Swine flu

Todd Fraser on 01-05-2009

The disease labelled "swine flu" is a rapidly progressing international outbreak threatening to reach pandemic levels. This disease is caused by a new influenza A virus of swine origin (H1N1), and is thought to have originated in Mexico. WHO is coordinating the global response to human cases of swine influenza, and today has announced the current level of influenza pandemic alert has increased from level 4 to level 5. Information on the WHO swine flu web-page tracks the evolving situation and provides access to both technical guidelines and information useful for the general public. Up-to-date numbers of cases are included in the most recent disease outbreak. Useful links: wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_influenza WHO: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

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Todd Fraser wrote 05-18-2010 04:50:41 pm
I'd heard that there was a patient somewhere in Australasia with confirmed H1N1 on ECMO. Is this true? If so, the season seems to be underway again...

Todd Fraser wrote 11-04-2009 02:57:29 pm
Great to see the good work of the INFINITE investigators published recently. Interestingly, the Northern Territory stood out as the most capacity-overloaded of any region in Australasia. Anecdotally, Cairns may have been similar, though its effect has been diluted by being included in the Queensland analysis.
Does this suggest a regional effect that has implications for third world areas? And do we need to think twice about our resourcing of tropical regions?

Todd Fraser wrote 11-04-2009 03:43:39 pm
Interesting publication in the most recent JAMA (http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/302/17/1865) which suggests no difference in infection rates for H1N1 2009 whether you use N95 or normal surgical masks.