Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Pfizer, Visterra collaborate to discover novel antibodies

Visterra Inc., developer of novel therapeutics to treat major diseases, announced today that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Pfizer to discover novel antibodies using Visterra's proprietary platform.

11 Sep 2012

CSL Biotherapies receives U.S. Government contract to supply pandemic vaccine antigens

CSL Biotherapies, a subsidiary of CSL Limited, one of the world's leading manufacturers of influenza vaccine, announced it has been awarded a contract by the United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services to supply pre-pandemic and pandemic vaccine antigens and related services to the U.S. national stockpile.

11 Sep 2012

HIV viruses with two genetic 'footprints' associated with greater vaccine efficacy

Scientists used genetic sequencing to discover new evidence that the first vaccine shown to prevent HIV infection in people also affected the viruses in those who did become infected. Viruses with two genetic "footprints" were associated with greater vaccine efficacy. The results were published today in the online edition of the journal Nature.

10 Sep 2012

New oral antiseptic spray effective in killing 99.9% of infectious airborne germs

University Hospitals Case Medical Center clinical researchers will present findings about a one-two punch to prevent colds and flu in San Francisco at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) on Sept. 9.

10 Sep 2012

Boosting immune system can help reduce asthma attacks due to viral infections

Details of a treatment that could help asthmatics fight infections that trigger 80% of asthma attacks, developed by University of Southampton spin-out company Synairgen, will be presented to European respiratory experts on Sunday 2 September.

1 Sep 2012

Less than half of U.S. schools address pandemic preparedness in their school plan

Less than half of U.S. schools address pandemic preparedness in their school plan, and only 40 percent have updated their school plan since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to a study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

31 Aug 2012

Climate change associated with increased risk of avian flu transmission in wild birds

Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, more intense rainstorms and more frequent heat waves are among the planetary woes that may come to mind when climate change is mentioned. Now, two University of Michigan researchers say an increased risk of avian influenza transmission in wild birds can be added to the list.

30 Aug 2012

Flu virus can be passed on before appearance of symptoms

Research at Imperial College London examining influenza transmission in ferrets suggests that the virus can be passed on before the appearance of symptoms. If the finding applies to humans, it means that people pass on flu to others before they know they're infected, making it very difficult to contain epidemics.

30 Aug 2012

Aeras, IDRI announce start of first ID93 + GLA-SE Phase I trial for tuberculosis

Aeras and the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) announce today the start of the first clinical trial of IDRI's novel tuberculosis vaccine candidate, ID93 + GLA-SE.

23 Aug 2012

BioDiem and French partner VIVALIS a step forward in developing vaccines for diseases and related cancers

Australian infectious disease therapy and vaccine development company BioDiem Ltd (ASX: BDM) announced today successful results from two programs of work carried out by French partner VIVALIS (NYSE Euronext: VLS), confirming the ability of BioDiem’s Live Attenuated Influenza Virus (LAIV) to grow in VIVALIS’ proprietary EB66® cell line.

20 Aug 2012

Medicago, IDRI receive FDA approval to commence Phase 1 H5N1 vaccine trial

The Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), a Seattle-based non-profit research organization that is a leading developer of adjuvants used in vaccines combating infectious disease, and Medicago Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), announce that they have been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial for an H5N1 Avian Influenza VLP vaccine candidate.

16 Aug 2012

Article describes novel technique to study interactions between HIV-1 and P. falciparum

The World Health Organization estimates that in 2011 there were 216 million cases of malaria and 34.2 million people living with HIV. These diseases particularly afflict sub-Saharan Africa, where large incidence of co-infection result in high mortality rates. Yet, in spite of this global pandemic, interactions between the parasite that causes malaria, Plasmodium falciparum, and HIV-1 are poorly understood.

