| Author |
 Topic Search  Topic Options
|
crystal 
Valued Member
Joined: February 16 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 156
|
 Post Options
 Thanks(0)
 Quote  Reply
 Topic: trial results of vaccine
Posted: September 07 2006 at 11:50am |
|
11:48AM Sinovac Biotech announces its clinical trial results of a pandemic influenza vaccine are published by The Lancet (SVA) 2.84 +0.24 : Co announces that its paper of clinical trial results, named 'Safety and immunogenicity of an inactivated adjuvanted whole-virion influenza A (H5N1) vaccine: a phase I randomized controlled trail", was published as an online article for The Lancet today. Press from The Lancet said, "In a previous trial published by The Lancet, scientists found that 30 micrograms of a vaccine containing part of the H5N1 virus given in two doses with an adjuvant, an additive that can increase effectiveness, produced a good immune response in humans. In the latest trial, Chinese researchers tested the effectiveness of a vaccine that contains a modified version of the whole H5N1 virus plus adjuvant." The trial shows that a two-dose regimen of an adjuvanted 10 (u)g inactivated whole-virion H5N1 vaccine met all European regulatory requirements for annual licensing of seasonal influenza vaccine. Lower doses of this vaccine could achieve immune responses equivalent to those elicited by adjuvanted or non-adjuvanted split-virion vaccines. The use of a whole virion vaccine could be more adaptable to the antigen-sparing strategy recommended by WHO for protection against an influenza pandemic.
|
|
peace
|
 |
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 08 2006 at 5:36am |
Multiple volunteers for bird flu vaccine test on children
Despite concerns about safety and professional ethics, several parents in Hungary have volunteered their children for tests of the country's anti-avian flu vaccine."There are multiple volunteers," national medical chief László Bujdosó said on television this morning.
He stressed that parents whose children will be given the vaccine receive no payment, and the procedure is not an "experiment" but an "examination." The aim of the test is finding out what the immune reaction of children will be to a certain dose, he added.
A list of children who will be given the vaccine against bird flu to determine the relevant dose for youngsters is currently being drawn up, klubradio.hu writes.
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 08 2006 at 5:44am |
Testing supports bird flu vaccineNigel Hawkes
September 08, 2006
A CHINESE vaccine against H5N1 bird flu has raised hopes of swift protection if the virus mutates into a pandemic form.
Trials of the vaccine in 120 volunteers showed it produced a good immune response at low doses. In an emergency, enough could be produced for 675 million people.
The Chinese vaccine consists of the H5N1 avian flu virus inactivated so it cannot cause disease, combined with an additive, or adjuvant, that enhances the immune response.
A group of 120 volunteers aged between 18 and 60 were given either a placebo or the vaccine at doses of 1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10 micrograms, with aluminium hydroxide as the adjuvant.
After 56 days, the researchers report on The Lancet medical journal's website, all of the vaccine doses produced antibodies against the virus, with the best response in the 10-microgram group. This dosage stimulated 78 per cent protective antibodies, exceeding the European Union minimum requirement of 70 per cent, and it was well tolerated, with relatively few side-effects.
The manufacturer is Sinovac Biotech, a Beijing-based pharmaceutical company, which developed the vaccine with China's Ministry of Science and Technology and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Times
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 11 2006 at 3:22am |
 |
Experimental Vaccine May Fight Off H5N1 Flu Strains | |
An experimental vaccine developed using reverse genetics appears to have cross-protective properties and may protect against several strains of H5N1 influenza, according to a study from researchers in Tennessee. The experimental vaccine induced a protective antibody response against the H5N1 strain in ferrets at both one and two doses. In addition, positive results were found against two other strains, including the A/Vietnam/1203/04 strain. These results indicate that H5N1 vaccines may “hold potential for being stockpiled as ‘initial’ pandemic vaccines.” The study was published in the July 15, 2006 Journal of Infectious Diseases.
|
|
|
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 18 2006 at 6:17am |
Promising Preclinical Results With Live Attenuated Avian Flu Vaccines
Several approaches are in progress to develop vaccines against the avian flu variety of the influenza virus. Kanta Subbarao (National Institutes of Health) and colleagues are working on live attenuated vaccines, which have the potential to elicit a strong, broad, and lasting immune response. As they now report in the international open-access medical journal PLoS Medicine, results from mice and ferrets (the rodent flu model of choice) are very encouraging and pave the way to testing these vaccines in human volunteers. The researchers developed vaccines using 3 artificially constructed, weakened forms of the influenza virus. The 3 vaccine viruses were constructed using flu virus proteins other than H and N from artificially weakened (attenuated) strains of influenza. These were combined with H and N proteins from H5N1 viruses isolated from human cases during three different years: 2004, 2003, and 1997. They grew larger quantities of the resulting viruses in hen eggs, and tested the vaccines in chickens, ferrets, and mice.
