Actress Mandy Moore Joins UN Drive To Fight Malaria

Mandy Moore is joining a long list of celebrities who have helped raise money to try and prevent the spread of malaria in Africa and other regions around the world.

Moore, a 26-year-old New Hampshire-born singer/songwriter/actress, has been involved with fighting malaria for several years. She has also helped raise money and generate awareness for leukemia and lymphoma.

In a conference call with reporters on Friday, Moore announced that she is currently in the Central African Republic (CAR) this week, teaming up with the UN Foundation to help raise funds for net beds that can be used to prevent mosquito bites, which are the primary cause of malaria.

“We can prevent this disease, we can save lives,” she said. “We just need everyone’s involvement…a 10 dollar donation truly does save lives.”

The UN Foundation, a charity that promotes United Nations initiatives, started its ‘Nothing But Nets’ campaign in 2006 in an effort to help distribute life-saving nets to those in need. The incesticide-treated nets cost $10 dollars per, and if used properly can lower the spread of malaria by up to 90% in high-risk areas. Foundation studies show that one net bed generally lasts a family up to four years.

According to statistics compiled by the World Health Organization, roughly 250 million cases of malaria are reported each year, resulting in around one million deaths annually. 85% of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, with mostly young children under the age of five falling victim.

Moore said 400,000 more nets are needed in CAR by the end of the year in order to supply every household in the country.

Worst Of H1N1 May Be Over, Says WHO Official

The H1N1 pandemic may be continuing, but officials with the World Health Organization (WHO) are hoping that the worst is behind.

According to Dr. Keiji Fukuda, Special Adviser to the Director-General on Pandemic Influenza, there is still pandemic activity occurring in some locations. Certain areas of the globe, such as West Africa, are experiencing local upsurges in activity due to animal viruses, he said during a conference call on Thursday.

Fukuda said that the H1N1 pandemic has reached a post-peak period, meaning that folks worldwide should anticipate a series of local outbreaks. The current strain of H1N1 has now become the most common virus in the world, and WHO is strongly considering adding it to the general vaccine list next year, said Fukuda, adding that H1N1 has shown amazing stability relative to other viruses.

WHO officials along with groups of advisers and observers will meet next week to decide which strains of H1N1 will be targeted in the next flu season in the Northern Hemisphere. Information will be subsequently shared on WHO's website, www.who.int.

Sebelius: WHO Will Have Access To 10 Percent Of Swine Flu Vaccine

By Laura Smith, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that the World Health Organization will have access to 10 percent of the new H1N1 vaccine.

“Joining Australia, Brazil, Switzerland, New Zealand, Italy, France, Norway, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom are countries that have either donated vaccine or donated its purchase power,” Sebelius said.

The Secretary said $34 million was donated to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) stockpile of antiviral medication this year.

PAHO met Monday to discuss health threats, such as the H1N1 virus, throughout the world, and what is being done to treat and prevent diseases in various Latin American countries.

“PAHO has become the first line of defense in combating [H1N1]," the Director of the Pan American Sanitary Bureau, Dr. Mirta Roses Periago said Monday. "We have faced up to this major health challenge. We have expressed solidarity with the countries and families that have lost human life."

Health Care Employees Must Get Priority For Swine Flu Vaccine, Says WHO Official

By Laura Woodhead - Talk Radio News Service

Health care employees should get priority for the H1N1 vaccine, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended Monday. While there is no official priority ranking for who should get the vaccine first, immunizing health care workers would insure that the health care system would be able to properly combat a possible spread of the virus said Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, Director of the WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research.

"Health care workers should be immunized in all countries in order to maintain a functioning health care system" she said. "They need to remain in good health condition to care for pandemic influenza sick people."

While health care employees are the WHO's main recommendation for priority, there are other vulnerable groups that countries should think about vaccinating first said Kieny. These groups, which include pregnant women and people with chronic illness, have an increased risk of mortality with the H1N1 strain. The obese are also included in the WHO's list of vulnerable peoples.

"Obesity has been observed as being one of the risk factors for most severe disease with H1N1 influenza." Kieny said. The Director added that "people with a body mass index over 30 or even more over 40 have a higher chance of having a severe disease."

Kieny stressed that the WHO's vulnerable groups are simply recommendations, and should be evaluated on a country by country basis.

"Countries will have to take decisions that are adapted to their own national situation" Kieny said. "There is an identification of options, but no ranking, no priority given to these options."

The H1N1 vaccine is expected to be fully licensed by the end of the year, Kieny said.

Pandemic Or What?

Coffee Brown MD, University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News

There are three main differences between a normal flu and a pandemic flu, as described by the Department of Homeland Security: incidence, virulence, and demographics.
Incidence refers to how many of us will get it. In a normal year, about 15 percent of 300 million Americans, or about 45 million people will get infected. In a pandemic, rates rise to 25-50 percent, or 75-150 million cases.
Virulence refers to how many of us will die of the infection. In a normal year, that’s about 0.07 percent, or about 35 thousand out those 45 million. In 1918, mortality was about 2.5 percent, which would be about 7.5 million deaths, given today’s population.
Demographics refers to which of us are at most risk. In a normal year, nearly all deaths occur in people over 65 years old. In 1918 and 1957, mortality was highest among school-aged children and young adults.
This summary, with some calculations, comes from information provided by DHS and presented at GlobalSecurity.Org
Let’s compare the 2009 A-H1N1 Flu. “Atypical flu” may be a handier name. “Swine flu” is passe’.
Incidence: As of 05/02/09: There have been 615 confirmed cases in 15 countries. Attack rates so far are too low and data too incomplete to meaningfully calculate.
Virulence: Mortality in Mexico, the country hardest hit so far, is 16 out of 397 cases: about 4 percent, which works out to four thousand per hundred thousand (a common way of expressing this type of number).
The one U.S. death might properly have been considered a Mexican death, since that child contracted the disease there. If calculated as U.S. data: one death out of 141 cases: about point seven percent. If that fatality is not charged to the U.S. account, the mortality rate outside of Mexico is zero percent as of this writing.
Demographics: Reports say that the Mexican victims were young, but I have not been able to locate details to confirm that. The World Health Organization says that more study would be needed to confirm that younger people are more at risk.
Other: The other elements of this flu that merit precautions are that it is genetically unique, meaning we may have no immunity, and that it is slightly out of season, meaning that it exhibits at least some unpredictable behavior.
We are still at phase 5, so clusters of cases in multiple countries, which would define phase 6, have not yet been confirmed.
Per the WHO, there no travel advisories at this time.
Do masks help? Yes, no, and maybe. Yes: as tiny as viruses are, they could slip right through any screen that we could breathe through, but the virus is carried in droplets of exhaled moisture, and those droplets do stick to the mask. No: But the masks dry, and it’s not clear whether the virus survives and detaches into the inhaled air. Maybe: the real test would be whether people with masks get fewer infections (though such people probably also take more precautions in general), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that data is not yet available.