A woman in Hong Kong is seriously ill in hospital with bird flu – the first human case of the disease to be diagnosed in the territory since 2003.
Officials said the 59-year-old fell ill shortly after returning from a visit to the Chinese mainland.

It is not yet clear whether she contracted the potentially fatal disease there or in Hong Kong.

The territory has raised its alert level to “serious”, meaning there is a risk of contracting the disease.

The last outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus in Hong Kong killed six people in 2003.

Health chief York Chow said there was no sign yet that the virus has been spread between humans and that investigations were focusing on poultry as being the source of the infection.

“But we will be concentrating on people who were in contact with her when she showed symptoms and also when she was in Hong Kong,” the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

“The chances of her catching it is most likely on the mainland, but you cannot rule out Hong Kong,” he said.

The woman is reported to have travelled to the mainland with her husband and daughter, and to have visited Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing.

Mr Chow said officials would meet on Thursday to decide what further precautions are needed.

The first time the virus crossed the species barrier between poultry and humans in 1997, every chicken in Hong Kong was culled.

The World Health Organization says more than 500 cases of bird flu have been diagnosed worldwide since 2003. Of those, 302 cases were fatal.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11782582

Dementia care costs are rising fast with the costs associated with dementia amounting to more than 1% of the world’s gross domestic product this year at £388bn a report says.The World Alzheimer Report says this is more than the revenue of retail giant Wal-Mart or oil firm Exxon Mobil.

The authors say dementia poses the most significant health and social crisis of the century as its global financial burden continues to escalate.

They want the World Health Organization to make dementia a world priority as the number of people with dementia is expected to double by 2030, and more than triple by 2050.

But experts say the costs of caring for people with dementia are likely to rise even faster than the prevalence, especially in the developing world, as more formal social care systems emerge and rising incomes lead to higher opportunity costs.

Data from individual countries such as the UK suggests that dementia is already one of the costliest illnesses.

The report brings together the best available data and the most recent insights regarding the worldwide economic cost of dementia.

It calls on the World Health Organization to declare dementia as a world health priority.

Professor Martin Prince, of the UK’s Institute of Psychiatry and who co-authored the report, urged nations to develop better plans for caring for the millions who have the disease.

“Governments must show greater leadership, working with all stakeholders, to drive solutions to the long term care issue.”

Marc Wortmann, head of Alzheimer’s Disease International, an umbrella group of organisations, said: “The scale of this crisis cries out for global action.

“History shows that major diseases can be made manageable – and even preventable – with sufficient global awareness and the political will to make substantial investments in research and care options.”

Dementia experts say governments must lead the way in ensuring national dementia strategies are fully implemented and dementia research is given enough funding to find new tests, treatments and possibly a cure.

From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11373018

Three scientists who drew up the key World Health Organisation guidelines advising governments to stockpile drugs in the event of a flu pandemic had previously been paid by drug companies which stood to profit.
An investigation by the British Medical Journal and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the not-for-profit reporting unit, shows that WHO guidance issued in 2004 was authored by three scientists who had previously received payment for other work from Roche, which makes Tamiflu, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), manufacturer of Relenza.

City analysts say that pharmaceutical companies banked more than $7bn (£4.8bn) as governments stockpiled drugs. The issue of transparency has risen to the forefront of public health debate after dramatic predictions last year about a swine flu pandemic did not come true.

The UK, which warned that 65,000 could die as a result of the virus, spent an estimated £1bn stockpiling drugs and vaccines; officials are now attempting to unpick expensive drug contracts.

The cabinet office has launched an inquiry into the cost to the taxpayer of the panic-buying of drugs.

Although the experts consulted made no secret of industry ties in other settings, declaring them in research papers and at universities, the WHO itself did not publicly disclose any of these in its seminal 2004 guidance. In its note, the WHO advised: “Countries that are considering the use of antivirals as part of their pandemic response will need to stockpile in advance.”

Many nations would adopt this guidance, including Britain. In 2005, the government said it had begun bulk-buying the drug Tamiflu, initially ordering 14.6m doses after bird flu killed 40 in Asia.

The specific guidance on antivirals was written by Professor Fred Hayden. He has confirmed in an email that he was being paid by Roche for lectures and consultancy work at the time the guidance was produced and published. He received payments from GSK for consultancy and lecturing until 2002. He said “[declaration of interest] forms were filled out for the 2002 consultation”.

The previous year Hayden was also one of the main authors of a Roche-sponsored study that asserted what was to become a main Tamiflu selling point – its claim of a 60% reduction in flu hospitalisations.

Dr Arnold Monto was the author of the WHO annex dealing with vaccine usage in pandemics. Between 2000 and 2004, and at the time of writing the annex, Monto had openly declared consultancy fees and research support from Roche and GSK. No conflict of interest statement was included in the annex published by the WHO.

When asked if he had signed a declaration of interest form for WHO, Dr Monto said “conflict of interest forms are requested before participation in any WHO meeting”.

The third scientist, Professor Karl Nicholson, is credited with the WHO’s influential work Pandemic Influenza. According to declarations he made in the BMJ and Lancet in 2003, he had received sponsorship from GSK and Roche.

Even though the previous year these declarations had been openly made, no conflict of interest statement was included in the annex. Nicholson said he last had “financial relations” with Roche in 2001.

When asked if he had signed a declaration of interest form for WHO, he replied: “The WHO does require attendees of meetings, such as those held in 2002 and 2004, to complete declarations of interest.”

A WHO official told the BMJ it had to balance an individual’s privacy with the robustness of guidelines, which were subject to a wide external review process.

From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/04/swine-flu-experts-big-pharmaceutical