In light of growing concerns about a possible avian influenza pandemic, universal precautions, as outlined by the US Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (11 ), should be applied when working in avian husbandry.
UNICEF Regional Director Kastberg said: "Today we know what must be done to halt the pandemic – universal access to quality antiretroviral drugs… access to education, condoms, health services, counselling, and voluntary testing, especially for adolescents and pregnant women".
Samples were first screened with singleplex universal influenza A and pandemic (H1N1) 2009 assays (5, 6 ).
Many of the countries provided free vaccines, partial subsidies, reimbursements or national health insurance coverage to specific target groups and over one-third of the countries offered universal subsidy regarding the pandemic vaccine.
'Include us in the fight' UNICEF Regional Director Nils Kastberg said: "Today we know what must be done to halt the pandemic – provide universal access to quality antiretroviral drug, access to education, condoms, health services, counselling, and voluntary testing, especially for adolescents and pregnant women.
WHO has existing surveillance guidelines to help Member States implement universal surveillance for novel and pandemic influenza (9 ), but the guidelines lack the specificity that would enable many countries to establish operational surveillance plans.
Full sequencing of internal gene segments used universal (NP, M, and nonstructural genes) and pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus specific primers (PB2, PB1, acidic polymerase, and NP genes).
While most of the countries only offered subsidy to the targeted groups for the seasonal vaccines, 21/57 countries provided universal subsidy to their population for the pandemic one.
With the emergence of highly virulent influenza viruses and the consequent risk of pandemics, new approaches to designing universal influenza vaccines are urgently needed.
"The results highlighted today shows there is potential in the development of a single universal vaccine to protect against all seasonal and pandemic influenza strains," she added.
MP3s are as ubiquitous as music itself, but have we ever really asked ourselves how this new technology came to be so universal, or who exactly was responsible for its pandemic spread, which crippled the music industry at large?
