H1N1 Deadlier in Children Than Seasonal Flu

BOSTON — H1N1 swine flu can kill children at a much higher rate than seasonal flu, and the elevated risk for pregnant women extends as long as two weeks after they give birth, researchers reported.

The findings show that the H1N1 pandemic, while overall no more deadly than seasonal flu, is capable of hitting vulnerable women and children far harder than regular flu usually does.

"Pediatric 2009 H1N1 influenza was associated with pediatric death rates that were 10 times the rates for seasonal influenza than in previous years," Dr. Romina Libster of Hospital Posadas in Buenos Aires and colleagues wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.

They said hospitalization rates for children with H1N1 were twice those of the 2008 rate for seasonal influenza.

H1N1 flu has killed more than 10,000 people in the United States alone, infected nearly 50 million and put 200,000 into the hospital. Pregnant women and children were known to be at higher risk and had already been given priority for the vaccine.

The results show that prompt treatment is important, Dr. Fernando Pollack of Vanderbilt University in Tennessee said in a telephone interview. Roche AG's Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza can help ease symptoms if given quickly.

"We cannot chase this disease from behind. Once it gets going, it is very difficult to treat. All our fatal cases had not been treated within 48 hours of the development of symptoms," he said.

"Patients with lung problems or neurologic problems are at serious risk of not only having serious disease, but dying of swine flu," Pollack added. "They should not only be targets for vaccination, but for treatment."

Of 251 children hospitalized with H1N1 at six pediatric centers in Buenos Aires through July, 19 percent ended up in the intensive care unit and most of them required mechanical ventilation.

The death rate was 5 percent. Nearly one third had no pre-existing health problems, and the risk was highest among children less than 1 year old.

In contrast, none of the youngsters hospitalized for seasonal influenza required intensive care.

A second study, involving 94 pregnant women who became ill with H1N1 before Aug. 11 in California, found that those who delayed treatment were four times more likely to end up in the intensive care unit or die compared to those who received antiviral therapy no later than two days after symptoms appeared.

"Although pregnant women frequently presented with mild or moderate symptoms, many had a rapid clinical progression and deterioration," Dr. Janice Louie of the California Department of Public Health and colleagues wrote.

Eight women who were hospitalized for H1N1 flu had given birth less than two weeks earlier, four required intensive care and two died, "highlighting the continued high risk immediately after pregnancy," the researchers said.

That result was surprising, Louie said in a telephone interview. She did not know why women continue to be vulnerable after giving birth.

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WHO says world H1N1 deaths now at least 11,516

GENEVA, December 23 - At least 11,516 people worldwide have died of H1N1 flu pandemic has emerged in April, World Health Organization (WHO) reported Wednesday.

But in its weekly update, which showed an increase in deaths officially recorded at around 1000, since the last report, it said that the disease seems to have reached a peak or a plateau in Western Europe and North America, while the transmission is down in parts of Asia .

In the United States and Canada, is the virus spread geographically, but the general level of flu-like, was significantly decreased illnesses and hospitalizations and deaths are declining, the WHO said.

In Europe, the active transmission of the virus is still widespread throughout the continent, but in most countries, its activity appears to have peaked - although it was rising in the central and eastern parts of the continent.

In an earlier report Tuesday, said the UN agency pandemic is still moderate, but continues to infect and kill people much younger than the traditional seasonal flu.

But although the figures confirmed deaths from H1N1, sometimes called swine flu, WHO officials say comparisons of the number of deaths from the two types of flu is complex and can be misleading. GM Hot News

CSL says its H1N1 vaccine effective with 1 dose

CHICAGO, Dec 21 - The Australian vaccine manufacturer CSL Ltd said Monday its pandemic H1N1 vaccine for swine flu delivered a strong immune response after a single dose for children as young as 6 months .

Public health authorities recommend that children receive two shots of the swine flu for total protection, but the CSL vaccine showed a strong reaction with a single shot.

"This is good news that children, including very young children, responded with a single dose. It really is as good as we could hope, "said Dr. Anthony Fiore of the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who wrote a commentary accompanying the study in the Journal of American Medical Association.

The results indicate a single shot of vaccine to protect infants and children, a group that was particularly vulnerable to the pandemic flu H1N1.

