King Saud University (KSU) in Riyadh announced Monday a discovery that it believes will significantly speed up the diagnosis process for the swine flu virus. University President Abdullah Al-Othman said that further details would be released within three weeks once the university had registered its discovery internationally. “The discovery will save time and effort, and the university's laboratories are expecting to reveal other new discoveries that will be also announced after international registration,” Al-Othman said. A King Saud University company is to be set up in the near future to “market its inventions and innovations”, of which, according to Al-Othman. It has already produced 110. – Okaz/SG Meanwhile, a leading US government health figure said Tuesday tests on millions of people who have received the H1N1 flu vaccine show that it's safe and effective. Dr. Anthony Fauci, of the National Institutes of Health, said in a nationally broadcast interview that people should not worry about the safety of the vaccine. – Okaz/SG He pointed to a study of pregnant woman that more than 90 percent of the patients who got the vaccine mounted “a response that you would have predicted.” Fauci said on CBS's “The Early Show” that officials did a clinical trial and found that “a single, standard dose of H1N1 vaccine produces a standard response” in terms of building immunity. He said “there are very strong data to indicate the vaccination will protect you.” The World Health Organization said Tuesday that pregnant women and other people at high risk should be vaccinated against the H1N1 swine flu virus as the cold weather begins to bite in the northern hemisphere. It voiced concern that some vulnerable people are shying away from the pandemic vaccine, which the WHO stressed had not caused any unusual side effects in hundreds of thousands of people to have received it worldwide so far. “Certainly the fact that the vaccine isn't being used by those who would have access to it and who would be in priority risk groups is of concern, yes,” WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told a news briefing. At least 5,712 people have died from the swine flu virus, according to the United Nations agency. – Okaz/SG with agencies Health workers, pregnant women and people with conditions such as asthma are deemed at greatest risk and should be top priority for getting the shot. __
