SEVERE OUTBREAK OF VIRULENT FLU
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Printed Date: April 28 2024 at 5:32am
Topic: SEVERE OUTBREAK OF VIRULENT FLU
Posted By: muriel46
Subject: SEVERE OUTBREAK OF VIRULENT FLU
Date Posted: December 22 2006 at 2:26pm
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6 area children with flu on life support (in Birmingham, Alabama) Number, severity of early cases alarm officials Friday, December 22, 2006 LISA OSBURN News staff writer Six children are on life support at Children's Hospital fighting severe cases of influenza, hospital officials said. The severity of the cases, many developing in the past two weeks, has raised concerns in Birmingham's pediatric medical community, said Dr. David Kimberlin, who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases at UAB. "It is not the volume and not even the time of year that is jumping out at us," he said. "It is more that, for a number of otherwise healthy children, they are ending up on life support from the flu. The number of times that is occurring - it seems out of the ordinary, at least for now." Influenza has hit Birmingham area children hard and early this year, with at least 10 reports of critically ill children, said Raenetta Ellison, influenza surveillance coordinator for the Jefferson County Health Department. Normally, cases of that number and severity are not reported until late January, February and March, she said. Alabama elevated its weekly influenza report to the "widespread outbrea" category this week, compared with the "regional outbreak" category last week, said Katina James, an epidemiologist with the Alabama Department of Public Health. Since influenza is not a reportable disease, there are no numbers available for flu cases, she said. Her office had no other reports of severe cases like those seen in Jefferson County. "Alabama had influenza activity earlier than most other states this year," Kimberlin said. "Right now, we and Florida and perhaps Georgia are really experiencing the largest outbreak of influenza in the country. We have a lot of children in the hospital with influenza, and that includes some very sick children in ICU." The level of life support varies among the six patients, all of whom have respiratory failure, Kimberlin said. In some cases, in addition to a ventilator, additional support is needed, such as a heart and lung bypass machine. While most of the younger flu patients are not that severely ill, emergency rooms and doctor's offices are staying packed with sick children, he said. I would like to know more so we can better understand what we are comparing this against," Kimberlin said. Outside of data that would better track the number of pediatric flu cases, "we are left with clinical impression. And this seems to be a particularly bad year, at least for some normal children who are getting the flu," he said. Kimberlin, who is an associate professor of pediatrics at UAB, mentioned the 2003-04 flu season, when 153 influenza-associated deaths in children younger than 18 were reported by state health departments across the country. At that time, doctors determined that they did not know enough about how many children get sick during a flu season. Although studies and other types of surveys have been established since then, more time is needed to better compare one year with another, he said. While the Birmingham and Jefferson and Shelby county school systems are not reporting a spike in sick students overall, there have been isolated cases of the flu hitting individual schools or classrooms, said Cindy Warner, spokeswoman for Shelby County schools. Mt Laurel Elementary School has taken the brunt of that in Shelby County. At least two of its students have been hospitalized, one in critical condition, and the school had 80 students out sick over the past few weeks, Warner said. Hundreds sick: Pinson Elementary and Chalkville Elementary in Jefferson County have reported hundreds of children out sick, many with flu-like symptoms, said Nez Calhoun, Jefferson County schools spokeswoman. Two weeks ago, the schools had 300 and 400 students out sick, many with flu-like symptoms, on a Thursday and Friday, compared with about 30 to 40 students out sick a year ago. School officials sent letters home to parents urging them to keep sick children at home, she said. Ellison, who monitors the number and severity of flu cases with the help of participating physicians, said she is urging parents to get their children flu shots and practice good hygiene. For the week of Dec. 10-16, 186 patients with influenza-like illness, mostly children, sought treatment with a physician participating with the Jefferson County influenza surveillance program, she said. There were 50 such patients at the same time last year. "It's not too late to vaccinate, and please do so," Kimberlin said. "If you do come down with the flu, there are treatments available." http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1166793395185660.xml&coll=2 - http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1166793395185660.xml&coll=2 I am going to email or call whomever I can find contact info for and try to see if they are testing for H5N1. I am sure they are; it would be totally irresponsible and negligent not to do so. |
Replies:
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 22 2006 at 3:02pm
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Florida is showing the largest outbreak..."widespread"
they are not showing it on the map yet
as "widespread" for Alabama....
http://www.weather.com/activities/health/coldandflu/nationalreports/national.html - http://www.weather.com/activities/health/coldandflu/nationalreports/national.html
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 22 2006 at 3:07pm
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OK..... Doctors....get on your laptops and
comapare .. confirm ..... your cases.
