The WHO Pandemic Alert level remains at Phase 6
Influenza A (H1N1) Cases and Deaths
*Cases reported by The World Health Organization (WHO) are as of December 27th, 2009
National News
Influenza awareness on the public’s part has pushed the H1N1 pandemic from the health section of their daily papers to the front page according to a Canadian Press survey. In the poll, 70% of Canadian print and broadcast news editors chose it as their top news story of the year. South of the border, even CNN listed the outbreak as one of their top five health stories. CBC, Winnipeg Free Press
There may be a silver lining – or several – to the H1N1 pandemic. Not just in the event itself, which has been milder than feared, but also in the viral legacy it may leave. Experts say the pandemic H1N1 virus could knock out other viruses and make future vaccines more effective. H1N1 generally hits younger people harder, but children and adults respond better to flu vaccine than do seniors, whose immune systems are breaking down with age. If the burden of influenza shifts down the age spectrum, vaccines could be targeted to people who get more benefit from them. And younger people are less likely to die of flu than seniors, in whom a bout of flu can be the proverbial final straw. The toll influenza takes on the elderly could conceivably ease, at least for awhile. Toronto Star
International News
H1N1 proliferation may have peaked in Canada, the US, England and other northern hemisphere countries, but it would be “premature” to declare the pandemic over says Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General of the UN’s World Health Organization. Not only did she say that the virus must be monitored for at least another year for mutations, last month the WHO warned of new cases of H5N1, the bird flu, in poultry in Egypt, Thailand and Indonesia. CBC
China has started treating severely infected H1N1 patients with blood plasma donated by survivors. Government-run blood collection stations have been harvesting plasma from people who have high levels of swine flu-fighting antibodies in their blood, because they recently recovered from or were vaccinated against the virus. The plasma is being stored in preparation for transfusions for severely or critically ill patients. Because the approach is still being evaluated for safety and effectiveness, the World Health Organization has not recommended it. Boston Herald
Vaccine News
Pharmaceutical company MedImmune has issued a recall of some of its intranasal H1N1 vaccine over concerns that it loses potency as it sits on the shelf. The company advises that the “slight decrease in potency should not affect how the vaccine works,” but healthcare providers should return any unused doses from the recalled lots. New England Journal of Medicine
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