16 Aug 2012

BioDiem granted European patent for antimicrobial drug

Australian vaccine development company BioDiem Ltd (ASX: BDM) announced today the successful granting of a key European patent for its synthetic antimicrobial compound BDM-I. BDM-I is a novel compound active against a range of pathogenic micro-organisms including bacteria, fungi and protozoa. The patent provides protection around BDM-I as a treatment for vulvovaginitis, a general term for inflammation of the vulva or vagina.

7 Aug 2012

Creating new non-influenza vaccines: an interview with Julie Phillips, CEO of BioDiem

BioDiem recently signed a collaborative agreement with The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) for the development of non-influenza vaccines using BioDiem’s proprietary live attenuated influenza virus (LAIV) technology.

7 Aug 2012

Blog posts examine issues discussed at AIDS 2012

Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, published three new blog posts last week examining issues discussed at the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012).

31 Jul 2012

XIX International AIDS Conference concludes in Washington, D.C.

"The XIX International AIDS Conference [AIDS 2012] drew to a close Friday without the physical presence of President Obama but with a full cast of other high-profile U.S. politicians who expressed their commitment to ending the disease," CQ HealthBeat reports (Norman, 7/27).

30 Jul 2012

Viewpoints: 'The best thing George W. Bush did as president;' Finding less harmful health cuts; Navigating the future of Medicaid

This is a moment for all Americans to be proud of the best thing George W. Bush did as president: launching an initiative to combat AIDS in Africa that has saved millions of lives. All week, more than 20,000 delegates from around the world have been attending the 19th International AIDS Conference here in Washington. They look like any other group of conventioneers, laden with satchels and garlanded with name tags. But some of these men and women would be dead if not for Bush's foresight and compassion.

28 Jul 2012

TB combination drug: an interview with Mel Spigelman, MD, CEO and President of TB Alliance

TB is a leading global killer. It is the second leading infectious disease in the world, behind HIV. TB is spread through the air, so it can affect anyone, but has its worst impact on impoverished communities and those people with HIV.

27 Jul 2012

A key question at this week's AIDS Conference: Who will pay the worldwide costs of treatment?

A roundup of news from the International AIDS Conference taking place this week in Washington.

27 Jul 2012

WHO announces efforts to fight 'hidden epidemic' of hepatitis

Ahead of World Hepatitis Day on July 28, the WHO "announced on Wednesday measures to fight the 'hidden epidemic' ... which kills more than one million people a year," Agence France-Presse reports. The virus "affects 500 million people worldwide but can go unnoticed for years and even decades," the news service reports.

27 Jul 2012

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Pfizer, Visterra collaborate to discover novel antibodies

CSL Biotherapies receives U.S. Government contract to supply pandemic vaccine antigens

HIV viruses with two genetic 'footprints' associated with greater vaccine efficacy

New oral antiseptic spray effective in killing 99.9% of infectious airborne germs

Boosting immune system can help reduce asthma attacks due to viral infections

Less than half of U.S. schools address pandemic preparedness in their school plan

Climate change associated with increased risk of avian flu transmission in wild birds

Flu virus can be passed on before appearance of symptoms

Aeras, IDRI announce start of first ID93 + GLA-SE Phase I trial for tuberculosis

BioDiem and French partner VIVALIS a step forward in developing vaccines for diseases and related cancers

Medicago, IDRI receive FDA approval to commence Phase 1 H5N1 vaccine trial

Article describes novel technique to study interactions between HIV-1 and P. falciparum

BioDiem granted European patent for antimicrobial drug

Creating new non-influenza vaccines: an interview with Julie Phillips, CEO of BioDiem

Blog posts examine issues discussed at AIDS 2012

XIX International AIDS Conference concludes in Washington, D.C.

Viewpoints: 'The best thing George W. Bush did as president;' Finding less harmful health cuts; Navigating the future of Medicaid

TB combination drug: an interview with Mel Spigelman, MD, CEO and President of TB Alliance

A key question at this week's AIDS Conference: Who will pay the worldwide costs of treatment?

WHO announces efforts to fight 'hidden epidemic' of hepatitis

Best practices - optimize qPCR processes for pathogen detection eBook

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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