As of this post H1N1, a strain of influenza more commonly known as the “Swine Flu” has infected more than 22 MILLION people and killed 6000 in the U.S. alone! The question you should ask yourself is whether you are prepared for this new pandemic. Currently Tamiflu (oseltamivir) or Relenza (zanamivir) are the only known treatment options for this deadly disease.

“The 2009 influenza pandemic has spread internationally with unprecedented speed. In past pandemics, influenza viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as the new H1N1 virus has spread in less than six weeks,” the World Health Organization said. It has become nearly impossible for health authorities and laboratories to keep count of individual cases.

“The world is moving into the early days of its first influenza pandemic in the 21st century,” WHO’s director-general, Margaret Chan, announced in Geneva after consulting health experts in an emergency meeting. “The virus is now unstoppable.”

The WHO says the H1N1 Swine Flu virus could infect up to two billion people over the next two years – about one of every three people in the world, and if a vaccine is not successfully developed it may kill as many as 700,000!

Are You At Risk?

As the Avian Flu and Swine Flu viruses continue to spread throughout the world, your normal lifestyle is enough to put you at risk.

Dr. John Treanor, a researcher of the Bird Flu vaccine, warns that spending time in a place where lots of people crowd together increases the risk of being infected. Unfortunately, even the most innocent handshake or situations with close indoor seating arrangements can put you in contact with any of the flu viruses.

For example, Dr.Lea Longini (a well known biostatistician) warns keen travellers that they should avoid travelling by air, because “aeroplanes re-circulate air, a situation that is ideal for spreading a flu virus throughout a whole cabin.”

Parents should also know that “children are the major transmitters” according to Longini. Therefore the most exposed individuals are parents and family members (especially the elderly!), teachers, and health care workers. So far, nearly a quarter of laboratory confirmed cases of Swine Flu that resulted in death involved individuals aged 25 and younger. Sixty five percent of the fatalities involved the 25 – 64 age group. This is in stark contrast to the seasonal flu in which nearly all of the fatalities, a whopping 90%, involve people age 65 and older.

The number one action you can take to prevent infection is good ‘ol fashioned handwashing, regularly throughout the day and after contact with people or surfaces where people congregate. Avoid touching your mouth, eyes, and nose without having washed your hands first. Another effective recommendation was probably taught to you early on – cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, preferably with the crook of your elbow, or if you must use your hands, with a tissue. These recommendations go a very long way in preventing the spread of influenza.

Signs and Symptoms

Both the Avian and Swine Flu produce symptoms similar to the common influenza type infection. In fact it’s impossible to know the difference without laboratory testing. Symptoms of infection most commonly include:

Fever/Chills

Headache

Severe Muscle Aches

Severe Exhaustion

Cough

Fortunately, treatment for all influenza type infections are similar, and include palliative and supportive care with administration of antiviral medication at the first onset of symptoms. Antibiotics are useless against viral infections.

Antiviral medications are known to shorten the infection and thereby reduce the uncomfortable symptoms experienced by those infected. The problem is, these medications will be in increasingly short supply in the coming months, and as such, the cost of these medications will undoubtably rise. The two antiviral medications currently used in the treatment of influenza infections are Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and Relenza (zanamivir).

We recommend you buy your own personal supply of these important medications before it’s too late, not out of fear but because these medications are useful for all viral/influenza type infections.

Antivirals will reduce your symptoms and shorten the life of the virus, reducing the chances of spreading the disease to others!

Be proactive and buy your own supply of these and other medications at a reputable and dependable online pharmacy today. In most cases they can provide both the prescription and the medication, saving you a trip to the doctors office and to the pharmacy – no lines/no waiting!

Best of Health, Magicpills

In some countries TAMIFLU may also be known as: Rimivat, Virobin. RELENZA may also be known as: Zanamivir.

AFP, Dec. 2, 2009-

BEIJING — China’s official swine flu death toll has tripled in the past two weeks after the government ordered more accurate reporting of fatalities amid suspicions of a cover-up.

A statement posted on the health ministry’s website late Tuesday said the number of people reported killed by the influenza A(H1N1) virus had jumped to 178 at the weekend, up from a previously reported nationwide tally of 53.

