The type-A (H1N1) influenza virus directly attacks the human lung, developing severe symptoms that can lead to death, the Public Health Ministry said Monday. We found that most patients with severe type-A (H1N1) influenza symptoms also suffered severe pneumonia," said the director-general of the Medical Service Department, Dr Rewat Wisarutwej.


The finding was revealed by health experts meeting at the department to examine the character of the new influenza virus and its severity when infecting humans - based on patient's medical records, laboratory tests, and x-ray results.


" The virus has been found deep in the bottom of the lungs," Rawat said, adding that most patients developed the symptoms after contracting the virus in large amounts from other infected patients. The Public Health Ministry will reveal details from its first autopsy on a swine flu patient this Wednesday.

The figure for England is double the total of the previous week and comes as the Department of Health prepares to launch the National Flu Service.

He told the BBC this week that the flu service might just be the first step in how the health service responds to a pandemic which has already claimed more than 700 lives across the world.

I don’t know where it started but someone found a datasheet about a vaccine called Prepandrix that’s made by GlaxoSmithKline.

This thing contains the following entries:

Regulatory/Status Index:

biodefense stockpile (U.S.)
biodefense stockpile, European countries
controlled/gov’t distribution in European counties
controlled/gov’t distribution in U.S.
EU200 Currently Approved in EU
EU666 Biodefense stockpile
UM100 Controlled/Gov’t Distribution in US
US666 Biodefense stockpile
EM160 Controlled/Gov’t Distribution in EU

Now, I’m not taking any vaccine regardless of what number sequences are associated with it, but let’s clear something up:

PREPANDRIX IS A BIRD FLU VACCINE. Bird flu. H5N1.

Not swine flu, H1N1.

The EU666 and US666 status codes are also associated with a smallpox vaccine, and on a more individual basis, about two dozen other substances.

Maybe it’s interesting that vaccines that are stockpiled for “biodefense” purposes carry the 666 designation, but for purposes of the swine flue H1N1 vaccination that will be coming out in a few months, this US666 and EU666 wouldn’t apply because it hasn’t been stockpiled; it’s new.

Out of curiosity, I tried to determine what EU666 and US666 mean beyond the phrase “Biodefense stockpile” that appears next to the entries.

This is the reference for the Regulatory/Status index codes.

Here are the entries for biodefense stockpiles for the U.S. and European countries:

biodefense stockpile (U.S.) — 104; 105; 321; 392; 393; 394; 395; 396; 446; 447; 448; 450; 451; 452; 573; 574; 575; 618; 619; 650

biodefense stockpile, European countries — 312; 392; 393; 449; 452

There’s no reference for 666 listed. I don’t know why the 666 code isn’t listed here, but when you click on any of those codes above and then look down, though the text, it says US666 Biodefense stockpile, or EU666 Biodefense stockpile or both on all of those.

I don’t know what the implications of all of that are, but there you have it.

Deadlier H1N1 in winter
Warning seen in rising death toll in S. America as seasons change

BUENOS AIRES - MOUNTING fatalities in the South American winter launched a new warning yesterday on what to expect from the flu pandemic.

With the World Health Organisation now putting the global toll at more than 700 - a leap of 40 per cent since the start of the month - scientists fear the onset of winter could see Influenza A (H1N1) mutate to a more deadly form, in a reprise of the Spanish and Asian influenza pandemics of 1918 and 1958.

LITTLE FALLS, N.J., July 23 -- Clinicians encountering children with flu-like symptoms accompanied by neurologic symptoms should consider infection with the pandemic H1N1.

Since April, the Dallas County health department has detected four cases of neurological complications in children with confirmed H1N1 infection, Jane Siegel, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues reported in the July 24 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

When encountering children with flu-like symptoms and unexplained seizures or mental status changes, clinicians should begin antiviral treatment immediately -- especially in hospitalized patients -- and send specimens for viral testing, the researchers said.

Neurological complications, including seizures, encephalitis, encephalopathy, and Reye syndrome, had previously been associated with seasonal influenza viruses but had not yet been described in connection to the new pandemic strain.

The cases -- all boys -- were identified among 405 confirmed cases of infection and 44 hospitalizations in the Dallas area. The CDC was alerted on May 28.

All four boys, whose ages ranged from 7 to 17, recovered fully during hospitalization and were sent home without any remaining neurological symptoms.

All four had fever, three had encephalopathy, and two had seizures.

The onset of the neurological symptoms after the development of respiratory disease ranged from one to four days.