In the study, a single dose of 15 micrograms produced protective antibody levels in 92 percent of children aged 6 to 36 months, and 92.9 percent of children ages 3 to 9

After a second dose was 100 percent of children in both age groups protected. No serious safety problems were reported with the vaccine.

"The most important conclusion is that the exact dose of vaccine against swine flu seems to be very effective in children as young as six months," Dr. Michael Greenberg, director of clinical development of CSL's vaccine, has said in a telephone interview.

"Although we have seen similar reactions in adults, the fact that we were able to obtain a protective antibodies in most children, even after one dose of vaccine is what makes these unique results."

Currently, all H1N1 vaccines in the United States for children aged 3 and over is given in a dose of 15 micrograms, while children 6 months to three years are 7.5 microgram dose of the vaccine, Fiore said in a telephone interview.

The study of CSL has also tested a higher dose of 15 micrograms in children and found no significant side effects.

"They were testing a double dose of the vaccine in young children - more than currently approved," said Fiore.

Fiore said it is not clear why children in the study as good of a single dose of vaccine. He said it may be inadvertent, as some had been exposed to swine flu and their immune systems are already filled, or it may be how they were tested in the laboratory. Or, he said, it may be that the CSL vaccine does a better immune response.

Fiore says that the results do not suggest that any vaccine against swine flu approved for children only require dose. Trials of vaccines against other shows that children should receive two doses for protection.

"There is a vaccine, a one-year study, and is connected with a long experience with small children who have never been vaccinated need two doses," he said.

CDC estimates that the swine flu killed 10,000 Americans, including 1,100 children, and to 200,000 in the hospital since its debut in March.

The U.S. government has struggled to vaccinate 160 million Americans deemed most in need of H1N1 vaccine, but it had 100 million doses of H1N1 vaccine, like last week. CSL has been contracted to deliver 36 million doses of vaccine, and Greenberg said so far it has delivered everything the government asked. GM Hot News

Roche CEO sees group outpacing market in '09-paper

ZURICH - The Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche Holding AG has risen much faster than the market in years, the group's leader was quoted as saying in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Sonntagszeitung.

"2009 will be a very good year. Even without Tamiflu, we will significantly overtake the market. Thanks to the quality of our portfolio we are also able to strengthen our market position in the long term," said CEO Severin Schwan.

Roche has 10 new officers to look for late stage development, Schwan said.

Roche, the first global manufacturer of medicines for cancer, posted a forecast beating up 10 percent of sales in the third quarter in October, helped by demand for Tamiflu, an antiviral drug due to a pandemic of H1N1 swine flu.

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Testing group data shows swine flu waning in U.S.

The report supports U.S. health officials have said - that the H1N1 virus has decreased over large parts of the United States, after reaching a second peak in October.

"Children aged five to 14 are still the highest percentage of test results H1N1 positive versus negative results, with a large positivity rate to 40 percent. By comparison, nearly 80 percent of children in this age group were positive for the virus in late October, "Quest said in a statement.

The company analyzed 170,000 samples from flu taken between May and December to identify two peaks in the American epidemic - one in April and one in late October.

"Between this week and peak on December 9 trial price fell 75 percent. In the last week reported December 9 was considered equal to the volume recorded at the end of August, when the second wave has begun" , the company said.

Flu often goes in waves, with peaks in one season. H1N1 emerged in March, as flu is generally settlement in the northern hemisphere, and distributed globally throughout the summer.

So far, he has completely overshadowed the seasonal flu, which typically starts circulating in the United States in October and peaks in February.

Quest Dr. Jay Lieberman said that there could be several reasons for the drop tests positive for H1N1.

"These include a prior infection by millions of Americans with the H1N1 flu vaccines, which have reduced the number of susceptible patients, and changes in physician test ordering practices," the declaration bed.

DECLINE OF STRIKING

"The most dramatic decline in positive test results occurred in the area covered by the Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, District of Columbia and Virginia and West Virginia, where the detection rate has decreased 87 per cent During the two weeks ending December 9 compared to the previous two - one week period. "

The results show that people get sick from a number of infections outside of the flu. Doctors usually only tests for influenza patients who are seriously ill or at risk of becoming seriously ill, and would therefore benefit from antiviral drugs like Tamiflu, Roche AG and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza.