The statement gave no reason for the sharp increase but it comes after the ministry on November 19 ordered more transparent reporting following comments by a renowned medical whistleblower who questioned official tallies.

The statement noted that “the number of severe cases and deaths continues to rise.”

“The epidemic situation in our nation remains grim,” it said.

Despite reporting tens of thousands of confirmed A(H1N1) cases in China since the virus first emerged this spring in North America, the reported death rate here has remained far below that of other countries.

Cover-up suspicions were fuelled last month when medical expert Zhong Nanshan was quoted by a Chinese newspaper saying he suspected authorities in some areas were under-reporting fatalities to convince superiors they were containing the virus.

Zhong’s opinion carries weight after he earned wide respect in 2003 for defying the official line on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak to help reveal the true extent of the illness.

The government had initially tried to hide the SARS outbreak and only owned up after it began to spill over into other countries.

The health ministry order for better reporting came shortly after Zhong’s comments were published.

Chinese officials including Health Minister Chen Zhu have warned repeatedly in recent months that China was likely to see a sharp increase in overall cases of swine flu and deaths during the winter, when flu is most virulent.

Tuesday’s health ministry statistical statement said more than 91,000 people had been confirmed to have contracted the virus in China, the vast majority of whom had already recovered.

- AFP

Chew #1

Chow Chu – The Government has an agenda, and this bird flu hoax is at the heart of it.  It’s all bullshit!  Every word the President said is a goddamn lie.  Screw him, screw the Senate, screw the Congress–

Guardians of the Galaxy #20

Moondragon – It would be against this institute’s delicate Constitution to band them from the station.  We believe in free speech and freedom to worship.

the Invincible Iron Man #20

Norman Osborn – Closure is a myth; containment is a must.  That’s how you rule the world, folks.

Novye Izvestija Novye Izvestija
November 26, 2009 26 de novembro de 2009

Translated from Russian by Infowars Ireland Traduzido do russo por Infowars Irlanda

A pandemia de gripe suína que Novye Izvestija tem escrito sobre esre assunto, pode ser o embuste mais ambicioso e de corrupção do nosso tempo. Em qualquer caso, o aspecto comercial do enorme susto “gripe suína” é já evidente.

A mesma conclusão foi feita por jornalistas dinamarqueses que habilmente examinaram as relações entre a Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS) e empresas farmaceuticas de todos o mundo, ganharam fortunas com a venda de drogas para combater a doença. Acontece, por exemplo, que muitos cientistas que se sentam em vários comitês da OMS, cuidadosamente ocultando o fato de que recebem dinheiro das empresas multinacionais farmacêuticas do mundo.

De acordo com o banco de investimento internacional da JP Morgan, a indústria farmacêutica vai fazer mais de 7 bilhões de euros este ano com a venda de vacinas contra H1N1. Os principais países ocidentais têm encomendado doses suficientes para vacinar toda a população, quer a sua (como a Austrália), ou um terço (Alemanha e em vários outros Estados-membros da UE).Fábricas de vacinas e comprimidos estão trabalhando dia e noite, em quatro rotações por turnos, com uma carteira de encomendas … eles não estão enfrentando a crise econômica mundial como pode acontece com outros.

Pela primeira vez em muitos anos de pandemia de gripe “o pânico” tem afetado a UE. A vacina foi produzida sem um número suficiente de exames clínicos e exames laboratoriais.

É um tal pânico justificado?  um número crescente de especialistas está examinando a questão comparando as estatísticas de mortalidade do vírus da gripe suína e a “convencional”,que no Outono começam sua marcha por todo o planeta. Até agora, segundo a OMS, seis mil pessoas foram vítimas de H1N1, enquanto a taxa de mortalidade média anual durante as epidemias  ‘tradicionais’ de gripe atinge meio milhão.

A principal causa da reação histérica à epidemia da gripe suína, de acordo com os repórteres do jornal dinamarquês ‘Informação’, não é porque ele é tão perigoso, mas por causa de uma forte campanha de relações públicas por especialistas da OMS.  Alguns deles [especialistas da OMS], estão, literalmente, ao serviço dos fabricantes de vacinas.

