Existing anti-viral treatments are effective against swine flu, the World Health Organisation insisted on Wednesday, describing a reported case of resistance to Tamiflu as an isolated case.
“We are not changing our recommendations regarding the antivirals existing today,” a WHO spokeswoman told AFP.
The WHO’s comments came after Danish health officials on Monday reported the first case of resistance in an A(H1N1) patient treated with Tamiflu, an antiviral drug that is one of the key influenza treatments recommended
by the WHO.
The WHO spokeswoman described it as an “isolated case with no implications
on public health.” She also pointed out that instances of resistance to Tamiflu were previously documented for avian flu.Swiss pharmaceutical firm Roche, which manufactures Tamiflu, had also said that the Danish case was expected and likely to be isolated.
“This was very much expected,” said David Reddy, Roche’s pandemic task
force leader.

Epidemiology and Disease Control Division at the Department of Health Services has started a media campaign to spread awareness about A (H1N1) in several parts of the country.
Dr Senendra Raj Upreti, director of the EDCD, said on Wednesday that they were coordinating with several NGOs for the campaign to battle against the influenza. “We will raise awareness among the people using TV commercials, radio jingles and brochures,” Upreti said.

Symptoms of Swine Flu
The symptoms of swine flu are usually like those of regular seasonal flu and include:
•headache
•chills
•cough
•fever
•loss of appetite
•aches
•fatigue
•runny nose
•sneezing
•watery eyes
•throat irritation
•nausea and vomiting
•diarrhea
•in people with chronic conditions, pneumonia may develop
Precautions Against Swine Flu
Good standard flu prevention techniques are recommended to protect yourself against swine flu:
•Get a regular seasonal flu vaccination. It might not help against this specific strain, but it won't hurt.
•Wash your hands frequently with soap and hot running water. If hot water is not available, use an alcohol-based hand gel.
•When you cough and sneeze, cover your mouth and nose. Wash your hands afterwards.
•Avoid being near others who might be sick.
•Stay home if you are sick, to avoid affecting others.
Precautions for Travellers
•Before you travel, find out what vaccines you will need and where to get them. Visit your family doctor or a travel health clinic at least six weeks before your departure date.
•If you get sick when you are travelling, seek medical assistance.
•If you are sick when you return to Nepal, or have been near someone who is, you must tell a customs or quarantine office, who will decide if you need further medical assessment.
•If you get sick after you return to Nepal, see a health care provider. Be sure to tell him/her the countries you visited, if you were sick while away and any medical care or treatment your received.

