Flu Vaccine on Mersey

posted: 23/11/2009

Liverpool hospital is writing to people with HIV to encourage people to have both winter and swine flu (HINI) vaccinations at their GP. People can take and show the letter to their GP.

The letter to patients says

With the winter flu season approaching, we would like to take this opportunity to remind you about your seasonal and H1N1 swine flu vaccination available from your GP surgery. Vaccination is the best way of protecting yourself against infection and those close to you by preventing the spread of the virus.

As you have HIV we would strongly advise that you take advantage of the free vaccines to prevent catching seasonal and H1N1 swine flu and developing potentially dangerous complications. Patients with HIV Infection will need to receive a second swine flu vaccination after 3 weeks.

More information about the H1N1 swine flu vaccination is provided overleaf.

It is in your interests to be vaccinated against both swine flu and seasonal flu. Help safeguard yourself by booking an appointment at your earliest convenience at your GP surgery. We will not be providing routine flu vaccinations in clinic.

If you do not have a GP we advise that you register with a GP as you will require a GP to manage any non HIV related illnesses.

If you already have appointments for flu vaccinations or you have already received the seasonal and H1N1 swine flu vaccines, please ignore this letter.

Yours sincerely

Dr SH Khoo
(on behalf of the Liverpool Centre for Sexual Health and the Department of Infectious Diseases, Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust)

?........................................................................................................................

Dear GP

Your patient ................................................. is immunocompromised and requires vaccination for seasonal (single dose) and pandemic H1N1 influenza (2 doses at least 3 weeks apart).

Many thanks

Swine flu and the swine flu vaccination

What is swine flu? It is a respiratory disease caused by a new strain of influenza virus. The symptoms of swine flu are very similar to those caused by seasonal flu. Swine flu is generally a mild infection that comes on quickly and lasts for about a week. It causes fever, tiredness, cough and sore throat. Other symptoms include headache, aching muscles, chills, sneezing, runny nose, loss of appetite, vomiting or diarrhoea.

However, for those with underlying health conditions or who are pregnant or who are having medical treatment such as chemotherapy, swine flu can be very serious.

Why am I being offered the swine flu vaccination? The groups of people who are most vulnerable to serious illness as a result of swine flu are being offered the vaccine first. Based on the current evidence (from the UK and elsewhere), the highest rates for severe disease are in: people with underlying health conditions; and pregnant women.

As with seasonal flu, people who have underlying health conditions (in particular people with respiratory disease) are at an increased risk from the complications of swine flu infection and are more likely to be hospitalised.

If you suffer from a condition that affects your immune system, the people you live with can also get the swine flu vaccination to help to protect you. Please try to encourage the people in your household to contact their GP to discuss getting themselves vaccinated against swine flu.

Will my regular seasonal flu jab protect me against swine flu? No, because seasonal flu and swine flu are caused by different flu viruses.

Will there be any side effects? All vaccinations can produce side effects such as soreness and swelling at the site of the injection. This vaccine is not live so cannot cause flu. Some vaccines, including vaccines similar to the swine flu vaccine, can cause flu-like symptoms but they are very much milder than having the flu itself and only last for a day or so.

Can the swine flu vaccine be given to people with an egg allergy? The GSK vaccine Pandemrix is prepared in hens’ eggs (the same as seasonal flu vaccines) and so should not be given to individuals who have had a confirmed anaphylactic reaction (shock or acute difficulty in breathing) to egg products; they should receive Celvapan.

Further Questions If you have any further questions relating to having this vaccination you should talk to your GP.

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Nobel Prize for HIV Discovery

posted: 06/10/2008

Three Europeans were awarded the Nobel Prize today, for their virus research into HIV and into HPV (the virus that causes cervical cancer).

The 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine will be shared among three European researchers for their pivotal work in identifying the viruses that cause cervical cancer and HIV infection.

Half the 2008 medical Nobel Prize will be shared by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and Luc Montagnier, now at the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention in Paris, for work that culminated in their early 1980s discovery that a strange retrovirus, later called the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, was the cause of AIDS. Their work, done at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, was confirmed in the United States a year later by Robert Gallo. The HIV discovery cleared the way for the development of drugs to combat the disease.

The other half of the Nobel prize goes to Harald zur Hausen, now at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, for his discovery that the human papillomavirus, or HPV, causes cervical cancer. His work in the 1970s and 1980s laid the foundation for a full onslaught against HPV. In recent years, scientists have developed and made available for commercial use a vaccine against HPV, marketed as Gardasil by Merck. It is the first vaccine against a cancer, preventing key strains of HPV infection that cause most cervical cancers. HPV has since been linked to other cancers as well. HPV is the virus that causes genital warts (including anal warts) which can be a particular problem affecting mainly gay men living with HIV.

The other half of the 2008 medical Nobel Prize will be split by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and Luc Montagnier, now at the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention in Paris, for work that culminated in the early 1980s discovery that a strange retrovirus, later called the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, was the cause of AIDS. Their work, done at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, was confirmed in the United States a year later by Robert Gallo. The HIV discovery cleared the way for the development of drugs to combat the disease.

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