Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report—Pneumonia & Flu

Four Options For Resolving Bird Flu Research Debate

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:59:14 GMT

In this Scientific American opinion piece, author and former staff writer at Scientific American John Horgan examines "a bitter debate" among scientists over the publication of controversial H5N1 research, writing, "Research involving the bird-flu virus H5N1 poses an especially knotty dilemma, in which scientists' commitment to openness -- and to reducing humanity's vulnerability to potential health threats -- collides with broader security concerns." Horgan provides some statistics on H5N1 infection, recounts a brief history of the research in question and suggests four options to resolve the dilemma.

Mexico Sees Spike In Swine Flu After Two Years Of Low Transmission

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:50:40 GMT

"There have been 1,623 cases of all strains of flu in Mexico recorded so far for January, 90 percent of them H1N1 [swine flu]," compared to "about 1,000 flu cases in Mexico during all of last year," of which roughly 250 cases were swine flu, Health Secretary Salomon Chertorivski Woldenberg told reporters on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. The news service notes, "Despite the spike, the number of cases is well within a normal flu season for Mexico, which can see from 5,000 to 11,000 incidents of all strains," Woldenberg said. "The low appearance of the H1N1 virus the past two years is one reason it's drawing so much media attention in Mexico," the AP writes, adding, "Public nervousness about H1N1 has been high since the first outbreak in spring 2009, when the virus initially appeared to have a high mortality rate and Mexican authorities closed restaurants, schools, museums, libraries, and theaters to stop its spread" (2/1).

Media Outlets Continue To Publish Expert Opinion Regarding H5N1 Bird Flu Research

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:28:00 GMT

The PBS NewsHour blog "The Rundown" features excerpts from interviews with three experts discussing the recent debate over research conducted on the H5N1 bird flu virus. "What began as a question on whether scientific journals should publish the complete research has grown into an argument on whether to conduct these studies, and others like them, at all," according to the blog, which features quotes from Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers; Vincent Racaniello, a microbiologist at Columbia; and Carl Zimmer, a science journalist and author (Pelcyger, 1/30).

Global Health Frontline News Examines Clean Cookstove Efforts In Tanzania

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:23:42 GMT

Global Health Frontline News (GHFN) reports on efforts to produce and provide clean cookstoves to people in Tanzania. The WHO estimates that indoor air pollution caused by smoke from cooking fires contributes to two million premature deaths annually, more than are caused by tuberculosis or malaria, according to GHFN. The piece includes comments from Radha Muthiah, executive director of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, and Everline Kihulla, who works for the Tanzanian clean cookstove manufacturer TaTedo (Striker, January 2012).

Bird Flu Investigator Says Continuation Of Research Remains 'Urgent' Despite Moratorium

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:55:33 GMT

Research into transmissible bird flu strains remains "urgent" despite flu investigators' recent declaration of a "60-day moratorium on avian flu transmission because of the current controversy," Yoshihiro Kawaoka of Tokyo University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, "a lead researcher on one of two recent studies showing how H5N1 can be transmitted through airborne droplets" among ferrets, writes in a commentary published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Reuters reports. In December, the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity "asked two leading journals, Nature and Science, to withhold details of both studies for fear it could be used by bioterrorists," the news agency notes.

Debate Over Publication Of Bird Flu Studies Continues In Journal Opinion Pieces

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:59:00 GMT

"An international debate over whether to censor new research on bird flu may soon prove academic, as other laboratories close in on similar findings showing how one of the most deadly viruses could mutate to be transmitted from one person to another," Reuters reports. Last year, two teams of researchers reported study results "that showed how the H5N1 [bird flu] virus can be transmitted through airborne droplets between ferrets, a model for studying influenza in humans," and the findings prompted the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) in December to advise "two leading journals, Nature and Science, to withhold details of the research for fear it could be used by bioterrorists," the news service writes.

WHO Confirms Bird Flu Cases In Egypt, China

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:57:40 GMT

The WHO on Thursday "announced the deaths of two men from H5N1 avian influenza, one from Egypt and another from China whose death was reported earlier in the media," CIDRAP News reports. Both men are suspected to have contracted the virus from avian sources, although an investigation into the man from China's exposure to the virus is ongoing, according to news service. "The two infections and deaths push the WHO global H5N1 count to 576 cases and 339 deaths. According to WHO records, the number of H5N1 cases and deaths reported in 2011 so far are modestly higher than 2010 (60 cases versus 48, and 33 deaths versus 24)," CIDRAP writes (Schnirring, 1/5).

Top 10 Global Health Achievements Of 2011

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:55:29 GMT

In this Huffington Post "Impact" blog post, Karl Hofmann, president and CEO of PSI, outlines 10 "milestones for the global health community" that occurred in 2011. Among the achievements, Hofmann says governments avoided making major cuts to foreign aid budgets despite a global economic downturn; studies supported "treatment as prevention" as an HIV prevention strategy; the number of malaria cases and deaths worldwide continued to decline; research showed a promising vaccine candidate to prevent malaria among children; and more women gained access to long-acting, reversible contraceptives. Hofmann also lists advances in social franchising; maternal health; lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights; pneumonia prevention and treatment; and sanitation, hygiene and access to clean water (12/29).

