Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland confirmed 2,423 new cases of swine flu in the week ending 21 November, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) announced Friday 27 November, bringing the total to 6,691 since the outbreak began. The pandemic has already claimed four deaths in Switzerland, all from high risk patients. FOPH estimates that almost 27,000 people have consulted their doctors about the flu country-wide.
image: ch.ch
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A small baby who died last week is Switzerland’s first death related to the A/H1N1 flu, authorities in canton Basel Land have confirmed. No details about the child or the exact cause of death have been released. The federal health department says the flu is now growing more rapidly, exponentially, with 773 cases, twice the number of the previous week.
Links to other sites: TSR (Fre), Swiss Federal Health Office web site on A/H1N1 pandemic, in English
I'd rather go skiing
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A vast majority of Swiss are not interested in getting a swine flu (A/H1N1) vaccination, when the campaign starts in two weeks time, according to a survey by pollster Isopublic conducted late last week, and published 1 November. Of 606 people around Switzerland surveyed, 86.4 percent of the representative sample said they were not afraid of the flu virus and would not be getting flu shots. Most of the people polled were aware of the government’s information campaign, but discarded the dangers.
The government has bought 13 million doses, and has said the vaccinations could begin 16 November, after several delays.
Background: “Switzerland buys 13 million doses of A/H1N1 vaccine“, 18 September 2009, GenevaLunch
Links to other sites:Romandie News, Sonntagsblick, TSR,
Scientists from Saudi Arabia are assessing the risks posed by the annual hajj, pilgrimage, in the spread of the A/H1N1 swine flu virus along with experts from the World Health Organization, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2009, more than 2,5 million pilgrims are expected in Saudi Arabia from 160 countries around the world for the five-day religious observance between 25-29 November, the height of the flu season. The risks are that so many people packed together in such a short time will act like a giant incubator to transmit the disease worldwide.
Saudi authorities have asked people at risk – pregnant women, young children, the elderly – not to come this year, and recommend people come vaccinated. The airports have been equipped with thermal scanners and other scanning equipment. People are encouraged to wear masks, wash hands frequently and observe “cough etiquette”. New York Times, Reuters, WHO
Flu virus © 2009 Novartis AG
Update 19.09 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland joins other major industrialized nations in reserving 10 percent of the vaccines for donation to poorer countries, under the auspices of the World Health Organization, an initiative proposed by US President Barack Obama, the Swiss government announced.
The Swiss government has bought 13 million doses of swine flu vaccine from Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to cover the 7.7 million population in the country. Deliveries will start at the end of September. The cantons will organize vaccinations, while the costs will be shared among the central government, the cantons and the health insurance industry, the government announced 18 September.
Health workers and those who work with infants under six months of age, as well as people at risk will be vaccinated before the general population, the government says. The cost to individuals will be slightly less than CHF20 per vaccine. The charge covers materials and the actual vaccination, but not the vaccine dose.
Latest tests by GSK in Canada indicate that a single dose of the vaccine provides immunity against the flu. Most countries have budgeted a double-dose vaccination campaign against swine flu.
Related: Swiss government site on prevention, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - A doctor who works in the maternity ward at the Cantonal University Hospital (Chuv) in Lausanne, just back from holidays abroad, infected 2 patients and 10 co-workers with A/H1N1 flu when he went to work despite feeling poorly. He contracted the flu on holiday, and went back to work 31 July. He was sent home because he had a fever. The hospital contacted everyone he came into close contact with that day. Only two patients contracted the illness and neither of them are in danger. The 10 co-workers who became ill were also sent home.
Related: 24Heures (Fre)
Viral Flu, © 2009 Novartis AG
Basel and Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss drugs maker Novartis said 5 August it had begun trials of a swine flu vaccine on humans in Germany, the US and the UK. If the trials are successful, the vaccine could be approved by regulators using a fast-track approvals process in Europe and the US. Large-scale production would then be ramped up in time for the northern hemisphere’s flu season in autumn.
All major drugs manufacturers are racing to finish human trials in order to begin production of a vaccine. Australian drugs manufacturers announced last month that they had begun human trials.
Fast track procedures take into account strain changes
The WHO (World Health Organization) says that fast-track procedures worked out by regulators in many countries are based on existing procedures for approving seasonal flu vaccines, which take into account small changes in the flu virus, so-called “strain changes.”
© 2009 WHO
Geneva and Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (OFSP) recommends that people who come down with symptoms of the flu avoid contact with others to stop the spread of the disease. A humourous new advertising campaign (link below) says it quite clearly. This means staying away from work until the symptoms have gone away, or to care for sick members of the family. In a front-page article 4 August, Le Temps (Fre) asks whether this means that employers will not insist on having a medical cerificate for any absence longer than three days, as stipulated by law: to leave one’s bed to go and see a doctor defeats the purpose of the quarantine.
New Media campaign against A/H1N1
[public health video] Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The fight against the A/H1N1 virus in the French-speaking part of Switzerland is taking on a new face, a drag face.
The Federal Office of Public Health has started its swine flu awareness media campaign, “United against the flu” with a bit of humour: a comedian dressed in drag.
Two Australian drugs manufacturers have begun clinical trials of a vaccine for humans against A/H1N1 swine flu. Almost 600 people are taking part in the tests, although the results will not be known for almost six weeks. In the US, the University of Maryland’s Centre for Vaccine Development CVD announced it was to begin clinical trials in early August with 1000 volunteers. The hope is to be able to deploy an effective vaccine by the begin of the flu season in the Northern hemisphere’s winter. New cell-based technology potentially boosts the vaccine production capacity of pharmaceutical companies to millions a week. But most vaccine-producing drugs firms are still producing vaccine for the seasonal variety of flu, and are not yet geared up for mass-scale production of an A/H1N1 vaccine. Human clinical trials are an important step in the approvals process. BBC, CNN, GenevaLunch