.......................................................................................
"...I would like to know more so we can better understand what we are comparing this against," Kimberlin said.
Outside of data that would better track the number of pediatric flu cases, "we are left with clinical impression. And this seems to be a particularly bad year, at least for some normal children who are getting the flu," he said.
Kimberlin, who is an associate professor of pediatrics at UAB, mentioned the 2003-04 flu season, when 153 influenza-associated deaths in children younger than 18 were reported by state health departments across the country. At that time, doctors determined that they did not know enough about how many children get sick during a flu season. Although studies and other types of surveys have been established since then, more time is needed to better compare one year with another, he said.
...............................................................
or... enter cyber space.
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 22 2006 at 4:21pm
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"It is not the volume and not even the time of year that is jumping out at us," he said. "It is more that, for a number of otherwise healthy children, they are ending up on life support from the flu. The number of times that is occurring - it seems out of the ordinary, at least for now."
Thanks for posting this. Am watching the situation closely and will look for any follow up articles found.
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 22 2006 at 5:13pm
| Thanks for all the posts and follow-ups, I could never keep up without all of you. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 22 2006 at 8:33pm
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from Birmingham, Alabama
http://www.abc3340.com/news/stories/1206/382336.html Children's Hospital Reports Six Children on Life Support From Flu Friday December 22, 2006 11:00am Birmingham (AP) - The number of flu cases among children in the Birmingham area is increasing. Some of those cases are severe. Children's Hospital officials say there are six children on life support fighting severe cases of influenza. A U-A-B doctor who specializes in infectious diseases among children, Doctor David Kimberlin, says it's the severity of the influenza cases that is alarming health officials. He says the concern is that otherwise healthy children are winding up on life support from the flu. A Jefferson County Health Department official, Raenetta Ellison, says the flu has hit Birmingham area children early this year. She says there have been at least ten reports of critically ill children in the area from flu. ......................................................... |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 23 2006 at 12:12am
| Kids shouldnt have to deal with stuff like this.Makes me ill. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 23 2006 at 4:45am
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http://*********/focus/f-news/1757555/posts - 6 Area Children With Flu On Life Support (Birmingham, Ala) 6 area children with flu on life support Number, severity of early cases alarm officials Friday, December 22, 2006 Six children are on life support at Children's Hospital fighting severe cases of influenza, hospital officials said. The severity of the cases, many developing in the past two weeks, has raised concerns in Birmingham's pediatric medical community, said Dr. David Kimberlin, who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases at UAB. "It is not the volume and not even the time of year that is jumping out at us," he said. "It is more that, for a number of otherwise healthy children, they are ending up on life support from the flu. The number of times that is occurring - it seems out of the ordinary, at least for now." Influenza has hit Birmingham area children hard and early this year, with at least 10 reports of critically ill children, said Raenetta Ellison, influenza surveillance coordinator for the Jefferson County Health Department. Normally, cases of that number and severity are not reported until late January, February and March, she said. Alabama elevated its weekly influenza report to the "widespread outbrea" category this week, compared with the "regional outbreak" category last week, said Katina James, an epidemiologist with the Alabama Department of Public Health. Since influenza is not a reportable disease, there are no numbers available for flu cases, she said. Her office had no other reports of severe cases like those seen in Jefferson County. "Alabama had influenza activity earlier than most other states this year," Kimberlin said. "Right now, we and Florida and perhaps Georgia are really experiencing the largest outbreak of influenza in the country. We have a lot of children in the hospital with influenza, and that includes some very sick children in ICU." The level of life support varies among the six patients, all of whom have respiratory failure, Kimberlin said. In some cases, in addition to a ventilator, additional support is needed, such as a heart and lung bypass machine. While most of the younger flu patients are not that severely ill, emergency rooms and doctor's offices are staying packed with sick children, he said. "I would like to know more so we can better understand what we are comparing this against," Kimberlin said. Outside of data that would better track the number of pediatric flu cases, "we are left with clinical impression. And this seems to be a particularly bad year, at least for some normal children who are getting the flu," he said. Kimberlin, who is an associate professor of pediatrics at UAB, mentioned the 2003-04 flu season, when 153 influenza-associated deaths in children younger than 18 were reported by state health departments across the country. At that time, doctors determined that they did not know enough about how many children get sick during a flu season. Although studies and other types of surveys have been established since then, more time is needed to better compare one year with another, he said. While the Birmingham and Jefferson and Shelby county school systems are not reporting a spike in sick students overall, there have been isolated cases of the flu hitting individual schools or classrooms, said Cindy Warner, spokeswoman for Shelby County schools. Mt Laurel Elementary School has taken the brunt of that in Shelby County. At least two of its students have been hospitalized, one in critical condition, and the school had 80 students out sick over the past few weeks, Warner said. Hundreds sick:
