Swine flu death toll crosses 500 in India: govt
Posted by: jen71mcleean on: November 10, 2009
More than 500 people have died from swine flu in India since the first fatality was reported in August, the health ministry said Monday.
The western state of Maharashtra has seen the largest number, with 207 deaths from the influenza A(H1N1) virus, the ministry said in a statement.
Besides the 502 deaths, more than 14,000 people have tested positive for swine flu across India since it was first detected here in May, it added.
More than 5,700 people have died worldwide since the virus was first discovered in April, with most of the deaths in the Americas region, according to the World Health Organization.
Nearly 3,000 Tamiflu tablets sold in 24 days
Posted by: jen71mcleean on: October 24, 2009
Around 3,000 capsules of Oseltamivir – popularly known as Tamiflu – have been sold within 24 days of its distribution across 12 private retail chemist shops in the city.
The city got its first stock of Tamiflu for private sale from Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Hetero Healthcare Ltd on September 20. The sale of the drug is strictly against prescription of a qualified doctor of allopathy.
“A total number of 2,770 capsules were sold within 24 days of its private distribution. The monthly update of the same will be submitted for scrutiny to the Pune division of Food and Drug Administration in the next few days,” said Mahendra Pitaliya, chief co-ordinator of Chemists’ Association of Pune District (CAPD).
Oseltamivir is the generic name of the drug. The brand name of Oseltamivir capsules produced by Rosche pharmaceuticals is Tamiflu. While Oseltamivir capsules produced by Hetero Healthcare Ltd is known as Fluvir, added Pitaliya. Generic maker Natco Pharma also launched Natflu its version of the oseltamivir (Tamiflu) drug in the Indian market.
Natflu is priced at Rs 475 for a bottle of 10 capsules and is available with all the schedule X licence holders in the city. “As compared with Fluvir, retail sale of Natflu is negligible in the city,” said Pitaliya. Fluvir is priced at Rs 449 for a strip of 10 capsules, he added.
Fluvir is available in doses of 35mg, 45 mg and 75 mg. But the present stock that the city has received contains fluvir capsules of 75 mg only. “That means only those patients who are above 12 years of age can take this capsule. The syrup form of the Oseltamivir is likely to come in the city in the next few days,” said Pitaliya.
Distribution of Oseltmivir was restricted through government health centres till September 15, as a measure to prevent random use of the drugs leading to developing resistance to the drugs.
“All those chemists who are selling the Tamiflu capsules will have to necessarily submit the monthly sell report to the FDA at the end of each month,” said A B Joshi, assistant commissioner (drugs) of FDA.
When contacted, Chetan Shah, a stockist of Fluvir drug in the city said, “The pharmaceutical company has communicated a set of guidelines regarding distribution of Tamiflu capsules. The aim is to avoid indiscriminate use of Tamiflu.”
“The coming months may see an explosion in H1N1 infections. It is good that the drug is freely available now. However, it will remain a prescription drug and not an over-the-counter medicine. The drug will be available under the category in which drugs having narcotic substances are sold (Schedule X),” said Dilip Sarda, president of the city unit of IMA.
India to produce raw material for swine flu drug, toll touches 220
Posted by: jen71mcleean on: September 18, 2009
India is working overtime to come out with a swine flu vaccine and will soon produce the raw material used in the anti-flu drug, the government said Thursday as eight more people died of the influenza A (H1N1) virus, taking the toll to 220.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said ‘India is taking prompt and proactive measures to delay and limit the spread of the diseases and also to build capacity to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.’
He said India was among the first few countries to stake claim to produce the vaccine.
‘Three companies – Serum Institute, Panaxea Bio-Tech and Bhatat Biotech are working on this and the government has given Rs.100 million each to these institutes,’ he told reporters here.
‘The vaccine is likely to be available by April next year,’ he added.
He said the ministry is also in touch with multinational companies working on producing the swine flu vaccine. ‘We are in touch with them and will import the vaccine if they prepare it first,’ he added.
Azad said presently there are 53 laboratories – 31 government and 22 private – that are conducting the H1N1 tests, as compared to two when the flu was first reported in India on May 16.
Of these, 34 labs – 22 government and 12 private – are operational.
The government has also increased its medicine stockpile with 10 million Oseltamivir capsules, one of the anti-influenza drugs, to 40 million capsules, and 450,000 bottles of Oseltamivir syrup.
‘We have also permitted regulated sale and distribution of Oseltamivir and Zanamivir. Both these drugs will be available in retail markets against proper medical prescription from chemists having a license,’ he said.
