The drug Tamiflu is effective in reducing the risk of death associated with seasonal flu in severely ill patients, according to a new study released on Saturday.    Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir phosphate, has been widely acknowledged as a specific antiviral drug against flu viruses. Latest studies have proven its effectiveness in treating people infected with the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian flu.

    According to a research team from the Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada, the drug could reduce the mortality by 71 percent while treating adults infected with seasonal flu. The researchers reported their findings at the InterScience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco.

    ”This new analysis contributes to the accumulating evidence that oseltamivir also has a significant impact in preventing serious complications including death in older at-risk individuals,” said Allison McGeer, lead investigator of the study.

    The study was conducted during two consecutive influenza seasons on 512 patients who were admitted to hospital for illness associated with a positive test for flu. More than half of patients, mainly those with underlying illness, had been previously vaccinated.

    Eighty four percent of the patients were treated with antibacterial agents, while 32 percent with oseltamivir at time of admission, the researchers reported. Of those patients, 67 percent were diagnosed with influenza, 13 percent with respiratory infection and 62 percent with fever.

    Of all adult patients, 6.4 percent died and these deaths were attributed to influenza, and treatment with oseltamivir was linked with more than a two third reduction in death from influenza, the researchers said.

    They concluded that despite prior vaccination, influenza remains a major cause of mortality in patients with underlying illness.

    In addition, they suggested that hospitalization may be better avoided by antiviral rather than anti-bacterial therapy in patients with influenza-like illness. Enditem

By analysing hotel rooms in America, researchers found that the virus was easily transferred to 35% of the surfaces touched.

Door handles, pens, light switches, TV remote controls and taps were all found to be contaminated as much as 18 hours after first contact.

The University of Virginia work was presented at a US science conference.

Contamination

Rhinovirus contamination of the sampled surfaces - 10 each in 15 hotel rooms - ranged from 0-80%

People who touched the contaminated surfaces during everyday activities, such as answering the telephone or turning on the light, had a 50% or one in two chance of picking up the virus.

Most infections are caught at home. You need prolonged and close contact to catch a cold Professor Ron Eccles of the Common Cold Centre in Cardiff

The rate went up to 60% when surfaces had become contaminated just an hour earlier and down to 33% when surfaces had been contaminated for 18 hours.

Although transmission of rhinovirus infection by way of surfaces is not as likely as transmission by direct contact with an infected person, it is important, say the researchers.

Researcher Dr Owen Hendley said: “People still should understand that the virus remains available for transfer for at least one day.”

Rhinoviruses are responsible for about half of all common colds in children and adults.

School children usually catch between seven and 10 colds a year, and adults two to five.

Professor Ron Eccles of the Common Cold Centre in Cardiff said: “Common colds and flu can be transmitted by hands and contact with commonly touched surfaces.

“But most infections are caught at home. You need prolonged and close contact to catch a cold. And infants and children are the biggest spreaders of colds.

“Children are prone to colds because their immune systems are learning to cope with them. Plus their personal hygiene is not as good. Their noses are running and mucus gets everywhere.

“You can get a cold in a hotel room or on public transport but it’s perhaps not as high a risk.”

Federal food safety officials said fresh spinach is “as safe as it was before the outbreak,” even though investigators have not determined the cause of a deadly E. coli outbreak.

FDA officials said yesterday that consumers should continue to avoid spinach recalled Sept. 14 by Natural Selection Foods LLC, a fresh produce processor based in San Juan Bautista, Calif. Four other companies have recalled spinach they got from Natural Selection.

But officials cleared spinach grown in the Salinas Valley, after warning consumers for the past week not to eat spinach from that area.

“Based on where we are at this point in the investigation, spinach is as safe as it was before this event,” David Acheson, a top FDA food safety official, said yesterday.

“The outbreak seems to be winding down,” said Howard Backer, acting public health officer for the state of California.

Food safety officials are considering ways the industry can prevent outbreaks, including more regulation.

The spinach recalled was sold in bags or plastic containers under more than 30 brands, including Dole, Ready Pac and Safeway O Organics and had “best if used by” dates of Aug. 17 through Oct. 1.

The latest outbreak, which has sickened 187 people and killed at least one in 26 states, is the 20th E. coli outbreak in leafy greens over the past 10 years and the ninth traced to the Salinas Valley. It is the second tied to spinach.

Though investigators have not found a specific source of E. coli contamination in any of the previous outbreaks, food safety officials suspect “there is a chronic cause of contamination in the Salinas Valley,” said Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services.

As a result, he cautioned that another outbreak was possible and joined Acheson in urging the fresh produce industry to come up with better practices to prevent contamination. FDA and California health officials regulate food processing plants, but produce growers largely police themselves and follow voluntary guidelines.

“We can’t leave it at status quo,” Reilly said. “The implementation of these practices hasn’t worked to prevent outbreaks.”

Acheson said food safety officials are considering all of their options, including new regulations for growers.
“One of the things to determine is whether those guidelines are where they should be. . . . At some point, do there need to be regulations invoked?” he said.

FDA’s announcement yesterday cleared the way for spinach from Salinas Valley to return to supermarket shelves.
“There will be product ready. We’ll just have to see what consumer demand is,” said Bob Perkins, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau.

Some supermarkets have already begun selling spinach. Earlier this week, Giant Food resumed offering bagged savoy spinach, a variety grown in the central and eastern United States. It has no plans to start selling bagged spinach from California, said spokesman Jamie Miller.

Food Lion plans to begin restocking spinach this weekend or early next week, said spokesman Jeff Lowrance.

Safeway plans to start selling bagged spinach again Tuesday or Wednesday, said spokesman Greg TenEyck.

Natural Selection also plans to resume processing spinach, even as one of its plants is shut down because it is under investigation. So far, testing at that plant by the FDA, California Department of Health Services and independent auditors has not turned up any trace of E. coli , said Natural Selection spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna.

The company will probably not have spinach available until early to mid-November, after it switches to winter operations in Yuma, Ariz., Cabaluna said.

As about two dozen investigators carried on the search for the outbreak’s source, food safety officials reiterated yesterday that they may never find a specific cause. So far, health officials have confirmed the presence of the outbreak strain of E. coli in seven bags of spinach provided by victims. Lot codes on at least three bags indicate they contained spinach washed and packaged on the same day, Aug. 15, Reilly said.

All the bags contained Dole conventional spinach.

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