With this, the number of Influenza A (H1N1) cases in the state has risen to 45.

According to a health official, a 54-year-old man was admitted to Shimla’s Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital on and his samples tested positive for swine flu.

So far, 16 people have died and 45 tested positive for the H1N1 virus in the state, he said.

The international body’s professional group – recognized as SAGE – said that even as more data on children between 6 months and 10 years are required, countries that have made vaccinating kids a main concern can too manage a single dose to make sure that as many as likely are immunized rapidly.

“The SAGE advice (for children under 10) can amend as more information come in,” said WHO vaccine Chief Marie-Paule Kieny.

For now, she said, “the priority must be to provide them at least one dosage of vaccine currently, and to cover up as many of them as achievable.”

The expert group, which held a three-day conference in Geneva this week, said medical regulators must have the ultimate say on which vaccines can be administered as a solitary shot.

But its advice is an imperative sign for those regulators – mainly in the emergent world – that haven’t so far determined how many doses should be necessary.

Europe’s drug authority EMEA last week said the swine flu vaccines it has approved should be given in two doses, minimum three weeks apart, to each and every age group. EMEA noted that existing data were too “incomplete” to permit the agency to advise one dose.

Swine flu has killed at least 5,700 people globally ever since the A(H1N1) strain appeared in April, according to WHO’s count.

Governments in the northern hemisphere are under demands to carry out their immunization campaigns earlier than the winter flu season. The number of doses the system advice will play an important role in determining how far obtainable vaccine stocks will extend.

The experts also suggested to WHO that pregnant women use those approved vaccines deemed secure by regulators. The suggestion is based on the high risk that swine flu poses to pregnant women, as well as on animal tests showing vaccines are safe and sound for mother and child.

Seasonal and pandemic flu vaccines can be given at the same time, provided at least one uses “inactivated” virus, which isn’t infectious anymore, the experts said.

Photo credit: blinkenpilzen

The Great Flu, a free online video game, developed by Dutch researchers to raise awareness about Swine Flu and show how difficult it is to address a virus like Swine Flu.

This game actually shows what is happening now and what is happening in the real world. Even at the lowest difficulty the game delivers a sense of just how difficult it is to handle and contain the spread of a dangerous virus.

Last year, researchers found that the videogame Re-Mission, whose main character is a robot fighting cancer cells, “improves treatment adherence, cancer-related self-efficacy, and knowledge among pediatric cancer patients.

This gimmick may be the most effective way to communicate serious news. The game can only be played online at http://www.thegreatflu.com and it is free.

Image Courtesy: HuffingtonPost

Though it has been proved that the Swine flu virus is still spreading, it also means that a lot of people have developed protection against the virus. What exactly the current scene is, nobody knows. The general public is at the mercy of what is being told to them. Many rely on the media discussions, where debating all aspects of the flu is a show of strength by medical experts keen to be on television Most of the time opinion weighs more than research on TV and other media platforms.

WHO knows what!

Most parts of Europe is battling the spread of the disease, while in the west US healthcare is fast readying most effective drugs to quell the virus. Even as the World Health Organization (WHO) officials have said that the H1N1 virus is ‘unstoppable’, Indian health authorities claim it is very much under control in the country and there is no reason to worry.

It may be noted that April through July this year, the World Health Organization had been sounding alarm bells on the likely spread of the virus in India too. However, India just waited, throwing the age-old ‘prevention is better than cure’ adage to the wind. No body listened to the WHO. As per the WHO statement, ‘a strategy that concentrates on the detection, laboratory confirmation and investigation of all cases, including those with mild illness, is extremely resource-intensive. ’ Yet no one seemed to care.

What exactly is H1N1 or Swine Flu? Swine flu is an infection caused by a virus. It’s named after a virus that pigs can get. Health care journals say that humans do not normally get swine flu, but the latest outbreak proves that human infections can and do happen. The virus is contagious and can spread from human to human. Symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. There are antiviral medicines you can take to prevent or treat swine flu. There is no vaccine available right now to protect against swine flu.

When the US sneezes

Reports have said that about half the US population is at risk and vaccination against H1N1 influenza has been advised. The US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has directed the health officials to vaccinate as many as 160 million people.

