Entries in influenza and infectious diseases (390)
Kawaoka, UW-Madison receive $9.5 million from Bill Gates for flu research
Scott McPherson
in Politics and government, influenza and infectious diseases
|
Post a Comment
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given Yoshihiro Kawaoka and the University of Wisconsin at Madison an extremely impressive grant of $9.5 million to continue its research into what makes influenza, well, influenza.
This is both a significant achievement (and validation) for Professor Kawaoka as well as further evidence that Bill Gates is putting his billions to work to try and both understand and eradicate infectious diseases all over the planet.
From the story, via Cap Times:
One of the world's biggest charitable foundations has awarded close to $10 million to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for influenza virus research.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $9.5 million in a five-year grant to UW-Madison research scientists who are studying viral mutations that could be early warning signs of potential pandemic flu viruses.
The grant was announced Thursday in a news release from the UW-Madison communications office.
"Early intervention is critical to the control of influenza virus outbreaks," said Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine virologist and principal investigator in the project.
"In order to intervene, we rely on early recognition of the pandemic potential of newly emerging influenza viruses," Kawaoka said.
The international team of scientists working on the project will look for mutations in viral proteins that allow avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, to bind to human receptors.
Avian viruses, the release said, don't generally infect humans, but a mutation happens every now and then that could allow the virus to adapt to human cells.
By identifying mutations that might allow this to happen, the project team hopes an early warning system could be developed to make it easier to predict pandemic potential of influenza viruses.
"The improved ability to predict whether a virus has pandemic potential would be an invaluable asset to the global community," Kawaoka said.
"Millions of lives might be saved if intervention methods, such as social distancing, anti-viral compound distribution and vaccine development and production could be implemented early," Kawaoka said.
H5N1 reminds us it's still here, despite swine flu pandemic
Scott McPherson
in Politics and government, influenza and infectious diseases
|
Post a Comment
Recent reports confirm the return of H5N1 bird flu in poultry in Thailand and Vietnam. And in today's proMED report, a 21-year old Egyptian college student has a case of confirmed H5N1 bird flu.
The reports of the return of bird flu should not be surprising. Just because we're in the (so far, mild) grip of the first pandemic of the information age (I coined that term, as everyone knows) does not mean other flu strains cannot also continue infecting animals.
What is interesting is the case of the Egyptian college student. He reportedly had slaughtered poultry just days before his onset of symptoms, and it is to the Egyptian doctors' credit that they had the presence of mind to test the lad for H5N1 as well as H1N1.
There is no word if a co-infection was present, but this does confirm the concern that Egyptian authorities have expressed ever since they ordered the slaughter of every pig in the nation (overkill, to be sure). Namely, they were worried about Egypt becoming the mixing vessel for an H1/H5 mutant virus.
This makes the third time and third locale that H5 and H1 have rubbed elbows. In Vietnam and in Indonesia, the two viruses were in extremely close physical proximity to one another. Now, in the midst of the current (first?) wave of swine flu in Egypt, a young adult acquired bird flu.
I don't have the stats on seasonal flu in Egypt currently, but here in the US, of some 5,400 suspected flu samples submitted to the CDC for testing, only four -- FOUR! -- were seasonal flu. The remaining positive samples were confirmed H1N1v, influenza B, or the nefarious "untyped" influenza A.
Is it possible, then, that there are more diagnosed and undiagnosed H5N1 human cases in Egypt currently than there are cases of human seasonal flu? Interesting speculation. I leave it to you.
As winter approaches, we know we will get more H5N1 cases in birds and in people. And we know this H1N1v pandemic has a long way to go. So settle in for the long haul.
WTF? Wall Street firms get swine flu vaccine before you do
Scott McPherson
in Politics and government, Popular Culture, influenza and infectious diseases
|
2 Comments
|
1 Reference
Today's news coming out of Wall Street was so preposterous I had to read it three times before it really sunk in. Here, I will let you read it yourself. From the AP:
NEW YORK — Some of New York City's largest employers — including Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and big universities — have started receiving doses of the much-in-demand swine flu vaccine for their at-risk employees.
The government-funded vaccine is being distributed to states, where health departments decide where to send the limited doses. In New York, health officials are allowing businesses with onsite medical staff to apply for the vaccine.
