Influenza Singapore Clinic

Influenza Singapore Clinic: Flu/influenza clinic, Singapore. Symptoms, signs, vaccination, prevention, prophylaxis & treatment with Tamiflu® & Relenza®. Definitions, references, and latest news.

Description

Depending on your situation, there are a number of ways of managing influenza.

• Pre-exposure vaccination - with the influenza vaccine
• Post-exposure prevention - If exposed to the flu virus, but has not yet developed symptoms, one may take Tamiflu® (oseltamivir) or Relenza® (zanamivir) as prophylaxis in an attempt to prevent an infection.
• Disease treatment - If one has has already started having flu, and has developed symptoms of sore throat, runny nose, blocked nose, body ache, headache, fever, cough. They may be alleviated with appropriate treatment. Additionally, one can take Tamiflu® (oseltamivir) or Relenza® (zanamivir) as treatment to shorten the course of the disease and reduce the severity of the symptoms.

References

• Influenza - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Influenza: Definition from Answers.com
• Influenza - definition of Influenza in the Medical dictionary - by the Free Online Medical Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
• WHO | Influenza
• CDC - Influenza (Flu)

Rapid Detection of Reassortment of Pandemic H1N1/2009 Influenza Virus [Brief Communications]
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:02:06 +0100 | Clinical Chemistry
CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that these assays can detect reintroductions of pandemic H1N1/2009 virus in pigs. These assays might be useful screening tools for identifying viral reassortants derived from pandemic H1N1/2009 or its precursors. (Source: Clinical Chemistry)

The Great Dread: Cultural and Psychological Impacts and Responses to the 'Russian' Influenza in the United Kingdom, 1889-1893
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:14:00 +0100 | Social History of Medicine
This article examines the impact of the 1889–93 ‘Russian’ influenza on late Victorian society and culture. Using medical officer of health and national and local newspaper reports, and the poetry and memoirs of prominent survivors, I argue that the rapid progress of the influenza across Europe and the morbidity of leading politicians and other members of the British establishment occasioned widespread ‘dread’ and in some cases panic. This dread of influenza was fuelled by the high mortality rate in northern towns such as Sheffield, as well as by the disease's association with pneumonia, neurasthenia, psychosis and suicide. However, the key factor was the growth of mass circulation newspapers and the way that the influenza drew on fin de siècle cultural ...

South Africa: High Risk Patients Urged to Get H1N1 Jabs
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:35:50 +0100 | AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine
The Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development has urged high-risk patients to visit their nearest public health facility to get vaccinated against the H1N1 influenza. (Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine)

Need-to-Know News About Influenza
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:29:49 +0100 | Medscape Today Headlines
Read about the latest -- some unexpected, some welcome -- developments on the influenza front. Medscape Infectious Diseases (Source: Medscape Today Headlines)

A quarter of hospital workers unwilling to respond during flu pandemic
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:54:19 +0100 | MedWire News - Respiratory
More than one in four hospital workers would not respond to an influenza pandemic emergency if asked but not required to do so, survey results suggest. (Source: MedWire News - Respiratory)

Perceptions and behaviors related to hand hygiene for the prevention of H1N1 influenza transmission among Korean university students during the peak pandemic period
Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100 | BMC Infectious Diseases
Conclusions: Korean students increased their frequency of hand hygiene practices during the pandemic, with significant gender differences existing in the attitudes and behaviors related to the use of hand hygiene as a means of disease prevention. Here, the factors that affected hand washing behavior were similar to those identified at the beginning of the H1N1 or SARS pandemics, suggesting that public education campaigns regarding hand hygiene are effective in altering individual hand hygiene habits during the peak periods of influenza transmission. (Source: BMC Infectious Diseases)

Knowledge, attitudes and practices towards pandemic influenza among cases, close contacts, and healthcare workers in tropical Singapore: a cross-sectional survey
Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100 | BMC Public Health - Latest articles
Background: Effective influenza pandemic management requires understanding of the factors influencing behavioral changes. We aim to determine the differences in knowledge, attitudes and practices in various different cohorts and explore the pertinent factors that influenced behavior in tropical Singapore. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional knowledge, attitudes and practices survey in the Singapore military from mid-August to early-October 2009, among 3054 personnel in four exposure groups - laboratory-confirmed H1N1-2009 cases, close contacts of cases, healthcare workers, and general personnel. Results: 1063 (34.8%) participants responded. The mean age was 21.4 (SE 0.2) years old. Close contacts had the highest knowledge score (71.7%, p=0.004) while cases had the highest practice scor...

Swine flu had serious effects in solid organ transplant recipients
Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100 | NeLM - News
Source: Lancet Infectious Diseases Area: News An observational study of solid organ transplant recipients found that infection with pandemic influenza A H1N1 ('swine flu') was associated with significant morbidity: early treatment with antiviral therapy reduced the risk of ITU admission and need for ventilation.   Solid organ transplant recipients are considered to be at higher risk of complications of flu, and this study aimed to characterise outcomes in a cohort of such patients during the swine flu pandemic. Data on patients from 26 North American transplant centres were used to determine the demographics, presentation, treatment and outcomes for adults and children with transplanted solid organs and confirmed swine flu infection.   Data were available on 237 patients...

Isolation of mixed subtypes of influenza A virus from a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:00:00 +0100 | Virology Journal
From April 2007 to March 2008, cloacal swabs were obtained from 246 casualty raptors recovered by various wildlife rehabilitation centers in the United States. The swabs were placed in a virus transport medium and transported to the laboratory on ice packs. At the laboratory, the samples were pooled with each pool consisting of five samples. All pools (n=50) were screened for the presence of avian influenza virus (AIV) using a real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR); one of the pools was found positive. All five samples in this pool were tested individually by rRT-PCR; one sample from a bald eagle was found positive. This sample was inoculated in embryonated chicken eggs for virus isolation and a hemagglutinating virus was isolated. Complete genome sequencing of...