A Yemenia jet with 153 people on board crashed into the Indian Ocean on Tuesday as it tried to land during strong winds on the island nation of Comoros. Officials said one child was plucked alive from the sea.
There was no word on other survivors. At least three bodies were recovered, authorities said.
The crash comes two years after aviation officials reported faults with the aircraft, an Airbus 310 flying the last leg of a journey from Paris and Marseille to Comoros, with a stop in Yemen to change planes. Most of the passengers were from Comoros, a former French colony. Sixty-six on board were French nationals.
A child was rescued from the water after the crash, according to Rachida Abdullah, a police immigration officer who works at the operations center in the Comoros, and Yemeni civil aviation deputy chief Mohammed Abdul Qader.
Qader said he was told the child was 5 years old. Further details on the rescue and the child's condition were not immediately available.
Three bodies from the flight were retrieved along with debris from the plane, Abdullah said.
Qader said it was too early to speculate on the cause and the flight data recorder had not been found, but the wind was 40 miles per hour (61 kph) as the plane was landing in the middle of the night.
"The weather was very bad ... the wind was very strong," he said, adding the windy conditions were hampering rescue efforts.
The Yemenia plane was the second Airbus to crash into the sea in as many months. An Air France Airbus A330-200 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean May 31, killing all 228 people on board, as it flew from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
A crisis center once again was set up at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Many passengers were from the French city of Marseille, which has a large Comoros community.
"There is considerable dismay," said Stephane Salord, the consul general of the Comoros in the Provence-Alps-Cote d'Azur region of France. "These are families that, each year on the eve of summer, leave Marseille and the region to rejoin their families in the Comoros and spend their holidays."
In France, this week is the start of annual summer school vacations.
The Comoros is an archipelago of three main islands situated about 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) south of Yemen, between Africa's southeastern coast and the island of Madagascar. It is a former French colony of 700,000 people.
Gen. Bruno de Bourdoncle de Saint-Salvy, the senior commander for French forces in the southern Indian Ocean, said the Airbus 310 crashed in deep waters about 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) north of the Comoran coast and 21 miles (34 kilometers) from the Moroni airport.
French aviation inspectors found a "number of faults" during a 2007 inspection of the plane that went down, French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau said on i-Tele television Tuesday.
In Brussels, EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said the airline had previously met EU safety checks and was not on the bloc's blacklist. But he said a full investigation was now being started amid questions why passengers were put on another jet in the Yemeni capital of San'a.
An Airbus statement said the plane that crashed went into service 19 years ago, in 1990, and had accumulated 51,900 flight hours. It has been operated by Yemenia (Yemen Airways) since 1999. Airbus said it was sending a team of specialists to the Comoros.
The A310-300 is a twin-engine widebody jet that can seat up to 220 passengers. There are 214 A310s in service worldwide with 41 operators.
Christophe Prazuck, French military spokesman, said a patrol boat and reconnaissance ship were being sent to the crash site as well a military transport plane. The French were sending divers as well as medical personnel, he said.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy "expressed his deep emotion" about the crash and asked the French military to help in the rescue operation, particularly from the French islands of Mayotte and Reunion.
Yemenia airline officials say the 11-member crew was made up of six Yemenis, including the pilot, two Moroccans, one Indonesian, one Ethiopian and 1 Filipino. The officials asked that their named not be used because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The organisers of Michael Jackson's comeback tour dates in London have announced they would offer full ticket refunds following his death last week.
"AEG Live (UK) Ltd, concert promoters, announced that full refunds will be available to fans who purchased tickets through authorised agents for any of the 50 Michael Jackson 'This Is It' concerts which were to take place at The O2 Arena in London," AEG Live announced in a statement.
Jackson's fans from around the world had rushed to snap up tickets for the performances, which were due to start on July 13.
British media reports said about 50 million pounds (59 million euros, 83 million dollars) has been spent on 750,000 tickets.
Fans had also queued for hours to watch the reclusive star's final public appearance when he unveiled the gigs here in March, promising to play his classic tunes.
"The world lost a kind soul who just happened to be the greatest entertainer the world has ever known," said Randy Phillips, president of AEG Live.
"Since he loved his fans in life, it is incumbent upon us to treat them with the same reverence and respect after his death."
AEG Live said the refunds would include all ticket service charges and said all details would be available at www.michaeljacksonlive.com from July 1.
Fans who would prefer to keep the ticket as a piece of memorabilia will have the option to be sent the actual piece of paper, which AEG said had been "inspired and designed by Michael Jackson".
Trading website eBay, where tickets had fetched prices of up to 1,300 pounds, has already said that fans who had bought seats for the shows through its website would receive a refund.

Three cases of swine flu, pandemic influenza A H1N1, have been detected in Nepal. The announcement was made by the Health Ministry, Government of Nepal, on Monday.
The three infected victims comprise a 38-year old woman, a 44-year old man and an 8-year old boy, all from the same family. The trio arrived in Nepal from USA via Doha on June 21. They are currently undergoing treatment. The names have not been disclosed.

Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey says determining the cause of Michael Jackson’s death will require further tests that will take four to six weeks.

Harvey says there were no signs of foul play or trauma to the body. He also says Jackson was taking some unspecified prescription medications.

The spokesman says Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter is with Jackson’s family.

Police investigating Jackson’s death Friday were seeking to interview one of the pop king’s doctors and seized a car that they said may contain drugs or other evidence.

