February 18, 2012    07:20 am Sabrina Ambler, MML News Reporter

Sonora, CA — the first case of influenza was positively identified yesterday in Tuolumne County marking an unusually late start to flu season.

According to Tuolumne County Health Officer, Dr. Todd Stolp, “flu season is any month, usually from October to March, in which officials expect people to contract influenza.” Dr. Stolp noted that last winter reports of positive tests for influenza started January 25th and peaked February 26th. he noted that hundreds of people likely had the flu last year but many do not report their symptoms and even fewer are tested for influenza. in the winter of 2009 the peak of the reports occurred much earlier at the end of October.

According to an associated Press report, this year is the slowest start to a flu season in nearly 25 years. Citing CDC officials, it was noted that the flu season hasn’t occurred this late since the winter of 1987-1988. the report noted nationally only California in the last two weeks, and Missouri, have documented cases so far.

According to Dr. Stolp numerous cases of RSV, (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) a fairly common respiratory virus, with similar symptoms to influenza have been reported in Tuolumne County this winter.

Influenza is highly contagious, health officials recommend frequent hand washing, coughing into your elbow, and staying at home when you are sick.

Written by Sabrina Ambler

By Dr. Katherine Seibert Published: 2:00 AM – 12/07/11

Influenza viruses Types A and B cause annual outbreaks of flu affecting approximately 5-10 percent of adults each year, with higher rates in children.

There are multiple varieties of A and B viruses; the swine origin H1N1 virus is one of the Type A viruses. in the United States, influenza causes an average of more than 36,000 deaths per year and more than 130,000 hospitalizations.

People over age 65 constitute about half of the excess hospitalizations from the flu and more than 85 percent of the deaths.

However, in the U.S., most people who become ill with the flu recover without requiring any medical treatment. the flu occurs annually in this climate between December and March.

The flu virus changes its surface proteins so fast that no one becomes fully immune. This year’s virus is not a carbon copy of last year’s, thus necessitating a change in the composition of the yearly flu vaccine.

Symptoms of the flu come on abruptly, and usually include fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle aches and loss of appetite. Sore throat and dry cough may occur early in the illness. Secondary bacterial pneumonia can follow within one to three days, with rapidly progressing symptoms.

Influenza is thought to spread mainly person to person through coughing or sneezing by infected people. it may also be spread by touching infected objects, such as a phone, then touching one’s nose or mouth.

In many circumstances, the diagnosis of influenza can be made clinically. Several laboratory tests are available, but viral cultures do not yield timely results. Rapid antigen tests are available, but sensitivities are variable, between 60 and 90 percent. Specimens for influenza testing are aspirates and swabs from the nasopharyngeal area.

The flu is often treated symptomatically with rest and fluids. People who are at high risk of serious complications from influenza may benefit most from antiviral medications. Several antiviral drugs are available for treatment of influenza. These antivirals, if begun early, will reduce the duration of fever and symptoms by one to three days and provide more rapid overall recovery.

Little or no benefit is seen when treatment is initiated two days or more after the onset of uncomplicated influenza symptoms. the greatest effect occurs when antivirals are begun within the first 24 hours.

Influenza vaccines are available in two forms:

Flu vaccine protection is recommended for all persons 6 months old and older. the intranasal vaccine is currently approved only for healthy people ages 2-49 who are not pregnant.

Administration of the inactivated vaccine is associated with arm soreness in about one-third of people, and other side effects are infrequent. Adequate immunity is achieved in about two weeks after vaccination, and it is very effective in preventing the flu.

To protect yourself and others from the flu, it is important to follow good hand-washing and hygiene practices.

If you become sick with flu-like symptoms, stay at home for least seven days after the onset of illness or until 24 hours after your symptoms resolve, whichever is longer.

Katherine Seibert, M.D., Ph.D., FACP, is a practicing internist who sees patients at Hudson River HealthCare in Monticello. she is also a doctor of microbiology and a Sister of Charity of new York. she has been serving Sullivan County as a physician for the past 20 years.

