England-Drug stockpile doubles to fight flu pandemic

[Treyfish]

Drug stockpile doubles to fight flu pandemic

By Andrew Jack
Published: November 22 2007 02:00 | Last updated: November 22 2007 02:00

<SCRIPT language=javascript type=text/javascript>function floatContent(){var paraNum = "3"paraNum = paraNum - 1;var tb = document.getElementById('floating-con');var nl = document.getElementById('floating-target');if(tb.getElementsByTagName("div").length> 0){if (nl.getElementsByTagName("p").length>= paraNum){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName("p")[paraNum]);}else {if (nl.getElementsByTagName("p").length == 3){nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName("p")[2]);}else {nl.insertBefore(tb,nl.getElementsByTagName("p")[0]);}}}}</SCRIPT>Orders worth hundreds of millions of pounds to buy new drugs and face-masks to help minimise the impact of any future flu pandemic will be announced by the government today.
Alan Johnson, the health secretary, will unveil a -doubling of the British stockpile of antiviral medicines, as well as increased supplies of face-masks for healthcare workers and antibiotics to treat secondary infections often linked to flu outbreaks.
The decision comes as part of the government's revised pandemic flu plan to be published today, which also anticipates the closure of schools during an outbreak to reduce the impact of the pandemic.
The order will provide substantial extra revenues to Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical group that markets Tamiflu, the leading antiviral medicine turned into a blockbuster by government and corporate purchases for pandemic stockpiles over the past two years.
The additional volumes will provide sufficient stocks to treat about half the British population - about the proportion that scientists predict could become infected during a pandemic.
However, the government has so far held back from purchasing still more Tamiflu for its widespread use as a prophylactic to prevent infections. It has also not yet decided whether to buy significant quantities of flu vaccines under development by other pharmaceutical companies to protect against the dangerous H5N1 virus, currently widespread among birds in some parts of the world and which scientists fear could threaten humans.
So far, the H5N1 virus has proved far less lethal and difficult to transmit between humans.
The World Health Organisation estimates there have been 335 infections and 206 deaths globally since 2003.
The British Tamiflu purchase comes at a time of fresh attention to the risks of pandemic flu after an outbreak this month the H5N1 virus among birds in East Anglia, triggering the culling of nearly 30,000 turkeys, geese and ducks on five sites operated by Gressingham Farms.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs yesterday announced plans for fresh precautionary culling of thousand of additional birds at a sixth site close to the other five, where employees working on all sites slept, and close to a slaughterhouse that is still processing meat for sale
A series of zones remain in place across much of Norfolk and Suffolk within which the movement of animals is tightly restricted, and vets are continuing their investigations into the source of the infection.
They have confirmed H5N1 so far at only two sites.
On Tuesday, turkeys culled at two other farms in Norfolk because of fears they had been in "dangerous contact" with diseased birds tested negative for the virus.:tiphat: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4c7560c8-989e-11dc-8ca7-0000779fd2ac.html

 

[Treyfish]

Re: England-Drug stockpile doubles to fight flu pandemic

Minister unveils flu pandemic plans

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<!-- End Tool Box, use with or without image --><!-- Introduction -->Last Modified: 22 Nov 2007
Source: PA News


<!-- End Introduction -->The Government plans to double the stock of antiviral drugs to cover at least half the population in the event of a flu pandemic, it has been announced.
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</a--><!--googleon: index--><!--/c:if-->Health Secretary Alan Johnson set out new measures to tackle a future pandemic, which he said was one of the "most severe risks currently facing the UK".
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</a--><!--googleon: index--><!--/c:if-->The UK-wide plan includes the purchase of 14.7 million courses of antibiotics to help tackle complications that could lead to death.
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</a--><!--googleon: index--><!--/c:if-->The Government also aims to buy 350 million surgical masks and 34 million respirators for frontline NHS and social care staff.
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</a--><!--googleon: index--><!--/c:if-->The measures are for a "reasonable worst-case scenario", which would see between 25% and 50% of the UK population infected.
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</a--><!--googleon: index--><!--/c:if-->Experts predict that up to 750,000 extra deaths could occur in the UK as a result of a pandemic, with up to half the population developing illness.:tiphat: <A href="http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/health/minister+unveils+flu+pandemic+plans/1081757">http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/health/minister+unveils+flu+pandemic+plans/1081757
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[Treyfish]

