Protection From H1N1 Flu Is The Same As From Seasonal Flu

Protection From H1N1 Flu Is The Same As From Seasonal Flu.
The blockbuster H1N1 flu seems to appropriate many characteristics with the seasonal flu it has pretty much replaced, a new study indicates. "Our results are further confirmation that 2009 pandemic H1N1 and seasonal flu have nearly the same transmission dynamics. People seem to be similarly transmissible when ill with either pandemic or seasonal flu, and the viruses are likely to spread in similar ways," said Benjamin Cowling, escort author of a study appearing in the June 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The favourable news is that this means the preventive measures health authorities have been recommending, such as ordinary hand washing, should be equally effective against pandemic flu. "Influenza is very difficult to contain, but in the air measures including the availability of pandemic H1N1 vaccines should be able to mitigate the worst of any further epidemics," added Cowling, who is an helper professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong.

Cowling and his colleagues followed 284 household members of 99 individuals who had tested incontestable for H1N1. Eight percent of the household contacts also hew ill with the H1N1 virus, about the same transmission rate as seen for the seasonal flu (9 percent), the researchers found.

Viral shedding (when the virus replicates and leaves the body), as well as the prototype of tangible sickness, were also similar for the two types of flu. The "attack rate" (meaning the suitableness of people in the entire population who get sick) for H1N1 was higher than that for seasonal flu and the balance was most pronounced among children. The authors hypothesized that this might be due to the fact that younger tribe seem to have lower natural immunity to the virus.

The patients in this study who were given oseltamivir (Tamiflu) did seem to have reduced antibody levels. "This would suggest that perhaps oseltamivir may result in a less vigorous immune response than men and women who are not treated with this drug ," said Dr John J Treanor, professor of prescription and of microbiology and immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

So "That is very different from studies looking at seasonal flu, where there doesn't appear to be any impact of oseltamivir on antibody response. This should be looked at more closely. It's potentially top-level in terms of long-term susceptibility to re-infection. Susceptibility might be different in someone treated with oseltamivir who is not vaccinated. They might have enhanced susceptibility".

A double study in the journal found that giving Tamiflu prophylactically (as a staving off measure) to people confined in close quarters - in this case, soldierly installations - seemed to stem outbreaks. Flu is also more likely to spread and bed-cover faster in enclosed places such as schools and hospitals, in addition to military facilities.

In this study, Tamiflu was given to 1100 personnel out of a utter of 1175 personnel. Before the intervention, 6,4 percent of individuals were infected, compared with only 0,6 percent after Tamiflu was introduced. On average, a mortal who came down with H1N1 boundaries the virus to only 0,11 additional individuals after the intervention, versus almost two people before fav-store. Although a vaccine is on tap for the 2009 H1N1 pandemic strain, Tamiflu might be an option in areas where the vaccine is not effortlessly obtainable, stated the authors, who are with the Singapore Ministry of Defence and the National University of Singapore.