which means fever or runny nose.
After 5 days patients may turn to the worst suddenly. On then should
Tamilflu be given, according to WHO. This makes Tamilflu ineffective
and will create Tamilflu-resistant Swine Flu virus.
50% of patients admitted to hospitals have no underlying diseases, but
75% of those who survived were previously healthy.
So why give priority to patients who have underlying diseases where
Tamilflu is not as effective?
Tamilflu is designed to save lives, not to waste it on people who do
not benefit from it the most, i.e. those who are late and with serious
underlying diseases. As long as there is stock of Tamilflu, it should
be given to all those where lives need to be saved and have the
greatest chance of making full use of it.
Using Tamilflu for cases that are already more than 5 days is just
ridiculous and a waste of resources. It is similar to vaccinating old
people that only have effectiveness of less than 10%.
WHO must be filled with a bunch of idiots.
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/health/issues+caution+over+monitoring+swine+cases/1924069/story.html
The World Health Organization is warning that underlying health
problems "will not reliably predict all or even most cases" of severe
H1N1 influenza.
Worldwide, around 40 per cent of severe cases are now occurring in
previously healthy children and adults, usually under the age of 50,
WHO said Friday in issuing new guidelines on the use of antivirals
developed by an international expert panel.
In Canada, among cases where information is available, about 46 per
cent of those hospitalized so far with human swine flu had no
underlying medical condition. Among those who have died, 75 per cent
had a pre-existing health problem, according to the Public Health
Agency of Canada.
Most patients infected with the pandemic virus have mild symptoms and
recover fully within a week, even without any medical treatment, WHO
says.
But patients with severe H1N1 infection can experience "a sudden and
very rapid deterioration in their clinical condition", WHO said,
usually on Day 5 or 6 after the onset of symptoms. H1N1 can cause
viral pneumonia, which destroys lung tissue and is a leading cause of
death for H1N1 and seasonal flu, and multi-organ failure, including
failure of the heart, kidneys and liver.
"Clinicians, patients and those providing home-based care need to be
alert to warning signals that indicate progression to a more severe
form of illness, and take urgent action, which should include
treatment with oseltamivir," or Tamiflu, the world health agency says.
Serious cases should be treated immediately, ideally within 48 hours
of the beginning of symptoms, but treatment should be provided, even
if started later.
The recommendation applies to all patients, including pregnant women,
and all age groups, including young children and infants.
In children under age 1, recent Canadian data show higher rates of
hospitalizations, admissions to intensive-care units and death,
compared with all H1N1 cases in Canada.
WHO says anyone with an underlying medical condition should also get
Tamiflu as soon as possible, without waiting for lab test results, and
doctors should consider using higher doses than normal in severe
cases.
But healthy people with mild or "uncomplicated illness" don't need the
drug, the agency says.
Neither do otherwise healthy children older than five, unless their
illness persists or worsens, WHO says.
As of Aug. 15, a total of 1,422 cases of people hospitalized with
swine flu had been reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
This week, four new deaths were reported, for a total of 71 deaths
since the beginning of the pandemic.
Canada has a national antiviral stockpile of 55 million doses of both
Tamiflu and Relenza, another flu drug. The Public Health Agency of
Canada has recommended the drugs be reserved for those at high risk of
complications of the flu, and for people with more severe illness, and
not people who are only mildly sick.
If Tamiflu is overused, the H1N1 virus could adapt and develop
resistance.
Since the start of the outbreak, the official messaging has been
people with underlying health problems, such as asthma, diabetes and
heart disease, are among the most vulnerable to getting severely sick
with H1N1.
"That is still one of the groups that we need to identify, and that's
what we're doing — identifying new students on campus who have those
problems," says Dr. Pierre-Paul Tellier, director of student health
services at McGill University in Montreal.
But the warning that 40 per cent of cases are occurring in otherwise
healthy people "also then tells us that we need to maybe be a little
bit more vigilant at looking for other individuals who may be
deteriorating a little more rapidly," he says. "It does indicate there
is a change."
The Public Health Agency of Canada's national microbiology laboratory
in Winnipeg is working with intensive-care units across Canada to
investigate why severe infections are occurring in certain people.
More than 100 cases are under review.
Tellier says federal reports that overall H1N1 activity is decreasing
across Canada "is a bit of a false picture."
"If we speak to our colleagues who work in the hospital, they're just
not testing like they used to. We don't really know how common the
infection is in the population, at this point."
The World Health Organization says medical attention should be sought
when any of the following danger signs appear in someone with
confirmed or suspected H1N1 infection:
- Shortness of breath, either during physical activity or while
resting
- Difficulty breathing
- Turning blue
- Bloody or coloured sputum
- Chest pain
- Altered mental state, including drowsiness and confusion
- High fever that persists beyond three days
- Low blood pressure
In children, warning signs include fast or laboured breathing, lack of
alertness, difficulty in waking up, and little or no desire to play.
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
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