Avian flu

New H7 bird flu strain hikes risk of pandemic

John Carroll — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:16:40 -0400

A strain of bird flu has adapted to create a new version which increases the chances of a human pandemic, according to scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The adaptation was found in a strain of H7N2, which can now spread more easily among mammals. The change allowed the virus to thrive in the sugars of the human throat, a key flash point for researchers studying mutations that could lead to an epidemic.

Most of the research in the field has centered on the lethal H5N1 bird flu strain, which has yet to mutate into a virus that can be easily transmitted among humans. But H7 strains also have the potential to spark an epidemic.

"The finding underscores the necessity for continued surveillance and study of these viruses as they continue to resemble viruses with pandemic potential," said Dr Terrence Tumpey, a microbiologist with the CDC.

- read the article from The Times
- check out the report from The Telegraph

Vaccine a success for human-to-human H5N1 case

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

A case of human-to-human transmission of bird flu has been confirmed in China, but authorities say it is another instance where the spread of the disease has been limited to a close blood relative. And in this case an experimental H5N1 vaccine demonstrated that it could possibly vanquish the lethal virus, which could have significant implications for the development of a pandemic vaccine.

A father caring for a sick son--who died--contracted the illness and was treated unsuccessfully with antivirals. Then he was given plasma drawn from a woman who had received an experimental bird flu vaccine that had been made from whole, killed H5N1. The vaccine was made by Sinovac from a 2004 Vietnamese strain of the disease. If researchers can show that the recovery was linked to the vaccine, the whole virus vaccine could prove a key to spurring immunity to a range of possible mutations of H5N1.

Late last year another bird flu patient in China recovered after being given plasma from a survivor of bird flu, pointing to the role that therapeutic antibodies could play in a fight against a potential pandemic.

- read the report in New Scientist
- check out the story in the Independent

ALSO: Indian officials are fighting a fresh outbreak of H5N1 in birds. Report

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Breakthrough on influenza vaccine

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

Japanese researchers have developed a new approach to make flu vaccines that are able to combat multiple strains of influenza, including strains of the bird flu virus, according to Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases. The advance centers on their ability to develop a peptide based on the influenza virus with an antigen on the surface which triggers an immune response. The new approach is distinct from current vaccines, which create antibodies that target influenza. As the surface of the virus mutates it can escape detection by the current generation of vaccines. This new approach targets the inside of a virus rather than its surface. And the researchers, led by Tetsuya Uchida, tested the new approach on mice infected with multiple strains of influenza.

Tetsuya noted that a new vaccine frequently takes about five years to develop. But he added that with the current alarm over a possible outbreak of bird flu among humans, a more rapid development program could be put into place. More than 200 people have died from bird flu to date.

- read the report from News-Medical
- and here's the story from AFP

ALSO: India is fighting a new bird flu outbreak in birds in West Bengal. Report

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Breakthrough in understanding mechanism of bird flu

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:59:59 -0500

Scientists at MIT are reporting that the shape of structures in the avian flu virus closely match sugars found in the respiratory tracts of birds. That key link has helped spread bird flu among animals, but also explains why it's so hard for the virus to spread in humans. If the viral structure does mutate to resemble sugars in the human respiratory tract, though, an outbreak among humans would swiftly follow. Their work makes it easier for drug developers to identify a therapy that could be used to counter bird flu and also allows researchers to monitor the viral mutations that are taking place so they can better alert health authorities about any sudden risk of a pandemic.

"We're like a sitting duck, waiting for an H5N1 virus that can attach to us," Richard Cummings, an Emory University biochemist, tells Wired. "This research moves us to the point where we can start anticipating what might happen."

- read the report from Wired

Related Article:
Scientists confirm human-to-human H5N1 case. Report
Avian flu: Research finds virus won't mutate easily. Report

Concerns grow as biohazard research field booms

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:59:59 -0500

Before the 2001 anthrax attacks, the U.S. had only two biosafety level 4 (BSL4) labs, which conduct research involving the world's deadliest pathogens. Since then, however, spending in the area has increased tenfold, growing to $2 billion in 2006 at more than a dozen different facilities. And a new BSL4 lab is about to open in Boston. But the field has experienced some growing pains as new facilities open up. Once restricted to secure government facilities operating behind barbed wire, the work has spread to a host of locations.

