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No information of influenza in Africa
An article reporting on this continent the bird is confused with other diseases
AFP | Paballo Thekiso)
Updated Monday 21/12/2009 09:07 (CET)
NURIA BAENA
MADRID .- Also on influenza issues Africa is again the great forgotten. This, at least, putting an essay published in the journal PloS Medicine 'which holds that this condition (all variants) is circulating in Africa but virtually no information is received about the problem or is given the necessary attention .
According to this work, while in temperate areas flu displays a marked seasonal pattern with peaks in winter (December-March) this disease is present all year in tropical and subtropical areas such as Brazil and Hong Kong.
The surveillance network for influenza World Health Organization (WHO Flu Net in its initials in English), well established in Europe or North America, continuously provides data on the problem of influenza and the spread of the types and viral subtypes. Moreover, the recent threat of pandemic influenza has caused a similar active monitoring in areas of Southeast Asia and Latin America. However, the prevalence and incidence of influenza in most tropical countries, especially Africa, are largely unknown.
The authors of the letter, Maria Yazdanbakhsh, Department of Parasitology Medical Center, University of Leiden (Netherlands) and Peter G. Kremsner, Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of T?bingen (Germany), maintain that data from studies conducted sporadically suggest that influenza is prevalent in Africa and has a considerable impact on morbidity and mortality of this continent can regularly cause epidemics. However, the lack of monitoring could be causing this problem is being incorrectly regarded as insignificant in the African continent.
An example of this lack of attention the authors cite the update of the WHO in May 2009 compared to influenza A (H1N1), which reflected infections in many countries, but none in Africa. However, two reports in October 2009 confirmed the existence of cases in South Africa and Kenya. This indicates "that the virus was circulating in Africa, but due to lack of a rigorous monitoring system was not notified that easily," the scientists argue.
According to researchers one of the causes of the problem is that influenza does not differ clinically from other tropical infectious diseases that present with fever. In this context emphasizes the role of malaria, which is attributed the majority of febrile episodes experienced by children. However, as the test claim, although they have noted a decrease in the incidence of malaria in some African countries, the old habit of treating fever in children with antimalarial drugs persists and as in many infectious diseases without the temperature decreases treatment of the mistaken belief that it is tackling the disease continues properly.
A different reaction to the vaccine?
In addition, scientists claim that there is no information about the efficacy of influenza vaccine in Africa has been studied or if the immune system of people living in tropical react similarly to a shot that has been primarily developed to other populations.
As the authors discussed, parasitic diseases that ravage the African continent and the consequent nutritional status of the population could lead to impaired functioning of the immune system. This hypothesis would have been corroborated by a recent study that noted the existence of clear differences in the immune response to the vaccine in African children in rural settings compared to others living in semi-urban environments (the antibody response against strains of viruses A-H1N1 and B was significantly lower in children in a rural setting).
"A growing awareness of the presence of common febrile illnesses such as influenza is essential for the clinical treatment of patients. To achieve this end should be put in place appropriate monitoring systems in clinical research existing and well established to allow understand the epidemiology of influenza in Africa, which, moreover, may help in the decision making process in regard to influenza vaccination in the continent and have a great impact on health in Africa, "they conclude researchers.
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