World Pneumonia Day Has Grown From Idea To Global Movement

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:08:12 GMT

In this Huffington Post opinion piece, Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins University, reports on how World Pneumonia Day, inaugurated in 2009 by financier Lance Laifer, has grown from an idea into a movement, writing, "World Pneumonia Day 2010 is engaging governments, child health organizations and advocates in an effort to spotlight the leading killer of children" and "perhaps even more exciting is the way this movement has grown in just one year, engaging everyday citizens in the effort to raise awareness in creative ways."

Third Annual World Pneumonia Day To Be Observed On Saturday

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:03:00 GMT

The third annual World Pneumonia Day will be observed on Saturday. The following is a summary of several pieces published in recognition of the day.

Rapid Expansion Of Global Vaccine Campaign Against Pneumonia 'Unprecedented'

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:57:17 GMT

"A global push to bring a vaccine against the bacterial cause of pneumonia to communities that need it most is ramping up quickly, expanding to nearly 60 countries in the next five years," PBS NewsHour's "The Rundown" reports. "At least three million child deaths could be prevented in the next decade through the global vaccine rollout, according to a new analysis published Thursday in the journal of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene by health experts from Children's Hospital Boston and Johns Hopkins University, among others," the blog states, adding, "More new research released this week by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health called the rate of the rollout and its quick expansion 'unprecedented.'"

NPR Blog Examines Challenges In Delivering Cleaner Cookstoves, Fuel To Millions Who Need Them

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:17:00 GMT

NPR's food blog "The Salt" reports on the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves' efforts to "bring in celebrities, chefs and politicians to help create awareness for the need for cleaner fuels and better cookstoves," the smoke and gases from which contribute to nearly two million deaths a year -- more than malaria -- according to a study released by the WHO last week. "The technology is easy, but getting the stoves and cleaner fuels to impoverished millions is not," the blog writes.

Indoor Cooking Stoves Kill 2 Million Annually, NIH Study Says

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:49:00 GMT

Pollution from indoor cooking stoves, typically open fires that that burn solid fuels such as wood, charcoal or dung, kills two million globally each year, scientists at NIH said in a study published in the journal Science on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports. Smoke emitted from the stoves, used by three billion people worldwide, "causes pneumonia and chronic lung disease that particularly affects women and children who tend to spend more time in the home while men are outside working," AFP writes, adding that "little public awareness surrounds what the World Health Organization describes as the globe's top environmental killer" (Sheridan, 10/13).

GAVI To Purchase $1 Billion In Childhood Vaccines For Distribution In 37 Of The Poorest Nations

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:06:00 GMT

The Geneva-based GAVI Alliance, a fund backed by governments, the World Bank, the WHO and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday that it will purchase more than $1 billion in vaccines against rotavirus, pneumococcal and other diseases through deals made with GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. to immunize children in 37 of the poorest nations, Bloomberg reports. "Wealthy nations donated $4.3 billion to purchase the vaccines as part of a plan to immunize 250 million children by 2015," the news service notes (Bennett, 9/27).

Indian Government Responds To New Avian Flu Outbreak

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:39:26 GMT

"Authorities in eastern India will start culling chickens and destroying eggs to contain a new outbreak of H5 bird flu, the government said in a statement on Tuesday, as a mutant strain of the virus is spreading elsewhere in Asia," Reuters reports (Williams, 9/20). "A mutant strain of avian influenza -- for which there is no vaccine -- appeared recently in China and Vietnam. But Indian authorities did not specify which strain of the H5N1 virus had been detected in the West Bengal region, which has been a hot spot for avian flu in the past," the Los Angeles Times' "Booster Shots" blog reports. The blog provides a link to track the movement of bird flu on the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's avian influenza pages and a link for additional information on the virus from the CDC (9/20).

FAO Warns Mutant Form Of H5N1 Bird Flu Poses Threat To Asia

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:58:54 GMT

"The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Monday warned about a new mutant strain of the deadly bird flu H5N1 virus in China and Vietnam, saying there could be a 'major resurgence' of the disease," Agence France-Presse reports. In a statement, FAO "said it was concerned about 'the appearance in China and Vietnam of a variant virus able to sidestep the defenses provided by existing vaccines,' adding that the new strain was known as H5N1 - 2.3.2.1," the news agency notes. The organization said the virus, which can be spread by wild bird migration, "poses a direct threat to Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia as well as endangering the Korean peninsula and Japan" (8/29).

ABC News Features Six Videos On Global Health Issues

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:01:00 GMT

ABC News on Thursday posted six videos in its "World In 3" health series. The three-minute videos examine malaria in Uganda, neglected tropical diseases in Niger, pneumonia in the Philippines, sleeping sickness in the Democratic Republic of Congo, tuberculosis in South Africa, and parasitic worms in Brazil (8/25).

World Must Invest Equally In Bird Flu Prevention And Response

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:27:07 GMT

The "reports during the past two weeks of two recent infections and another death" from H5N1 (avian) influenza "raised little concern except among public health officials," Robert Gatter, co-director of the Center for Health Law Studies and professor of law at Saint Louis University, writes in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution opinion piece, adding that "[t]he fact that bird flu in developing nations receives little public attention reveals that the world has become complacent about this threat."

Multi-Country Study Of Severe Pneumonia In Hospitalized Children

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:10:31 GMT

WHO Declares End To Global Swine Flu Pandemic

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 13:21:08 GMT

"The World Health Organization is declaring an end to the global swine flu pandemic," the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan "said Wednesday the pandemic is considered over by WHO's emergency committee due to global factors and reports from several nations" and because "the new H1N1 virus has largely run its course," according to the news agency.