“É preocupante que muitos dos cientistas que se sentam em vários comitês da OMS, são apresentados como” peritos independentes, mas escondem o fato de que recebem dinheiro das empresas farmacêuticas “, confessou o professor de epidemiologia, Tom Jefferson, que trabalha na do Centro Cochrane, em Roma, a repórteres.

A OMS anunciou a pandemia da gripe suína sob pressão de um painel de conselheiros, liderado por um médico holandês, Albert Ostenhaus, apelidado de “Dr. Flu’ (do nome ‘Tamiflu’), porque ele era activo na promoção da vacinação em massa da população através da OMS e dos média ocidentais.  Agora, o governo da Holanda está a realizar um inquérito de emergência às actividades do “Doutor Flu”, tal se tornou conhecido que ele recebe um salário de várias companhias de fabricação de vacinas. Muitos outros conselheiros que se sentam nas duas cadeiras ‘(conflito de interesses) como Ostenhaus, e ao mesmo tempo a lidar com a pandemia da gripe suína, em nome da OMS, eles não gostam de anunciar que são pagos como assessores das gigantes farmacêuticas Roche, Johnson RW, SmithKline Beecham e Glaxo Wellcome, que receberam a maior parte das encomendas para a fabricação de vacinas. O resultado da pressão desses especialistas foi a resolução da OMS em 7 de julho deste ano, que apelou para uma campanha inédita de vacinação em massa.

“A OMS é tendenciosa em suas recomendações – diz o professor Tom Jefferson. – Medidas de higiene normal proporcionam efeitos muito maiores do que estas vacinas pouco estudadas, e ao mesmo tempo, a OMS refere-se ao uso de máscaras e lavar as mãos como um meio para combater a gripe suína apenas duas vezes em seus documentos.  Vacinas e outros medicamentos são referidas 42 vezes! “Dr. Jefferson e vários de seus colegas acreditam que os assessores pagos pelas empresas farmacêuticas devem ser removidos de suas posições e não autorizados a dar recomendações à OMS, mas a própria organização não tem pressa para realizar essa reforma.Porta-voz da OMS, Gregory Hertl, comentando o artigo na ‘Informação’ (jornal dinamarquês) disse que é impossível negar os serviços dos maiores especialistas do mundo pela simples razão de que eles têm um interesse financeiro na promoção de uma estratégia para combater diversas doenças.

Refira-se que este não é o primeiro ano em que o tema da corrupção “em farmacologia tem sido o foco dos média ocidentais. The New England Journal of Medicine publicou “o denunciante” há vários anos. Em uma série de artigos do denunciante revelou a vida dentro da “máfia de branco”. Segundo eles, apenas 11-14% dos orçamentos das empresas farmacêuticas são gastos em pesquisa, mas 36% dos fundos são gastos no PR. Grande parte do dinheiro acaba nos bolsos dos médicos, cientistas, e as contas de várias organizações que trabalham em cuidados de saúde.

Can’t say everyone hasn’t been fearing this news for a while now. It’s really not something that we can plot the course of as civilians.

We have watched this worst case scenario in blockbuster summer hits for the past decade.

A super virus is something that we panic about for five minutes and then get back to our Starbucks and carpool. It’s a fact.

Life in the fast lane, with little access to the resources to predict, combat, or even outlive such a scenario gives us little time to ponder over articles like this.

Back to living, and being thankful for everything we have for this moment.

Tomorrow is never guaranteed, unless you are the hero in the billion dollar summer hit.

In that case, prepare yourself for the sequel.

Quote

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/44717-china-expert-warns-of-pandemic-flu-mutation

Like people, Birds get the flu. Bird flu viruses infect birds like chickens, wild birds, other poultry like ducks. Most bird flu viruses can infect only other birds. But, bird flu can pose health risks to people. The first case of a bird flu virus was in Hong Kong in 1997, infecting a person directly, H5N1. The bird flu virus since then has spread to birds in countries in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Human infection is very rare but the virus that causes the infection in birds might mutate or change, to more easily infect humans. It could lead to a pandemic or a worldwide outbreak of the illness.