As the three-hour autopsy began Friday morning, police towed a BMW from Jackson’s rented home “because it may contain medications or other evidence that may assist the coroner in determining the cause of death,” police spokeswoman Karen Rayner said.

She said the car belongs to one of Jackson’s doctors whom police wanted to interview. Rayner stressed the doctor was not under criminal investigation.

The Los Angeles Times has identified the physician as Dr. Conrad Murray, 51, a Las Vegas cardiologist, and reports that Murray was administering CPR to Jackson when paramedics arrived.

A woman who answered the phone Friday at Murray's clinic in Houston confirmed to The Associated Press that Murray was Jackson's cardiologist. The woman, who refused to give her name, would not confirm the Los Angeles Times report that Murray performed CPR on Jackson.

The Los Angeles Times cites other published reports saying Jackson had received a shot of Demerol before going into cardiac arrest.

The Texas State Board of Medical Examiners Web site shows no complaints filed against Murray in the four years he's been a licensed cardiologist in Texas.

Fifty-five people were killed and 116 injured by a bomb in a crowded market in Baghdad's predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City, an interior ministry official said on Wednesday.



According to the official, the blast occurred in a market in the north Baghdad district at around 7:00 pm (1600 GMT), caused by a motorcycle rickshaw loaded with explosives hidden underneath its load of vegetables.

"The rickshaw was full of explosives, covered by vegetables," the official said, adding that women and children were among the casualties and dozens of market kiosks were damaged.

The attacker got off the motorcycle rickshaw in the middle of Mraidi market in Sadr City and managed to escape before the bomb was set off.

Wednesday's bombing was the latest bloody attack in the runup to the planned pullout of US troops from Iraqi cities, towns and villages by June 30.

Violence has dropped markedly in Iraq in recent months, with May seeing the lowest Iraqi death toll since the 2003 invasion. But attacks remain common, particularly in Baghdad and the main northern city of Mosul.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned earlier this month that insurgents and militiamen were likely to step up their attacks in the coming weeks in a bid to undermine confidence in the Iraqi security forces.

Finance Minister Surendra Pandey on Saturday said that the budget for this year was expected to be a bit larger in comparison to the past years owing to the high public demands.
Pandey said that education was the top priority of the budget. Budget also covers ongoing peace process and the statute drafting process, added Pandey. Pandey made it clear that though the revenue collection was high on past year but owing to the lack of proper expenditure goals were not achieved.

At least 38 militants were killed in fierce clashes in northwest Pakistan's Swat valley and the tribal region of South Waziristan, the military said Saturday as troops continued an offensive against the Taliban.
"During (the) last 24 hours, 38 militants were killed in Malakand and South Waziristan, while six soldiers including an officer embraced shahadat (martyrdom)," it said in a statement.
Malakand region includes Swat, Dir and Buner districts where the military has launched operations since April 26 against Taliban militants.
The death tolls provided could not be verified independently.
"Thirty-two terrorists were killed in Sarwakai town (in South Waziristan) in a retaliatory fire by security forces during a road clearance operation," the statement said.
The rugged South Waziristan region is the stronghold of Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, and Washington alleges that Al-Qaeda fighters who fled Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion are holed up in the region.
Pakistani war planes Friday hit targets in South Waziristan, apparently in preparation for a full-scale military onslaught into the hostile peaks to track down and eliminate Mehsud and his network.
Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal regions are wracked by violence and are known as a hub for Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels who fled across the border to escape the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001.
Six other militants "were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces," in Swat valley, the military said.
It added that 17 soldiers were also wounded during clashes with militants in Malakand.
More than 1,500 insurgents and 134 soldiers have been killed in military operations launched in Lower Dir on April 26, Buner on April 28 and in Swat on May 8.
Pakistani security forces launched the offensive to dislodge Taliban guerrillas from the three districts after rebels flouted a peace deal and thrust towards the capital Islamabad.
Pakistan has vowed to hunt down the commanders of the Taliban uprising in Swat, but the military is not totally certain of their whereabouts.
The government has slapped a 600,000-dollar price on the head of firebrand Swat Taliban commander Maulana Fazlullah, wanted dead or alive, for masterminding the nearly two-year uprising in the valley to enforce sharia law.
The offensive has the backing of the United States and enjoys broad popular support among Pakistanis exasperated by worsening Taliban-linked attacks, which have killed more than 1,960 people in Pakistan since July 2007.
The operation led to the displacement of more than two million people fleeing the conflict zone to safer areas in the North West Frontier province.

