Swine Flu Pandemic Heart Attack Health News Updates

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Swine flu pandemic could trigger spate of heart attacks.

The swine flu pandemic could trigger a spate of heart attacks if rates of illness surge as predicted this autumn, doctors warned.

Patients with heart disease are being advised to accept a vaccine against H1N1 swine flu as it becomes available next month in order to reduce the risk of fatal complications.

An estimated 5,200 people in England went down with the virus in the week before last compared with about 3,000 the previous week, suggesting that a predicted second wave of illness may be on its way.

About 2.5 million people with heart disease, as well as patients with other chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes, will be offered a flu jab. Last year, however, uptake of an annual vaccine against seasonal flu strains among patients considered “at risk” was only 47.2 per cent, researchers writing in The Lancet Infectious Diseases medical journal said.

Andrew Hayward, an epidemiologist at University College London, and colleagues at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that more efforts were needed to encourage people with heart disease and diabetes — which increases the risk of heart attacks — to have the flu jab. They reviewed 39 studies carried out between 1932 and 2008 and found that people with heart disease made up between 35 to 50 per cent of excess flu deaths.

All the population papers examined also showed a rise in deaths due to heart disease or incidence of heart attacks during times when the flu virus was circulating.

Flu can produce significant stress on the cardiovascular system and cause breathing problems, changes in blood pressure, a rapid heart rate and even direct effects on the heart.

The researchers wrote: “During influenza epidemics there are many deaths and serious complications in vulnerable populations. People with underlying chronic medical disorders such as cardiovascular disease are particularly at risk ... We believe influenza vaccination should be encouraged — especially in those people with existing cardiovascular disease.”

Swine Flue Vaccine US Update Health News Article

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President Barack Obama says the United States will share 10 percent of its swine flu vaccine supply with other nations to help fight the deadly virus' global spread.

The White House on Thursday announced that flu vaccines to counter the virus known among scientists as H1N1 would be available through the World Health Organization. The U.S. is working with Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom to share vaccines.

Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that the announcement "is one that has real relevance to the work of the United Nations and to our shared interest in promoting and sustaining global health."

"As the World Health Organization has reported, the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus has continued to spread globally since April, causing outbreaks around the world. The speed and the scale of our global response will help minimize the overall impact of the pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza and ensure our collective and common security in our increasingly interdependent world," Rice said.

She repeated Obama's announcement that the U.S. was joining the other countries "on collective action aimed at saving lives and minimizing economic and social dislocations that may be caused by the 2009 H1N1 influenza around the world."

"As vaccine supplies emerge, they will be made available to the WHO on a rolling basis to assist countries that will not otherwise have direct access to the vaccine," Rice said.

"We invite and encourage other nations to join in this urgent global health effort, donating vaccine, money and/or technical assistance in an international effort to save lives around the world," she said.

Source Link: - http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_13357973

Health Fitness Care - Swine Influenza H1N1 Flu Virus News

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More human-to-pig flu transmission seen likely.

More cases of humans transmitting the Swine Flu story H1N1 Flu strain to pigs are likely to occur, but will not be a major concern as swine are not severely affected by the virus, the World Organization for Animal Health said Wednesday.

Canadian health officials said on May 2 a herd of swine in the western province of Alberta had caught the virus from a carpenter who had traveled to Mexico, the epicenter of the swine flu story H1N1 flu outbreak that has spread to 46 countries.

It is the only reported case of the virus being transmitted from a human to a pig in the world. "We would not be surprised if we have other cases like this in other countries," OIE Director General Bernard Vallat told a news conference at the organization's general assembly in Paris.

"But it is not a problem because we know pigs are not a big player in the epidemiological spread of the disease."

The new swine flu story H1N1 virus has so far infected nearly 13,000 people and killed 92 around the globe, according to the World Health Organization.

Vallat reiterated flu viruses easily circulate between species, especially when strains are mixed. The new swine flu story H1N1 virus, popularly known as "swine flu," has human, bird as well as pig origins.

The OIE, an intergovernmental organization of 174 member states, has often stressed there was no proof so far of transmission from pig to human. It was among the biggest opponents against the strain being called "swine flu."

The World Health Organization has also ruled out any risk of infection from consuming pork, saying the swine flu story.H1N1 flu had not been shown to be transmissible to people through eating properly handled and prepared pork, or other products derived from pigs.