A(H1N1) Advisory for Patients and Caregivers

We have here two different advisory from the Singapore government for 2 different categories of people:

1. People who are suspected of having A(H1N1) or those diagnosed with it
2. People who are caring for those in the above group or may be in contact with them

If you fall into the first category, click here for the advisory.

If you fall into the second category, click here for the advisory.

The advisories are some common sense tips and suggestions on how to prevent the spread of the disease.

Mindfulness Based Therapy workshop for therapists

This is to announce that the Buddhist Mental Health Association of Kuala Lumpur is organising the above workshop for interested therapists, counsellors and para-counselling professionals.

This workshop will be conducted by Dr. Tan Eng Kong who is the founder and chairman of Metta Clinic in Sydney, Australia. He is also the founder President of the Australian Association of Buddhist Counsellors and Psychotherapists (AABCAP) and the Director of Training of their 2-year graduate diploma course in Buddhism and Psychotherapy.

Course details:

Date: 10 – 11 October 2009 (Saturday & Sunday)
Venue: Kuala Lumpur/PJ
Fees: RM400 before 24 August (early birds), RM550 after

For more details about the course, please download the brochure and application form:

MBTT Brochure and Application Form

The brochure contains details of the course, biodata of the trainer and how you may apply and pay.

Closed for Holidays

This is to announce that our clinic will be closed from 1 June to 14 June 2009 during the coming school holidays.

We advice that you stock up your regular medications until the clinic opens again on 15 June 2009.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Key Facts about Swine Flu

With the recent outbreaks in swine flu in Mexico and USA, the world is now in another high alert situation for a potential pandemic. Governments, learning from previous outbreaks such as the bird flu and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), are putting up precautionary measures to contain and prevent the spread of the disease and the best way to do this is to educate the public.

Here are some key facts about the swine flu.

What is Swine Influenza?

Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs. Swine flu viruses cause high levels of illness and low death rates in pigs. Swine influenza viruses may circulate among swine throughout the year, but most outbreaks occur during the late fall and winter months similar to outbreaks in humans. The classical swine flu virus (an influenza type A H1N1 virus) was first isolated from a pig in 1930.

How many swine flu viruses are there?

Like all influenza viruses, swine flu viruses change constantly. Pigs can be infected by avian influenza and human influenza viruses as well as swine influenza viruses. When influenza viruses from different species infect pigs, the viruses can re-assort (i.e. swap genes) and new viruses that are a mix of swine, human and/or avian influenza viruses can emerge. Over the years, different variations of swine flu viruses have emerged. At this time, there are four main influenza type A virus subtypes that have been isolated in pigs: H1N1, H1N2, H3N2, and H3N1. However, most of the recently isolated influenza viruses from pigs have been H1N1 viruses.

Swine Flu in Humans

Can humans catch swine flu?

Swine flu viruses do not normally infect humans. However, sporadic human infections with swine flu have occurred. Most commonly, these cases occur in persons with direct exposure to pigs (e.g. children near pigs at a fair or workers in the swine industry). In addition, there have been documented cases of one person spreading swine flu to others. For example, an outbreak of apparent swine flu infection in pigs in Wisconsin in 1988 resulted in multiple human infections, and, although no community outbreak resulted, there was antibody evidence of virus transmission from the patient to health care workers who had close contact with the patient.

How common is swine flu infection in humans?

In the past, CDC received reports of approximately one human swine influenza virus infection every one to two years in the US, but from December 2005 through February 2009, 12 cases of human infection with swine influenza have been reported.

What are the symptoms of swine flu in humans?

The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Can people catch swine flu from eating pork?

No. Swine influenza viruses are not transmitted by food. You cannot get swine influenza from eating pork or pork products. Eating properly handled and cooked pork and pork products is safe. Cooking pork to an internal temperature of 160°F kills the swine flu virus as it does other bacteria and viruses.

How does swine flu spread?

Influenza viruses can be directly transmitted from pigs to people and from people to pigs. Human infection with flu viruses from pigs are most likely to occur when people are in close proximity to infected pigs, such as in pig barns and livestock exhibits housing pigs at fairs. Human-to-human transmission of swine flu can also occur. This is thought to occur in the same way as seasonal flu occurs in people, which is mainly person-to-person transmission through coughing or sneezing of people infected with the influenza virus. People may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

What do we know about human-to-human spread of swine flu?

In September 1988, a previously healthy 32-year-old pregnant woman was hospitalised for pneumonia and died 8 days later. A swine H1N1 flu virus was detected. Four days before getting sick, the patient visited a county fair swine exhibition where there was widespread influenza-like illness among the swine.

In follow-up studies, 76 per cent of swine exhibitors tested had antibody evidence of swine flu infection but no serious illnesses were detected among this group. Additional studies suggest that one to three health care personnel who had contact with the patient developed mild influenza-like illnesses with antibody evidence of swine flu infection.

How can human infections with swine influenza be diagnosed?

To diagnose swine influenza A infection, a respiratory specimen would generally need to be collected within the first 4 to 5 days of illness (when an infected person is most likely to be shedding virus). However, some persons, especially children, may shed virus for 10 days or longer. Identification as a swine flu influenza A virus requires sending the specimen to CDC for laboratory testing.

