Swine flu japan update

Experts predict that a third of the global population - 2 billion people - will eventually be infected with H1N1, which was first seen in March in California and Mexico.

The World Health Organization said in late August that the new H1N1 swine flu had reached epidemic levels in Japan, signalling the early start to what may be a long influenza season this year.

The health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the government had reached a deal with the two foreign makers, with a contract totalling It did not specify how much it would buy from each of the two companies. A Japanese newspaper, the Asahi Shimbum, reported last month that the government would spend about a total of billion yen to buy enough vaccine for 35 million people from GlaxoSmithKline and for another 12 million people from Novartis.

It will be useful for clinical diagnostics, epidemiology and will allow the inclusion of results from different origins in comparative studies," says Lamballerie. BBC Online reported that a US nongovernmental organisation, the Pew Charitable Trust, funded a study published last year which warned of the potential spread of viruses from animals.

The study concluded that: "The continued cycling of viruses and other animal pathogens in large herds or flocks increases opportunities for the generation of novel viruses through mutation … that could result in more efficient human-to-human transmission.

Meanwhile, scientists report in Nature this week 11 June that influenza A H1N1 was derived from several viruses circulating in swine [1. Nature also reports that the biggest challenge facing the international scientific community lies ahead as the developing nations in the southern hemisphere enter their flu season. According to the article, the World Bank has released substantial funds to prepare these regions. This article was originally published on SciDev.

Read the original article. The details you provide on this page will not be used to send unsolicited email, and will not be sold to a 3rd party. See privacy policy. Swine flu science update: 12 June Share this article:. By: Carol Campbell. The full article is available here as HTML. Press Ctrl-C to copy. Swine flu science update: 12 June By: Carol Campbell.

Send to a friend. Like most websites we use cookies. Hong Kong officials on Sunday confirmed the third case of swine flu in the city, a year-old man who arrived from the United States a day ago. Meanwhile 14 new cases were confirmed in Britain, 10 of them in London, pushing the total number of cases of the virus in the country over And a year-old woman became Chile's first confirmed swine flu case Sunday, hours after returning to the country on a flight from the Dominican Republic via Panama, health officials said.

Acting WHO Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda has said that studies indicated a "significant number of people" had been infected but their cases were either still to be detected or confirmed by laboratory tests.

A motion has even been put forth to shorten the talks in Switzerland from 10 to five days, so that senior officials are not away from their duties at home for so long. Ahead of the WHO meeting, world governments failed to reach a final deal on the sharing of virus research material and vaccines in case of a global flu pandemic.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said his country had given the WHO a sample of the virus on Saturday, along with statistical and clinical data on the evolution of the strain there. Authorities in Mexico say that they are on the path to controlling the outbreak. The health ministry said in a statement that if the virus "is dealt with on time, usually it is curable.

Japan until Friday thought it had kept the virus at bay, after detecting four people who tested positive when they flew in from North America and immediately quarantining them along with about 50 fellow passengers. But since the government Saturday confirmed the first domestic case, a year-old male Kobe student who had not been overseas, the number of confirmed infections has risen quickly in Kobe and Osaka. Late Sunday officials in Hyogo prefecture, which includes Kobe, told AFP 53 cases had been confirmed, while Osaka prefecture reported 36, raising the national toll to Prime Minister Taro Aso has urged the public to stay calm and take hygiene measures -- such as washing their hands often and gargling.

He was due to convene a crisis meeting on the domestic outbreak early Monday. Shigeru Omi, a former senior official at the World Health Organization, now head of the government's special swine flu task force, warned: "We believe that the infection is beginning to spread in the region. It has not yet recommended travel restrictions to curb the spread of the virus but has advised anyone who is feeling unwell to postpone their trips. Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page.

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