Pinson Elementary and Chalkville Elementary in Jefferson County have reported hundreds of children out sick, many with flu-like symptoms, said Nez Calhoun, Jefferson County schools spokeswoman. Two weeks ago, the schools had 300 and 400 students out sick, many with flu-like symptoms, on a Thursday and Friday, compared with about 30 to 40 students out sick a year ago. School officials sent letters home to parents urging them to keep sick children at home, she said. Ellison, who monitors the number and severity of flu cases with the help of participating physicians, said she is urging parents to get their children flu shots and practice good hygiene. For the week of Dec. 10-16, 186 patients with influenza-like illness, mostly children, sought treatment with a physician participating with the Jefferson County influenza surveillance program, she said. There were 50 such patients at the same time last year. "It's not too late to vaccinate, and please do so," Kimberlin said. "If you do come down with the flu, there are treatments available." E-mail: losburn@bhamnews.com |
Posted By: Albert
Date Posted: December 23 2006 at 5:31am
| Merged two similar threads... We can also hold this as a sticky topic for the next day or two since it has quite a bit of interest. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 23 2006 at 7:01am
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Thanks Albert.
I think this will turn out to be a "B" virus type like closed schools in some other states. The seasonal flu shots are for protection from some "A" virus strains and is having no effect against this. |
Posted By: Judy
Date Posted: December 23 2006 at 7:10am
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This is very disturbing. Thanks for making this a sticky, Albert. ------------- If ignorance is bliss, what is chocolate? 
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Posted By: muriel46
Date Posted: December 23 2006 at 11:28am
| I called the Birmingham News this afternoon, and was told that they had no new information at the moment, but they were working on it this afternoon, and would most likely have another article tomorrow in Sunday's paper. We'll see what they find out, if anything. Somehow I doubt that typing of the virus will be mentioned. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 23 2006 at 8:39pm
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this is interesting,,
a friend of mine in missouri said her son (7 yrs old) broke out with a bad case of the flu. he's in the hospital, the rest of the fam is on tamiflu as prescribed by his dr (they didn't even know what it was) and they had to report it to the CDC.
does this strike you as kinda over the top for the "regular" flu?
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 23 2006 at 9:17pm
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It Began in September 2006....
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060927/flu.shtml - http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060927/flu.shtml
Flu outbreaks in south Alabama towns unrelated By M.J. Ellington excerpt...
MONTGOMERY — Two southeast Alabama towns less than 25 miles apart have flu outbreaks, but state health officials say the outbreaks are from different strains of the disease and unrelated. That means that people with influenza A H1N1 in Ozark did not pass on the bug to their neighbors in Dothan, less than 25 miles to the south. The three confirmed Dothan cases of influenza B Shanghai type turned up in the last week. .........................................................................................................
FDA panel recommends flu vaccine changes for 2006/07
Fri Feb 17, 2006 6:00 PM ET http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-02-17T225959Z_01_N17187894_RTRUKOC_0_US-FLU.xml - http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-02-17T225959Z_01_N17187894_RTRUKOC_0_US-FLU.xml By Todd Zwillich Excerpt....
Influenza causes an estimated 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths per year in the United States, according to the CDC. The vast majority of cases are caused by Influenza A viruses. The FDA advisory panel voted to change the current vaccine's "California" strain of the H3N2 Influenza A virus to a different H3N2 strain known as a "Wisconsin" strain. Experts also recommended a shift from the less common
"Shanghai" Influenza B strain to a different B strain known as
"Malaysia/2506."
The panel recommended no change to the current vaccine's "New Caledonia" strain of the H1N1 Influenza A virus.
..............................................................................................................
An interesting report...
http://www.surv.esr.cri.nz/PDF_surveillance/Virology/VirQtrRpt/VirQtr2005Q3.pdf - http://www.surv.esr.cri.nz/PDF_surveillance/Virology/VirQtrRpt/VirQtr2005Q3.pdf
another...
http://www.surv.esr.cri.nz/PDF_surveillance/Virology/VirWeekRpt/2006/VirWeek200604.pdf - http://www.surv.esr.cri.nz/PDF_surveillance/Virology/VirWeekRpt/2006/VirWeek200604.pdf
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 23 2006 at 11:45pm
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UPDATED FLU MAP.....
http://www.weather.com/activities/health/coldandflu/nationalreports/national.html - http://www.weather.com/activities/health/coldandflu/nationalreports/national.html
From the CDC...