Doctors for large companies can ask for the vaccine along with other doctors but must agree to vaccinate only high-risk employees like pregnant women and those with chronic illnesses, said Jessica Scaperotti, a spokeswoman for New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Last month, the city began offering vaccine to schoolchildren, as well as pediatricians and obstetricians who asked for it. Scaperotti said only half of the pediatricians in New York City have requested vaccine
"As the vaccine became more available we expanded it to adult providers," Scaperotti said. She called the large employers "a great avenue for vaccinating people at risk."
But a critic said Wall Street firms shouldn't have access to the vaccine before less wealthy Americans.
"Wall Street banks have already taken so much from us. They've taken trillions of our tax dollars. They've taken away people's homes who are struggling to pay the bills," union official John VanDeventer wrote on the Service Employees International Union Web site. "But they should not be allowed to take away our health and well-being."
The union has about 2 million members, including health care workers.
The swine flu vaccine has been in short supply nationwide because of manufacturing delays, resulting in long lines at clinics and patients being turned away at doctor's offices. The vaccine started trickling out in early October, and there are now nearly 32 million doses available.
The government, which ordered 250 million doses, has recommended that the limited supply go first to high-risk groups: children and young people through age 24, people caring for infants under 6 months, pregnant women and health care workers.
Swine flu — which scientists call the 2009 H1N1 strain — is widespread throughout the country now, much earlier than seasonal flu usually hits.
Nationwide, about 90,000 sites are expected to receive vaccine — mainly hospitals, clinics, doctors' offices, county health departments and pharmacies.
Other big New York City employers that have received doses of the vaccine include Columbia University, Time Inc., the Federal Reserve Bank and several hospitals. The distribution was first reported by Business Week.
Goldman Sachs has received 200 doses and Citigroup has received 1,200, health officials said. So far, 800,000 doses have been delivered to 1,400 health-care providers in New York City, including public schools, pediatricians and hospitals.
Citigroup, "like many other large New York City employers, has partnered with the Department of Health to act as a distribution site for the H1N1 vaccine through the company's health clinics," the company said in a statement Thursday. "The vaccine is being provided only to employees in high-risk categories as defined by the CDC."
Goldman Sachs spokesman Ed Canaday said Thursday that the city's health department "decides in its sole discretion who receives the H1N1 vaccine — both the amount and timing."
"Goldman Sachs, like other responsible employers, has requested vaccine and will supply it only to employees who qualify," Canaday said.
While vaccinating children is a top priority for health officials, Scaperotti said only half of the pediatricians in New York City have asked for it.
Some pediatricians' offices that have received the vaccine, though, said the supply is not meeting the demand.
Manager Linda O'Hanlon at Uptown Pediatrics in Manhattan, said the office has received 500 doses so far — not enough for a practice with almost 7,000 patients.
"We have about 800 appointments" set up for patients who want to get vaccinated, she said.
Associated Press writers Stephen Barnard and Sara Lepro in New York City and Valerie Bauman in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Gee, I wonder just how many toddlers and children ages 2 to 24 that Goldman Sachs will find in their corporate HQ? I am not one to ordinarily agree with unions, but I think the head of the union quoted in the story hit the nail upon the head.
There have been myriad stories, including one in the New York Times, about New Yorkers waiting hour upon hour to get their children vaccinated. Just Google 'vaccine delay shortage" and you'll get national and local stories by the hundreds.
So children get passed by while Wall Street fatcats get vaccine? Just exactly what target group do they belong to, overweight, bloated, overpaid executives?
This adds to a vaccine credibility problem entirely of the Obama Administration's creation. They have succeeded in creating a caste system for vaccine. And I do not care how many hundred doses Citigroup or other banking firms got and how small that might be compared to the general public. Perception is reality.
If Wall Street bankers want vaccine, they can bloody well stand in line for it with the rest of humanity.
Rethinking seasonal flu death counts
Scott McPherson
in Politics and government, influenza and infectious diseases
|
Post a Comment
I have had a blog idea for a few weeks, specifically regarding the nagging feeling in the back of my mind regarding seasonal deaths attributed to influenza. Just how reliable are those numbers?