He said India will soon produce raw material for Oseltamivir, one of the drugs used in treatment of Influenza A (H1N1) virus. This will help bring down the cost of the drug.
‘We have decided to allow indigenous production of shikimic acid,’ Azad said.
Shikimic acid, a white crystalline compound of nonnitrogenous acid found in various plants naturally, is needed to produce Oseltamivir. India is currently importing it.
Azad said an expert group has been constituted at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to oversee the process.
He said proposals were received from various Indian institutions and the ministry has given approval to four of them.
ICMR Director General V.M. Katoch said the council has approved proposals from four institutes, including Delhi University, and Indian Institutes of Technology at Delhi and Mumbai.
He said China is also working on producing the natural source for the antivirals that can combat the H1N1 influenza virus.
‘Our prices will of course be cheaper. We will be competing,’ he added.
Currently, a 10-tablet strip of the drug costs Rs.280 in the open market.
On Thursday, health authorities said six people died of swine flu in Hyderabad. They had died between Sep 13 to 15. But it was confirmed only on Thursday.
Two deaths were reported from Karnataka, taking the total number of deaths due to H1N1 virus to 73. While one patient died in Bangalore, the other death was registered in Bijapur.
A 35-year old-man admitted to a private hospital in Bangalore on Sep 9 died on Sep 15, and a 40-year-old woman admitted on Sep 11 to a private hospital in Bijapur succumbed the next day. However, the report confirming that they died of flu was received on Sep 16.
‘Till date, samples from 31,517 people have been tested for influenza A (H1N1) in government laboratories and a few private labs across the country and 7,008 of them have been found poisitive,’ a statement issued here said.
Meanwhile, 208 fresh cases were reported in the country, taking the total number of affected people to 7,008.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 277,607 confirmed swine flu cases have been reported globally, while there have been 3,205 deaths in 190
71 kids among 103 new swine flu cases
Posted by: jen71mcleean on: September 18, 2009
The capital reported 103 positive swine flu cases on Thursday, raising the total number of cases in the city to 1,589. Of the 103 that
tested positive, 71 are children. This is the highest number of swine flu cases reported in a day ever since the pandemic hit the capital in June.
“The number of cases are drastically increasing. But none of the 71 children tested positive is serious. A majority of the infected children have been advised home quarantine and some of them have already recovered. At present we have 187 patients and a large number of them are children,” said Dr Anjan Prakash, nodal officer, Delhi government.
Paediatricians claim that children are a vulnerable lot. Apart from taking basic precautions like washing hands at frequent intervals, avoiding crowded places etc, nothing much can be done to prevent them from getting infected.
“The respiratory tract in children is in growing stages, that is why upper respiratory infections are very common among children. Adding to the problem is their weak immune system. The infection is widespread, so it is difficult to contain it. But one should take preventive measures,” said Dr VK Paul, head of the department paediatrics, AIIMS.
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Airline workers may spread H1N1, expert says
Posted by: jen71mcleean on: September 18, 2009
Airline employees who report to work ill are more likely than sick passengers to spread infections such as the H1N1 swine flu virus aboard airplanes, with low-paid workers posing the greatest danger, a U.S. government expert said on Thursday.
Dr. Michael Bell, an expert on infectious disease with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said flight attendants and other employees who move through aircraft can leave germs on any number of surfaces, while sick passengers could be more likely to remain stationary.
But the greatest threat could come from a low-paid airline contractors, such as cleaners, if slim wages and poor benefits make it difficult for them to take a sick day.
“That individual may be just as effective at spreading infection as anybody else,” Bell told a meeting sponsored by the independent U.S. Institute of Medicine on the role that airports and aircraft play in transmitting disease.
Public health officials ask sick people not to travel and risk spreading infection to others and advise ill workers to stay home as well.
“The way we help employees not to be sources of transmission is pretty complex because there’s such a variation between the resources those people have,” said Bell, who is an associate director for infection control at the CDC.
“With contract staff in many ways being a larger part of the work force, it becomes tricky,” he added.
The question of infection aboard airliners and in airports has become a major concern in the United States, where public health officials are bracing for a surge of H1N1 swine flu cases as cooler autumn temperatures take hold in the Northern Hemisphere.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is urging air carriers to emphasize personal hygiene among workers and passengers, particularly hand-washing, as health officials await the first delivery of H1N1 flu vaccine later this month.