Bird flu may refer to:

•    Avian influenza, influenza endemic to birds

•    Influenzavirus A, the genus of the Orthomyxoviridae family of viruses to which all viruses responsible for Avian influenza belongs to, but it also includes viruses which are endemic to humans as well as other animals

•    H5N1, a subtype of Influenza A virus endemic to birds, recently perceived as a significant emerging pandemic threat

During bird flu, people who have contact with infected birds can become sick. By eating poultry that is not well cooked or getting in contact with a person who has it, it may also be possible to catch bird flu Bird flu can make people very sick or even cause death. Symptoms are fever, sore throat, cough and muscle aches, eye infections, severe respiratory diseases (like acute respiratory distress), pneumonia and other severe and life-threatening complications.

As there is currently no vaccine, so, you should follow the advice:

•    Cook well the eggs until yolks and whites are firm

•    For at least 20 seconds before and after handling raw poultry and eggs, wash your hands with soap and warm water

•    To keep raw poultry from contaminating other foods, clean cutting boards and other utensils with soap and hot water

•    Use a food thermometer to make sure you cook poultry or eggs to a temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. You can cook poultry to a higher temperature for your personal preference.

I hope you will definitely follow my advice.

]]> http://hikmatun.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/illuminati-dan-pelbagai-penyakit-terhadap-kesihatan-manusia/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:37:09 +0000 Ahmad Nizam http://hikmatun.wordpress.com/2009/11/26/illuminati-dan-pelbagai-penyakit-terhadap-kesihatan-manusia/ http://accid3ntallyonpurpos3.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/top-10-reasons-not-to-eat-meat/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:10:17 +0000 weirdo http://accid3ntallyonpurpos3.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/top-10-reasons-not-to-eat-meat/

I am a hardcore non-vegetarian. I simply love meat. It can never be replaced by anything vegetarian, But still I am posting an article which I came across on Peta India’s site. They’ve cited 10 reasons why not to eat meat,so without further ado, here they are :

1. Help the Poor
While there is ample reason for indignation at the 100 million tons of grain used for biofuels, more than seven times as much grain (760 million tons) is fed to farmed animals so that people can eat meat.

2. Stop Cruelty to Animals
On today’s factory farms, animals are crammed by the thousands into filthy windowless sheds, wire cages, gestation crates and other confinement systems. These animals will never raise families, root in the soil, build nests or do anything that is natural and important to them.

3. Save the Environment
A recent United Nations report entitled Livestock’s Long Shadow concludes that eating meat is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global”. The report finds that eating meat causes almost 40 per cent more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, ships and planes in the world combined.

4. Avoid Bird Flu
The World Health Organisation says that if the avian flu virus mutates, it could be caught simply by eating undercooked chicken flesh or eggs, eating food prepared on the same cutting board as infected meat or eggs, or even touching eggshells contaminated with the virus.

5. Prolong Your Life
Vegetarians live six to 10 years longer on average than meat-eaters do. Healthy vegetarian diets support a lifetime of good health and provide protection against numerous diseases and the three biggest killers – heart disease, cancer and strokes.

6. Avoid the World’s Number One Killer
The risk of developing heart disease among meat-eaters is 50 per cent higher than it is among vegetarians. Drs Dean Ornish and Caldwell Esselstyn have used a vegan diet to prevent and reverse heart disease. Dr Esselstyn’s book documents their 100 per cent success with unclogging people’s arteries and reversing heart disease.

7. Reduce Your Risk of Cancer
According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, “Vegetarians are about 40 percent less likely to get cancer than non-vegetarians, regardless of other risks such as smoking, body size, and socioeconomic status”.

8. Fit Into a Bikini
Vegetarianism is the ultimate weight-loss diet. About 31 per cent of urban Indians are either overweight or obese, but only 2 per cent of vegans are obese. A vegetarian diet is the only diet that has passed peer review and taken weight off and kept it off.

9. Create Global Peace
Leo Tolstoy claimed that “vegetarianism is the taproot of humanitarianism”. His point? If we want to sow the seeds of peace, we need to eat a peaceful diet. Eating meat supports killing animals just to satisfy humans’ acquired taste for flesh.

10. Discover the Joy of Veggies
Vegetarians report that when they adopt a vegetarian diet, their range of foods explodes from a limited selection of centre-of-the-plate meat items to a wide range of grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables that they didn’t even know existed.

