Bird Flu News and Research

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Meeting participants discuss HHS framework for funding H5N1 avian influenza research

CIDRAP News reports on a two-day meeting at the National Institutes of Health during which "researchers, biosecurity experts, and others" discussed the "crafting of a framework for funding H5N1 avian influenza gain-of-function studies." The meeting "is the latest chapter in an intense scientific controversy that was triggered by the publication of two recent studies involving lab-engineered H5N1 strains that showed signs of being transmissible in mammals," according to the news service.

19 Dec 2012

U.S. government's draft guidance on funding for H5N1 research receives 'mixed reception,' Science reports

"Researchers are giving a mixed reception to a draft U.S. government plan to do more stringent funding reviews of certain kinds of H5N1 avian influenza research -- and perhaps even require some studies to be kept secret," Science reports.

8 Dec 2012

Parainfluenza virus 5 may serve as foundation for next breakthrough in human vaccine development

Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered that a virus commonly found in dogs may serve as the foundation for the next great breakthrough in human vaccine development.

28 Nov 2012

mRNA vaccines offer protection against influenza A virus infections in various animal models

CureVac GmbH, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of therapies and vaccines based on mRNA, and the German Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute (FLI), Germany, today announced that mRNA vaccines (RNActive) based on the company's RNA technology platform have the potential to provide effective protection against infectious diseases.

26 Nov 2012

Myths about the influenza vaccine

With cold and flu season upon us, many companies have geared up for what is predicted to be a busy flu season producing 150 million doses of the influenza vaccine, up 17 million from last year.

9 Oct 2012

NanoViricides’ oral FluCide dramatically improves survival in animals with H3N2 influenza A

NanoViricides, Inc. reported today that its oral FluCide drug candidates demonstrated dramatically improved survival in animals administered a lethal dose of the H3N2 influenza A virus.

24 Sep 2012

Strong antiviral antibody response observed in oral administration of Flucide

NanoViricides, Inc. announced today that anti-influenza drug candidates under its FluCide program, when given orally, led to strong antiviral antibody response. The antibody response with Oral administration was stronger than that with IV administration and was substantially greater than that observed with oseltamivir.

5 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

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

Oral FluCide drug candidates effective in reducing lung viral load: NanoViricides

NanoViricides, Inc. announced today that anti-influenza drug candidates under its FluCide program, when given orally, were nearly as effective as when administered as IV injections in terms of reduction in lung viral load.

27 Aug 2012

Orally effective FluCide anti-influenza drug candidate

NanoViricides, Inc. announced today that an anti-influenza drug candidate under its FluCide program is effective when given orally. The Company has received information that a FluCide drug candidate designed for oral administration has shown very strong efficacy in corresponding animal studies.

13 Aug 2012

New study maps global zoonotic disease 'hotspots'

"A global study mapping human diseases that come from animals like tuberculosis, AIDS, bird flu or Rift Valley fever has found that just 13 such diseases are responsible for 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2 million deaths a year," Reuters reports.

6 Jul 2012

Study: 13 zoonoses responsible for 2.4B cases of human illness per year

A new global study mapping human-animal diseases like tuberculosis (TB) and Rift Valley fever finds that an "unlucky" 13 zoonoses are responsible for 2.4 billion cases of human illness and 2.2 million deaths per year. The vast majority occur in low- and middle-income countries.

5 Jul 2012

More sophisticated process needed to vet research for possible security threats

Noting that the journal Science last week published the second of two controversial bird flu research papers, in which a team led by Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam created a mutated strain of the virus that spreads easily among ferrets, a Washington Post editorial writes that "this is not the end of the story. Rather, it marks the beginning of an important chapter for both science and security."

29 Jun 2012

Congressman 'dissatisfied' with handling of controversial H5N1 papers calls for cohesive policy for handling 'risky' research

"Dissatisfied with the government's handling of two research papers on mutant forms of avian influenza," Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) on Wednesday "said that the lack of a cohesive policy for handling risky research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal agencies could necessitate new laws, a situation that researchers have been trying to avoid," the Nature News Blog reports.

29 Jun 2012

New York Times examines bird flu studies, history of controversy

The New York Times examines several studies published in the journals Nature and Science looking at how the H5N1 bird flu virus could mutate to become more virulent among humans and outlines the history of controversy surrounding the studies.

27 Jun 2012

Survey of home healthcare practices related to infection control

A healthy boy was infected with antibiotic-resistant bacterium that was traced to his mother's nurse's bag left in the family's car after his mother's home healthcare visit to a patient with the same infection. Although the boy's infection and the patient's infection were never DNA tested, the coincidence was remarkable.

26 Jun 2012

U.S. journal Science publishes controversial H5N1 research

The U.S. journal Science on Thursday published the results of a controversial study in which researchers at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands "identified five mutations apparently necessary to make the [H5N1] bird flu virus spread easily among ferrets, which catch the same flus that humans do," the New York Times reports (McNeil, 6/21).

22 Jun 2012

VaxInnate commences VAX161 Phase I trial in pandemic avian influenza

VaxInnate Corporation today announced that enrollment has commenced in a Phase I clinical trial to evaluate VAX161, its novel H5 vaccine candidate in development for the prevention of pandemic avian influenza or bird flu. VaxInnate is a biotechnology firm pioneering breakthrough technology for developing novel vaccines.

13 Jun 2012

Single test developed that detects all known strains of H5N1

The close collaboration between scientists from the Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC) under the Agency for Science and Technology Research (A*STAR) and clinicians from Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) has enabled the successful development of the most comprehensive and rapid H5N1 bird flu test kit available to date.

29 May 2012