Commercial airliners have air filters that can trap pathogens and prevent them from spreading through the plane’s ventilation system.
US to share 10 percent of H1N1 vaccine with other nations
Posted by: jen71mcleean on: September 18, 2009
The US will share 10 percent of its H1N1 vaccine supply with other countries to combat the global spread of the pandemic, President Barack Obama said Thursday.
The US vaccines would be made available to countries through the World Health Organization (WHO), recognising that ‘diseases know no borders, and the health of the American people is inseparable from the health of people around the world,’ the White House said.
The vaccine will be made available on a rolling basis in cooperation with Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and Britain.
According to the latest WHO estimates, more than 277,607 people have been sickened by swine flu this year worldwide, with at least 3,205 reported deaths.
The US Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a vaccine designed to protect against swine flu and hopes to make it available within a month.
The regulator approved the vaccine manufactured by four different pharmaceutical companies and said the first batches of shots should be available within the next four weeks in the US.
The H1N1 vaccine produces immunity within eight to 10 days of the injection.
The first major outbreak of the new variant of the influenza virus occurred this spring in Mexico and quickly spread across the world.
‘Surgical masks offer no protection against flu’
Posted by: jen71mcleean on: September 18, 2009
Surgical masks offer doctors no protection against a pandemic and need to be replaced, says a new study.
The study by University of New South Wales (UNSW), which compared the efficiency of various masks, found that specialised respirators (N95 masks) offer the best protection to health workers.
This is the first study to compare the efficiency of various masks, and it revealed that surgical masks offer no protection at all to either influenza or respiratory disease.
N95 masks provided 75 percent protection against proven influenza infection and 56 percent protection against proven respiratory viral infections.
The findings could revolutionise current medical practice, which relies on surgical masks providing defence against influenza when vaccines aren’t available.
The protection of health workers is crucial, as they are at the front line of an effective pandemic response, according to Raina MacIntyre, UNSW professor, who led the study.
The results suggest that, although they’re more expensive, N95 masks should be the standard protective equipment offered to health workers.
The random clinical trial was performed in 24 hospitals and involved 1,936 hospital health care workers in Beijing, China.
These findings were presented at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco.
India’s swine flu deaths 101, preventive homeopathy advised
Posted by: jen71mcleean on: September 2, 2009
India Tuesday reported one more swine flu death, taking the total toll due to the influenza A (H1N1) virus to 101, health authorities said here.
The latest death was reported from Goa. While two deaths in Karnataka were suspected to be due to the virus, lab reports were still awaited.
Of the 101 deaths, Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of deaths, 55, followed by 27 in Andhra Pradesh.
The union health ministry recommended preventive homeopathy medicine, Arsenicum album 30. The decision to advise people to take the preventive medicine was taken after the Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH), a state-run research wing, gave the suggestion for curbing the spread of the diseases.
‘It has recommended one doze of the medicine daily on empty stomach for three days. The dose should be repeated after one month by following the same schedule in case flu like conditions prevail in the area,’ the ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, 114 people were tested positive for the influenza A (H1N1) virus Tuesday in the country, taking the total number of cases to 4,101.
Maharashtra continued to top the charts both in terms of deaths and positive cases. On Tuesday, 48 fresh cases were from the state alone. So far, about 1,687 people have been affected due to the virus in the state.
It was followed by Delhi in the number of cases. At least 665 people have been infected with the disease in the capital. On Tuesday, 10 fresh cases were reported in the Indian capital.
Karnataka reported 22 fresh cases, taking the total number of people infected with the virus to 463 – the third highest in the country.
Other fresh cases were reported from West Bengal (18) and Orissa (3). One case each was reported from Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh while Puducherry and Chandigarh reported two swine flu cases each.
Meanwhile, a government study has found that swine flu is killing more young and middle-aged people and those suffering from associated diseases like diabetes and chronic heart ailment.
‘We have conducted a study and found that more than 50 percent of those affected by the virus were in the age group of 15-45 years,’ R.K. Srivastava, director general of the Directorate General of Health Services, told reporters.
‘Deaths were also due to late reporting to identified health facilities and delay in initiation of Tamiflu,’ he said.
The report, which was presented to Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad during Monday’s stock-taking meeting of the ministry, studied the first 82 deaths that occurred till Aug 31.
Among the dead were 43 men and 39 women including three pregnant women.
Srivastava said that of the 82 deaths, 61 were in urban areas and 19 in rural areas.
