H1N1 Flu Panic Hits Pigs and Producers Hard

More than a month since the first reports of influenza in humans in Mexico, the first case of the H1N1 influenza in pigs has been reported. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced on 2 May that a H1N1 influenza virus was found in a pig herd in Alberta. Since then, the CFIA has assured…
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The curious research of Mark Button

I thought the hand picked readers might want a little distraction from A/H1N1 virus flu (the flu previously known as swine flu), so I thought how about a blog on toenails for a change? Well, it’s about a research paper I came across recently, which used toenail clippings to detect human exposure to arsenic (As).…
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‘Swine flu’ travel response: pandering to stupidity?

We have been featuring H1N1 influenza heavily here on 'Hand picked' lately, in line with the worldwide headlines the virus has been making since the emergence of an outbreak in Mexico. From the daily travel news alerts which hit my inbox, the virus has not only hit tourism in Mexico severely, but has also raised…
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I have a flu – how do I know it isn’t swine flu (H1N1 virus flu)?

Well, I don’t! And I probably will never know. Read on to find out why…  
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Pigs Escape Influenza, but They Get Slaughtered Anyway

Since the first reports of a new strain of H1N1 influenza virus causing human casualties in Mexico, and then in other countries there has been a deluge of news, special reports, opinions and interviews on the topic. Most of them erroneously refer to the disease as “Swine Flu”. However, according to the Centers for Disease…
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Masks or Handwashing?

In Mexico and South East Asia, face mask wearing  to prevent spread of respiratory diseases SARS and swine flu is popular with the public and encouraged but the World Health Organisation and national health agencies seem to be recommending masks for healthcare settings only. Whats the evidence that they work?
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Health systems: fuzzy or not?

Despite swine influenza calling world experts home to advise their governments, it was business as usual here on Tuesday April 28 at the World Congress for Public Health in Istanbul. Tuesday was the first full day with 9 concurrent sessions. I sought out those which addressed health systems, as this is an area finally recognised as…
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Swine flu or North-American influenza?

A better name for the influenza virus causing alarm around the world may be 'North-American influenza' rather than 'swine influenza' the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has suggested. The reason for this proposal is that the virus has not actually been isolated from pigs to date. OIE points out that in the past, many…
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Swine flu: the long view

Here's a book I located in Global Health Archive on what happened in 1976, when swine flu caused an outbreak in man in the USA. This outbreak was dealt with using a mass vaccination campaign. The political fallout was huge however because the vaccine produced cases of paralysis. It illustrates public health dilemmas when considering…
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Flu pandemic?

WHO alerted the world last week of a flu outbreak in Mexico that is caused by a new swine virus. The 'swine flu' has caused >80 deaths since March this year. The same strain is confirmed to have caused cases in California and now some ill people have travelled by air internationally, so cases are…
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