Re: England-Drug stockpile doubles to fight flu pandemic

?100m to go on stockpile for ?inevitable? flu pandemic
<TABLE style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 5px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=artByline></TD><TD class=artDate style="PADDING-RIGHT: 2px; TEXT-ALIGN: right">November 23 2007</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1853840.0.0.php#comments
<SCRIPT> var menuStart = "<table width=310 border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0><tr><td bgcolor=#BA0304>"; var menuMid1 = ""; var menuMid2 = "("; var menuEnd = ")</td></tr></table>"; var doc, sty;var n4 = false;var n6 = false;var ie = false;var activeMenu = "";if (document.layers) { doc = "document."; sty = ""; n4 = true; } else if (document.all) { doc = "document.all."; sty = ".style"; ie = true; }else if (document.getElementById) { doc = "document.getElementById('"; sty = "').style"; n6 = true;}function showhideMenu(elem,state) { // generic function for showing/hiding layers using a cross-browser DOM docObj = eval (doc + elem + sty); docObj.visibility = state;}function closeAllMenus() { // checks for any active menus and closes them if (activeMenu != "") { showhideMenu(activeMenu, "hidden"); activeMenu = ""; document.onclick = null; }}function handleMenuClick(theMenu) { // opens the clicked menu and closes all others closeAllMenus(); showhideMenu(theMenu, "visible"); activeMenu = theMenu;}function menuOut() { // sets the default mouse button click to close all open menus if (activeMenu != "") { document.onclick = closeAllMenus; }}function menuIn() { // sets the default mouse button click to have no javascript action document.onclick = null;}function doAddFavourites() { // bookmarking function for browsers which support it if (window && window.external) { window.external.addFavorite("http://www.theherald.co.uk/", "The Herald"); } else { alert ("Sorry, your browser doesn't support automatic bookmarking.\nPlease add this bookmark manually."); }}function setHeadlines (theSection, theFirstHeadline) { var theDiv = theSection + "MenuMaster"; var theEnd = false; var headlinesPerPage = 20; var totalPages = Math.ceil(eval(theSection + "IdArray").length / headlinesPerPage); var thisPage = Math.floor(theFirstHeadline / headlinesPerPage) + 1; myLastHeadline = 0; if ((theFirstHeadline + headlinesPerPage) >= eval(theSection + "IdArray").length) { myLastHeadline = eval(theSection + "IdArray").length; theEnd = true; } else { myLastHeadline = theFirstHeadline + headlinesPerPage; theEnd = false; } myString = ""; for (x=theFirstHeadline; x<myLastHeadline; x++) { myString += "<a href="display.var." + eval(theSection + "IdArray[x]') + ".0.0.php' class=menuLink>" + eval(theSection + 'HeadlinesArray[x]') + "
"; // myString += "<a href="/" + theSection + "/display.var." + eval(theSection + "IdArray[x]') + ".0.0.php' class=menuLink>" + eval(theSection + 'HeadlinesArray[x]') + "
"; } if (theEnd) myLastHeadline = 0; myString += "

"; if (eval(theSection + 'IdArray.length') > headlinesPerPage) myString += "MORE HEADLINES..."; else myString += " "; myString += "

[page " + thisPage + " of " + totalPages + "] "; if(document.layers) { //Netscape 4 code theDiv = document.layers[theDiv]; theDiv.document.open(); theDiv.document.write(myString); theDiv.document.close(); } if(document.all) { //Internet Explorer code theDiv = document.all[theDiv]; theDiv.innerHTML = myString; } if(!document.all && document.getElementById) { //Netscape 6 code theDiv = document.getElementById(theDiv); theDiv.innerHTML = myString; }} </SCRIPT><SCRIPT>setHeadlines('news',0);setHeadlines('related',0);</SCRIPT>More than ?100m is to be spent stockpiling drugs and medical equipment in Scotland to be ready for the "inevitable" flu pandemic.
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon yesterday announced the investment, which will double the stash of antiviral drugs and create a hoard of antibiotics ready to deal with complications caused by the virus.
Surgical masks, to protect people caring for those who are ill, will also be collected. The Scottish Government is preparing for a worst-case scenario where 50% of the population is struck down by the bug. In this situation, as many as 63,700 people could die north of the Border.

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Infection experts have warned for some time that a flu pandemic, when epidemics occur in countries around the world at the same time, is due. A form of avian influenza known as H5N1, which has killed more than 200 people, is thought to be a possible candidate if the virus adapts so it can pass easily between humans.
Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, Ms Sturgeon said: "Pandemic flu is one of the most serious risks facing the world. There were three pandemics in the 20th century and the World Health Organisation has warned another is inevitable.
"A pandemic will be global in scale, but the consequences will be felt by people at a local level. It could touch every family and we must therefore take the threat as seriously as we can." The ?100m package will be brought together over the next three years. Ms Sturgeon said Scotland took part in a UK-wide pandemic flu exercise in February.
The Scottish Government is now planning a Scotland-wide pandemic flu exercise towards the end of next year. It will involve key personnel across Scotland modelling how they respond in the event of a pandemic. Contracts have already been signed with pharmaceutical firms to guarantee a supply of the vaccine at a time when there will be significant international demand.
However, these can only be developed once the particular strain of the virus has been identified. Labour's Shadow Public Health Minister, Dr Richard Simpson, said he had written a report on pandemic flu in 2000 as chairman of Holyrood's Health Committee, which helped put Scotland "ahead of the game".
He called for a meeting with Ms Sturgeon and her officials and asked what discussions have taken place with the Red Cross, WRVS and other voluntary organisations.
"Will the cabinet secretary ensure that all local plans involve clear discussions with the voluntary organisations, because they will have a major role to play in sustaining the cohesion of our communities?" he asked.
He also called for a list of retired medical professionals and medical students to be prepared on a database and for NHS Scotland to train them so their "role is clear".
Ms Sturgeon said she would be happy to meet with him and said it was important that voluntary organisations are involved in local plans and promised to look into the issue of retirees and students.
Dr Harry Burns, Scotland's Chief Medical Officer, said the drugs being stockpiled would expire in around five years. The investment, he said, showed how seriously the possibility of a pandemic was being taken.
However, he stressed: "The reason this is happening is updating and preparedness - not because of any imminence of a pandemic.":tiphat: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.1853840.0.0.php