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Influenza Activity as Assessed by State and Territorial Epidemiologists*:
During week 50, the following influenza activity†† was reported: • Widespread activity was reported by three states (Alabama, Florida, and Georgia). • Regional activity was reported by nine states (Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas). • Local activity was reported by six states (Connecticut, Hawaii, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Utah). • Sporadic activity was reported by the District of Columbia, New York City and 26 states (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming). • No influenza activity was reported by six states (Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Vermont, and West Virginia). |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 24 2006 at 8:29am
| hey, ya'll from lower southern Alabama. My son lives in Prattville, outside of Montgomery, he states that alot of children in his children's shools have been out sick. They ended school there, I think he said Dec. 15 for Christmas break.His daughters are fine so far. There is alot of sickness going around here (Mobile) my DH just got over flu like symptoms which lasted 10 days. Thank goodness we had already had our flu and pneumonia shot, thanks to infor we got on this thread. Our local Bruno's had disposable hand wipes at the door to use prior to pushing your cart. There has been several articles here in the Mobile Register about flu, pandemic flu, and avian flu. These were all seperate articles about 1 wk. ago. |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 24 2006 at 11:54am
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This is very troubling. Why would life support be necessary for so many ? If I'm not mistaken 'life support' means things like ventilation, intravenious feedings, etc. That is serious. During previous flu outbreaks has this been necessary ? |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 24 2006 at 10:46pm
| We were told in NC when we closed schools in two counties, that the flu was type B, we were not vacinated this year for type B, but type A. I wonder if some of the children, who typically dont get any flu shots, could have maybe got both forms of the flu and that is why they are so sick? |
Posted By: Twiggley
Date Posted: December 25 2006 at 3:57am
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another deadly case of Influenza B (18 year old)
Bragg soldier's bride dies during honeymoon By Nancy McCleary Staff writer http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=250237 HOPE MILLS — Four weeks ago, Aarika Marie White was married to Adam McKay in a ceremony at the Main Post Chapel on Fort Bragg. Her family decided to wait until she returned from her honeymoon in Maine, Adam’s native state, before announcing the marriage. But her wedding announcement won’t run in the paper. Her marriage will be announced as part of her obituary. Aarika, 18, died Thursday at a hospital in Bangor, Maine. Doctors told her parents, Chris and Shari White, she died from the effects of the flu. “Nobody wants to believe it,” said Shari White. “It’s not real.” Aarika and Adam, 21, dated two years before marrying on Nov. 25, Shari said. They left for Maine on Dec. 16, planning to ski and visit with Adam’s parents. The following Tuesday, Shari said, she spoke with Aarika, who was getting ready to go shopping, for 1 hours. Aarika didn’t complain of feeling bad, just feeling cold, Shari said. Aarika, a 2006 graduate of South View High School, promised to call her mother the next day. The phone never rang, Shari said, and when she hadn’t heard from Aarika by midday on Thursday, she knew something was wrong. At 3:30 p.m., Shari got a call from Adam who said Aarika was being admitted to a small hospital in Bangor, a town of about 33,000, that serves central and eastern Maine. Shari was able to speak to Aarika. “She was having back pain, and she was cramping,” said Shari, her eyes tearing occasionally behind her glasses. “She was crying.” Adam took the phone and was talking to his mother-in-law when Aarika’s blood pressure suddenly dropped. She was transferred to Eastern Maine Medical Center. At 5:30 p.m., Adam’s father called, Shari said, and told her she and her husband needed to come as quickly as possible. A doctor spoke with Shari and told her the same thing. She and Chris checked, but all flights were booked. Chris’ parents said they would come from Holden Beach, pick up the Whites and make the 17-hour drive to Maine. But they never got on the road. While Shari was talking with the doctor on the phone, Aarika went into cardiac arrest. Medical workers tried to revive her, but it was too late. Aarika was dead. Doctors suspected septic shock or bacterial meningitis, Chris said, but tests ruled them out. The only thing tests showed was that Aarika had influenza B, Chris said. “I talked to her Tuesday afternoon and Thursday, she’s gone,” Shari said. Adam, a soldier in the 82nd Airborne, is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in January. He is still in Maine and taking his wife’s death hard, Shari said. He and his mother will fly to North Carolina with Aarika’s body on Tuesday. Between now and then, the Whites have to have some semblance of Christmas. They must for their 1-year-old grandson, Camron Williams, who was Aarika’s nephew. Shari also passed on celebrating her 42nd birthday Friday. The family is comforted by the thought that Aarika found so much happiness in the past four weeks. “She was having a ball,” Shari said. Staff writer Nancy McCleary can be reached at mcclearyn@fayobserver.com or 486-3568. |
Posted By: jdljr1
Date Posted: December 25 2006 at 7:50am
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A very tragic story above from Maine.
