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.

Bird flu virus research and need for censorship

A group of scientists have been working on a genetically modified strain of bird flu. A federal advisory board declared Tuesday that the details of the research are a “grave concern” to public safety and should be kept under wraps.

1 Feb 2012

Peptides linked with internal flu viral structures can help develop universal vaccine

Researchers at the University of Southampton, University of Oxford and Retroscreeen Virology Ltd have discovered a series of peptides, found on the internal structures of influenza viruses that could lead to the development of a universal vaccine for influenza, one that gives people immunity against all strains of the disease, including seasonal, avian, and swine flu.

1 Feb 2012

Hand hygiene, surgical masks can cut spread of flu-like illnesses upto 75%

Masks and hand hygiene could cut the spread of flu-like symptoms up to 75 percent, a University of Michigan study found.

1 Feb 2012

NIAID, Aeras partner for Phase II clinical trial of TB vaccine

Aeras announces today that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), has joined as a partner for a Phase II proof-of-concept clinical trial of a tuberculosis vaccine candidate jointly developed by Aeras and Dutch biopharmaceutical company Crucell.

1 Feb 2012

NSABB explanation of decision to recommend censoring of bird flu research expected soon

The NIH is expected on February 1 to release a statement explaining how the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) reached a decision late last year to recommend "that two scientific papers describing research that created strains of bird flu potentially transmissible in humans should be published only if key details are omitted," for fear "that terrorists or hostile nations could learn how to cause a pandemic," a New York Times editorial by Philip Boffey, Times science editorial writer, states.

30 Jan 2012

South Africa's population would be 4.4M more if not for AIDS, data show

"There would be more than 4.4 million more people in South Africa if it were not for the AIDS pandemic, according to a survey released on Monday" by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), SAPA/News 24 reports.

25 Jan 2012

Address drug resistant pathogens as part of 'next stage of global health'

This post in the Foreign Policy Association blog discusses reports from earlier this month of "an emerging strain of 'totally drug-resistant' tuberculosis (TDR-TB)" in India, which the Indian government last week denied, "arguing that the 12 cases were in fact extensively drug resistant (XDR)."

24 Jan 2012

Settling controversy surrounding bird flu research will not be easy

The WHO is expected to hold a meeting in February to discuss controversy over recent research on the H5N1 bird flu virus, after the U.S. National Scientific Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) in December advised the journals Science and Nature to withhold publishing two teams' research on the virus for fear the information could "fall into the wrong hands," a commentary in the Economist's "Babbage" blog states.

24 Jan 2012

Scientists halt bird flu research for 60 days amid safety concerns

The head of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which funded "two projects that created a highly pathogenic [H5N1] flu virus mutation, has welcomed a two-month moratorium on further research while defending the value and safety of the experiments," the Financial Times reports.

24 Jan 2012

Debate over publication of bird flu studies continues in journal opinion pieces

Ron Fouchier of Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands -- lead researcher of one of two teams that last year reported study results "that showed how the H5N1 [bird flu] virus can be transmitted through airborne droplets between ferrets, a model for studying influenza in humans."

21 Jan 2012

Study examines weather patterns around the time of flu pandemics

Worldwide pandemics of influenza caused widespread death and illness in 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009. A new study examining weather patterns around the time of these pandemics finds that each of them was preceded by La Ni-a conditions in the equatorial Pacific.

17 Jan 2012

Restricting publication of H5N1 research 'more perilous' than threat of biological warfare

In this Reuters opinion piece, New York-based writer Peter Christian Hall responds to "the U.S. government's move to restrict publication of vital research into H5N1 avian flu," writing, "This unprecedented interference in the field of biology could hinder research and hamper responsiveness in distant lands plagued by H5N1," yet "no one seems to be challenging a key assumption -- that H5N1 could make a useful weapon. It wouldn't."

11 Jan 2012

Study examines impact of maternal obesity on inflammatory responses

A number of different immunological mechanisms ensure the successful establishment and maintenance of pregnancy. Imbalance in these mechanisms is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes.

11 Jan 2012

Concerns over using ARV therapy as prevention strategy

PSI's "Healthy Lives" blog reviews a recent Science magazine article written by James Shelton of USAID's Bureau of Global Health in which he raises concerns about the use of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) as a prevention strategy.

10 Jan 2012

Colby's JVRS-100 enhances immunogenicity, cross-protective efficacy of H5N1 influenza vaccine

Colby Pharmaceutical Company (CPC) today announced publication of new results showing that a single dose of JVRS-100 adjuvanted H5N1 influenza vaccine enhanced-immune responses, -dose sparing, and -cross-clade influenza virus protection.

9 Jan 2012

Tetragenetics reports results from G-SOME H5N1 vaccine preclinical study

Tetragenetics Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the development of recombinant vaccines, today reported preclinical study results showing that an investigational nanoparticle-based influenza vaccine protects against a highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza strain.

6 Jan 2012

New center for advanced emergency response to inaugurate on Jan. 6 at RUMC

The doors to the new, state-of-the-art emergency center at 1653 W. Congress Parkway will be the first to "open in the new hospital building at Rush University Medical Center at 6 a.m. CT on Friday, Jan. 6. Rush's current emergency department will close early Friday morning when the department goes on bypass during the move to the new facility.

5 Jan 2012

Bird flu updates

The latest bird flu virus that killed a 39-year-old bus driver in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen over the weekend is not yet transmissible between humans, Chinese health authorities said. The man, who lived in Shenzhen just across the border from Hong Kong, died from multi-organ failure on Saturday, a week after being admitted to hospital with a fever brought on by the virus, state media reported.

3 Jan 2012

Tamiflu resistant flu on the rise: Study

According to World Health Organization researchers there is a rise in Australia in the number of seasonal influenza cases resistant to Tamiflu, the most commonly used antiviral drug. The rise in such cases involving the pandemic 2009 A (H1N1) flu strain, also known as swine flu, took place during Australia's most recent winter: May through August of 2011.

2 Jan 2012

CEL-SCI to expand Multikine Phase III trial in head and neck cancer

CEL-SCI Corporation is in the process of expanding its Phase III clinical trial of the investigational therapy Multikine (Leukocyte Interleukin, Injection) to 4 additional European countries - Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Croatia.

27 Dec 2011