But only 44 percent of suspected cases of flu tested positive for H1N1 in November, and only 21 per cent of samples sent in December were positive for H1N1, Quest said.

U.S. health officials said this week that 100 million doses of H1N1 vaccine is now available or had been delivered, and urged everyone to be vaccinated. H1N1 could still top again, and can also mutate into a form more dangerous.

U. S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 47 million Americans have been infected with H1N1, has killed nearly 10,000 have been killed by it and more than 200,000 hospitalized.

Even if the gravity seems a little sweeter than the seasonal flu, which kills about 36,000 people each year, most patients who die or have severe disease of swine flu are children or non-elderly adults.

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EEU drugs agency says H1N1 vaccines, Tamiflu safe

LONDON - At least 26 million people in Europe have been vaccinated against H1N1, and there have been no serious security problems with the shot, the drug situation in Europe, regulators said Friday.

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has also reiterated its position that Roche antiviral drug Tamiflu is safe and effective against the H1N1 virus, including the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a pandemic in June.

The EMEA said 26 million people in the European Union has received the vaccine CELVAPAN, Novartis Focetria or GlaxoSmithKline Pandemrix between May and October, while 13 million patients worldwide to Tamiflu.

"The risk-benefit of vaccines against pandemic and Tamiflu is used for the current pandemic influenza H1N1 continues to be positive," said the drug regulator in a statement.

"The latest data on the safety of three vaccines against pandemic and Tamiflu shows no major security concerns and contingencies. The adverse reactions usually have been reported are not serious as expected.

Updated Risk of the EMEA Tamiflu is the first since a group of medical experts questioned its effectiveness in a study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) earlier this month, he says n 'There was no evidence that it prevented complications such as pneumonia in people with influenza.

The EMEA has not decided whether the review in BMJ. Last week, the WHO has endorsed the report.

Sales of antiviral medicines, also known under the generic name oseltamivir, has exploded due to massive public orders since the beginning of a pandemic of H1N1 swine influenza in April. Roche has denied review in the BMJ and said it stood by its data showing that Tamiflu has been effective. The Authority said the doctor information as Focetria Pandemrix and confirmed that a single dose was "sufficient in certain age groups" to protect against H1N1.

She said she would continue to monitor all three vaccines and make recommendations if necessary.

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Swiss plan to donate, sell on swine flu vaccines

ZURICH - Switzerland plans to donate or sell some 4.5 million excess doses of the swine flu vaccine due to the low uptake of shots, the government said.

Germany and Spain have also said they want to reduce deliveries of swine flu vaccine and potentially return excess supplies to manufacturers, which could hit drugmakers' profits.

"As not every person needs two doses, about 4.5 million of the purchased vaccine doses will be given up. Some of these would be donated to the WHO and others sold on to other countries," the Swiss government said in a statement.

The country would still have enough doses to protect the population in the event of a fresh wave of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, it added.

Switzerland, whose total population is 7.7 million, ordered 13 million doses of vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis.

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US swine flu response hurt by spending cut -report

WASHINGTON - The U.S. response to the pandemic of H1N1 have been as good as can be expected in view of the economic slowdown, but the cuts in health spending public exposed vulnerabilities, according to a report published Tuesday.

Layoffs and cutbacks in public health weakened U.S. efforts to combat this pandemic that has killed about 10,000 Americans, the Fund helps the home of America's Health found.

"Trying to respond to a pandemic in the middle of the worst economic situation since the Great Depression that we have asked officials to do more with less, and the budgets and personnel were stretched beyond their limits" Vice President Rich Hamburg group of journalists .

More than half of the states - 27 - reduce funding for public health from 2008 to 2009, while federal funds to prepare for a pandemic has been reduced by more than 25 percent since fiscal 2005, the report says.

The state-by-state assessment also found that only 13 countries have purchased less than half their share of federal grants could save the lives of antiviral stocks for use during an flu pandemic.

The Trust, which has repeatedly criticized the U.S. for pandemic preparedness, recommended increased spending on public health and more money to modernize the production of vaccines against influenza and vaccine research and development.

National Association of County and City Health officials say that in the first half of 2009, local health departments cut about 8,000 jobs and reduce hours for the 12,000 other employees.