Fortunately latest research shows this years's vaccine, one of three of the components in it being of B flu but not Yamgata B currently causing half the B flu cases in the country, will nevertheless probably cross-protect against the Yamagata B also. However, flu mist, the nasal live-vaccine, may not as it does not cross-protect well with B flus not in the vaccine.. See the various posts re. this topic on our forum. ------------- John L |
Posted By: Albert
Date Posted: December 25 2006 at 8:14am
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Hopefully things have slowed down in Birmingham over the last few days.
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Posted By: gnfin
Date Posted: December 25 2006 at 11:57am
| This is scarry stuff! Could this be a case of anything other than regular flu? Whats the latest? The pattern is the children first,then the 25-44 year olds. whats going on here? |
Posted By: gnfin
Date Posted: December 25 2006 at 11:58am
| 18 year old female just died too?In the USA????? |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 25 2006 at 6:32pm
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Doctors suspected septic shock or bacterial meningitis, Chris said, but tests ruled them out. The only thing tests showed was that Aarika had influenza B, Chris said.
Yikes do not like the sound of this at all.
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Posted By: ops144
Date Posted: December 26 2006 at 9:03am
| any new info on this? |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 26 2006 at 9:49am
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from a govt health web site:
Do Influenza B Infections Cause Worse Illness In Children Than Influenza A Infections Cause? Although anyone can become infected with influenza B, children infected with influenza B will usually show symptoms more frequently than adults infected with influenza B. However, on average, influenza B infections actually result in less severe illness than influenza A infections among all age groups, including children." So what is happening with Influenza B? |
Posted By: muriel46
Date Posted: December 26 2006 at 3:37pm
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I got an email today from the reporter who wrote the original article about the children with flu. The article was in the Birmingham News. Here is her response to my questions about strain, testing for H5N1, and any other information. "We have been told there are strain A and B types that have put children in the hospital. I have not heard anything about H5N1. There have been no cases noted among adults or health care workers. But I have been out of town for a few days and do not have information for this week. Thanks, Lisa Osburn. " |
Posted By: ops144
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 2:27pm
| rember it dosent have to be h5 that goes pandemic it could be any strain... |
Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 3:47pm
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I agree ops -
This is exactly what you would expect on the lead up to a pandemic.
There is nothing to stop H1N1 picking up virulent genes from H5N1,as much as vice versa. Thus creating sporodic outbursts of unexplained nasty flu - just remember people die of flu all the time.
That could also eplain the numerous waves of 1918 as lets face it are information on the event is limited, only a few samples were recreated recently, proberly from the final stages of the pandemic. And also after the first few thousand deaths who cares what strain it is.
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 6:46pm
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.
