2009 Nov 22 - 深圳料百萬感染 粵ICU告急 甲型流感省內極速蔓延

22 Nov 2009, Mingpao News
【明報專訊】天氣寒冷,廣東H1N1甲型流感急速蔓延,在香港一河之隔的深圳 ....

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2009 Nov 19 - WHO: Safety of pandemic vaccines - Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 briefing note 16

19 NOVEMBER 2009 | GENEVA -- To date, WHO has received vaccination information from 16 of around 40 countries conducting national H1N1 pandemic vaccine campaigns. Based on information in these 16 countries, WHO estimates that around 80 million doses of pandemic vaccine have been distributed and around 65 million people have been vaccinated. National immunization campaigns began in Australia and the People’s Republic of China in late September.

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2009 Nov 19 - WHO: Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Ukraine - update 2

WHO, 17 November 2009
Preliminary tests reveal no significant changes in the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus based on investigations of samples taken from patients in Ukraine. Analyses are being performed by two WHO influenza collaborating centres as part of the global influenza surveillance network.

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2009 Nov - Clinical management of human infection with pandemic influenza (H1N1) 2009: revised guidance. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2009 Nov.

By the World Health Organisation, Nov 2009

WHO revised its guidance on clinical management of pandemic influenza (H1N1) infection.

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2009 Oct 24 - Management of critically ill children with pandemic H1N1

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, UK; 24 Oct 2009

This document was developed by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health with support from the Health Protection Agency and the Department of Health and has been approved by: the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists, Great Britain and Ireland; the Intensive Care Society; the Paediatric Intensive Care Society; and the Royal College of Anaesthetists.

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2009 Oct 23 - FDA Authorizes Emergency Use of Intravenous Antiviral Peramivir for 2009 H1N1 Influenza for Certain Patients, Settings

FDA: For Immediate Release: Oct. 23, 2009
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that, in response to a request from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it has issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the investigational antiviral drug peramivir intravenous (IV) in certain adult and pediatric patients with confirmed or suspected 2009 H1N1 influenza infection who are admitted to a hospital.

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2009 Oct 9 - FDA Warns Against Use of Zanamivir With Nebulizer

[Posted 10/09/2009] GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and FDA notified healthcare professionals of a report of the death of a patient with influenza who received Relenza (zanamivir) Inhalation Powder which was solubilized and administered by mechanical ventilation. Relenza (zanamivir) Inhalation Powder is not intended to be reconstituted in any liquid formulation and is not recommended for use in any nebulizer or mechanical ventilator.

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2009 Oct 5 - The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009

Stockholm, Sweden, 5 Oct 2009
Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.
Press release summary: This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to three scientists who have solved a major problem in biology: how the chromosomes can be copied in a complete way during cell divisions and how they are protected against degradation. The Nobel Laureates have shown that the solution is to be found in the ends of the chromosomes – the telomeres – and in an enzyme that forms them – telomerase.

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2009 July - ABC News: ECMO respirators saving swine flu victims

Source: The World Today
Published: Tuesday, July 21, 2009 12:26 AEST
Expires: Monday, October 19, 2009 12:26 AEST

Critically ill patients with swine flu can now be treated on location with the New South Wales Government ordering special transportable respirators.
Click Read More to listen to a news clip about the experience of using ECMO for human swine flu at the St. Vincent's Hospital, Australia.

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2009 Sep 16 - Doctors demand specialist lung treatment for swine flu victims

David Rose, Health Correspondent. From Times Online September 16, 2009
The treatment received by Sharon Pentleton, who is pregnant, saves one life for every six, says the study
Patients with swine flu who experience severe respiratory failure should be given a specialist lung treatment, researchers say today.
..... In Leicester, of 13 swine flu patients treated so far with ECMO, 85 per cent have survived. .....

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2009 Sep 16 - BBC Video: ECMO machines - Swine Flu relief?

BBC, Wednesday, 16 September at 9pm
Fergus Walsh speaks to Richard Firmin at the ECMO unit at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester about how the lung bypass machines have been used in Australia and how they can help patients with very severe lung illness to recover.
Click Read More to go to BBC to watch the video.

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2008 - Video Report by Dr Giles Peek at the 37th SCCM Critical Care Conference at Honolulu, Hawaii

Dr Giles Peek is the author of the newly published paper about ECMO in the Lancet: Efficacy and economic assessment of conventional ventilatory support versus extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for severe adult respiratory failure (CESAR): a multicentre randomised controlled trial. Giles J Peek MD et al, for the CESAR trial collaboration. The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 16 September 2009

Youtube link: Video Report by Dr Giles Peek at the 37th SCCM Critical Care Conference at Honolulu in 2008

Click READ MORE to go to the Trial Website.