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Action Points  

• Explain that a single dose of an adjuvanted vaccine against the pandemic H1N1 flu was highly effective at preventing hospital admission for children with confirmed infection.
• Point out that the finding suggests that in an emergency in which vaccine is scarce, such as during a pandemic, children can benefit from a less than optimal immunization schedule.

A single dose of an adjuvanted vaccine against the pandemic H1N1 flu was highly effective at preventing hospital admission for children with confirmed infection, researchers reported.

In a case-control study conducted during the second wave of the 2009 pandemic, a single pediatric dose was 85% effective at keeping kids out of hospital, according to Rodica Gilca, MD, PhD, of the Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec in Québec city, and colleagues.

The finding suggests that in an emergency in which vaccine is scarce, such as the pandemic, children can benefit from a less than optimal immunization schedule, Gilca and colleagues argued online in Pediatrics.

“The decision to administer two doses of influenza vaccine to children is context dependent,” they concluded, with factors such as the stage of the epidemic and the availability of vaccine playing a role.

Young children are usually thought to be immunologically naive with respect to the flu, so a two-dose schedule is recommended for the first immunization with a conventional influenza vaccine lacking adjuvant.

That was the situation in the U.S. during the pandemic because American authorities have never approved an adjuvanted flu vaccine. but Canada used a vaccine boosted with an oil in water emulsion that demonstrated substantial immunogenicity in children at a single 0.25-milliliter dose, which contained 1.9 grams of hemagglutinin and half the adult dose of adjuvant.

To see how that adjuvanted vaccine played out, Gilca and colleagues conducted a case-control study starting Nov. 12, 2009 — 10 days after vaccination started in children in the province of Québec — and ended Dec. 19, when the second wave subsided.

Cases were children, ages 6 months to 9 years, with lab-confirmed pandemic flu who were admitted to hospital in the province. Controls, who were identified from health insurance records, were matched by date of birth and place of residence.

All told, the researchers analyzed 221 cases and 663 controls, with each case matched to three controls. the reference date for controls was the day symptoms appeared for the case child.

The primary endpoint was vaccine effectiveness, defined as one minus the odds ratio for hospital admission among vaccinated children, compared with those who were not vaccinated.

Gilca and colleagues found:

• Overall, a single pediatric dose of vaccine, given at least 14 days before onset of symptoms was 85% effective, with a 95% confidence interval from 61 to 94.
• Effectiveness varied with age — 92% in 6- through 23-month-olds, 89% in 2- through 4-year-olds, and 79% in 5- through 9-year-olds. the 95% confidence intervals were wide and overlapping at 51 to 99 for the first group, 34 to 98 for the second group, and -31 to 96 for the third group.
• Overall vaccine effectiveness for immunization no less than 10 days before symptoms appeared was slightly lower at 80%, and the age variation was similar.

The researchers cautioned that the study design meant they could not rule out residual confounding by unmeasured factors. As well, they noted, statistical power was limited because many cases occurred before the vaccine was available.

On the other hand, the study included all children admitted to hospital for the pandemic flu from a large population, and all cases were confirmed using real-time polymerase chain reaction testing.

The study was supported by the Quebec Ministry of Health.

Gilca reported financial links with Pfizer.

CHICAGO — an investigational drug for influenza that targets a host-cell factor necessary for infection reduced viral loads by more than 100-fold in a randomized trial, a researcher said here. an inhalable fusion protein called DAS181 reduced viral loads by 2.38 log10 relative to placebo on day five after symptom onset in the 297-patient trial (P=0.008), according to Roy Steigbigel, MD, of the State University of New York at Stony Brook. three days of once-daily treatment led to decreases in viral loads of 1.01 log10 on day two and 1.46 log10 on day three relative to placebo (both P<0.01), Steigbigel told attendees at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC). Action Points  

• Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. these data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
• Explain that an investigational drug for influenza that targets a host-cell factor necessary for infection reduced viral loads by more than 100-fold in a randomized trial.
• Note that the drug studied, an inhalable fusion protein called DAS181, targets sialic acid, a receptor on airway cells to which the flu virus’s hemagglutinin protein binds.