In tests of safety, the study found that, unlike the natural viruses from which they were derived, the vaccine strains did not cause death when injected into the bloodstream of chickens, and did not even cause persistent infection when given through the birds' breathing passages. Similarly, while the natural viruses were lethal in mice at various doses, the vaccine strains did not cause death even at the highest dose. In ferrets, infection with the vaccine strains was limited to the upper respiratory tract, while the natural viruses spread eadily to the lungs.
In tests of protection, all mice that had received any of the 3 vaccines survived following injection with any of the natural viruses (so-called viral challenge), while unvaccinated mice died following viral challenge. This occurred even though standard blood tests could not detect a strong immune responses following a single dose of vaccine. Challenge virus was detected in the lungs of the immunized mice, but at lower levels than in the unvaccinated mice. Mice given two doses of a vaccine showed stronger immunity on blood tests, as well as almost complete protection from respiratory infection following challenge. In addition, mice and ferrets that had received two doses of vaccine were protected against challenge with H5N1 strains from more recent outbreaks in Asia that differed substantially from the strains that were used for the vaccine.
This study shows that live attenuated vaccine based on a single H5N1 virus strain can provide protection (in mice and ferrets, at least) against different H5N1 viruses that emerge years later. One of the vaccines is now being tested in human volunteers who participate in carefully conducted clinical trials.
Citation: Suguitan AL Jr., McAuliffe J, Mills KL, Jin H, Duke G, et al. (2006) Live, attenuated influenza A H5N1 candidate vaccines provide broad cross-protection in mice and ferrets. PLoS Med 3(9): e360. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030360)
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 18 2006 at 3:52pm |
Flu Pandemic Could Be Handled By Existing Vaccine FacilitiesMain Category: Article Date: 18 Sep 2006 - 14:00pm (PDT)
|The most cost effective and quickest way to respond to a flu pandemic within the next five years is to use existing facilities to make vaccines from cell cultures, new research suggests.
In a study led by University of Michigan professor of chemical and biomedical engineering Henry Wang and doctoral student Lyle Lash, researchers examined the economics of producing egg versus cell culture vaccines in the event of a flu pandemic. They found that training personnel to make cell culture vaccines in existing facilities is the only way to make enough doses to cover the United States in a short time without requiring huge capital investments to build new dedicated flu vaccine cell culture facilities. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=51953
|
|
koolsteve
V.I.P. Member
Joined: January 25 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 138
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 18 2006 at 11:48pm |
I cann't wait to hear more about this. ( its a vaciine, so yea :D )
|
|
ninjas rule
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 19 2006 at 5:07am |
Sanofi Pasteur Broadens Pandemic Preparedness With First Clinical Trial Of Novel PER.C6(R)-based H7N1 Vaccine [press release]
Market Wire via Yahoo! Finance - 0 KB- Found 18 minutes ago
Lyon, France; Leiden, the Netherlands, September 19, 2006 - Sanofi pasteur, the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, has within the framework of FLUPAN, a collaborative research project funded by the European Commission, generated the first clinical trial lot of a new generation of H7N1 pandemic vaccine. This trial will broaden sanofi pasteur's pandemic preparedness program initiated http://www.google.com.au
 Novel PER.C6<R>-based H7N1 Vaccine ????????
|
|
emmajones
Adviser Group
LOCATION: PENNSYLVANIA
Joined: July 19 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 259
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 19 2006 at 5:37am |
|
This the first I've heard of the H7 strain. Why are they focusing on it instead of H5? Do they know something that we don't?
|
|
b4giving
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 19 2006 at 5:33pm |
 emmajones wrote:
This the first I've heard of the H7 strain. Why are they focusing on it instead of H5? Do they know something that we don't? |
Hi the post bellow links to a press release for H7 vaccine . Heres another slide on it .
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 19 2006 at 5:50pm |
|
I don't think means that this vaccine would necessarily work for whatever mutation of H5N1 causes a pandemic.
I think this means the vaccine produces an immune response at lower
amounts of vaccine - with some kind of additive - than the large
amounts of vaccine we thought they might need. Several months ago
I remember reading about 180 (u)g - obviously 10 (u)g would vaccinate
many more people.
But I don't think means that this particular vaccine would necessarily work for whatever mutation of H5N1 causes a pandemic.
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 19 2006 at 5:59pm |
H7N1 is a subtype of the species Influenza A virus (sometimes called bird flu virus).
