SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 15, (Agencies): Some swine flu victims remain contagious more than eight days after their symptoms have vanished, much longer than expected, said two studies presented at a meeting of experts.
Currently, US health authorities recommend that people who contract the A(H1N1) virus wait 24 hours after the fever has subsided before returning to their normal activities to avoid any risk of spreading the disease.
However the two studies — one conducted in Canada and the other in Singapore — concluded that between 19 and 30 percent of people infected with swine flu may remain contagious for eight days or more after their fever has vanished.
In the Canadian study, eight patients from a group of 43 swine flu patients — or 19 percent of the group — still had a live virus that was able to multiply, making them contagious eight days after their fever had abated, said Gaston De Serres, a specialist at the National Public Health Institute of Quebec.

However none of the patients showed any trace of the virus 10 days after fever broke, De Serres said.
“This study shows you’re not contagious for a day or two. You’re probably contagious for about a week” after the fever has abated, De Serres told reporters at the American Society for Microbiology’s 49th annual conference on antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy meeting this week.
A second study conducted by David Lye of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore found that 20 to 30 percent of a group of 70 swine flu patients still carried the live virus — and were potentially infectious — eight days after fever ended, and a few still remained contagious up to 16 days later.
However the infectious period was shorter for patients treated with antiviral medicine.
De Serres said that the Canadian study did not look at the density of the viral load at the eight-day mark, but that tests were continuing. This information is key in estimating the true risk of contagion.

“The current recommendation suggests that fever subsides in three to four days, and people go work by fifth day,” said Daniel Jernigan, deputy director of the influenza division at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Some people will continue to shed live virus after their fever stops, we know that,” he said, adding that current recommendations “are intended to decrease infection, not completely eliminate infection.
“If we had a virus with a very high attack rate or death rate we might have a very different policy,” he said.
While noting that both studies were carried out on small sample groups, Frank Lowy, a virologist at Columbia University in New York, told reporters that if confirmed in new studies, the results could be significant in efforts to contain the swine flu spread.

Fatality
Kuwait’s Ministry of Health announced the seventh death caused by swine flu, of a man aged 70 years old, who suffered from diabetes, high-blood pressure, deficiencies in the coronary artery, as well as other heart problems.
Ministry of Health spokesperson Qais Al-Diwairi told KUNA that the fatality was a severe medical case, with many complications and high fever. Although he was treated with antibiotics, he did not respond to them and died.
The ministry expressed regret for the man’s death and offered condolences to his family.
The recovery rate from swine flu cases in the country has reached 99 percent, and the percentage of cases and deaths registered in Kuwait regarding this disease is considered among the lowest internationally.
The Kuwaiti Education Ministry confirmed on Tuesday a teacher at a boys school in Jahra Area is diagnosed with swine flu.
Jahra High School Principal Hamid Khalaf told KUNA the male teacher was absent since last Thursday and did not interact with any member of the staff, and added he was infected during his absence.

He added the lab results came Tuesday confirming presence of the swine flu virus, upon which the teacher himself called the school and reported his condition and that he was receiving care at home.
The principal added there is no need for any measures at the school since the teacher was not present there at anytime while infected.
Of the three swine flu cases reported in private schools, two have fully recovered and have gone back to their classes, and the third is recovering steadily, said Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr Moudhi Al-Humoud on Tuesday.
In a press release, the minister emphasized the ministry’s keenness to follow-up the matter, and to make sure that the students had fully recovered before allowing them to join their peers in class.
She noted that the ministry had supplied public and private schools with one million booklets and instruction signs that explained the precautions that needed to be taken to counter the disease.
Al-Humoud added that charts documenting full information about every student and their family were prepared in order to help deal with any case that was reported, adding that a liaison officer from the “quick intervention” team had been assigned to each school, to facilitate contact between the school and the clinic in each residential area should an emergency arise.
The booklets included important regulations ordered by the World Health Organization to contain the disease and to prevent it from spreading.

Nursery
Some owners of nursery schools have reportedly insisted on challenging the decision of the Council of Ministers to close down the Kindergartens until November 27, 2009 due to the swine flu outbreak, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily quoting reliable sources.
The daily quoting reliable sources said the nursery schools in question have continued to receive the kids, while they have compelled guardians to sign documents the schools will not be held responsible if any child is infected with swine flu.
In other developments, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) is studying the possibility of temporarily suspending the fingerprints attendance system in all government institutions to avert an outbreak of the H1N1 swine flu among employees.
The sources pointed out the ministries have a number of their employees suffering from allergies and upper respiratory diseases, including asthma, and such persons are likely to develop complications with swine flu infection.
Meanwhile, the CSC will notify the government institutions immediately after the decision to suspend the fingerprint attendance system is approved.

Pigs
The new pandemic H1N1 influenza was circulating undetected in pigs for at least a decade before it jumped to people, and much better surveillance is needed among both pigs and people, an expert said on Tuesday.
Molecular tests show the swine flu virus made a mutational jump as it passed from pigs to humans, which apparently happened recently, Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona told a meeting of flu experts sponsored by the US Institute of Medicine.
“This virus most likely has been circulating under the radar in pigs for the better part of 10 years,” Worobey, who specializes in tracking viruses using a so-called molecular clock, told the meeting.
“Once it jumped into humans it probably circulated for months under the radar. There is lots of room for improvement of our surveillance of swine flu in pigs.”