It is like the statement that every day the Florida Legislature is in session, it costs the taxpayers of the Sunshine State $45,000 per day to keep the 160 members in Tallahassee. As a former Member of the Florida House, the Peoples' Chamber, I recalled that in 1982, when I served, the same figure was recited. The $45,000 figure was repeated over and over and over again so often that it took on this bulletproof reputation.
Except that it is not bulletproof. Costs have (at least) doubled since those days, and I can find no one who has actually taken the time to Question Authority and recalculate those numbers.
Therefore, I am inclined to question the Conventional Wisdom whenever I hear a figure thrown out by everyone as if it were gospel. It is with a great sense of personal relief that someone had the same idea regarding deaths from seasonal flu; but, unlike me, that person actually acted upon that idea and wrote a mighty fine blog about it as well.
The source is the blogsite Pandemic Information News. The blog in question, which was reprinted from the Website HealthSentinel.com, questions the validity of the CDC's claim that "36,000 people die every year from influenza." This mantra is repeated over and over again until it takes on this granitelike stature of absolute correctness.
As the PIN/HealthSentinel blog points out, the 36,000 figure is a recent change from the previous estimates that only 20,000 or so actually die every year from seasonal flu. Without trying to explain it, I defer to the actual blog itself. It is so well written and so well-sourced it makes me jealous!
H1N1v swine flu jumps species barrier again, infects Iowa housecat
Scott McPherson
in Politics and government, influenza and infectious diseases
|
2 Comments
A Reuters story from today underscores just how resilient and unpredictable swine flu really is. A housecat in Iowa was feeling kinda poopy, as were two human members of the household, owned (as everyone knows) by the housecat.
A vet swabbed the housecat and sent the sample off to be tested. Sure enough, the sample came back positive for H1N1v. This marks the first time a cat has been diagnosed with H1N1.
But felines catching pandemic or potentially pandemic strains of flu is not new. Recall the Bangkok Zoo tigers -- almost 60 in total -- who had to be euthanized because they ate chickens tainted with H5N1 bird flu. Also, in Indonesia, it is estimated that 20% of all cats contain antibodies to H5N1, because they have feasted or nibbled on poultry and wild birds infected with bird flu. H5N1 is still endemic to Indonesia, and a couple of years ago, the Indonesian Army was called upon to actually swab housecats to check for H5N1 antibodies (photo at left).
Bird flu just flared up again in Vietnam, in an area (Diem Bien province) where it had not been seen in several months. Some 3,000 birds were culled to try and prevent its spread, even though bird flu needs to fire its press agent and hire a new one.
Should we be surprised by this latest development? I am not sure. Perhaps this has more to do with bird flu's affinity for the hunter (cats) and, as my recent blog said, sometimes swine flu runs home to Momma, Momma being the 1/3 avian origin of this unique hybrid pandemic virus. So I am not surprised that H1N1v would jump the species barrier again. Nothing about this virus surprises me anymore.
Dogs are another matter. H3N8 equine influenza crossed the species barrier to dogs in Florida sometime in the past 10 years, but there are no signs that dogs have caught swine flu. There are signs, however, that dogs have caught H5N1 bird flu. In my blog, "Beware of Dog" gains new meaning, I talk about the Dutch experiment regarding H5N1. Dogs can, indeed, catch avian flu. So it would not be surprising, then, if Fido or Buster caught swine flu.
If you read the aforementioned blog, from 2007, it indicates H5N1 droplet nuclei were present and active in dogs' nasal secretions. There are some instances of H3N8 canine influenza in this country right now. Is dual infection likely or unlikely? A lot of people will be boarding their dogs and cats as the holidays approach. I would not be surprised if we see some canine H1N1v infections confirmed, nor would I be surprised if we see a dual infection or two.
This pets-with-swine flu development does potentially complicate things. It means that surveillance needs to take on additional forms, particularly overseas in Asia where dual H5/H1v infections could occur. It means additional "mixing vessels" where avian flu and swine flu could reassort and emerge, infecting pigs, birds and, potentially, people. Surveillance has failed us once this decade, as public and animal health experts were so focused on swabbing birds' asses in the search for H5 that they missed the H1 swine flu pandemic that was brewing right under their noses. What makes matters worse is the grossly underreported fact that swine flu happens in this nation all the time.
So let's alert the vets of America to this new wrinkle, and let's do a little surveillance to see if cats and dogs are bringing their masters more than just dead birds and old shoes.