Sir Paul McCartney sums it all up, “If anyone wants to save the planet, all they have to do is just stop eating meat. That’s the single most important thing you could do. It’s staggering when you think about it. Vegetarianism takes care of so many things in one shot: ecology, famine, cruelty”.

No matter what reason you choose, you can start the exciting journey towards a vegetarian lifestyle simply by taking the “Pledge to Be Veg” today!

The global health community has been in a state of alarm due to recent outbreaks of the avian influenza disease in many parts of the world, particularly in Asia. The disease has infected humans, prompting many to believe that a global pandemic will soon occur.

In the past decades, avian influenza has affected only birds and in some cases, pigs. Avian influenza does not normally affect humans but the first human case of avian influenza has been recently documented. Diseases previously known to only affect animals have crossed over to humans – avian influenza being one of these diseases. As a consequence, this crossing over has started many of the health pandemics that the world has suffered from for centuries.

Avian flu virus: constantly mutating

Avian influenza typically affects birds, specifically migratory birds, ducks and chickens.
Avian influenza is an infectious viral disease that is similar to human flu. Several subtypes of Type A flu viruses cause avian influenza. Avian influenza differs from human flu in terms of the proteins that reside on the surface areas of the avian influenza virus subtypes.

It is known that there are 16 different HA (hemagglutinin) subtypes and nine NA (neuraminidase) subtypes of the avian influenza virus. These subtypes can combine with each other, producing different subtypes of the disease. Because of these constant combinations of subtypes, producing vaccines becomes even more difficult. One can never know what subtype will emerge next, let alone what its impact will be.

In addition, viruses are known to be constantly evolving. Viruses are constantly “changing their spots.” Thus, scientists have to also evolve the medicines and vaccines that are being produced in order to keep up with the viruses’ constant evolution.

H5N1: deadly avian flue subtype

So far, only a few subtypes of the avian influenza virus have managed to cross over from the bird species to human species. These subtypes are H9N2, H7N7, H7N3 and H5N1. Of these subtypes, H5N1 has created the biggest alarm within the international health community. Among the subtypes that have been reported to affect humans, the H5N1 subtype appears to be the worst. The H5N1 subtype has caused more than 50 deaths to date.

Bird flu symptoms in humans are dependent on the subtype that caused the infection. Some of the bird flu symptoms in humans are typical flu like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches. Bird flu symptoms in humans also include eye infections, pneumonia, and severe respiratory diseases such as acute respiratory distress and other life-threatening complications.

Avian flu: human to human transmission may be possible

The avian influenza virus and its subtypes have the tendency to easily mutate. This may be one reason that the avian flu has managed to cross over from birds to human beings. This mutation may also be the reason that human to human transmission of the disease is a distinct possibility.

The World Health Organization has said that there are three ways for the virus to cross over and become a “human flu”, which means that the disease will not only be contracted from birds but also from humans. Humans may contract the virus and mutation occurs while the virus is within the body. The bird flu virus may also combine with ordinary human flu, thereby assimilating the characteristics of the disease, including its ability to infect humans. Mutation through combination with human flu can occur in the body of humans who contract the disease while being sick with human influenza or by being in contact (consumption, for example) with pigs, which serve as carrier of both kinds of flu.

Yes it is true to say that I hate Parrots – does that make me a bad Cat? I don’t think so and this is why!

First as the picture evidence shows Parrots eat with their feet and that has to be an awful habit and they can’t wash themselves – fancy that!

Secondly I have a suspicion that Parrots are responsible for Bird Flu, they are birds of course and I have a feeling that they really hate anyone that isn’t a Parrot. Ask yourself this if you don’t believe me when you last tried to give Polly a peanut what did it do – yes that’s right it bit you and I bet you got told off for not only interfering with the Parrot but also for swearing, they are plotting our downfall I tell you.

And most importantly thirdly, the Parrot that I live with is just an awful feathered bully who picked on me the minute I was brought home imprisoned in a Cat basket, of course you can read all about that in my wonderful book – “Getting Out Excerpts From A Cat’s Diary” which is available to all for a small fee at Amazon.com or my ‘www‘- wickedly, wonderful website, and all good stockists.

