News tagged with flu pandemic

Health experts, scientists to discuss bird flu studies

The World Health Organization said Friday it will meet next week to determine whether scientists can publish research on a bird flu virus that may be easily passed among humans.

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

School closures slow spread of pH1N1: study

Closing elementary and secondary schools can help slow the spread of infectious disease and should be considered as a control measure during pandemic outbreaks, according to a McMaster University led study.

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Mexico health sec: Swine flu way up after low year

(AP) -- Mexico's federal health secretary says swine flu cases in January have surpassed the number for all of 2011, a year when the virus barely appeared worldwide.

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Jan 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Researchers identify key peptides that could lead to a universal vaccine for influenza

(Medical Xpress) -- Researchers at the University of Southampton, University of Oxford and Retroscreeen Virology Ltd have discovered a series of peptides, found on the internal structures of influenza viruses that could lead ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Jan 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Pairing masks and hand washing could drastically slow spread of pandemic flu

(Medical Xpress) -- Masks and hand hygiene could cut the spread of flu-like symptoms up to 75 percent, a University of Michigan study found.

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Jan 26, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Mexico toll hits nine from A(H1N1) swine flu

The death toll in Mexico from an outbreak of A(H1N1) swine flu has hit nine, with 573 cases detected, officials said Sunday.

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Jan 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Two die of A(H1N1) swine flu in Mexico: official

An outbreak of A(H1N1) swine flu claimed the lives of two people -- 19 and 21 years old -- in Mexico's capital in the first weeks of the year, health authorities said Saturday.

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Jan 22, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Bird flu researchers agree to 60-day halt (Update 2)

International scientists on Friday agreed to a temporary two-month halt to controversial research on a bird flu virus that may be easily passed among humans, citing global health concerns.

Other Sciences / Other

created Jan 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Indonesia reports second bird flu death this year

Indonesia on Friday reported its second human death from bird flu this year, with the death of a five-year-old girl who recently lost her relative to the deadly virus.

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Jan 20, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

WHO nominates current head Chan for second term

The World Health Organisation on Wednesday nominated its current chief Margaret Chan for a second term at the head of the UN agency.

Medicine & Health / Health

created Jan 18, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Man dies from bird flu in Indonesia: officials

A 24-year-old Indonesian man infected with bird flu died in the capital Jakarta, the health ministry said Tuesday, in the country's third fatal case in three months.

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Controversial 'bird flu' edits move ahead

Top US scientists on Wednesday defended their bid to stop details of a mutant bird flu virus from being published and called for global cooperation to ward off an uncontrollable pandemic.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 22, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

US official says bird flu limits not 'censorship'

Leading US health official Anthony Fauci on Wednesday rejected claims that the United States is censoring science by seeking to limit potentially dangerous bird flu information in major journals.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 21, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

Killer flu virus threat over-hyped: Dutch scientist

A top Dutch scientist heading a team which created a mutant killer flu virus Wednesday said the threat to global biosecurity is being overplayed, even if full research results are published.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 21, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Details of lab-made bird flu won't be revealed (Update)

The U.S. government paid scientists to figure out how the deadly bird flu virus might mutate to become a bigger threat to people - and two labs succeeded in creating new strains that are easier to spread.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Dec 20, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 20

Influenza pandemic

An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads on a worldwide scale and infects a large proportion of the human population. In contrast to the regular seasonal epidemics of influenza, these pandemics occur irregularly, with the 1918 Spanish flu the most serious pandemic in recent history. Pandemics can cause high levels of mortality, with the Spanish influenza estimated as being responsible for the deaths of over 50 million people. There have been about three influenza pandemics in each century for the last 300 years. The most recent ones were the Asian Flu in 1957 and the Hong Kong Flu in 1968.

Influenza pandemics occur when a new strain of the influenza virus is transmitted to humans from another animal species. Species that are thought to be important in the emergence of new human strains are pigs, chickens and ducks. These novel strains are unaffected by any immunity people may have to older strains of human influenza and can therefore spread extremely rapidly and infect very large numbers of people. Influenza A viruses can occasionally be transmitted from wild birds to other species causing outbreaks in domestic poultry and may give rise to human influenza pandemics.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns[when?] that there is a substantial risk of an influenza pandemic within the next few years[when?]. One of the strongest candidates is a highly pathogenic variation of the H5N1 subtype of Influenza A virus. As of 2006, prepandemic influenza vaccines are being developed against the most likely suspects which include H5N1, H7N1, and H9N2. Certain scholars and senior policy advisors argue that pandemic influenza represents a substantive threat to the international economy, to each nation's national security, and a challenge to international governance.

On 11 June 2009, a new strain of H1N1 influenza was declared to be a global pandemic (Stage 6) by the World Health Organization after evidence of spreading in the southern hemisphere.

For more information about Influenza pandemic, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: swine flu , virus , influenza