Thousands get flu in Australia, but few require medical care.

Thousands get the flu in Australia, but few require medical care.

Influenza monitoring systems are reporting nearly 8,000 cases, early in the Australia flu season.

Recent flooding and bad weather may be to blame, but it is not clear that this is either the main or sole reason for the high reported numbers. One theory is that there is simply more testing going on, another that fewer people are being vaccinated due to concerns about the safety of the flu shot.

Report in Brisbane Times: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/warnings-as-flu-cases-surge-20110719-1hn5m.html#ixzz1SeuevxIe

Report on “The Conversation”: http://theconversation.edu.au/flu-is-on-the-rise-australia-and-thats-not-to-be-sniffed-at-2414

Reuters reports potential tripling of flu vaccine production by 2015

Reuters is reporting that the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced 11 new producers of flu vaccine. The manufacturers could potentially provide up to 1.7 billion doses of season flu vaccine by 2015.

According to Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO assistant director-general, "what we are continuing to do is to make sure that not only will there be more pandemic vaccine if need be, but also that the sites where these vaccines will be produced will be more diverse geographically and more populations of the world will have earlier access to pandemic vaccine."

"We have to take influenza vaccine as a tool to combat influenza pandemic, not just a tool to maximise profit," said Dr. Pathom Sawanpanyalert, Thailand's chair of the WHO's Global Action Plan for Influenza Vaccines, the experts group that met. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/14/health-flu-vaccine-idUSLDE76D0XD20110714

CDC offers Zombie Apocalypse preparedness plan

If you previously took everything the CDC said with a grain of salt, their latest pronouncement is not likely to change your mind.

A tongue-in-cheek blog post describes what to do in case zombies strike.



http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp

Excerpt:

"Zombie Apocalypse

There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.

A Brief History of Zombies
We’ve all seen at least one movie about flesh-eating zombies taking over (my personal favorite is Resident EvilExternal Web Site Icon.), but where do zombies come from and why do they love eating brains so much? The word zombie comes from Haitian and New Orleans voodoo origins. Although its meaning has changed slightly over the years, it refers to a human corpse mysteriously reanimated to serve the undead. Through ancient voodoo and folk-lore traditions, shows like the Walking Dead were born."

Full blog post is here:

http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp

FDA refuses to approve Merck HPV treatment Gardasil for older women

Merck (NYSE: MRK) announced that it's Gardasil HPV (Human Papillomavirus) treatment is not effective in women over the age of 26 (specifically, ages 27-45). Although it had applied to the FDA to extend treatment for use by this age group, approval was denied.

Sales of Gardasil have been declining, as the market for this drug has been saturated. Gardasil is approved for young women (and also young men, aged 9-26). This is the second time that the FDA has disallowed wider use of the vaccine.

The full text of Merck's announcement can be found here:
http://bit.ly/gmcAeg