The European Food Standard Agency has recently published a call for proposals for a methodological framework for potentially pandemic influenza strains.
This large national cohort study followed-up pregnant women admitted to hospital and found to have laboratory-confirmed influenza A(H1N1) 2009 infection during the autumn-winter wave of the 2009 pandemic. The main objective was determining any adverse pregnancy outcomes attributable to the infection.
Due to an association that was observed in the United States between a swine-flu based human influenza vaccine developed in 1976 and the disease acute polyneuropathy Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) (1,2), GBS was one of the adverse events that was monitored in Europe and North America (3) following the 2009 influenza pandemic vaccination campaigns.
In his speech to the Informal Health Council on 5th July, ECDC Director Marc Sprenger outlined the lessons learnt from the EHEC/STEC outbreak in EU, as well as the need to strengthen EU cooperation against epidemics.
The objective of WHO’s Global Influenza Vaccine Action Plan (which began in 2006) is to increase the use and supply of influenza vaccines on a routine basis.
This review summarises the clinical features, diagnosis and treatment of gnathostomiasis and highlights the rare but important different neurological syndromes that can occur as a consequence of migration of the worm within the CNS.
The authors of this study from 12 European Union member states used statistical modelling and a novel European approach for combining data to explore the potential causes that might explain difference in transmission dynamics observed during the early stages of the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic.
In recent years there have been a series of arguments and findings suggesting that Statins (HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors) which used widely to lower cholesterol levels may also be important in reducing the risk associated with severe infective conditions.
The agreed document will now go to WHO’s governing body the World Health Assembly in May 2011 (16-24 May) with a report from the Group and a Resolution strongly recommending adoption.
The United Kingdom has recently published a new influenza pandemic strategy for consultation with key stakeholders. The consultation runs to June 2011 and is the last stage before formal adoption.