*Cases reported by The World Health Organization (WHO) are as of March 7, 2010
News from Global Consulting and Global Medical Services
The Situation is Changing and so is the Blog
When we started this blog in 2009, we wanted to help people educate themselves about pandemic influenza. As the journal approaches its first birthday (coming in April), the writing staff has looked back over a lot of stories covered this past year: from the first Canadian outbreaks in B.C. and Nova Scotia, through the public response and media coverage, to the controversy of a fast-tracked vaccine and the receding of the pandemic tide. We’ve also taken a look ahead to try and catch a glimpse of what the future of H1N1 may hold.
Flu season is approaching in the southern hemisphere, as people there brace against the risk of a second pandemic wave. But this year they have a vaccine to break the wave if it comes. Outbreaks threaten in Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere as H1N1 continues to circulate, but not as aggressively as we saw in October. The pandemic seems to be winding down. The virus may integrate into the regular flu cycle and become another feature of the seasonal influenza landscape. For now, the risk has diminished.
At Global Consulting, we believe that some element of risk is inherent in life. This is nothing to live in fear of. At the personal level, life is risky. On a larger scale, societal risk is unavoidable. When we can rise to these challenges – if we are prepared – they make us better able to care for ourselves and those around us. They can be opportunities for each of us to more fully realise our potential.
Global Consulting has guarded against many more threats than H1N1. We want to take this opportunity to widen the blog’s focus and offer you a more complete picture of what we do. We’d like to invite you along to explore the latest developments around the world and some of the projects we’re working on in the fields of medical education, emergency medical care and emergency preparedness. And of course, we’ll continue to keep an eye on H1N1 resurgence as we examine some of the indirect repercussions of the pandemic.
Stay tuned.
National News
Canadians trust their doctors, and have high expectations
At crunch-time, Canadians trust their public health officials to make tough decisions according to a poll conducted by the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics. The poll processed telephone responses from almost 560 random participants across the country. Other findings included strong support for the obligation of health care workers to accept facing elevated risks during a pandemic, and for Canada’s provision of assistance to poorer countries even if the assistance reduces resources for Canadians. BioMed Central
International News
CDC reports H1N1 moves slowly except through children
A new study from the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a study that finds the H1N1 virus spreads more slowly than the seasonal flu, and that this particular influenza strain disproportionately affects children who go on to further transmit the virus. This last finding is in line with another study we reported on earlier. The full report will be published in the April edition of the Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases. BusinessWeek
Influenza B may be beginning to displace H1N1
Some East Asian and African nations are reporting increased Influenza B activity to the point where the virus is crowding out the pandemic H1N1 strain. Surveillance information from the World Health Organization reports that Influenza B circulation is moving westward through Russia and Sweden. Both countries say that the virus is now co-circulating with H1N1. Influenza B viruses in general cause less severe disease than influenza A, such as H1N1, and are associated illnesses in younger people. University of Minnesota CIDRAP
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