She said that legislation on health reform, which is currently being debated in Congress gives the opportunity both to save jobs and protect public health.

Vulnerable countries

"Responding to widespread economic distress by cutting programs and the preparation has really left the country vulnerable," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness.

Redlener said that the public health system "has plenty of that right, but the system as a whole has problems" in its response to the epidemic of H1N1.

Public notice of how the pandemic is constantly changing needs improvement, Redlener said.

Redlener also acknowledged that problems with the pace of production of H1N1 vaccine harbored concern because it does not meet the high expectations of the public.

"The fact that the matter is that we do not really live up to those expectations, and it was very confusing. But when it was available, the vaccine is that it was distributed quickly and efficiently," he said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the swine flu has infected one person in six in the United States since its arrival in April and has killed nearly 10,000, including 1100 children and 7500 young adults.

In a typical year, seasonal flu kills 36,000 Americans and puts 200,000 in the hospital.

CDC said last week that 85 million doses of vaccine against H1N1 had been made available for distribution to date, up from 73 million doses a week earlier.

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800,000 Doses of Children's H1N1 Vaccine Recalled

Atlanta - Hundreds of thousands of vaccine against swine flu in children produced by the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur has been recalled because tests indicated doses of vaccine has lost some strength, the government health authorities said Tuesday .

The recall of about 800,000 pre-filled syringes for young children, aged 6 months to almost 3 years.

Shoots were distributed across the country last month and most have already been used by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Physicians were notified of the voluntary recall Tuesday.

Dr. Anne Schuchat expert flu CDC stressed that parents have nothing to do or to worry. The vaccine is still safe, "she said. The issue is the healing force.

"No action (s) required a parent to a child who received the vaccine," said Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the CDC. "(The thing), they only need to do is make sure their children receive two doses if they are 6 months - 35 months age group, the group affected by the recall.

Tests before the shoots were presented showed that the vaccines were NOK strong. But tests conducted weeks later showed the force had fallen slightly below the levels required. Why does the power decrease is unclear.

Children in this age group is expected to receive two doses, spaced about one month apart. Health officials do not think they should be vaccinated again, even if they have had two doses of the same mass, Schuchat said.

Vaccine against swine flu has been available since early October, and since then manufacturers have released about 95 million doses for distribution in the United States.

The fire has been recalled by Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of France-based Sanofi-Aventis Group. The company reported findings of activity to government officials and gave a voluntary recall.

A representative from Sanofi Pasteur was not immediately available for comment Tuesday. Sanofi Pasteur himself invoices No. 1 as a manufacturer of flu vaccines in the world. This makes the vaccine against flu to locations in France and Pennsylvania.

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H1N1 virus attacks deep into the lungs

New York - In the rare cases where the H1N1 virus killer, researchers have found, it penetrates deep into the lungs, causing great damage - a pattern similar to that which killed millions over the previous flu pandemics in 1918 and the 1957th

The New York Office of Chief Medical Examiner reviewed journals autopsy microscopic slides of 34 people with H1N1 who died between May 15 and July 9, 2009, in the first days of the pandemic.

The report found that among these deaths, inflammation and damage to the lungs extend all the way to the alveoli, small bags at the far end of the lungs' airways.

"Overall, flu remains in the upper airways," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "It clearly shows the virus has the ability to infect and cause inflammation and destruction of cells in the trachea, right down to small cells in the lungs.

"The cells in the lungs are directly affected by the virus," says Fauci.

The damage occurs in computer scans as opaque patches, which normally does not occur in the lungs and prevents lung function.

Get full coverage of H1N1 - Anti-flu

An echo of previous reports, the study, published online in Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, also revealed that 91 percent of the dead were people with underlying health problems, and most occurred in people between 25 and 49 years old.

More than half of the deaths were caused by bacterial pneumonia.

"The secondary bacterial infection causes inflammation," says Dr. William Schaffner, a professor in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "The socks in the lungs, and suddenly the lungs as a body can do its main task."

Obesity has become a factor in 72 percent of H1N1 deaths, a finding which has raised concern among infectious disease experts.

"It was a striking result," said Schaffner. "It contributes to a very significant way to what we know about the risk of serious outcome of H1N1 infection. We are watching with obesity as a risk factor for H1N1 death."