Four patients at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and at least five in an unidentified hospital in Wales have become infected with H1N1 viruses that no longer respond to treatment with Tamiflu. Flu viruses swap genes as part of their normal evolution; that means resistant viruses could quickly spread worldwide, says Duke’s Daniel Sexton.

Read more:  http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-11-23-swinefluupdate23_ST_N.htm

Prepare yourself for H1N1 using safety products from Cole-Parmer

Snippet compliments of Steve Sternberg, USA TODAY.

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Yes that is right, all weekend I have been hot and not in my normally sexy way. I am boiling and fear that I have ‘Global Warming’ because I am hot everywhere.

What has happened to me I would like to know? Has someone de-forested bits of me that I can’t see? Am I in a carbon rich atmosphere? Will I get drowned in rising sea water?

Oh hang on a minute it is ok I have been sleeping in a patch of sunlight all weekend, I am surprised I’m not tanned.

Some people have accused me of being a hypercondriac and have told me that I should calm down I would like someone to tell me is being a hypercondriac dangerous? Can I get treatment for it or am I going to slip away noisily – well you wouldn’t want to slip away quietly would you if you are going to slip away at all!

Technorati Tags:
Bird Flu, Hypercondriac, Global Warming

*** EDITOR: I should of entitled this post – “Setting the stage for the real pandemic” as that is EXACTLY what WHO is doing. Now we are sure to hear all sorts of garbage about how the piggy flu has mutated so that “they” can release the REAL virus.. the re-created 1918 Spanish Flu bug ~ with a dash of Bird Flu and whatever else they throw in there to make it as DEADLY as possible.This new propaganda for the poison they call vaccines will scare the crap out of the population to get their shots- all in order to break down peoples immune systems so that they will never stand a chance in the face against the cytokine storms that is coming!! Break out the body bags!!

Interestingly I was led by Yah to read from Jeremiah 16 today and this one passage struck me in light of just reading the article I am posting ~ Verse 4-  “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried but will be like refuse lying on the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.” WHY does Yah says this? and WHY is Yah going to allow this pandemic? Jeremiah 16 v ¹⁰ “When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the LORD decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the LORD our God?’ ¹¹ then say to them, ‘It is because your fathers forsook me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. ¹² But you have behaved more wickedly than your fathers. See how each of you is following the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying me. ¹³ So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’ and in Verse ¹⁷ “My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes. ¹⁸ I will repay them double for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the lifeless forms of their vile images and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.” Yah is a good GOD but those who do not serve Him nor love Him and continually disobey and mock Him and serve other gods should NOT expect His protection.”***

Source: AFP

GENEVA (AFP) – The World Health Organisation said Friday that a mutation had been found in samples of the swine flu virus taken following the first two deaths from the pandemic in Norway.

However, it stressed that the mutation did not appear to cause a more contagious or more dangerous form of A(H1N1) influenza and that some similar cases observed elsewhere had been mild.

 ”The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has informed WHO of a mutation detected in three H1N1 viruses,” the WHO said in a briefing note.

 ”The viruses were isolated from the first two fatal cases of pandemic influenza in the country and one patient with severe illness,” it said, although it added that no further instances were found in tests.

 ”Norwegian scientists have analysed samples from more than 70 patients with clinical illness and no further instances of this mutation have been detected. This finding suggests that the mutation is not widespread in the country,” the UN health agency explained.

 WHO spokesman Gregory Haertl told AFP that the global health watchdog did not believe “that this has any significant impact for the time being.”

 However, the agency revealed that a similar mutation had been observed in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine, and the United States, as early as April.

 ”The mutations appear to occur sporadically and spontaneously. To date, no links between the small number of patients infected with the mutated virus have been found and the mutation does not appear to spread,” the statement said

 Some of those cases also produced mild symptoms, Haertl noted.

 The WHO also underlined that there was no evidence of more infections or more deaths as a result, while the antiviral drugs used to treat severe flu, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza), were still effective on the mutated virus.

 ”Studies show that currently available pandemic vaccines confer protection,” it added, as mass vaccine campaigns were slowly gaining ground in the northern hemisphere amid signs of public skepticism in several European nations.

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