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2009 Sep 15 - New York Times: Machine for Breathing Troubles May Aid in Swine Flu Care, Researchers Say

DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. Published: September 15, 2009
In a study with implications for swine flu treatment, British researchers have found that some patients with severe breathing problems do better if their blood is run through a heart-lung machine than if they are attached to a conventional ventilator. ..... “We have already used ECMO during the first wave of the pandemic with good effect, ....

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2009 Sep - Critical care strategy: managing the H1N1 flu pandemic

Department of Health, NHS, UK, Sep 2009
This document is published by NHS which describes the approach to manage critical care needs in a H1N1 influenza pandemic, including to prevent people becoming seriously ill as a result of H1N1 influenza and to increase intensive care capacity.

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2009 Sep 7 - 中国首批甲型H1N1流感疫苗有望15日前出厂

2009年09月07日07:57 来源:人民网-《人民日报》
记者从北京科兴生物制品有限公司获悉:国家工业和信息化部已于近日向其下达《关于下达收储甲型H1N1流感疫苗生产计划的通知》,...

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2009 Aug 20 - WHO Guidelines for Pharmacological Management of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Influenza and other Influenza Viruses

WHO, Publication date: 20 August 2009
The purpose of this document is to provide a basis for advice to clinicians on the use of the currently available antivirals for patients presenting with illness due to influenza virus infection as well the potential use of the medicines for chemoprophylaxis. The document addresses specifically the two neuraminidase inhibitors oseltamivir and zanamivir, and the two M2 inhibitors amantadine and rimantadine. It includes recommendations on the use of some other potential pharmacological treatments.

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2009 Sep - Medical Diary: A whole issue dedicated to intensive care medicine

Editorial by Dr. Jane CK CHAN, Specialist in Respiratory Medicine, MD (U of Chicago), FRCPE, FHKCP, FHKAM (Medicine), PDipID (HK), Dip American Board of Internal Medicine (Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine)

This September issue of the Hong Kong Medical Diary on Intensive Care represents the very first time the Medical Diary has incorporated Intensive Care into the list of medical topics to be shared with Diary readers. The breadth of mind of the Diary Editors for entertaining non-traditional medical subjects such as Intensive Care and the boldness in committing one whole issue to this subject are much to be congratulated on for making this issue possible. Much gratitude goes to the current and former Editors-in-Chief, Drs Chun-on Mok and Walter King, for their kind encouragement and support. Much gratitude also goes to the esteemed authors of this issue, who, based on their vast experience in managing the critically ill in the intensive care unit (ICU), have together produced this very handsome issue on Intensive Care.

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2009 Aug 15 - 明報:港首現本土抗藥性新流感; South China Morning Post: First local case to resist Tamiflu

Date: 15 Aug, 2009
MingPao: 本港出現首宗本土抗藥性新型流感個案,...
SCMP: A resident of a home for the disabled in Shau Kei Wan is the first local resident with human swine flu that is resistant to Tamiflu, ...... The case is just the seventh in the world, .....

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2009 Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 clinical practice note - Managing adult critically ill cases

Health Protection Agency, Royal college of Anaesthetists, The intensive Care Society (London)

Summary:
This practice note is presented to clinical colleagues to assist the management of cases of A(H1N1). The recommendations are based primarily on adult ICU practice and arise from the international H1N1 ICU network teleconferences held since 5 June 2009, with the most recent occurring on 22 July 2009. 

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2009 FDA Alert: Propylthiouracil (PTU)-Induced Liver Failure

FDA ALERT [06/03/2009]

FDA is notifying healthcare professionals of the risk of serious liver injury, including liver failure and death, with the use of propylthiouracil (PTU) in adult and pediatric patients.

Reports to FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) suggest there is an increased risk of hepatotoxicity with PTU when compared to methimazole (MMI). Although both PTU and MMI are indicated for the treatment of hyperthyroidism due to Graves’ disease, healthcare professionals should carefully consider which drug to initiate in a patient recently diagnosed with Graves’ disease. Physicians should closely monitor patients on PTU therapy for symptoms and signs of liver injury, especially during the first six months after initiation of therapy. PTU and MMI were approved in 1947 and 1950, respectively.

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