Swine Influenza H1N1 Outbreak - Please Follow Developments Closely!

[derekwong28]

As many of you are aware, there is a public health emergency in Mexico concerning infection by swine influenza virus. The infection has now spread to the U.S. and possibly New Zealand.

More cases of swine flu reported; WHO warns of 'health emergency' - CNN.com

BBC NEWS | Americas | Suspected Mexico flu toll hits 81

The WHO is concerned that this new strain has the potential to turn into a pandemic. Indeed situation is changing so rapidly by the hour. This is potentially very serious and I urge everybody to follow developments in the news very closely, with particular regard to the situation in your own country.

As a few of you know, I was a medical virologist in Hong Kong before I took up IM full-time. I worked in the laboratory that detected the first ever human avian influenza in 1997 and also played a central role in the SARS crisis in 2003. Dr. Margaret Chan, the current Director General of the WHO was my overall boss. I am the owner of the website “Wong’s Virology” which is a well known educational site that had taught thousands of students worldwide. In the past, I have generally avoided threads on bird flu because I thought it was not a big threat but this time, I feel compelled to speak out.

Conventional scientific wisdom is that a pandemic cannot occur unless there is a new haemagglutinin (H) influenza A strain. In this moment, we do have human H1N1 strains in circulation.. The swine H1N1 strain seems to be very different from the currently circulating H1N1 strains and therefore all bets are off at this stage. It is uncertain whether current influenza protects against this virus, but some anti-viral drugs appear to be effective.

Here are some useful websites you can look at

CDC - Influenza (Flu) | Swine Influenza (Flu)

WHO | Swine influenza

Centre for Health Protection

The following precautions are recommended for preventive purposes.

- Keep hands clean and wash hands properly. Alcohol-based handrub is also effective when hands are not visibly soiled.
- Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way
- Wash hands with liquid soap promptly if they are contaminated by respiratory tract secretions, e.g. after sneezing or coughing.
- Cover nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing.
- No spitting. Always wrap nasal and mouth discharges with tissue paper, and dispose of the tissue paper properly in a lidded rubbish bin.
- Wear mask when symptoms of respiratory tract infection or fever develop. Seek medical advice promptly.
- Refrain from work or school if develop symptoms of influenza

As this is very early days, much more data is needed before we have a firm idea of the size of the risk. From what I have gleamed so far, it appears to be much more serious than the SARS crisis of 2003. Needless to say, the economic impact could be enormous. I will try and see whether I could get some hard scientific data from my past colleagues and will keep you up to date on the current situation. Again, I urge everybody to follow the news on this closely and take care.

Derek

[Christa_Regalado]

Okay, thanks for this insightful post. My question is, do we have to avoid eating pork and other pork-based products? If this flu strain is more lethal than the SARS virus, then this is really alarming.

[derekwong28]

All the indications that the current strain is spread through human to human. Therefore is no point in avoiding contact with pigs unless there is known swine fever in your area.

Derek