H1N1 mutated?

Yekaterinburg first Russian million-city to close schools amid flu outbreak

Yekaterinburg in the Urals has become Russia’s first million-city to shut down all schools for at least ten days in an effort to contain the flu epidemic, the head of the local education department said on Wednesday.

"This is a forced measure," Yekaterina Sibirtseva said. "The schools will switch to distant learning until the epidemic subsides."

According to the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights, over 34,300 people are infected with flu in the Sverdlovsk Region, including Yekaterinburg.

Schools have been partially closed in other Russian cities, including St. Petersburg, Chelyabinsk and Smolensk.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that swine flu virus, officially known as influenza virus A/H1N1, predominates in Russia and Europe.

Head of laboratory of biotechnology at the St. Petersburg-based Research Institute of Influenza Anna Sominina said on Tuesday that at least 50 Russian nationals had died of flu, adding that the high mortality rate in some Russian regions was linked with the mutation of swine flu.

According to the institute, the weekly epidemic threshold exceeds 48.8% across the country. Swine flu has been found in 96% of cases.

Swine flu is the popular name for flu caused by a relatively new strain of influenza virus A. It was responsible for the flu pandemic in 2009.

Swine flu is contagious, and it spreads in the same way as the seasonal flu. The most serious complication of the flu is pneumonia, leading to fatal cases.

http://in.rbth.com/news/2016/01/27/yekaterinburg-first-russian-million-city-to-close-schools-amid-flu-outbreak_562737

This is part of a report from Republic of China's CDC:

The CDC also said that 22 cases of severe complications and three deaths caused by influenza were reported last week, adding that H1N1 infection is the most common type to be reported recently.
Liu said the nation’s flu epidemic is getting worse, with outpatient visits related to influenza reported last week increasing from the week before and emergency visits about the same as a week earlier.
Since the outbreak of influenza in July last year, 218 cases of severe flu complications and 37 flu-related deaths have been confirmed, she said.
CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩) said the majority of reported flu infections recently were of the H1N1 virus, but the agency has discovered that the virus has changed relative to a vaccine strain.
Four strains of mutated H1N1 virus were found last week, which might affect vaccine effectiveness, Liu said.
Chou said no drug-restraint strains have been detected so far and the agency has asked doctors to increase awareness by prescribing influenza treatment covered by the National Health Insurance program to eligible patients as soon as possible to reduce the risks of developing severe complications.


http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2016/01/20/2003637635

We'll probably go to Defcon 3 until we figure out what's going on in Russia and The Ukraine.

It sounds like there hasn't been much change, but I'm of course no expert in that particular area.   I'm more a super-pandemic survivalist, whatever that is.  When I see terms like "closely related", that indicates a change to me, and when I see a percent of 97.8%, not exactly sure what a 2.2% change means.  In theory, any slight mutation could mean something significant.  Some viruses are simply one small mutation away from becoming more virulent, or making a leap to humans, depending on that we're talking about. 

comment: Just looking at the numbers makes me think something has changed! 50% mortality rate? Even in India that seems high!


Posted at: Jan 28 2016 1:06AM
Swine flu scare in state, 11 die in three weeks


Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 27
With 11 deaths in just three weeks, H1N1 influenza (swine flu) is spreading its tentacles in the state.
The more worrying factor is that there is almost a 50 per cent mortality rate when it comes to H1N1 in the state.
According to the state’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), 25 cases of H1N1 have been reported so far since the first case was reported on January 3.
Out of 25, 11 people have succumbed to viral fever. The cases are spread all across the state and deaths have been reported in all three regions.
In a district-wise breakup, two deaths each have been reported from Ferozepur and Patiala, and one each from Amritsar, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Moga, Mansa, Muktsar and Ludhiana.
The last year was one of the worst years in the recent past in terms of the breakout of the disease. In 2015, a total of 300 confirmed cases of H1N1 were reported and 57 people lost their lives.
According to experts, these cases are likely to continue for at least one-and-a-half months.
“It will depend on the weather. If the temperature increases, it doesn’t remain conducive for the virus,” said Dr Gagandeep Singh Grover, State Programme Officer, IDSP.
“Due to acute respiratory distress, there is high mortality rate in this disease. We are analysing all the deaths and will be out with a detailed report very soon,” he said.
At present, the testing facility in the state is available at PGIMER, Chandigarh, and Government Medical College, Amritsar, where the testing laboratory was started last month.
Vini Mahajan, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare has already said that government was fully geared up to tackle H1N1 in the state and there was no reason for the people to panic.
Health department officials said that for the first time, they have started providing medicine Tamiflu at the community health centre-level free of cost. Last year, the medicine was available only in district hospitals.
Isolation wards have also been established in all the district hospitals and community health centres. The frontline health workers are also being vaccinated with the 3,000 doses of vaccine supplied to the state.

58-year-old Nabha woman dies in hospital

Patiala: A 58-year-old woman, Jagdev Kaur (58), from Ghamroda village in Nabha died at a private hospital in Mohali on January 25 of suspected swine flu. Her cremation was held in her native village under the guidance of local doctors. Officials at the village said that the health department has started giving antidotes to the family members and there was nothing to panic. The victim was shifted to a Mohali hospital last week after her condition deteriorated. Health officials confirmed the death and said that test reports of the victim are still under scrutiny. — TNS




Year-wise break-up



Year      Cases     Deaths

2011             46          23

2012             15          4

2013            183            42

2014             27           3

2015           300            57

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/swine-flu-scare-in-state-11-die-in-three-weeks/188639.html