H1N1 virus

H1N1 claims one more life in Qatar
Influenza A(H1N1) virus has claimed another life raising the number of deaths to seven in Qatar, the Supreme Council of Health has announced.
The latest victim, a 31-year-old Indian woman, died yesterday after she was diagnosed with H1N1 virus infection. She was admitted to Hamad Hospital on November 6 suffering from rheumatic fever, cardiac diseases, breathing difficulty and high temperature.
On Tuesday, a Pakistani youth, 17, died due to the virus after suffering from complications of temperature and pneumonia and was later diagnosed with a kidney disease known as Nephritic Syndrome.
The council will hold a press conference on Sunday. The meeting will be addressed by the Public Health Department director Dr Mohamed al-Thani.

Hello, as my son recently had a suspected case of H1N1, our nursery Apple Tree asked us to bring a paper from HMC Children's Emergency that he is not contageous any more. Ok, we all know that if he spent over two weeks out of nursery(by the way he's picked up the virus from two other children sent back home with high fever 4 days before),and completed Tamiflu precatious treatment, he was absolutely fine. But they asked us to bring a HMC medical certificate almost 4 hours after my son already spent in the nursery on the day he returned back to Apple tree! There is no certain regulations regarding prevention of spreading H1N1 virus in nurseries, there are no trained nurses and no pre-screening of children for any related symptoms BEFORE they enter their class.

I have been reading up on the research done in Canada in regards to the seasonal flu shot and H1N1. Studies show that people vaccinated against seasonal flu are twice as likely to catch swine flu.

It's a little worrying considering Qatar wants to vaccinate 180 000 students next week with the seasonal flu shot, which may be counter-productive to their goals of limiting the spread of H1N1 virus. Canada has put their seasonal flu shots on hold until their research can provide more conclusive results.

The below article is certainly worth a read for all parents with school-going children.

http://www.theglobea...

Minister of Education and Higher Education and Secretary General of Supreme Education Council HE Saad bin Ibrahim al-Mahmoud issued yesterday a decision postponing the beginning of the 2009/2010 academic year. As per the decision, the new academic year will begin on October 4 for students in all grades while for the administrative and teaching staffs the new academic year starts tomorrow, according to approved schedules for 2009/2010.

http://gulf-times.co...

DOHA: Qatar has delayed the reopening of schools for a week to enable them to make adequate preparations to prevent a possible spread of the dreaded H1N1 virus.

http://www.thepenins...

Does virus vaccine increase the risk of cancer?

Lung specialist Wolfgang Wodarg has said that there are many risks associated with the vaccine for the H1N1 virus.

He has grave reservations about the firm Novartis who are developing the vaccine and testing it in Germany. The vaccination is injected “with a very hot needle”, Wodarg said.

The nutrient solution for the vaccine consists of cancerous cells from animals and "we do not know if there could be an allergic reaction".

But more importantly, some people fear that the risk of cancer could be increased by injecting the cells.

The vaccine - as Johannes Löwer, president of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, has pointed out - can also cause worse side effects than the actual swine flu virus.

Medical experts, who took part in a discussion on H1N1 flu, have advised against postponing the reopening of schools after the summer vacation in Qatar, but urged the health authorities and parents to remain “vigilant” to confront the disease on a case-by-case basis.
Most of the schools in Qatar are scheduled to begin their new academic year on September 26.
The discussion was organised and hosted by the Friends of Environment Centre at its Green Tent, where contemporary issues of local interest are taken up during the month of Ramadan.
While some of the speakers accused the media of “exaggerating” the threat from H1N1 virus, commonly called swine flu, others believed the matter should be taken seriously to prevent catastrophic consequences for the humanity.