The countries included in this Lookout Post are:
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Sweden, United Kingdom.
If you find any stories or news about bird flu or other interesting information for wikians, then please post it to this thread. If you want to volunteer to help then add your names.
Volunteers to date are Urdar-Norway and Swann (as stated in the main Volunteers for Lookouts Worldwide thread).
Chief vet issues new alert over bird flu By Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor
BRITAIN has stepped up its defences against the deadly strain of avian flu and is to increase surveillance at the most likely disease hotspots. As thousands of wild birds return to these shores after spending the summer in the Arctic or in the Russian tundra, vets and ornithologists are on the alert for a possible outbreak of the H5N1 strain and other virulent forms of bird flu.
The areas deemed most at risk of triggering an outbreak are beaches, estuaries and other wetlands where gulls, geese, swans, ducks and waders gather in large numbers and which are near poultry farms.
Debby Reynolds, the Chief Veterinary Officer, has ordered intensive sampling of birds in priority areas, including the East of England coast, Morecambe Bay and the Solway Firth in the North West, the eastern coast of Scotland and the South Coast.
~snip~
The lethal flu virus was found in Britain last year in an imported parrot and in April a dead swan was identified with the virus at Cellardyke in Scotland. A low pathogenic strain of the flu also hit three poultry farms in Norfolk in April
http://tinyurl.com/ykl6sk timesonline.co.uk
Hospital risk as staff shun jab Siobhan Maguire
LESS THAN one-third of healthcare workers in a Dublin hospital are taking the flu vaccine, even though they have been encouraged to do so to protect patients.
A study by researchers in Beaumont shows that just 30% of staff in a northside Dublin hospital used the vaccine, with uptake increasing with age.
The authors say that some flu-related deaths in Irish hospitals could be avoided if the vaccine uptake among the medical staff was better.
They recommend a campaign to encourage more medical staff to protect themselves against the bug. This would include giving vaccines to staff in cafeterias or other meeting areas.
Others would be targeted through articles in hospital bulletins, payslip flyers, e-mails and poster displays.
“We believe that convincing senior clinicians, and particularly physicians, as leaders of their respective services, is fundamental to leading health organisations to increase healthcare workers’ vaccination rates,” says the study.
~snip~
Although two-thirds of staff agreed that the vaccine is effective in protecting against the flu, those who did not take it said it was because they had concerns over its safety and possible side-effects.
Almost 17% had planned to take the vaccine but never did, while a further 16% did not believe themselves to be at risk of getting flu. A further 14% failed to see its effectiveness.
The researchers found the level of protection of patients and staff in the hospital to be below the recommended levels for healthcare workers.
~snip~
The study, published in the Irish Medical Journal, was carried out by the Department of Occupational Health in Beaumont. The hospital studied has more than 3,000 staff.
~more~
http://tinyurl.com/yc3u3f timesonline.co.uk Ireland
Contingency Planning For An Influenza Pandemic (Sweden) 2005
http://tinyurl.com/ve3ze sweden.gov website
From The Health Forum, Annual Report 2005–2006 sweden.gov website
The Institute for Infectious Disease Control (SMI)in Sweden has the only high-level security laboratory (P4 laboratory) in the Nordic countries. It serves as a resource for Sweden, Iceland,Denmark, Norway and Finland in diagnostics of viral haemorrhagic fevers (e.g. Ebola, Lassa and Marburg) and also deals with suspected bioterrorism samples.
This is a litle bit old, but I have not had the time to post it earlier. I also posted it in news rep.30 oct
“Unless the Norwegian military atacks Netherland, there will not be vacines for norwegian population in a pandemic”-“ Norway is number 2 on the vacsine lits from Solvay, Nr 1 i Netherland…”
Professor at University of Virginia School of Medicine, David S. Fedson recomneds statins as a way to deal with a pandemic. “ In 6 moths we will se the result of big study on the effect of statins to fight pnaumonia”
Norwegian Nurses Organisation, NSF Journal.24.10.06 (in norwegian)
http://www.sykepleien.no/article.php?articleID=12272
3 articles form David S. Fedson on his teorys about Staitins to fight pandemic. Preparing for pandemic vaccination: an international policy agenda for vaccine development. J Public Health Policy 2005; 26: 4–29.
Vaccine development for an imminent pandemic: Why we should worry, what we must do. Human Vaccines 2006; 2: 38–43.
Pandemic influenza: A potential role for statins in treatment and prophylaxis. Clin Infect Dis 2006; 43: 199–205 http://www.sykepleien.no/article.php?articleID=12273
here some new England news about getting ready.http://tinyurl.com/vedrr Measures to fight flu pandemic considered By Andrew Jack
Published: November 6 2006 02:00 | Last updated: November 6 2006 02:00
New measures to help fight a future flu pandemic, costing up to £3bn over the next three years, could be approved by the government within the next few weeks.