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 8:52pm
just googled it and came up with this,,,
Different Types of the FluThe first flu virus was identified in the 1930s (although the flu has probably existed for centuries). Since then, scientists have classified influenza viruses into 3 types, creatively named
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kickyquilt wrote:Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 27 2006 at 9:00pm
from WIKIPEDIA....Influenzavirus BFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Influenzavirus B is a genus in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus - virus family http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomyxoviridae - Orthomyxoviridae . The only species in this genus is called "Influenza B virus". Influenza B viruses are only known to infect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human - humans and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinniped - seals , giving them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza - influenza . This limited host range is apparently responsible for the lack of Influenzavirus B caused influenza pandemics in contrast with those caused by the morphologically similar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A - Influenzavirus A as both mutate by both genetic drift and reassortment. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=11779385 - [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?itool=abstractplus&db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=abstractplus&list_uids=15258979 - [2] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10196339 - [3] Further diminishing the impact of this virus "in man, influenza B viruses evolve slower than A viruses and faster than C viruses". http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=3267218 - [4] Influenzavirus B mutates at a rate 2-3 times lower than type A. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_B#_note-0 - [1] However, influenza B mutates enough that lasting immunity is not possible. For example at the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States - U.S. 's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Drug_Administration - Food and Drug Administration 's (FDA) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biologics_Evaluation_and_Research - Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research 's Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee's 101st meeting of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_16 - February 16 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005 - 2005 , an extensive discussion and vote was held concerning next year's flu vaccine virus selection including which influenza B strain to use in the formulation of the flu vaccine:
Influenzavirus A Influenzavirus A is a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genus - genus of a family of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus - viruses called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomyxoviridae - Orthomyxoviridae in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus_classification - virus classification . Influenzavirus A has only one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species - species in it; that species is called "Influenza A virus". Influenza A virus causes "avian influenza" (also known as bird flu, avian flu, Influenzavirus A flu, type A flu, or genus A flu). It is hosted by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird - birds , but may infect several species of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammal - mammals . All known subtypes are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endemic_%28epidemiology%29 - endemic in birds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-0 - [1]
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Influenzavirus_A&action=edit§ion=1 - edit ] Variants and subtypesVariants are identified and named according to the isolate that they are like and thus are presumed to share lineage (example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujian_flu - Fujian flu virus like); according to their typical host (example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_flu - Human flu virus); according to their subtype (example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N2 - H3N2 ); and according to their deadliness (example LP). So a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flu - flu from a virus similar to the isolate A/Fujian/411/2002(H3N2) is called Fujian flu, human flu, and H3N2 flu. Variants are sometimes named according to the species (host) the strain is endemic in or adapted to. The main variants named using this convention are:
Avian variants have also sometimes been named according to their deadliness in poultry, especially chickens:
The Influenza A virus subtypes are labeled according to an H number (for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemagglutinin - hemagglutinin ) and an N number (for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuraminidase - neuraminidase ). Each subtype virus has http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutate - mutated into a variety of strains with differing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathogenic - pathogenic profiles; some pathogenic to one species but not others, some pathogenic to multiple species. Most known strains are extinct strains. For example, the annual flu subtype http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N2 - H3N2 no longer contains the strain that caused the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Flu - Hong Kong Flu . Influenza A http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus - viruses are negative sense, single-stranded, segmented http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_virus - RNA viruses . "There are 16 different HA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigen - antigens (H1 to H16) and nine different NA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigen - antigens (N1 to N9) for influenza A. Until recently, 15 HA types had been recognized, but a new type (H16) was isolated from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-headed_gull - black-headed gulls caught in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden - Sweden and the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands - Netherlands in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999 - 1999 and reported in the literature in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005 - 2005 ." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-1 - [2] [ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Influenzavirus_A&action=edit§ion=2 - edit ] Annual flu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Influenza_A_-_late_passage.jpg"> 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Influenza_A_-_late_passage.jpg"> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_micrograph - Electron micrograph of avian flu viruses (Source: Dr. Erskine Palmer, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDC - CDC ).
The annual flu (also called " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flu_season - seasonal flu " or " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_flu - Human flu ") in the U.S. "results in approximately 36,000 deaths and more than 200,000 hospitalizations each year. In addition to this human toll, influenza is annually responsible for a total cost of over $10 billion in the U.S." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-2 - [3] . The annually updated trivalent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flu_vaccine - flu vaccine consists of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemagglutinin - hemagglutinin (HA) surface glycoprotein components from influenza http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N2 - H3N2 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1N1 - H1N1 , and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_B - B influenza viruses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-3 - [4] The dominant strain in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2006 - January 2006 is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N2 - H3N2 . Measured resistance to the standard antiviral drugs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amantadine - amantadine and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimantadine - rimantadine in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N2 - H3N2 has increased from 1% in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994 - 1994 to 12% in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003 - 2003 to 91% in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005 - 2005 . "[C]ontemporary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human - human http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N2 - H3N2 influenza viruses are now http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endemic_%28epidemiology%29 - endemic in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig - pigs in southern http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China - China and can http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reassortment - reassort with avian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1 - H5N1 viruses in this intermediate host." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-4 - [5] [ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Influenzavirus_A&action=edit§ion=3 - edit ] Genetics"The physical structure of all influenza A viruses is similar. The virions or virus particles are enveloped and can be either spherical or filamentous in form. In clinical isolates that have undergone limited passages in eggs or tissue culture, there are more filamentous than spherical particles, whereas passaged laboratory strains consist mainly of spherical virions." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-5 - [6] The Influenza A virus genome is contained on eight single (non-paired) RNA strands that code for eleven proteins (HA, NA, NP, M1, M2, NS1, NEP, PA, PB1, PB1-F2, PB2). The segmented nature of the genome allows for the exchange of entire genes between different viral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strain_%28biology%29 - strains when they cohabitate the same cell. The eight RNA segments are:
The genome segments have common terminal sequences, and the ends of the RNA strands are partially http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementarity_%28molecular_biology%29 - complementary , allowing them to bond to each other by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_bond - hydrogen bonds . After transcription from negative-sense to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive-sense_RNA - positive-sense RNA the +RNA strands get the cellular http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5%27_cap - 5' cap added by cap snatching, which involves the viral protein NS1 binding to the cellular pre-mRNAs. The cap is then cleaved from the cellular pre-mRNA using a second viral protein, PB2. The short http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligo - oligo cap is then added to the influenza +RNA strands, allowing its processing as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messenger_RNA - messenger RNA by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribosome - ribosomes . The +RNA strands also serve for synthesis of -RNA strands for new virions. The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA - RNA synthesis and its assembly with the nucleoprotein takes place in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_nucleus - cell nucleus , the synthesis of proteins takes place in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytoplasm - cytoplasm . The assembled virion cores leave the nucleus and migrate towards the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_membrane - cell membrane , with patches of viral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmembrane_protein - transmembrane proteins (hemagglutinin, neuraminidase and M2 proteins) and an underlying layer of the M1 protein, and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budding - bud through these patches, releasing finished enveloped http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virus - viruses into the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extracellular_fluid - extracellular fluid . [ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Influenzavirus_A&action=edit§ion=4 - edit ] In nonhumans
Wild http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fowl - fowl act as natural http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymptomatic_carrier - asymptomatic carriers of Influenza A viruses. Prior to the current http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1 - H5N1 epizootic, strains of Influenza A virus had been demonstrated to be transmitted from wild fowl to only http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird - birds , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig - pigs , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse - horses , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinniped - seals , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale - whales and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human - humans ; and only between humans and pigs and between humans and domestic fowl; and not other pathways such as domestic fowl to horse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-7 - [8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1 - H5N1 has been shown to be also transmitted to tigers, leopards, and domestic cats who were fed uncooked domestic fowl (chickens) with the virus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N8 - H3N8 viruses from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse - horses have crossed over and caused outbreaks in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog - dogs . Laboratory mice have been successfully infected with a variety of avian flu genotypes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-8 - [9] Influenza A viruses spread in the air and in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manure - manure and survives longer in cold weather. It can also be transmitted by contaminated feed, water, equipment and clothing; however, there is no evidence that the virus can survive in well-cooked meat. Symptoms in animals vary, but virulent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strain_%28biology%29 - strains can cause death within a few days. "Highly pathogenic avian influenza virus is on every top ten list available for potential agricultural bioweapon agents". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-9 - [10] Avian influenza viruses that the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OIE - OIE and others test for in order to control poultry disease include: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1 - H5N1 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H7N2 - H7N2 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1N7 - H1N7 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H7N3 - H7N3 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H13N6 - H13N6 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N9 - H5N9 , http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=H11N6&action=edit - H11N6 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N8 - H3N8 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H9N2 - H9N2 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N2 - H5N2 , http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=H4N8&action=edit - H4N8 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H10N7 - H10N7 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H2N2 - H2N2 , http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=H8N4&action=edit - H8N4 , http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=H14N5&action=edit - H14N5 , http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=H6N5&action=edit - H6N5 , http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=H12N5&action=edit - H12N5 and others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979 - 1979 : "More than 400 harbor seals, most of them immature, died along the New England coast between http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979#December - December 1979 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_1980 - October 1980 of acute pneumonia associated with influenza virus, A/Seal/Mass/1/180 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H7N7 - H7N7 )." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-11 - [12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995 - 1995 : "[V]accinated birds can develop asymptomatic infections that allow virus to spread, mutate, and recombine (ProMED-mail, 2004j). Intensive surveillance is required to detect these “silent epidemics” in time to curtail them. In Mexico, for example, mass vaccination of chickens against epidemic H5N2 influenza in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995 - 1995 has had to continue in order to control a persistent and evolving virus (Lee et al., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004 - 2004 )." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-12 - [13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997 - 1997 : "Influenza A viruses normally seen in one species sometimes can cross over and cause illness in another species. For example, until http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997 - 1997 , only http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1N1 - H1N1 viruses circulated widely in the U.S. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig - pig population. However, in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997 - 1997 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N2 - H3N2 viruses from humans were introduced into the pig population and caused widespread disease among pigs. Most recently, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N8 - H3N8 viruses from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse - horses have crossed over and caused outbreaks in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog - dogs ." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-13 - [14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000 - 2000 : "In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California - California , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poultry - poultry producers kept their knowledge of a recent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H6N2 - H6N2 avian influenza outbreak to themselves due to their fear of public rejection of poultry products; meanwhile, the disease spread across the western United States and has since become endemic." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-14 - [15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003 - 2003 : In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands - Netherlands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H7N7 - H7N7 influenza virus infection broke out in poultry on several farms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-15 - [16] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004 - 2004 : In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America - North America , the presence of avian influenza strain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H7N3 - H7N3 was confirmed at several http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poultry - poultry farms in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Columbia - British Columbia in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_2004 - February 2004 . As of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2004 - April 2004 , 18 farms had been quarantined to halt the spread of the virus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-16 - [17] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005 - 2005 : Tens of millions of birds died of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1 - H5N1 influenza and hundreds of millions of birds were culled to protect humans from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1 - H5N1 . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1 - H5N1 is endemic in birds in southeast Asia and represents a long term pandemic threat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006 - 2006 : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1 - H5N1 spreads across the globe killing hundreds of millions of birds and over 100 people causing a significant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1_impact - H5N1 impact from both actual deaths and predicted possible deaths.
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Influenzavirus_A&action=edit§ion=5 - edit ] Human influenza virus"Human influenza virus" usually refers to those subtypes that spread widely among humans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1N1 - H1N1 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H1N2 - H1N2 , and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N2 - H3N2 are the only known Influenza A virus subtypes currently circulating among humans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-17 - [18] Genetic factors in distinguishing between " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_flu - Human flu viruses" and " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avian_flu - avian flu viruses" include:
"About 52 key genetic changes distinguish avian influenza strains from those that spread easily among people, according to researchers in Taiwan, who analyzed the genes of more than 400 A type flu viruses." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-18 - [19] "How many mutations would make an avian virus capable of infecting humans efficiently, or how many mutations would render an influenza virus a pandemic strain, is difficult to predict. We have examined sequences from the 1918 strain, which is the only pandemic influenza virus that could be entirely derived from avian strains. Of the 52 species-associated positions, 16 have residues typical for human strains; the others remained as avian signatures. The result supports the hypothesis that the 1918 pandemic virus is more closely related to the avian influenza A virus than are other human influenza viruses." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-19 - [20] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_flu - Human flu symptoms usually include http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fever - fever , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cough - cough , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sore_throat - sore throat , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myalgia - muscle aches , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunctivitis - conjunctivitis and, in severe cases, severe breathing problems and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumonia - pneumonia that may be fatal. The severity of the infection will depend to a large part on the state of the infected person's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_system - immune system and if the victim has been exposed to the strain before, and is therefore partially immune. Highly pathogenic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H5N1 - H5N1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avian_flu - avian flu in a human is far worse, killing 50% of humans that catch it. In one case, a boy with H5N1 experienced http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diarrhea - diarrhea followed rapidly by a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma - coma without developing respiratory or flu-like symptoms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-20 - [21] The Influenza A virus subtypes that have been confirmed in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humans - humans , ordered by the number of known human pandemic deaths, are:
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Influenzavirus_A&action=edit§ion=6 - edit ] Evolution
Taubenberger says:
Researchers from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institutes_of_Health - National Institutes of Health used data from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza_Genome_Sequencing_Project - Influenza Genome Sequencing Project and concluded that during the ten-year period examined most of the time the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemagglutinin - hemagglutinin gene in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H3N2 - H3N2 showed no significant excess of mutations in the antigenic regions while an increasing variety of strains accumulated. This resulted in one of the variants eventually achieving higher fitness, becoming dominant, and in a brief interval of rapid Darwinian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution - evolution rapidly sweeping through the human population and eliminating most other variants. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A#_note-32 - [33] [ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Influenzavirus_A&action=edit§ion=7 - edit ] See also
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Influenzavirus_A&action=edit§ion=8 - edit ] Further reading
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Influenzavirus_A&action=edit§ion=9 - edit ] Sources and notes
from WIKIPEDIA....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenzavirus_A
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Posted By: Judy
Date Posted: December 28 2006 at 12:30am
AnnHarra: Great post. Good work, thanks. ------------- If ignorance is bliss, what is chocolate?
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: December 28 2006 at 7:54am
| Very informative - thanks! |