Edward Hammond, who runs Project Sunshine, says that more than 200 research groups are studying anthrax alone. And as the money has flowed into the research field, there has been a spike in troubling incidents. Three mice infected with the plague escaped from a New Jersey lab, anthrax-causing bacteria was found on a freezer at a military lab, and research personnel have been bitten by animals infected with bird flu.

- check out the article from Newsweek

Related Article:
CDC lab inspection process under scrutiny. Report
Foot-and-mouth outbreak linked to research lab. Report

Flu research points to new delivery technique

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:59:59 -0400

Researchers at Texas A&M University are participating in developing a treatment for influenza that forms a jelly when sprayed into the nose. Even though trial treatments are being used to treat bird flu in humans, the vaccine has the potential for numerous other uses, such as for the common flu, says Dr. Ian Tizard, professor of pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. The project is funded in part by a $6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health awarded to Irving, TX-based DelSite Biotechnologies in conjunction with the Texas A&M teams.

"We take Aloe vera leaves and put them through a series of complex extraction steps to produce a chemically pure powder, and then we combine the flu vaccine with it," Tizard explains. "When this powder vaccine is puffed into the nose, it forms a jelly-like substance that clings to the inside of the nose and is absorbed into the body much more effectively. It stays longer and it has more time to do its work."

- see the release for more information

Scientists plot first moves for Project Checkmate

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:59:59 -0400

A collaboration between the Scripps Research Institute and IBM to find new antidotes to flu before new mutations surface is making some initial progress. Dubbed Project Checkmate, scientists are using phage displays to identify antibodies that can be used to fight influenza. The project hopes to employ supercomputers to anticipate the way that the flu mutates and moves. Researchers could develop new drugs for new versions of the flu that had yet to surface in the public. Scientists are waiting to hear back on their grant application to the NIH.

- read the article from the Palm Beach Post

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States compete for $450M government biodefense lab

Mon, 07 May 2007 20:01:39 -0400

About a dozen different states are competing to host a new, $450 million government BioDefense research lab that will employ about 300 researchers working on avian flu, anthrax, bird flu and more. Officials are expected to whittle down the prospective sites under review this summer as various groups show off their local scientific expertise. States most interested include Texas, California, Georgia, Kansas, Oklahoma, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi and Kentucky. But not everyone is beating the bushes to rouse support for a new lab. Some residents living near proposed sites have raised their objections to neighboring a lab that will focus on a host of deadly diseases.

- read the report from Time

Related Article:
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Influenza vaccine produced from animal cells

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:01:39 -0400

A scientific team at Taiwan's Vaccine Research and Development Centre spent 13 months and $1.2 million to develop a new, cell-based vaccine to target avian flu. One of the scientists said this was the first time that researchers used dog kidney cells in vaccine work. Baxter Vaccines, for example, has used green monkey kidney cells in its cell-based vaccine work. The researchers in Taiwan are building a pilot vaccine plant that will be ready by the end of the year and human clinical trials are scheduled for next year.

- check out the China Post report

ALSO: Scientists at the University of Rochester explain in a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association how they produced an influenza vaccine in insect cells that appeared safe and effective. Recombinant DNA vaccines are already used on hepatitis B and HPV and researchers are looking to extend that to the flu and HIV. The new process would do away with the long and laborious process of using eggs to produce flu vaccine. Report

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NIAID budgets $161M for flu research

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 20:01:39 -0400

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will spend $23 million a year over the next seven years to establish a consortium of six research centers to investigate influenza viruses--including H5N1. The goal is to help government officials respond to seasonal flu as well as potential outbreaks of pandemics.

"There are a variety of viruses to monitor besides the well-known H5N1," St. Jude researcher Robert Webster said. "For example, H7N7 infected chicken industry workers in the Netherlands; and H9N2, which circulates in many global avian populations, also sporadically appears in humans."

The six centers and their primary researchers are: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital; University of California at Los Angeles; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Emory University, Atlanta; Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York and the University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.

- check out the release on the funding

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NIAID finds antibodies that neutralize H5N1. Report