Traces of H1N1 viruses in your state

The survey provides interesting insight into the mechanism behind the H1N1 deaths, but will not alter the current response to the virus, "says Fauci. GM Hot News

WHO backs findings on Tamiflu for seasonal flu

Geneva - World Health Organization Friday approved the decision that there is no clear evidence of the Tamiflu antiviral to prevent difficulties, such as pneumonia in otherwise healthy people with seasonal flu.
However, WHO continues to recommend that Tamiflu, made by Swiss drug maker Roche (ROG.VX must) be used immediately in persons infected with different H1N1 viruses, which are high risk for difficulties, or if the signs remain for three days or worsen.

The WHO also said the Pandemic flu peaked in North America, most of Western Europe except for France and Russia, perhaps, also, the WHO said in a weekly total.

In update weekly, said the swine flu outbreak on March still in Japan and in Hong Kong and Taiwan, where the ceiling was previously registered. The virus circulates throughout most of Africa.

The updated review of past results of clinical trials of Tamiflu by researchers from the Cochrane Review, published by the British Medical Journal Tuesday, found that there was enough data to know whether the substance of the difficulties imposed on influenza in otherwise healthy patients. [ID: nGEE5B71WW]

"We would not ask for Cochrane conclusions about seasonal flu," said spokesman Gregory Hartl.

Hartl told Reuters: "It is entirely consistent with our views and guidelines. For otherwise healthy people, presented with uncomplicated seasonal influenza, not need to be treated with medication."

Roche has challenged that finding and said it was behind the previous data showing the advantage.

The question is whether or not the right number of previous studies published on Tamiflu to include or exclude when analyzing the effectiveness of the substance.


Stocks

Governments worldwide storage Tamiflu, known generically as oseltamivir, to combat swine flu. H1N1 virus progress in April and began a global flu epidemic that killed at least 9596 people, according to the latest WHO update.

"We have to make it fully clear that Cochrane was looking at the seasonal flu, it was not H1N1," Hartl said.

During the Pandemic H1N1, "a large body of evidence is built up to provide oseltamivir is effective to reduce and / or to prevent serious illness and death," he said.

He particularly in individuals at risk from H1N1 more about setting up medical conditions such as asthma or in patients who develop disease seriously, he said.

"Therefore, our recommendations have been made and continue to be those of infection with H1N1, if you are in high risk group you should start oseltamivir therapy immediately.

"If you are in high-risk group, but if you are the signals that continue more than 3 days or worsens, you should start oseltamivir therapy."

Otherwise healthy people should not be treated with Tamiflu, to recover most of the H1N1 patients without any medical treatment, the WHO spokesman that.

Pill compete with small second flu medicines from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), known as Relenza and known generically as zanamivir, the inhaled.

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Swine flu has killed 10,000 Americans since April

Chicago - swine flu which killed almost 10,000 Americans, including 1100 children and 7500 young adults, and one out of six people infected in the United States from a line in April of last year, health officials said Thursday.

"What we have seen in several months, this is the flu that much harder for young people," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the center S. U. Disease Control and Prevention, news conference.

It is estimated that between April and November 14, had almost 50 million cases of H1N1 flu in the United States, primarily in adults and young children. It was more than double the CDC estimates 22 million Americans in November.

Frieden said was hospitalized more than 200,000 Americans - about the same number affected by seasonal influenza in full year.

"Approximately 15 per cent of the entire country to be infected with H1N1 influenza, or about one out of six people," Frieden said information on the media.

"It still leaves most people infected and still remain susceptible to influenza H1N1," he said.

He said that continuing to improve supplies of H1N1 vaccine, and were approximately 85 million doses of vaccine available for distribution to date, with 12 million more doses of the week.

That is up from 73 million doses a week ago - but still much less than expected for the week.

However, Frieden said supplies were opened up enough vaccine had begun at the state of the vaccine distribution to the general public.

He urged people not to be satisfied with the progress to get the vaccine because of reports of the current wave of H1N1 influenza reduction.

"It is still a good chance to be vaccinated," he said. "The vaccine still get the most important thing you can do to protect themselves and your family for the H1N1 flu."

