Virus H1N1 podría infectar hasta dos billones de personas dentro de los próximos dos años, dice OMS

La OMS declaró el pasado viernes que “el virus H1N1 de la influenza porcina podría infectar hasta dos billones de personas en los próximos dos años, aproximadamente una de cada tres personas en el mundo.” El reporte dice que “el virus se ha propagado a casi todos los países del mundo, matando a alrededor de 800 personas desde su aparición el pasado abril”
“Aunque el H1N1 se ha distinguido por afectar niños mayores y adultos jóvenes, grupos no frecuentemente golpeados por la influenza, anunció la OMS, el virus parece ahora estar afectando grupos de mayor edad que no habían sido perjudicados con anterioridad en la pandemia”. También señaló “la vacunación contra el H1N1 debe comenzar en semanas aunque los ensayos clínicos para probar su seguridad, efectividad y dosis apropiadas apenas han comenzado. El vicepresidente general de la OMS Keiji Fukuda aseguró que “a pesar de las presiones que existen para producir una vacuna viable contra el H1N1, la seguridad de esta no se verá comprometida”
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/158978.php

CDC Predicts Numbers Of U.S. Infections, Deaths Without Vaccine, Proper Control Measures
“Hundreds of thousands of Americans could die over the next two years if the vaccine and other control measures for the new H1N1 influenza are not effective, and, at the pandemic’s peak, as much as 40 percent of the workforce could be affected, according to new estimates” from the CDC based on a 1957 pandemic which claimed the lives of 70,000, the Los Angeles Times reports. The estimates are “admittedly a worst-case scenario that the federal agency says it doesn’t expect to occur,” the newspaper writes (Maugh, 7/25).
“The estimates … are roughly twice the number of those who catch flu in a normal season, the AP/Forbes reports. “Because so many more people are expected to catch the new flu,” if vaccine efforts or other measures fail, “the number of deaths over two years could range from 90,000 to several hundred thousand, the CDC calculated” (Stobbe, 7/24).
Ban Calls For H1N1 Vaccines For Developing Countries
Xinhua examines the continued appeals from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon that wealthy nations help developing countries access the H1N1 vaccine (7/25).
According to Reuters, the “WHO is trying to ensure that health workers in poor countries can be vaccinated so hospitals can stay open if the flu becomes more debilitating as it spreads” (Reuters, 7/24).
Presidents of Argentina, Brazil Appeal For Lifting of Patent Rights To Aid In H1N1 Vaccine Production
Dow Jones Newswires/CNN Money: During a South American trade summit meeting “[t]he presidents of Argentina and Brazil Friday suggested that developing countries be allowed to lift patent rights so they can produce” more H1N1 vaccines (Turner, 7/24). “Using patent rights to preserve an economic advantage in this case ‘would condemn millions of people to death,’ Kirchner argued,” AFP/Google.com writes (7/25).
Participants from the summit included representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela, the AFP/Google.com reports. “Governments represented at the Mercosur summit agreed to strengthen the network of laboratories for early detection, as well as to develop vaccines ‘with a new regulatory approach to ensure access for the population,'” in addition to coordination between health ministries and other entities related to vaccine and antiviral production, the news service writes (Queimalinos, 7/25).
EMA To Accelerate H1N1 Approval Process
The AP/Google.com examines the plan by the European Medicines Agency, to accelerate the approval process for swine flu vaccine – leading some “countries such as Britain, Greece, France and Sweden [to] start using the vaccine after it’s greenlighted – possibly within weeks.” Though “[f]lu vaccines have been used for 40 years, and many experts say extensive testing is unnecessary, since the swine flu vaccine will simply contain a new ingredient: the swine flu virus … European officials won’t know if the new vaccine causes any rare side effects until millions of people get the shots. Still, they say the benefit of saving lives is worth the gamble,” the news service writes. The article includes statements by Fukada about the potential risks of untested vaccines (Cheng, 7/26).