The winners of the 'Climate Change: Voices of Khumbu's Children', an interschool art and letter writing competition, held among the students of 16 primary and secondary school were announced at the Khumjung Festival on Friday.
The participants expressed their views on climate change and global warming through painting and writing. The competition was jointly organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Initiatives for Development and Eco Action Support (iDEAS) in collaboration with Sherwi Yondhen Tshokpa, a Sherpa youth organisation based in Khumjung. It is part of the programme of the 'Imja Tsho Action Event' held on June 18-19. These creations of the students will also be taken to the
United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) scheduled for Copenhagen in December.

Iraq's prime minister says the withdrawal of U.S. troops from urban areas by the end of this month will be a "big victory" for the nation.
Nouri al-Maliki says militants will try to stage more attacks but Iraqi security forces won't let them reverse security gains.
A U.S.-Iraqi security pact requires the Americans to pull back combat troops from cities by June 30 as a first step toward a full withdrawal by 2012. The deal includes a provision for the Iraqi government to ask for U.S. help if violence surges.
But al-Maliki says any extension would show a lack of confidence and be a "historic setback."
He says "we will not retreat no matter what happens."
Al-Maliki spoke Saturday to members of the Turkomen ethnic minority.

Pakistani officials say troops backed by jet fighters and artillery have killed about 50 militants in a volatile northwestern tribal region near Afghanistan where Pakistan Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud is believed to be entrenched with thousands of his fighters.
They were the first known militant casualties in South Waziristan, where Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaida and Taliban leaders are believed to be hiding, since the military started pounding the area with artillery about a week ago.
Although the army has not announced a formal beginning of full-scale operations in South Waziristan, officials say they already are occupying strategic positions in the region.

The global economic crisis is also a social crisis in Asia, with an estimated 60 million people remaining mired in poverty due to falling growth rates, an Asian Development Bank executive has said.
"The social consequences of the economic crisis are very severe," Rajat M. Nag, ADB managing director general, said in an interview. "That is our biggest concern."
Nag said the estimated three percent drop in GDP between 2008-9 in developing Asia -- excluding Japan, Australia and New Zealand -- meant 60 million would fail to emerge from poverty.
An extra 10 million people would be undernourished and around 56,000 more children aged under five would die.
He made his comments on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on East Asia, where speakers agreed the region must rebalance its export-led growth model to cope with shrinking Western markets.
"Asia will need to sell its products to itself more than it has," Nag said in the interview with AFP and other agencies.
Developing Asia at present exports 60 percent of its production to Japan, the Eurozone and the United States and "that cannot continue forever."
Asia must boost consumption -- an important part of poverty reduction -- by saving less and spending more, he said.
He said the regional savings rate was very high, largely to compensate for the lack of welfare programmes.
"People save for old age, people save for ill health, people save for education," Nag added. "Is it more efficient for people to save individually for what is essentially a social protection network, or is it more efficient to save collectively as a nation?
"If we want to increase consumption, we've got to decrease savings."
Service industries should also be encouraged. At present, Nag said, services in Asia are difficult to access because of protectionist or other measures.
"The development model for the last 50 years of export-oriented growth which has served Asia well, which we believe was the right one, now needs to be rethought."
Nag also called for greater Asian integration on environmental and infrastructure matters.
"The centre of gravity of economic power is shifting to Asia... Asia needs to cooperate and integrate within itself," he said.
"It does not mean tomorrow we will have an Asian common market or an Asian common currency but I think the trend is to have greater integration."
Average growth in developing Asia was 6.3 percent in 2008 and the ADB forecasts 3.4 percent this year, rising to six per cent next year. "We think we have seen the worst of it," Nag said.
But he cautioned that the biggest threat to recovery was "to think of green shoots as more than green shoots" and slow down on reforms and stimulus measures.
"The economic recovery is still very fragile," Nag said.
In earlier comments to the economic forum, the ADB executive expanded on what he called the most worrying aspect of the economic crisis.
"There are two faces of Asia: one shining, which has done very well... and the other 900 million people who live below one dollar and 25 cents a day and that face is not shining at all," Nag said.
"And that gap is actually diverging rather than converging."
Peter Sands, chief executive officer for the Standard Chartered Bank group, told the forum that Asia would play a critical role in leading the world out of the economic crisis.
But he said the old model "of Asia overproducing and the West overconsuming has proved to be unsustainable."