What medications are available to treat swine flu infections in humans?

There are four different antiviral drugs that are licensed for use in the US for the treatment of influenza: amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir. While most swine influenza viruses have been susceptible to all four drugs, the most recent swine influenza viruses isolated from humans are resistant to amantadine and rimantadine. At this time, CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with swine influenza viruses.

What other examples of swine flu outbreaks are there?

Probably the most well known is an outbreak of swine flu among soldiers in Fort Dix, New Jersey in 1976. The virus caused disease with x-ray evidence of pneumonia in at least 4 soldiers and 1 death; all of these patients had previously been healthy. The virus was transmitted to close contacts in a basic training environment, with limited transmission outside the basic training group. The virus is thought to have circulated for a month and disappeared. The source of the virus, the exact time of its introduction into Fort Dix, and factors limiting its spread and duration are unknown. The Fort Dix outbreak may have been caused by introduction of an animal virus into a stressed human population in close contact in crowded facilities during the winter. The swine influenza A virus collected from a Fort Dix soldier was named A/New Jersey/76 (Hsw1N1).

Is the H1N1 swine flu virus the same as human H1N1 viruses?

No. The H1N1 swine flu viruses are antigenically very different from human H1N1 viruses and, therefore, vaccines for human seasonal flu would not provide protection from H1N1 swine flu viruses.

Swine Flu in Pigs

How does swine flu spread among pigs?

Swine flu viruses are thought to be spread mostly through close contact among pigs and possibly from contaminated objects moving between infected and uninfected pigs. Herds with continuous swine flu infections and herds that are vaccinated against swine flu may have sporadic disease, or may show only mild or no symptoms of infection.

What are signs of swine flu in pigs?

Signs of swine flu in pigs can include sudden onset of fever, depression, coughing (barking), discharge from the nose or eyes, sneezing, breathing difficulties, eye redness or inflammation, and going off feed.

How common is swine flu among pigs?

H1N1 and H3N2 swine flu viruses are endemic among pig populations in the United States and something that the industry deals with routinely. Outbreaks among pigs normally occur in colder weather months (late fall and winter) and sometimes with the introduction of new pigs into susceptible herds. Studies have shown that the swine flu H1N1 is common throughout pig populations worldwide, with 25 per cent of animals showing antibody evidence of infection. In the US studies have shown that 30 per cent of the pig population has antibody evidence of having had H1N1 infection. More specifically, 51 per cent of pigs in the north-central US have been shown to have antibody evidence of infection with swine H1N1. Human infections with swine flu H1N1 viruses are rare. There is currently no way to differentiate antibody produced in response to flu vaccination in pigs from antibody made in response to pig infections with swine H1N1 influenza.

While H1N1 swine viruses have been known to circulate among pig populations since at least 1930, H3N2 influenza viruses did not begin circulating among US pigs until 1998. The H3N2 viruses initially were introduced into the pig population from humans. The current swine flu H3N2 viruses are closely related to human H3N2 viruses.

Is there a vaccine for swine flu?

Vaccines are available to be given to pigs to prevent swine influenza. There is no vaccine to protect humans from swine flu. The seasonal influenza vaccine will likely help provide partial protection against swine H3N2, but not swine H1N1 viruses.

Source: The Malaysian Insider

Health Alert on Mexican swine flu outbreaks

The Immigration Department has gone on the alert over a swine flu outbreak in Mexico and is ready to work closely with the Health Ministry to prevent the spread of the disease to Malaysia, its director-general Datuk Mahmood Adam said today.

“We are awaiting instructions from the Ministry of Health by tomorrow and we will provide full cooperation at all entry points,” he told Bernama.

He said the department had experience as it had provided an effective service during the outbreak of the Asian bird flu.

For full story, click here.

Closed on Labour Day

This is to inform that our clinic will be closed on 1 May, 2009, in conjunction with Labour Day celebration. The clinic will resume as usual on 2 May (Saturday).

We take this opportunity to wish you a very good and well deserved holidays.

Plavix plus Aspirin lowers stoke risk in AF

Combining the clot-preventing drug Plavix with aspirin is an effective substitute treatment for people at high risk of stroke and heart attack because of the abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation but who cannot take the recommended therapy, a new study shows.

Standard treatment for atrial fibrillation, in which substandard heart action can lead to the formation of artery-blocking clots, is the anticoagulant warfarin (Coumadin). But at least 40 percent of the more than 2 million Americans with atrial fibrillation do not take the drug, Dr. Stuart Connolly, director of cardiology at McMaster University in Canada, said at the annual scientific session of the American College of Cardiology, in Orlando, Fla.

Some are vulnerable to the increased risk of bleeding caused by Coumadin, but many just can’t stand the dietary restrictions and frequent blood tests required of users. Until now, the only alternative therapy has been aspirin, which has a clot-preventing effect.

Brainwave Entrainment

This is to inform that Dr. Ong will be giving a talk on brainwave entrainment to the Buddhist Mental Health Association this Saturday.

Topic: Brainwave Entrainment – An Alternative Method to achieve Meditative States?

Venue: Above BGF Dharma Reading Room

Time: 3:00pm – 5:00pm