pandemic

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

Related Articles:
Sinovac to produce H5N1 vaccine. Report
Sinovac to mass produce bird flu vaccine. Report
GSK bird flu vaccine provides more positive data. Report

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

Glaxo turns to auto company for research ideas

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

GlaxoSmithKline had to play a serious game of catch-up in its quest to develop a new vaccine for cervical cancer. Four years ago, Glaxo's vaccines division--GSK Bio--concluded that it was two years behind Merck's program for an HPV vaccine. In order to bridge that yawning gap, researchers at the company adopted a new approach developed by automaker Renault called the "one roof" approach. The company plucked a variety of experts it needed from different fields and put them together under one roof to push a crash vaccine project. Before "one roof," 80 percent of the people working on the vaccine spent 20 percent of their time on the project. That's a traditional development approach that helps contribute to a development process that can easily last 10 years. As a result of the new strategy, GSK Bio cut its timeline to an application in Europe by two years while trimming 18 months off of its FDA schedule. And it accelerated a program that is expected to deliver up to one third of the U.K. company's revenue over the next five years.

- read this article on the research program from BusinessWeek

Related Articles:
GSK pre-pandemic vaccine shows promise. Report
GSK delays filing, trial and abandons drug program. Report
GSK stakes claim to ASCO spotlight. Report

Scientists find potential Achilles heel in flu virus

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 19:01:39 -0500

Scientists at Rice University and the University of Texas in Austin say that they've found a weakness in the flu virus--both common flu viruses as well as bird flu--that could be a very effective target for new antiviral drugs. The target is the nucleoprotein, the flexible tail loop of the flu protein, often referred to as NP in shorthand. Any changes in the tail prevent the NPs from stacking together, a process that's necessary before cells begin to create the virus. A new antiviral that prevents the nucleoproteins from binding together could be a very effective method for preventing seasonal flu and ultimately guarding against a pandemic. Lead researcher Jane Tao says she is now studying thousands of compounds to see which is most likely to influence the NP.

- check out the press release on the finding
- here's the report on the research from The Houston Chronicle

Indonesia opens up access to bird flu gene codes

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 20:01:39 -0400

Just before Indonesia announced its forty-throed bird flu death, researchers around the globe got some welcome news. Indonesian health officials announced that they were taking off the restrictions on sharing the gene sequences of its avian flu virus. Those sequences, the genetic code to the virus, are considered crucial to understanding how the disease is changing. Indonesia has presented some of the most alarming cases of avian flu clusters, including family clusters where the disease evidently jumped from human to human. The World Health Organization had been restricted in sharing the sequences with a handful of laboratories. Now, though, the wraps are evidently coming off and researchers can gain the information they need from a public web site. According to Indonesian officials, they learned only recently about the hue and cry in research circles about the need for greater transparency in the process. Indonesia, however, has demonstrated that it can't organize an effective response in halting the spread of the virus, which is continuing to raise fears of a human pandemic.

- here's the article on Indonesia's response from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)

Avian flu: Research finds virus won't mutate easily

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 20:01:39 -0400

Scientists at the CDC reported a project failure late last week that many researchers in the field were only too happy to see. They engineered genetic changes to see if they could make the deadly A-H5N1 virus more easily transmittable among people. It didn't work. That doesn't mean that the virus, which has claimed 134 lives, can't mutate into a virus that could trigger a human pandemic. But it does mean that a mutation probably won't happen easily.

Undertaking their work in a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory, the researchers set to work to determine if they could replicate a nightmare scenario in which someone with the human flu virus swaps genes with the avian flu virus and creates a lethal new disease that could wipe out millions of people. They created a hybrid virus with A-H3N2 and exposed ferrets--which are highly susceptible to human viruses--to the hybrid. That virus was not transmitted quickly among the animals. Scientists cautioned that while the research shows that any deadly mutations won't occur easily, many more hybrids need to be created in order to fully test the potential of a lethal mutation that could affect humans.

Catch up on avian flu issues:
- read this article in The New York Times