However, elevations of alkaline phosphatase were seen in most patients receiving the drug but only rarely in the placebo group, Steigbigel said. the same signal was seen in preclinical studies with DAS181 and is apparently the result of systemic exposure to the drug, causing reduced clearance of the enzyme.

DAS181 targets sialic acid, a receptor on airway cells to which the flu virus’s hemagglutinin protein binds. This is the process that allows the virus to enter host cells and begin replicating.

The drug combines a sialidase enzyme molecule with an anchor protein attaching the drug to cell surfaces so that its effect is prolonged.

Steigbigel reported results from an international phase II trial conducted across three flu seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres.

Patients were 18 to 68 years old and were enrolled within 48 hours of symptom onset, with confirmation of flu infection by a standard rapid test.

They were assigned to three double-blind treatment groups: three doses of placebo; DAS181 given as a single 10-mg dose on the first day, followed by two daily placebo doses; or three daily doses of 10 mg DAS181.

Excluding patients who didn’t receive the assigned doses, there were 88 patients in each group.

The single dose of DAS181 was only slightly more effective than placebo for the major study endpoints, which included time to decreased viral shedding as well as viral loads in gargle washes.

But the three-dose regimen was significantly superior to placebo for both endpoints.

Decreased viral shedding was assessed as the time from baseline to a 1-log10 decrease in viral burden in gargle washes. among patients receiving three daily doses of DAS181, it was achieved in a median of two days, compared with four days for the placebo group.

Steigbigel said the study was not powered for clinical efficacy endpoints, and he did not report on whether the drug shortened time with symptoms.

He did indicate, though, that use of acetaminophen for symptom relief was more frequent in the placebo group.

Session co-moderator Laurent Kaiser, MD, of the University Hospital of Geneva in Switzerland, questioned whether the deactivation of sialic acid receptors could create increased opportunities for bacterial infection.

Some research had suggested that pneumococcal bacteria might be better able to infect airway tissue in the absence of sialic acid.

Steigbigel responded this had been a concern with DAS181 and was examined in animal studies, which found no evidence of increased susceptibility to such infections.

“The proof of the pudding will be in the clinical data,” he added. the phase I and phase II studies had so far not revealed any increased risk, Steigbigel said.

At a separate press briefing, Kaiser said DAS181 was one of several promising new anti-flu agents in the development pipeline.

He noted that, currently, the only drugs specific for flu are inhibitors of the virus’s neuraminidase enzyme.

“We will have soon, hopefully, other drugs than the neuraminidase inhibitors to target influenza and to open the possibility of combined therapy for severe cases,” Kaiser said.

The study was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. DAS181 is under development by NexBio.

Steigbigel declared he had no relevant financial interests. all other investigators on the study were NexBio employees.

They sound like the exact same thing.

there aren't any. Blood tests have to be done to differentiate.

thats because they are. flu is just the abbreviated name for influenza. swine flu has recently been renamed to "influenza A". influenza a is a particular type of flu, thats why it isnt just called influenza.

There are no particular symptoms that distinguish swine flu from other types of flu. Symtoms like diarrhea and vomiting are also associated with swine flu. Those symptoms can also be caused by many other conditions, and that means that you and your doctor can't know, just based on your symptoms.

There is a similarity between the swine flu epidemic centered in Mexico City and the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918-19. Infants and elderly were spared. it was the young adults with robust immune systems that were the prime victims and the disease took them literally by storm. what happens with young and healthy patients is that their immune systems react so strongly that they can triggers something known as a "cytokine storm".

In response to every infection, the body has a number of ways to fight back against the invading enemy. Cytokines are part of this defense. the name "cytokine storm" basically describes an over-reaction of a healthy immune system that has over-reacted and is damaging the body, causing failure of multiple organ systems. it can be triggered by many things, including viruses, although it's not common for human influenza a virus strains to cause it. the same thing occurs with new swine flu virus and the body has no defenses built up. When infected the body's own defensive systems are triggered to a powerful extent and cause havoc to the immune system. It’s something like dropping an H-bomb on a suspected burglar in your back yard. the result is to kill, or needlessly harm, the patient

In children the immune responses are still developing, while the elderly immune function tends to be weaker due to the aging process. both groups have weak immune system that is why they are vulnerable to complications from the regular flu and tend to get pneumonia and other opportunistic infections after being weakened further by the regular flu. Fortunately, they don't have systems that react strongly to the flu itself that can generate the cytokine storm. However, the healthy approximately 15 to 60 year old individual the most likely to actually succumb to the swine flu.

