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.

Rising number of livestock diseases threatens public health, food security in developing countries, report says

"A growing number of livestock, such as cows and pigs, are fuelling new animal epidemics worldwide and posing more severe problems in developing countries as it threatens their food security, according to a report [.pdf] released on Friday" during an international conference in New Delhi, India, on Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition & Health, Reuters reports (Lyn, 2/11).

14 Feb 2011

BioCryst reports net loss of $9.1M for fourth quarter 2010 vs. $15.2M net income for fourth quarter 2009

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2010.

10 Feb 2011

Vical 2010 net loss increases to $30.4 million

Vical Incorporated today reported financial results for the year ended December 31, 2010. Vical had cash and investments of approximately $61 million at year-end 2010. The company received approximately $37 million of net proceeds from the sale of equity securities during 2010.

10 Feb 2011

Avian flu vaccine stockpiled in 2004 still useful

A stockpiled vaccine designed to fight a strain of avian flu that circulated in 2004 can be combined with a vaccine that matches the current strain of bird flu to protect against a potential pandemic, researchers from Saint Louis University's Center for Vaccine Development have found.

10 Feb 2011

Global Hygiene Council: Three simple steps to keep your family protected against infections

The Global Hygiene Council, a group of leading health and hygiene experts from around the world, convened in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss how proper hygiene plays a critical role in preventing the spread of illness and improving health around the world.

10 Feb 2011

BD and UCLB enter agreement for development of new diagnostics for ovarian, breast cancer

UCL Business (UCLB), a wholly owned subsidiary of University College London (UCL), and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a leading global medical technology company, announced today an agreement aimed at improving the early detection of ovarian and breast cancers to ultimately enable earlier and more effective treatment.

From BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) 10 Feb 2011

Medicago granted FDA clearance for clinical development of seasonal flu vaccine

Medicago Inc. a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), today announced it has received Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") clearance for its phase I H1N1 influenza VLP vaccine candidate ("H1N1 vaccine") clinical trial in the United States.

9 Feb 2011

Abbott's Ibis, PLEX-ID technologies identify causative organism of plague in Afghanistan

Today, at the American Society for Microbiology Conference on Biodefense and Emerging Diseases, scientists from Abbott Molecular presented data showing the unique power of the company's Ibis technology to identify and further characterize unknown disease-causing pathogens to help aid in the bioforensic analysis of pandemic outbreaks.

8 Feb 2011

BAI releases 2011 State of AIDS in Black America report

The Black AIDS Institute ("BAI"), the only national HIV/AIDS think tank focused exclusively on the Black community in the US, today released its 2011 State of AIDS in Black America report, Deciding Moment. 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic in America and presents unique opportunities to curtail the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but key challenges remain to moving forward in the AIDS response in Black America.

7 Feb 2011

Stockpiling flu drugs, vaccines reduces impact of pandemic, but option out of reach for most countries, study finds

"Stockpiling antiviral flu drugs and vaccines saves lives and reduces disease in a flu pandemic," but the cost to maintain such a stockpile and deploy interventions in the event of an outbreak "is too expensive for around two thirds of the world's population, scientists said on Wednesday," Reuters reports.

3 Feb 2011

Public health experts: Improved community engagement needed to prevent pandemic spread

In the current issue of Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, public health experts assert that improved community engagement is needed to prevent the spread of pandemics.

3 Feb 2011

Limited school closures ineffective, strain hospital ICUs during epidemics

Selective schools closures has been considered as a means of reducing transmission between children and hence reducing the number of cases at the peak of an epidemic but new research led by researchers at the University of Warwick shows that limited school closures are ineffective and that only significant widespread school closures would have real effect on the spread of a epidemic and the strain placed on hospital intensive care units.

3 Feb 2011

Swine flu shots linked to narcolepsy: Investigation continues

The vaccine used against swine flu has been linked to a disorder called narcolepsy among those aged four to 19. Narcolepsy involves people falling asleep without warning or sleeping excessively in the daytime. A preliminary study also “observed [an] increase in incidence of narcolepsy” among those given the vaccine.

2 Feb 2011

Positive interim results from H5N1 Avian Influenza VLP vaccine Phase II human clinical trial

Medicago, a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles, today reported positive interim results from a Phase II human clinical trial with its H5N1 Avian Influenza VLP vaccine candidate.

1 Feb 2011

Positive interim results from Medicago's Phase II clinical trial of H5N1 Avian Influenza VLP vaccine

Medicago Inc. a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), today reported positive interim results from a Phase II human clinical trial with its H5N1 Avian Influenza VLP vaccine candidate ("H5N1 vaccine"). The vaccine was found to be safe, well tolerated and also induced a solid immune response.

1 Feb 2011

HighRes Biosolutions to build High-Throughput Laboratory Network for LANL-UCLA

A compact, self-contained, automated system for surveillance and screening of potential pandemic strains of influenza and other deadly infectious diseases is a step closer to reality, thanks to an agreement between Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of California Los Angeles School of Public Health, and HighRes Biosolutions of Boston, Massachussets.

1 Feb 2011

New study: Swine flu transmission is most intensive between children of same class

Boys predominantly pass on flu to other boys and girls to girls, according to a new study of how swine flu spread in a primary school during the 2009 pandemic, published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The results also suggest that flu transmission is most intensive between children of the same class, but that sitting next to an infected person does not significantly increase a child's risk of catching flu.

1 Feb 2011

BMJ News examines ongoing investigation of WHO's handling of H1N1

BMJ News reports on the ongoing external investigation of the WHO's handling of the 2009 H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic, following recent statements to the WHO's executive board meeting by review committee chairman, Harvey Fineberg.

24 Jan 2011

WHO Director-General expresses concern over public mistrust of vaccines

During the WHO's executive board meeting Monday, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan expressed concerns over what she called a "'worrisome' public mistrust of vaccines, following signs of a tail-off in flu vaccination," Agence France-Presse reports (1/18).

20 Jan 2011

Study finds link between public transport and risk of catching ARI

You are six times more likely to end up at the doctors with an acute respiratory infection if you have recently used a bus or tram — but those who use buses or trams daily might well be somewhat protected compared with more occasional users.

19 Jan 2011

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Rising number of livestock diseases threatens public health, food security in developing countries, report says

BioCryst reports net loss of $9.1M for fourth quarter 2010 vs. $15.2M net income for fourth quarter 2009

Vical 2010 net loss increases to $30.4 million

Avian flu vaccine stockpiled in 2004 still useful

Global Hygiene Council: Three simple steps to keep your family protected against infections

BD and UCLB enter agreement for development of new diagnostics for ovarian, breast cancer

Medicago granted FDA clearance for clinical development of seasonal flu vaccine

Abbott's Ibis, PLEX-ID technologies identify causative organism of plague in Afghanistan

BAI releases 2011 State of AIDS in Black America report

Stockpiling flu drugs, vaccines reduces impact of pandemic, but option out of reach for most countries, study finds

Public health experts: Improved community engagement needed to prevent pandemic spread

Limited school closures ineffective, strain hospital ICUs during epidemics

Swine flu shots linked to narcolepsy: Investigation continues

Positive interim results from H5N1 Avian Influenza VLP vaccine Phase II human clinical trial

Positive interim results from Medicago's Phase II clinical trial of H5N1 Avian Influenza VLP vaccine

HighRes Biosolutions to build High-Throughput Laboratory Network for LANL-UCLA

New study: Swine flu transmission is most intensive between children of same class

BMJ News examines ongoing investigation of WHO's handling of H1N1

WHO Director-General expresses concern over public mistrust of vaccines

Study finds link between public transport and risk of catching ARI

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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