He said that the seasonal flu season beginning, and it was not clear what will happen with H1N1 or whether to have the third wave of the virus in the spring.

"We know that more people are vaccinated, the less the likelihood that more cases or third wave," Frieden said.

In a typical year it kills, seasonal flu and 36,000 Americans and puts 200,000 into the hospital.

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Gaza swine flu outbreak kills three

Three people have died from swine flu in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-Run Health Ministry has said.

A Baby and two women were confirmed for the fist deaths from the H1N1 virus in the densely populated Palestinian territory Coastal, a spokesman said.

Gaza is under a tight Israeli and Egyptian blockade, tightened zinc Hamas took over the strip in 2007.

World Health Organization officials say that there are not enough swine flu vaccines to Protect Gaza's Hospitals.

Hassan Khalaf, a spokesman for the Health Ministry said there were four new cases discovered on Monday of people infected with the disease.

Senior WHO official Mahmoud Daher said the strip had only 1000 vaccine doses for around 8000 health Employees, serving 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza.

In the West Bank, at least 1250 cases of swine flu have been reported, with nine deaths, According to official figures.

In Israel, 67 people have died out of 8539 cases.

The late arrival of swine flu to Gaza has been attributed to the blockade by Israel and Egypt.

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Germany to sell H1N1 vaccines due to weak demand

BERLIN - Germany plans to sell more than two million H1N1 vaccines abroad because of the weak domestic demand, the country's health ministry said on Tuesday.

There are only about five per cent of the population vaccinated, in accordance with the Health Minister Philip Roesler. He said he had checked with other countries to see whether they need other types of medicine, and that Ukraine had already signaled interest.

The 2.2 million doses of vaccine delivery in late December. According to the German state of 50 million doses of vaccine, which is due for delivery in various stages until the spring of 2010.

But about 15 per cent of doctors in Germany who vaccinated. Regional state in Germany started the vaccination program on October 26.

Swine flu deaths to 86 so far in Germany.

Pandemic H1N1 continues to spread and killed almost 8750 people worldwide, according to a recent Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) are consistent.

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New Ad Campaign Pushes H1N1 Flu Vaccinations

Pushing the Americans to get on the swine flu vaccines that Obama Administration panel on Monday released new television and radio advertising to tackle diseases that millions already infected.

The public service ads aimed at children and their parents, young people and those in high-risk groups such as persons with asthma. The notices in English and in Spanish come as a mild shortage of vaccine, another 10 million doses are expected this week. The messages also change from earlier efforts to teach Americans how to avoid the spread of the disease, also known as H1N1.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had promulgated a new ad Monday.

"Getting vaccinated is the best way to protect themselves and your family against the H1N1 flu virus," Sebelius said. The "Anti-flu common responsibility, and it is up to us to help prevent the spread of flu in your community."

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 22 million people infected with swine flu and 3900 deaths. The line included 98,000 government-swine flu-related hospitalization.

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Flu sends more Alaska Native Americans to hospital

Native Americans in Alaska are hospitalized more likely than whites to swine flu in the state and the continued lack of water in some areas may be a factor, researchers find.

Health experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention four hospitals Anchorage and the state Health Department survey of all known cases of H1N1 flu in the state to see if they could find some patterns.

One hit - Alaska's Native Americans had no greater risk of dying from swine flu, but were far more likely than whites to be sent to hospital with severe symptoms, "said CDC's Dr. Thomas Hennessy.

"From what we can tell from the chart review, it appears that the disease is similar in intensity, but much more frequent among Alaskan natives," Hennessy said in a telephone interview.

Scientists and indigenous communities are very aware of H1N1 among the Inuit, Indians and Alaskan natives because of memories of the 1918 pandemic flu, which wiped out entire villages.

Some of the first data from Canada also suggested that the Inuit regions were harder hit by the H1N1 first wave in May and June.

For the study, Hennessy tabular staff at all diagnosed cases of H1N1 in four Anchorage hospital.

59 cases, six of the employees so carefully, one died.

Twenty-nine percent had asthma, 44 percent were overweight and 17 percent had a heart condition.

But there were 24 cases among whites and 15 among the natives in Alaska. Download this to 11 cases per 100,000 whites, but 50 cases per 100,000 Alaska natives - rate nearly five times as high.