A cytokine storm can overcome the nervous system and cause breathing and internal organs problems, which is why hospitals put critical flu patients on assisted machines. what really frightens experts in the pandemic field is the fact that most hospitals only have a few of these facilities and they are often in use for surgical or other critical patients. There is simply no way to provide interim support for tens of thousands of pandemic flu victims, even in advanced countries with a strong hospital system. the equipment just doesn't exist to put them all on breathing machines until their bodies are able to recover naturally.

Swine flu will have you loss appetite, nausea and diarrhea which don't appear in regular flu.

My son had fever of 102.5, body aches, chills, no appetite and vomiting. took him to the doctor and tested positive for type a influenza. What's puzzling is that after two days, his appetite was back, he felt great and even wanted to go outside to play, as if he was never sick. Was it really Type a? I thought it would last longer. He has no respiratory symptoms either.

type a influenza has many different species, obviously he did not have H1N1 type a. the rapid testing done in doctor's offices are not all that accurate. To have a definitive diagnosis the lab has to culture the victim's secretions for two weeks to see if the virus is present, so for now, most docs are treating any flu like symptoms as if they are H1N1 to be on the safe side. if your son goes 24 hours without a fever and nothing to reduce a fever, then you can consider him healthy, but not before. Especially in children there is a pattern of feeling better and then relapsing into serious illness. Keep him home, keep him quiet.

My 11 month old daughter tested positive for influenza a last week as well. they put her on Tamilflu and she was only sick for 2 days too. the doctor said that she does not need the H1N1 vaccine since she had a positive test. I am wondering the same as you and I am concerned that maybe she had a 'false positive' test? Her fever was 103.4 – I know she had some kind of virus to cause that kind of fever but should we be concerned that they had another strain and will need to be vaccinated?

He may feel better, but that doesn't mean that he's completely well. it just means that whatever medication he's taking is working. I'd continue to make him take it easy for the next few days if not another week. He needs to continue to finish any prescribed medication to ensure that all infections are demolished. if he doesn't finish them, the virus could mutate into something stronger.

This morning, I made out with my girlfriend. This afternoon, she began feeling very sick all of a sudden, fever of almost 103, and all the symptoms. She just got diagnosed with influenza type A and is very sick. am I doomed? how long before I show symptoms?

HA! Oh yeeeeeaaahhhhh!!!!
You have two days before you begin showing symptoms. there is -no- way around it unless you have had that specific strain of influenza. there is no way that you have had that specific strain of influenza before because it continually mutates! so, go buy the medicine now and make your bed very comfortable so your stay in it will be okay for you. since you are definitely doomed anyway, you might as well go make out with her some more! you either have influenza or you don't, and you -do- have influenza now, so adding more won't make -any- difference in your symptoms. Go! Make out with her! She will feel a little better because of it!

your screwed.
probly about a day

answer mine please

Hepatitis B is transmitted via blood, semen and vaginal secretions, but not casual contact. Symptoms are similar to influenza and stomach flu.

I am sick, and Im wondering what I'm sick with?
this is what I have:
fever
dry cough
sore throught
and headache
runny nose
Do I have influenza? or something else?
Is there anything I can do to cure it faster?

The icky uglies, The Flu, You could go to the Doctors and they could give you a shot to help you if your sickness has not passed over 72 hours, if not zicam should help.God Bless you

Question by Aztec Soldier: Landon Donovan has the swine flu what do you think about that?

mediotiempo.com/futbol/internacional/noticias/2009/08/13/landon-donovan-tiene-influenza-h1n1

NOTICE: he got it in the US before he travel to Mexico

Best answer:

Answer by Bungalow Billreally?that’s a pity, he’s the best player of US

What do you think? Answer below!

Related Posts:

Tagged with: about • Donovan • Landon • Swine • think

Filed under: Cold flu

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