if the epidemic spreads, then tour operators believe that the tourism sector will be badly hurt.