German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE55M5EA20090623?sp=true

German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk
Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:47pm EDT

* Expert sees autumn risk in northern hemisphere

* Merkel says Germany is prepared, coordinating with others

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's federal agency for infectious diseases said on Tuesday there were signs the H1N1 swine flu virus had started to mutate and warned it could spread in the coming months in a more aggressive form.

Experts were concerned about how the flu was developing in Australia and South America, said Joerg Hacker, head of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.

"It's possible the virus has mutated. In autumn the mutated form could spread to the northern hemisphere and back to Germany," Hacker told a news conference in Berlin.

The World Health Organization raised swine flu to pandemic status earlier this month. According to its latest figures, more than 230 people have been killed by the flu worldwide from 52,000 confirmed cases, mostly in the United States and Mexico.

Symptoms of swine flu are typically fairly mild, but doctors have said the virus could evolve into something more aggressive.

According to WHO figures, Germany has the third highest rate of swine flu infection in Europe with 275 confirmed cases.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the conference that Germany was as prepared as it could be for any surge in cases.

"We are in contact about it internationally," she said. "Now all we have to do is coordinate internationally who should be vaccinated and how we should do it, in case things get worse."

The WHO has advised governments to prepare for a long-term battle against the new pandemic it officially calls A(H1N1).

WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said recently the virus is currently "pretty stable," but warned it could still change into a more deadly form, perhaps mixing with the H5N1 bird flu virus circulating widely in poultry.

(For latest WHO figures please go to here)

(Reporting by Marc Jones, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

 

[gsgs]

Re: German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk

what signs ?

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk

The signs are probably the unpreparedness of some of the nations involved, even in European Union.

Governments fear above all the well predicted surge in the overall morbidity and mortality even with a non-mutated strain, and the subsequent overload in health care system, hit hard by economic recession and budget cuts.

If Germans speak about a ''mutation'' or the emersion of a H1N1v drift variant in southern hemisphere should make public their discovery and not send usual propaganda messages.

 

[gsgs]

Re: German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk

what propaganda ? what do they want to achieve ?
Do you think they coordinated their statement with the government ?


Maybe they just observed the many cases and concluded it had mutated

 

[gsgs]

Re: German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk

headline at Focus online:
> Experten sehen Anzeichen f?r Virus-Mutation

experts see signs for virus mutation

> Die Virologen sehen erste Anzeichen daf?r, dass das H1N1-Virus dort neben der
> normalen saisonalen Grippe auftritt oder deren St?mme verdr?ngt.
> Es sei daher damit zu rechnen, dass das Virus sich ver?ndert und im Herbst in
> abgewandelter Form auf die n?rdliche Halbkugel gelangt.

virologists see first signs that newflu on the Southern Hemisphere circulates together
with the normal seasonal flu or replaces their strains.
So they expect that the virus changes und in fall returns in changed form
to the Northern Hemisphere.

----------------------------

so, they see signs just because the flus cocirculate ? What did they expect ?
Who are these "experts" anyway ?

Th flu from the Southern Hemisphere returns to the Northern in fall ?
But we already have it. Will Southern flu replace Northern flu and that
already in fall ??? Hard to believe

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk

There will be MILLIONS of cases in the coming weeks!

Nothing new under the sky.

But people should start to think about the status of health care system in E.U.: the number of beds already cut; the number of nurses retired and not replaced; the number of critical care personnel ...

Even a very mild pandemic could put the health care system in overload; if the pandemic will be moderate or severe the system risks to collapse will increase a lot.

 

[tropical]

Re: German authorities warn of swine flu mutation risk

#1:""Now all we have to do is coordinate internationally who should be vaccinated and how we should do it, in case things get worse.""

So, another stair to prevail to get the vaccine individualy,
not national triages only, but international.
Not the countries receiving the whole of the previously purchased scheduled vaccines, but only an internationaly coordinated portion ... (?)

Or this statement must be read as an international guideline only ...
(why I'm doubting about )