He said there were five deaths in the age group of 0-5 years and three from 6-15 age group. Thirteen victims were from the age group of 16 to 25 years, while 18 people died in the age group of 26-35 years.
Srivastava said 24 people died in the age group of 36-45, as compared to 18 in the age group of 46-65. Only one person died in the above 65-year category.
Bhumyamalaki, Ashwagandha, Guduchi, Amla, Tulsi Swine flu H1N1 immunity providers
Posted by: jen71mcleean on: August 18, 2009
Medicinal herbs like tulsi, which is commonly found in people’s homes, can help boost one’s immunity and thus fight Influenza A (H1N1), say Ayurveda doctors.
Preeti Chhabra, an Ayurveda doctor in the capital, said that medicinal herbs like tulsi, ashwagandha, guduchi and amla can help boost one’s immunity level, thus helping fight swine flu.
“Keeping the present scenario in mind, some medicinal herbs like ashwagandha, amla, guduchi and tulsi are very good to help boost the body’s immunity and thus help fight diseases. These can either be consumed individually or made into a concoction,” Chhabra told IANS.
“Tulsi in particular is a very good herb because it has both anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties. It can boost one’s immunity and also rejuvenate after a bout of illness. Therefore, although you can’t call it a cure, it can sure help fight H1N1 virus,” she added.
Rakesh Sharma, another Ayurveda expert, said: “Tulsi has the medicinal property that strengthens the body’s defence mechanism. Not only can it help boost your immunity level, but also help you recover faster.”
“A paste or juice made out of about 20 tulsi leaves, if had daily, will help one strengthen the immunity level and fight viruses like H1N1,” he added.
Kavia Sharma, a mother of two, said that she has started giving her children a thick concoction of tulsi early in the morning to strengthen their immunity level and ward off the H1N1 virus.
“These days I have started giving my children a tulsi paste every morning after soaking a few leaves in water overnight,” Sharma told IANS.
Bhumyamalaki, another herb, has the potential to boost one’s overall body defence mechanism, Chhabra added.
“Bhumyamalaki helps one in fighting diseases like Hepatitis B. And it can help in case of swine flu too,” she said.
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One more swine flu death in Mumbai, toll 29
Posted by: jen71mcleean on: August 18, 2009
Even as two more woman died of swine flu in Pune and Mumbai, raising the nationwide toll to 29 with Pune being worst hit with 13
fatalities, the district authorities in Pune announced on Monday that the closure of educational institutions and cinema halls would be extended to August 23.
Of the three suspected deaths of the flu in Mumbai, one pregnant woman died of swine flu on Monday. So far, three persons have fallen victim to H1N1 virus in the financial capital of the country. In Pune, Bina Gonsalves (36), who was admitted to Sassoon hospital on August 15 in a critical state, collapsed late on Sunday night. She was a confirmed case of swine flu.
Pune district collector Chandrakant Dalvi said though the number of deaths in the city had come down over the last three days and the number of people visiting screening centres had also fallen, the number of suspected patients was still high.
“Guardian minister Ajit Pawar and divisional commissioner Dilip Band took the decision to keep schools, colleges, tuition classes, theatres and multiplexes closed till August 23. Earlier, schools and colleges were to stay shut till August 19,” Dalvi said.
To check the spread of the H1N1 virus, the district administration has decided to rope in army medical establishments to upgrade screening and treatment facilities, besides making more beds available.
“The defence establishments have extended full co-operation,” Dalvi said. The army medical establishments in the city include the Military Hospital, Khadki; Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC); Military Hospital (cardio-thoracic centre) and the Cantonment General Hospital. AFMC and Command Hospital spokesperson Lt Col Abhijit Rudra said: “The proposal to extend medical amenities to civilians has been discussed and we are looking at extending help”.
Dalvi said the current bed capacity for the swine flu patients in various state government and municipal corporation hospitals is 466. “Our aim is to increase it to 1,000 beds in the next few days,” he said.
The collector said 8,155 patients were screened on Monday, far less than the figures for Saturday (27,288) and Sunday (13,442). Also, there were only 687 suspected cases reported on Monday as against 1,374 cases on Saturday and 1,094 on Sunday. Twenty-four fresh positive cases were reported on Monday, bringing the total number of such cases to 598.
‘‘As of today, there are 243 patients admitted in different hospitals in the city,’’ Dalvi said. ‘‘Of these, 54 are H1N1 positive and 189 are suspected cases. Eight patients are on the ventilator — two at Sassoon hospital and six at Sahyadri hospital,’’ he said.
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