Later this month Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, will consider proposals to buy substantial extra quantities of protective masks, antibiotics, antiviral drugs and vaccines, say people with knowledge of the plans.
ADVERTISEMENT The options are a tough political choice in balancing resources between current health service operations and new measures to curb the deaths, hospitalisations and economic disruption from a pandemic about which much remains unknown. The decision will come as the UK braces itself for the annual peak of seasonal flu cases this winter, and the possibility of fresh migratory birds’ deaths in Europe from the H5N1 bird flu, which will stoke fears of a new human pandemic.
The H5N1 strain that is so lethal in birds is far removed from the more modest problems caused by seasonal flu.
H5N1 is currently only known to have infected 256 humans and killed 152 worldwide, but many public health experts believe it may mutate into a pandemic strain causing millions of deaths in the next few years.
Under plans now being finalised, the government is almost certain for the first time to purchase many millions of face masks for the general public to reduce infection, and smaller quantities of more elaborate full-face protection masks for health workers.
It is also highly likely to purchase a large stockpile of antibiotics, which are designed to treat the secondary infections that cause deaths in those humans who catch influenza.
The plans propose quadrupling the stockpile of the antiviral drug Tamiflu to more than 60m packs, in an order worth more than €700m (£468m) to Roche of Switzerland, its maker.
The decision would mark a shift from the current stockpile, which is designed largely to treat the 25 per cent of the population who are forecast to become infected. The new stockpile would extend “post-exposure prophylaxis” to protect family members of the victims.
The increase is based on computer modelling, which suggests that such measures - combined with the closure of schools and other “social distancing” actions - could sharply reduce the impact of the pandemic as it spreads across the country over the course of several weeks.
More
Virus outbreak shuts cardiac unit
The cardiac unit at Swansea’s Morriston Hospital has closed to new patients due to an outbreak of a virus.
Six patients and 17 members of staff have been hit by sickness and diarrhoea because of an airborne virus traced to a patient transferred there.
Emergency cases are being sent to other hospitals and 36 patients have had their operations postponed.
The NHS trust said extra infection control measures were in place and it hoped the unit would open on Tuesday.
Acting director of operations Janet Williams said: “We have had problems over the past two weeks, but now a decision has been taken to close the unit to try and clear it.
More here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/6158948.stm
VOMITING BUG AT DGH
AROUND 20 patients and some staff are suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting at the DGH (District General Hospital)
The mostly likely cause is viral gastro-enteritis, said a hospital spokesman. Viral gastro-enteritis is particularly common in the community at this time of year. It is not dangerous in itself, although is obviously distressing for patients who may catch it. It can also be debilitating for patients who may be elderly or who are weak because of another condition. The main symptoms of the virus are diarrhoea and vomiting, sometimes accompanied by headaches or fever.
More here: http://tinyurl.com/y6cmt2
Hotel guests alerted to outbreak
More than 500 hotel guests have been contacted by health bosses in North Somerset after two guests contracted Legionnaires’ disease. Anyone who stayed at the Grand Atlantic Hotel two weeks before it closed on 10 November is being sent a letter.
A North Somerset Council spokesman said the hotel in Weston-super-Mare was carrying-out a thorough disinfection.
“Management is co-operating fully. It will only re-open once we are satisfied the legionella has gone,” he said.
He said the bacteria had been identified in water samples from the hotel and the council is working with the Health Protection Agency (HPA) to deal with the outbreak.
Risk ‘low’
More here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/6158174.stm
Newcastle disease in Sweden
(Date of previous outbreak of Newcastle disease in Sweden reported to the OIE: December 2005).
Information received on 17 November 2006 from Dr Leif Denneberg, Chief Veterinary Officer, Swedish Board of Agriculture, Jönköping:
Report date: 17 November 2006.
Reason for immediate notification: re-occurrence of a listed disease in a zone following a report declaring the outbreak(s) ended.
Identification of agent: avian paramyxovirus type 1 (APMV1).
Date of first confirmation of the event: 16 November 2006.
Date of start of the event: 15 November 2006.
Location of the outbreak: Åkerby, Norrköping municipality, Östergötland county.
Affected population: layer poultry.
Number of animals in the outbreak: 32,400 susceptible animals, 52 cases, 52 deaths and 20,400 destroyed.
Laboratory where diagnostic tests were performed: National Veterinary Institute of Sweden.
Diagnostic test used: gene sequencing.
Control measures undertaken:
- stamping out;
- zoning;
- disinfection of infected premises/establishment(s).
Urdar-Norway – at 18:33
The possible use of statins in a pandemic was discussed in the Statins Revisited threads part 1 and part 2, also here.
closed and continued here