As flu season approaches in the northern hemisphere there is going to be a scramble to provide the public with enough protection.
World Health Organization Chief Issues Vaccine Warning
Dr. Margaret Chan is director general of the World Health Organization (WHO). In an interview with The Guardian (July 15, 2009) she said: “There’s no vaccine. One should be available soon, in August. But having a vaccine available is not the same as having a vaccine that has been proven safe. Clinical trial data will not be available for another two to three months.”
Dr. Chan’s comments came a day after manufacturers said they had hit a snag in swine flu vaccine production. The viruses from which vaccines are produced are grown in eggs, and the WHO says pharmaceutical companies doing the work are reporting yields of half or less of what they expected.
The Globe and Mail reported (July 14, 2009) that, “If the problem persists, the vaccine wouldn’t be immediately available for everyone.”
Swine Flu in Southern Hemisphere
At newscientist.com Debora MacKenzie writes (July 9, 2009) that, “In the southern hemisphere, in the midst of its winter flu season, swine H1N1 virus seems to be replacing the seasonal flu viruses that circulated till now - classic pandemic behaviour." In Australia’s Victoria state, 99% of flu cases reported so far are of the swine H1N1 variety; in Chile, 98% are swine H1N1.
This means that the seasonal flu vaccine that is produced every year is almost completely useless.
The northern hemisphere can catch a glimpse of what’s in store for it during the next winter if a swine H1N1 vaccine is not widely distributed. Australia is experiencing serious outbreaks of the disease, and by mid-July 2009 the government reported more than 10,000 cases hade been identified. More than a thousand of these patients have been hospitalized and 21 have died.
On July 16, 2009, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that in Sydney, “More than 420 people have been admitted to hospital with swine flu in the past six weeks. Thirty two are in intensive care and seven are being treated using cardiac bypass machines.”
Swine Flu at Risk Groups
The Sydney Morning Herald also reported that most of the cases were occurring in young, healthy people. It said that “doctors to blame a condition called cytokine storm, where a vigorous immune system can overreact to certain pathogens, racing so many antibodies to the infection site that they collect together damaging healthy tissue.”
These antibodies clog up the lungs and block the transfer of oxygen into the blood supply.
Other high risk groups are pregnant women and the morbidly obese. Special concern is being expressed over the vulnerability of Australia’s native Aborigines.
Associated Press reported on June 24, 2009 that, “Many Aborigines live in unhygienic Outback townships with overcrowded, ramshackle housing and no running water. Such communities are rife with chronic illnesses, have limited medical services, and large numbers of children who are particularly susceptible to the virus.”
Rupert Taylor - Rupert Taylor is the editor of a magazine that provides background to current events.
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