It is believed that close to 160 million doses of flu vaccine will be available for the start of a vaccination campaign planned for mid-October. Each person will likely need two flu vaccine doses and officials. The committee has recommended that pregnant women, kids between the ages of 6 months and four years and those who care for babies as well as healthcare workers should be the first protected against the virus. They themselves make up for a total of around 41 million people. Such is the gravity of the situation. The committee however has said the vaccine is not recommended for infants under six months.

India agonizingly cold

The scene in India is almost similar. It also shows signs of further escalation. The H1N1 outbreak in India is one occasion for every one to panic, it seems. The government is also toeing the same line – the fear path.

Even as the media goes all out covering every sneeze in every nook and corner of the country, the authorities try and battle a situation hitherto unheard of. One major feature absent in the capital, New Delhi, is an office for strategy to fight the spread of the pandemic. It is more of permutations and combinations, as to why how and when to launch the fight against what has been by now made out to be a deadly virus. Most often, and this seems to happen on a daily basis, health care authorities bank on speculation-based media reports and suggestions from all around to analyze the spread of the disease. To cut a long story short, India’s health system behaves like an amateur system, often ducking when serious events are reported from various hospitals and elsewhere.

Health scare scene

Along with a confident-looking but fear gripped minister, the media went to town magnifying the scare manifold. Television channels still do so. Most of them continue to ignore facts and cook stories based on some medical experts who tend to be media crazy. A systematic process is still missing from the part of the government.

WHO experts have been quoted by many a media report as saying that different countries have different epidemiological and other situations, therefore, the countries themselves will have to take decisions that are best adapted to their situation.

All said, the fast growing number of swine flu cases makes it
important that everyone is prepared about the disease. This could also translate into the fact that the need for a vaccine is a priority. Unless an effective swine flu vaccine is developed and successfully produced, experts predict that several hundreds of thousands of individuals could die worldwide.

Efforts galore

Worldwide, the effort is on. Companies such as Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis AG, Baxter International, Schering-Plough’s Nobilon, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Solvay, Australia’s CSL Ltd, and AstraZeneca’s MedImmune are among the companies working on this vaccine.

Meanwhile, the European and American governments are mulling over speeding up the approval of swine flu vaccines so that mass production of the drugs will be ensured even before the winter sets in, in those parts of the world. All what the general public now knows is a bit of info passed on by the seemingly wise. As per suggestions and warnings, the people now have started covering their nose and mouth with a tissue when they cough or sneeze. People have begun washing hands often with soap and water. They have also decided to avoid close contact with sick people and also to stay at home from work or school if they feel they are sick. Banking on third party opinion, be it from the government or the media are useless, feel many. Prevention begins from the inner self rather than listening to half baked suggestions and contracting the virus, people feel.

UK drug manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline plans to conduct 16 clinical trials of its swine flu vaccine in more than 9,000 people in Europe, Canada and the United States.

Glaxo said the first trial of its swine flu vaccine in Germany of adults ages 18 to 60. Those data will be shared with drug regulatory authorities so they can make an early decision whether to license the vaccine.

Both Europe and the U.S. have fast-track approval systems for the swine flu vaccine.

Two other major drugmakers, Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis, began testing their swine flu vaccines earlier this month.

The United States has also ordered $250 million worth of vaccine ingredients. The company says it will donate 50 million doses of swine flu vaccine to the World Health Organization for use in poorer countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared H1N1 flu a pandemic earlier this year. Since swine flu emerged in April, it has killed at least 1,462 people worldwide.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) warn against depletion of groundwater in northern India.

According to NASA, Groundwater levels in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi are falling dramatically — by one foot a year.

According to a study published in Nature, “If measures are not taken soon to ensure sustainable groundwater usage, the consequences may include a reduction of agricultural output and shortages of potable water, leading to extensive socio-economic stresses.”

NASA blamed excessive use of ground water for irrigation purposes and other human activities for the depletion of ground water which is being pumped out faster than replenishment.

The arrival of swine flu in India has caused panic in the country. India has seen over 40 confirmed cases of Swine Flu. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the pandemic disease “unstoppable”. The WHO has also raised the Influenza Pandemic Alert to the highest level which is 6.

So far 1,293 people have been tested across India, among whom 251 have tested positive for Influenza A (H1N1). Of these positive cases, 141 have been discharged and the remaining 110 are admitted to identified health facilities, according to the union health ministry.

The WHO said that nearly 1,150 people had died since swine flu first emerged in Mexico and the United States in April, while there were more than 177,000 confirmed infections.