A highly pathogenic strain of it caused a flu outbreak with significant spread to numerous farms, resulting in great economic losses in 1999 in Italy in turkeys. [1]
Sources
- ^ WHO
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 19 2006 at 6:14pm |
The Disease In Birds: Impact And Control Measures
Avian influenza is an infectious disease of birds caused by type A strains of the influenza virus. The disease, which was first identified in Italy more than 100 years ago, occurs worldwide.
All birds are thought to be susceptible to infection with avian influenza, though some species are more resistant to infection than others. Infection causes a wide spectrum of symptoms in birds, ranging from mild illness to a highly contagious and rapidly fatal disease resulting in severe epidemics. The latter is known as “highly pathogenic avian influenza”. This form is characterized by sudden onset, severe illness, and rapid death, with a mortality that can approach 100%.
Fifteen subtypes of influenza virus are known to infect birds, thus providing an extensive reservoir of influenza viruses potentially circulating in bird populations. To date, all outbreaks of the highly pathogenic form have been caused by influenza A viruses of subtypes H5 and H7 ..http://www.bioscreening.net/glossary/bird-flu/bird-flu-virus
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 19 2006 at 8:03pm |
Novavax Initiates Pre-Clinical Testing of Intranasal Influenza Vaccine
New Delivery Route May Provide Alternative to Administration by Injection
MALVERN, Penn., September 19, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Novavax, Inc. said today that it has begun pre-clinical testing of intranasal versions of its influenza vaccines in development, providing a potential alternative to administering these vaccines by injection.
"This is an important advancement for our existing technology because it will allow us to reach an even broader population," said Dr. Rick Bright, Novavax's Vice President of Vaccine Development. "There are many parts of the world that do not have accessibility to enough sterile needles to respond to an influenza crisis."
Historically influenza vaccines have been administered though intramuscular injection. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been proactively seeking alternative delivery methods. "The problem with needles is that conditions must be highly sterile in order to prevent contamination during the mass vaccination that would take place in the event of an emergency," Dr. Bright said.
Novavax is investigating the intranasal delivery route using both the company's seasonal and pandemic virus-like particle (VLP) vaccines in pre-clinical models. "Our early data indicate that we can trigger a protective immune response with the intranasal vaccine that is as robust as our intramuscular formulation," Dr. Bright said. "We are eager to further explore this route of delivery in additional pre-clinical work as well as human studies."
Using the company's proprietary VLP technology, Novavax scientists create a particle that is nearly identical to a virus but does not have the virus's genetic material required for replication or infection. When inoculated into the body, these particles have the ability to attach to cells and trigger a natural immune response that is capable of protecting against viral infection.
Novavax scientists are using the Clade 2 H5N1 influenza virus -- for both the intranasal and intramuscular versions of its pandemic influenza vaccine. The Clade 2 variant, identified in birds from China and Indonesia before spreading to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is primarily responsible for human infections and mortality over the last year. The WHO recently changed its H5N1 avian influenza guidance to indicate that pandemic vaccine candidates should target viruses from the Clade 2 family rather than the earlier Clade 1 family.
"By creating our vaccines against the Clade 2 strain of pandemic influenza, we are targeting protection against the most current form of this deadly H5N1 virus," Dr. Bright said. http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/templates/birdflu/window.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.engelpub.com%2FNews%2FIndex.cfm%3Farticleid%3D373793
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 20 2006 at 12:32am |
Sanofi Pasteur Broadens Pandemic Preparedness With First Clinical Trial Of Novel Cell-Based H7N1 VaccineMain Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu NewsArticle Date: 20 Sep 2006 - 0:00am (PDT)
Sanofi pasteur, the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, has within the framework of FLUPAN, a collaborative research project funded by the European Commission, generated the first clinical trial lot of a new generation of H7N1 pandemic vaccine. This trial will broaden sanofi pasteur's pandemic preparedness program initiated with the development of H5N1 vaccines.
The H7N1 vaccine was produced at sanofi pasteur's Marcy l'Etoile facility in France using the PER.C6(R) cell-based technology from its partner CRUCELL N.V., allowing an alternative production process expected to offer advantages over traditional manufacturing methods.
This phase I clinical trial, initiated today in Bergen, Norway, is the first to assess the safety and ability to generate an immune response of a split, inactivated prototype pandemic H7N1 vaccine produced on cells.
"The H7N1 vaccine strain was developed from an avian influenza virus (bird flu) by the UK's National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) and the University of Reading, UK. A highly pathogenic H7N1 avian influenza virus which caused outbreaks in Italian poultry in 1999 has been modified, so that it is safe to use and grows well in mammalian cell culture," commented Dr. John Wood, FLUPAN Coordinator.
