H1N1 Prevention Measures, Naples and the Intercession of San Gennaro

To prevent the spread of the flu, health authorities reccomend to: Stay home if you get sick. Cover your nose and mouth. Wash your hands. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.

What is happening in Naples deserves attention.

Recently all Neapolitan public transportation drivers have gone on strike, paralyzing the whole city, to protest on what they believe is a lack of hygiene measures to prevent infection on busses. Because daily cleaning with chemical products is guaranteed by the public transportation company, the true reasons of this strike are still under debate and someone points out that allarmism / psycosis might have played a major role.

It is this morning's news that Neapolitan believers have been reassured by Cardinal Sepe: during the celebrations for the liquification of the blood of San Gennaro (Saint Januarius - more info on this ritual can be found here), no one will banned from kissing the saint's reliquary.
According to the Cardinal, even if there was a risk, San Gennaro "understands the true intentions of each believer's heart and can plead with God".

H1N1 Swine Flu Panic! Where's the evidence for vaccination?

The "Swine Flu" is spreading quickly via mass media channels. Italy may close some schools over swine flu. A link to a Daily Mail article concerning a "leaked letter" in the UK written by neurologists concerned by an unacceptable post vaccination risk of Guillain-Barre Syndrome, is virally spreading through social websites such as Facebook.

Let's make it clear, CDC website states:

In 1976, a certain type of influenza (swine flu) vaccine was associated with Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). Since then, flu vaccines have not been clearly linked to GBS. However, if there is a risk of GBS from current flu vaccines, it would be no more than 1 or 2 cases per million people vaccinated. This is much lower than the risk of severe influenza, which can be prevented by vaccination.

I am wondering what should be the process of making a real evidence based choice on vaccination. It's always a balance between risks and benefits. What are the real convincing data that should make everyone vaccinate for H1N1?
Since vaccine trials for the novel H1N1 flu are currently being conducted, probably this choice can't be based on any evidence at the moment.

What we know is that of 30 Aug 2009 in Europe for example there have been 46000 cases with at least 104 deaths (WHO september 4 - update 64).


Are there other valuable authoritative resources besides the following?

Flu.gov (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)

WHO's Pandemic (H1N1) 2009


I would really appreciate any suggestion on resources to further understand these issues.


Other interesting resources on H1N1 flu:

Dr. Ves posted this on twitter: Administering the H1N1 influenza vaccine in patients with suspected egg allergy - AAAAI (PDF) http://bit.ly/4k0KHC


Are there particular precautions for people who have a history of a positive prick test for egg (with many others allergens), but no clinical allergic symptom from eggs?


shamsha kindly suggested me http://bit.ly/1kvcwg ("Prepandemic" immunization for novel influenza viruses, "swine flu" vaccine, Guillain-Barré syndrome, and the detection of rare severe adverse events. Aug 1)

Picture credits (CC): http://www.flickr.com/photos/treehouse1977/506055254/

My TwitteRoll Edition #2 Follow Friday & Best of the Week

Below is a brief selection of my favorite tweets for this week. I definitely recommend following the authors.

1. 
   kidneynotes My electronic stethoscope ran out of batteries and died mid-exam. I am again not joking. 10 Jul 2009 from Birdhouse
2. 
   AHA_nutweetion The American Heart Association's Pocket First Aid & CPR iPhone app puts emergency information at your fingertips. http://budurl.com/cuxg 10 Jul 2009 from web
3. 
   EndoGoddess RT @bbchealth Children fool study measuring activity levels by attaching pedometers to pet dogs. http://tinyurl.com/mdpms3 10 Jul 2009 from TwitterFon
4. 
   ZenRunner http://bit.ly/19VpPm McDonalds Items you've (probably) never tasted (thankfully). Bon Appetite! 10 Jul 2009 from bit.ly
5. 
   EndoGoddess RT @gaby1010: 30% of 14y/o Australian children identified as being at future increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or stroke. 11 Jul 2009 from TwitterFon
6. 
   DrVes How does exercise cause asthma attacks? Dehydration of the airways results in release of mediators. http://bit.ly/FXUaF 11 Jul 2009 from TweetDeck
7. 
   Berci Medical examples for WolframAlpha...http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/HealthAndMedicine.html #scifoo09 12 Jul 2009 from web
8. 
   drportnay CPR Mattress: An Innovation That Can Save Lives - smart!!!! http://viigo.im/0d5F 12 Jul 2009 from Viigo
9. 
   Allergy Contrary to popular belief, strawberry allergy is uncommon http://bit.ly/CWPnN 13 Jul 2009 from web
10. 
    DrAnasYounes The case for supporting young doctors in training: http://bit.ly/WbN2A and http://bit.ly/ubp1k 14 Jul 2009 from web

-- this quote was brought to you by quoteurl


This week's TwitterTip is sciencepond.com (aggregator on scientists on Twitter)


If for any reason you wish me not to include your tweets on Medical Pills blog, I apologize.
Please leave me a comment or contact me, and I will remove your tweets as soon as possible.

Early diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease: can we talk about it or are we just creating false expectations?

Some Tweets on Parkinson's Disease caught my attention:

1. 
   Gron_Neurologen Parkinson's Disease: Novel Drug Discovery Tool Could Identify Promising New Therapies http://twurl.nl/n7isha 15 Jul 2009 from twitterfeed
2. 
   Gron_Neurologen Link Between Pesticide Levels In Blood And Parkinson's Disease http://twurl.nl/lj6tfd 15 Jul 2009 from twitterfeed
3. 
   Gron_Neurologen Aiming For Early Diagnosis For ADHD And Parkinson's Disease http://twurl.nl/23iyjg 15 Jul 2009 from twitterfeed

-- this quote was brought to you by quoteurl


In particular I read the Aiming For Early Diagnosis For ADHD And Parkinson's Disease article which describes roughly an eye movement test developed at Queen's University.


What puzzles me is this conclusion:

Introducing the tests in clinics as part of regular health exams could result in earlier diagnosis of Parkinson's, allowing the disease progression to be controlled with diet and medication, Dr. Munoz adds.

Treatment of symptoms, which can be effectively pursued in PD, is very different from altering the progression of the disease. I knew there was no evidence, or at least just some very preliminary data, on "neuroprotective" agents.


What would be the evidence based treatment that alters disease progression in PD?


If there is no clinically available treatment that works on slowing down the progression of PD, I think there is no need to talk about "early diagnosis". That would just create false expectations and an anticipation of a diagnosis, with all a family situation and anxiety that comes with it, with no real benefit to the patient.


I hope to get some opinions and scientific reference on this topic. Thanks.

Are you a science geek? Try the science knowledge quiz and brag about it

I've discovered The Science Knowledge Quiz from Berci's Scienceroll.com.

Answer 12 quick questions and check how you did in comparison with the general population.

Statistics on each question are then presented stratified according to sex, education and age.

Can be interesting. Ok, let me brag about my score!