Swine Flu

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As U.S. health officials struggle to vaccinate tens of millions of Americans against the pandemic of swine flu, some are looking regretfully at one easy way to instantly double or triple the number of doses available -- by using an immune booster called an adjuvant. These additives, often as simple as an oil and water mixture, broaden the body's response to a vaccine, reducing the amount of active ingredient called antigen needed. They are widely used in European flu vaccines as well as in Canada. But not in the United States -- even though the federal government has spent nearly $700 ... Read Full Story

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian health authorities said Friday they have discovered a potentially significant mutation in the H1N1 influenza strain that could be responsible for causing the severest symptoms among those infected. "The mutation could be affecting the virus' ability to go deeper into the respiratory system, thus causing more serious illness," the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said in a statement. Authorities added they had no reason to believe the mutation had any implication for the effect of flu vaccines or antiviral drugs made by groups such as Roche, GlaxoSmithKline , Novartis or AstraZeneca. H1N1, a mixture of swine, bird and human viruses, ... Read Full Story

Health officials say four people in North Carolina have tested positive for a type of swine flu that's resistant to the drug Tamiflu. It's the first cluster of that many cases seen in the U.S. Health officials said Friday the four cases were reported at Duke University Medical Center in Durham over the past six weeks. Tamiflu is one of two medicines that help against swine flu. Health officials have been closely watching for signs that the virus is mutating, making the drugs ineffective. About 52 resistant cases have been reported in the world since April, including 15 in the U.S. so far. Officials ... Read Full Story

China has ordered more accurate reporting of swine flu fatalities after a doctor renowned for helping expose the scale of the 2003 SARS outbreak said deaths were being deliberately underplayed. The order issued late Thursday on the health ministry website appeared to acknowledge suspicions of under-reporting in the nationwide tally, which the government has put at 53 deaths out of nearly 70,000 confirmed A(H1N1) cases. Those suspicions were fuelled Thursday when medical expert Zhong Nanshan was quoted by a newspaper in southern China's Guangdong province as questioning the official numbers. "I do not believe the current nationwide figures on A(H1N1) deaths," Zhong was quoted ... Read Full Story

Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad: Nov. 15 San Antonio Express-News, on the swine flu vaccine: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has a consoling message for everyone who has tried unsuccessfully to get the H1N1 vaccine: Don't worry — more vaccine is on the way. That message might be more reassuring if the American people hadn't already heard it. Public and government awareness of the swine flu pandemic is more than six months old. In July, federal health officials predicted that 160 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine would be available by the end of October. ... Read Full Story