LACK RUNNING WATER

Alaska Natives also high several known conditions to make patients more likely to have severe symptoms, such as diabetes and heart disease, Hennessy said.

He noted that Alaska natives also had a higher respiratory diseases in general, not specifically for rural inhabitants, one third of running water.

"Without running water, people pull water in buckets to their homes," he said. They probably use this water to wash their hands - one of the most basic ways to prevent the spread of the disease.

"The way we have accounts on the major burden of disease," said Hennessy.

"Alaska Natives in the total population is younger than other people who live in Alaska," he said. H1N1 calling young adults harder than seasonal influenza usually does not.

Hennessy is possible that the state comprehensive health system for Native Alaskan helped save a life. Each village clinic, he said, and the system pays to be the sickest patient transport to hospital, usually by air.

It also ensures that only patients who have been assessed by doctors who go to major regional hospital, and he suspected that the high rate of hospitalization among Alaska natives show something, but very serious illness.

H1N1 continues to spread throughout the world, but world health officials say it could have peaked in the U.S. and Canada. U.S. officials said Friday that 70 million doses of vaccine are now available or was administered.

GM Hot News

College students encouraged to get H1N1 vaccine

WASHINGTON - Chris Edwards' fever spiked at 104 degrees in autumn, before he was sent home from Frostburg State University in western Maryland to recover from H1N1 flu.

"It scared most of my family more than it scared me," said freshman information technology major told in a telephone interview Thursday. "For me it was plain sick."

He is one of many students at American universities, which tested positive for H1N1 - also known as swine flu - in recent months. To help reduce the spread of the disease, began U.S. Department of Education to encourage students to be vaccinated.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said officials want to see inoculated students before they head home for Christmas holidays. And if the exam schedules make it impossible, students should try to get the vaccine while they are at home, "he says.

As another tactic to limit the spread of H1N1, "says Duncan, his department is called upon college teachers to be flexible with students who become ill, so they are not afraid to miss classes.

"If you're sick, it is highly contagious, and we need you home is well before you return to class," Duncan told a group of college newspaper reporters.

Edwards can attest to how difficult it can be. After missing a week at school, he said, "It took me a long time to catch up."

Department of Education says his ultimate control of elementary and secondary schools found none were closed due to H1N1 virus. There is a big change from a peak in late October with more than 450 schools closed, where more than 350,000 students across the U.S..

But officials warn it is too early to relax.

"Although flu is going down, it is far from gone," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Thomas Frieden Monday, points out that flu season lasts until May

"Only time will tell what the rest of the season will bring," he says. "There are still many children who are sick, and many people who are at risk of getting influenza, and the end (ing) to get seriously ill from it."

GM Hot News

Hand sanitizer: How it protects you

It's everywhere you look - in homes, schools, shopping malls, in day care centers, in offices.

Hand Sanitizer has been ubiquitous for the onset of the novel H1N1 influenza virus. But what is its special powers? Is it really protect against viruses? And what is the best way to use it?

When it comes to selecting a hand sanitizer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend those with alcohol for Protecting Against the H1N1 flu. The optimal proportion is 60 to 95 percent alcohol, according to the CDC chart shows the relative effect of different types of sanitizer.

Dr. Anne Schuch, director of the National Center for Immunization and respiratory diseases, said in a recent briefing that people should wash their hands frequently with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer to combat influenza.

"We begin to see some reductions in influenza activity, but it's still a lot of flu everywhere," she says

The CDC said that according to some estimates, up to 80 percent of all infections are spread by hand.

If neither soap and water or alcohol-based products are available, however sanitizer that contains no alcohol can be beneficial, said the CDC Web site

Hand sanitizer is effective against both bacteria and virus, health experts say.

The active ingredient of hand sanitizer - usually alcohol - Disrupt the coating of virus and bacteria particles. If damage to the exterior of the particle, the virus disabled, "said Andrew Pekosz, professor of microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The sanitizer is working on the connector, meaning it is only effective for the party in his hand that it touches. This means that if you miss a place between your fingers, it can still be a virus or bacteria in the place, "says Dr. Lisa Bernstein, assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine.

"You must cover the entire surface of hands and let it dry," she said.

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