Purifier
Japan’s Daikin Industries Ltd, the world’s No.2 air conditioner maker, said on Tuesday its air purifier can stop the H1N1 flu virus from spreading, sending the firm’s shares up 5 percent.
But a Japanese Health Ministry official said there were uncertainties about the machine, such as whether it could be effective in large public rooms.
Daikin said a joint study with Vietnam’s National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology had shown that the virus, spreading around the world in a flu pandemic, was no longer contagious after being exposed to its air purifier for four hours.
Shares in Daikin jumped 5 percent on news of the flu-fighting technology in a flat Tokyo market.
High-speed plasma electrons generated in the air purifier break down H1N1, other viruses and bacteria to nitrogen, oxygen and water, said Daikin, which developed the technology in 2004.

Daikin this month launched its latest air purifier using the technology, a model which it said is 1.5 times more powerful than its previous versions.
The new H1N1 strain of flu, declared a pandemic in June, could eventually infect one-third of the world’s population, or 2 billion people, according to the World Health Organization.
The Health Ministry official said: “Such a machine may function appropriately under certain conditions like in a small room, but may not in places like large gymnasiums, where hundreds of people gather.”
The official asked not to be identified because he was not in a position to talk publicly.
Rival Sharp Corp uses similar technology for its air purifiers but has yet to verify its effectiveness on the virus, a Sharp spokesman said.

EU
European states may share scarce supplies of H1N1 swine flu vaccine under a European Commission plan, allowing for redistribution of supplies from the “haves” to the “have nots”.
The realisation that one shot of pandemic vaccine, not two, is likely to suffice for most people means governments that placed early orders could have excess stocks while others face a shortage or even a complete lack of vaccine.
The European Union’s executive arm said it would encourage “a common approach to cross-border sharing and voluntary sale within the EU”.
Some countries have already included a provision in contracts with manufacturers stating that unused vaccines can be sold to other countries, it added.
“We need to remain vigilant and continue to coordinate our preparations to respond to the pandemic in the months ahead,” EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said in a statement.
The Commission also proposed an eventual joint procurement mechanism for countries ordering vaccines, since this could lead to economies of scale, although initially the aim will be to bundle together calls for national tenders.

US
US health officials have approved vaccines for the H1N1 swine flu from four drugmakers, US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told Congress on Tuesday.
The US Food and Drug Administration has cleared vaccines from Sanofi-Aventis SA, CSL Ltd, Medimmune and Novartis AG to help prevent the H1N1 strain of influenza, she said.
“There will be vaccines for everyone,” Sebelius said at a hearing of the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee. There are about 300 million potential users of the vaccine, she said, adding that not all Americans will opt to get vaccinated.
She also said there would be no necessary adjuvant treatments.
The vaccines target the new H1N1 flu strain that was declared a pandemic in June. The World Health Organization has said it could infect as many as one-third of the world’s population, or 2 billion people.

Palestine
The Palestinian Health Ministry has shut down a West Bank school after several students tested positive for swine flu.
The deputy health minister, Anan al-Masri, says at least six high school students in Nablus have been diagnosed with the flu and the school has been closed to prevent further spread of the disease.
There have been about 130 cases of the H1N1 virus — also known as swine flu — in the West Bank. All have been treated and there have been no confirmed deaths.
In neighboring Israel, the Health Ministry has reported 3,175 cases and 23 deaths.
Hundreds of parents from the Nablus school rushed into local clinics on Tuesday to have their children tested.
The Health Ministry said it had ample resources to treat anyone infected.

S. Africa
Swine flu has now killed nearly 50 people in South Africa while 11,253 cases of the virus have been recorded, nearly double the figure of two weeks ago, health authorities said on Tuesday.
The death toll from A(H1N1) now stands at 47, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said, a sharp rise on the 27 deaths which were registered as of September 1 by which time 5,841 cases had been reported.
“Of the 47 fatal cases to date, 20 were pregnant women, five of whom were HIV positive,” said Nombuso Shabalala, a spokeswoman for institute.
Obesity, diabetes, hypertension and HIV were underlying conditions in the other deaths.
“In the majority of persons without any underlying conditions the illness remains mild and self-limiting,” Shabalala added.

Britain
British Muslims will need an injection against seasonal flu if they are travelling to Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, under new travel rules announced in London Tuesday.
The Saudi government is requiring all pilgrims from Britain to provide a certificate of vaccination — which must be at least two weeks old — before they apply for a Hajj visa, officials said.
They will also need to be vaccinated against H1N1 pandemic flu if a vaccine becomes universally available before the pilgrimage in November, amid fears over the global swine flu outbreak.
In addition, Saudi Arabia and the World Health Organisation are advising groups at high risk from flu — including patients with chronic diseases, pregnant women, children and the elderly — not to attend Hajj for their own safety.
In a statement, British Communities minister Shahid Malik said the measures had been introduced because of the risks associated with such a large concentration of people.
“It is inevitable that at an event where two million people are expected to meet, viruses will spread quickly — and this year there is greater concern about flu, particularly for vulnerable people,” he said.

Greece
A French holidaymaker, aged 29, on Tuesday became the first person in Greece to die directly as a result of swine flu, the Greek health ministry said.
In a statement, it said the man succumbed to lung-failure complications in an Athens hospital after he came down with the A(H1N1) virus — adding that he was “the first death” exclusively as a result of the illness.
Two previous swine flu fatalities in Greece involved men aged 23 and 25 who had chronic health problems before they contracted the flu.
More than 2,000 cases of swine flu have been diagnosed in Greece since May 18, the majority involving travellers from abroad.
The national health intervention centre has said that Greece expects its first doses of swine flu vaccine to arrive at the start of October.
On Monday, health authorities in France reported the country’s first swine flu death involving an otherwise health person — a 26-year-old who died on Sunday in Saint-Etienne, in France’s central highlands.