A suicide bombing in western Somalia killed at least 20 people Thursday including the national security minister. The Somali president blamed al-Qaida while an extremist group with alleged links to the terror network claimed responsibility.
Witness Mohamed Nur said a small car headed toward the gate of the Medina Hotel in Belet Weyne, then drove into vehicles leaving the hotel and exploded.
Information Minister Farhan Ali Mohamud announced the death of National Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden but declined to give any other details.
Somalia's president accused al-Qaida of being behind the bombing but did not offer any evidence. He said the attack also killed a senior Somali diplomat.
"It was an act of terrorism and it is part of the terrorist attack on our people," Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed told journalists in the capital. "Al-Qaida is attacking us."
Al-Shabab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage told local radio stations by phone that his group carried out the attack and that one of their fighters died.
"We killed the national security minister and the former ambassador to Ethiopia," said Rage, speaking from an undisclosed location.
Al-Shabab, an extremist Somali Islamic group, is considered by the U.S. State Department to be a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida, the terror network headed by Osama bin Laden. But al-Shabab has denied those links to the international group.
The United States accuses al-Shabab of harboring al-Qaida-linked terrorists who allegedly blew up U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The United States has attempted to kill suspected al-Qaida members in Somalia several times with airstrikes.
The president said the national security minister was on official business in Belet Weyne but did not elaborate. In recent weeks Aden had frequently gone to Belet Weyne, which is considered a strategic town because it is close to the Ethiopian border and is on a road that goes directly to Mogadishu.
Aden, a former police officer, had risen to the rank of colonel during dictator Mohamed Siad Barre's regime, the last effective central government in Somalia before the country descended into chaos. Aden later became a player in Somali politics and more recently had become an ally of President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed.
Experts have expressed fears that foreign Islamic militants could use Somalia as a base for terror in the region.
Diplomats have said that up to 400 foreign Islamic militants backed local insurgents in a surge of violence in Mogadishu in mid-May. That fighting claimed the lives of almost 200 civilians. The U.N. says the conflict has displaced more than 122,000 people.
Somalia has not had an effective government for 18 years after warlords overthrew Barre and plunged the country into anarchy and chaos. The lawlessness has also allowed piracy to thrive off the country's coast, making Somalia the world's worst piracy hotspot.
Separately, at least 17 people were killed in overnight battles between Islamic insurgents and government forces in Mogadishu, witnesses said Thursday.
Information Minister Farhan Ali Mohamud denied the government targeted residential areas, adding government forces were only defending themselves.
An insurgent spokesman, Hassan Mahdi, said his side did not attack any government positions but were defending themselves. Mahdi said once the insurgents repulsed the government forces then the government side started shelling residential areas.
Neither spokesman gave any casualty figures. Mogadishu does not have any clearly defined battlegrounds and both sides' forces are located close to residential areas.
(This version ADDS Somali extremist group claiming responsibility and details about minister; CORRECTS spelling of information minister's last name.)