Two influenza subtypes, H5 and H7, have recently caused highly pathogenic avian influenza. While most vaccine development has focused on H5N1 strains, avian H7 containing viruses remain a significant pandemic threat and have caused infections in humans in Europe over the last three years.
"The FLUPAN coordinated study started today at the Haukeland University Hospital, University of Bergen (Norway). A total of 60 healthy adults aged 20 to 40 will be vaccinated with one of four formulations: two dosages (12 micrograms and 24 micrograms) with or without an aluminum hydroxide adjuvant, an additive commonly used to increase the immune response to vaccines," said Dr. Lars R. Haaheim, Principal Investigator, University of Bergen.
Sanofi pasteur selected PER.C6(R) cells for their high susceptibility to influenza viruses, thereby making the production of large amounts of influenza vaccine feasible for both pandemic and seasonal strains.
Pandemic Influenza Overview
Influenza is a highly infectious virus that spreads easily from person to person, primarily when an infected individual coughs or sneezes. An influenza pandemic is a global epidemic of an especially virulent virus, newly infectious for humans, with the potential to cause severe morbidity and mortality. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the next pandemic is likely to result in 1 to 2.3 million hospitalizations and 280,000 to 650,000 deaths in industrialized nations alone. Its impact is expected to be even more devastating in developing countries. In an attempt to minimize the impact of a pandemic, many countries are developing national and transnational plans against an eventual influenza pandemic situation.
Several strains of influenza virus are potentially pandemic. An H7N7 strain was responsible for a large outbreak of fowl plague in the Netherlands in 2003, which spread to 89 humans. While symptoms were mostly mild, one case died from pneumonia in combination with acute respiratory distress syndrome as a result of the infection. The virus was also seen to be transmitted to family contacts.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=52292&nfid=rssfeeds
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 20 2006 at 7:32pm |
What Aussie researchers have to say , good to live in the city maybe , maybe not so good for the rural folk
Give city residents bird flu jabs first, say researchers ...
September 12, 2006 - 3:04PM. City residents should be the first to ... Applying this methodology to Australia, concentrating the distribution of bird flu ...
www.smh.com.au/.../give-city-residents-bird-flu-jabs-first-say-researchers/2006/09/12/1157826926852.html - Similar pages | http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/give-city-residents-bird-flu-jabs-first-say-researchers/2006/09/12/1157826926852.html
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 20 2006 at 8:43pm |
From memory lane , just gives a warm fuzzy feeling knowing their butts are covered . Seems most countries are covering their butts . It's not a confidence builder to line up my family for a vaccine ............
CSL bird flu vaccine may be granted indemnity
Ruth Beran, Australian Biotechnology News
21/02/2006 11:32:19
The federal government is considering whether to protect vaccine company CSL (ASX:CSL) against lawsuits by patients who suffer adverse reactions from its bird flu vaccine if production is fast-tracked in the event of pandemic.
In a move that will bring Australia in line with the US, CSL would be given legal indemnity if the drug is rushed to market before clinical trials are completed.
In December, US health and human services secretary Mike Leavitt was given the power by Congress to grant vaccine makers immunity from liability over pandemic flu vaccines. The measure is part of the defence budget and aims to encourage vaccine makers back to the American market.
"Unless governments worldwide are prepared to provide these indemnities these vaccines will never get made," said Melbourne University's Prof Ian Gust, who is the director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Influenza in Melbourne.
"Where governments mandate manufacturers to produce vaccines in an emergency situation and they don't have years to conduct the huge clinical trials required to license the vaccine, then the immunisation program involves a calculated risk," said Gust, who is also a member of the National Influenza Pandemic Planning Committee.
"No commercial manufacturer would be prepared to make vaccines under these circumstances unless they are indemnified against something that might go wrong, other than through their own negligence, because they could potentially be bankrupted by it," he said.
CSL's director of public affairs said that CSL "is completely confident in
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 21 2006 at 1:50am |
KPCB joins fight against flu pandemic
By Andrew Jack in New York Thu Sep 21, 12:15 AM ET
A Silicon Valley venture capital fund on Wednesday pledged to back three new ventures to combat global infectious disease in a $200m investment
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers said it would take stakes in companies working on vaccines, anti-viral drugs, diagnostics and detection, and help ensure the products were made affordable in the developing world.
KPCB disclosed the plans on Wednesday during the Clinton Global Initiative in New York.
Investments went to vaccine maker Biocryst Pharmaceuticals, which is developing a new anti-viral drug in oral and intravenous form to treat the flu, Novavax, makers of a vaccine against some forms of bird flu, along with an unnamed rapid diagnostic technology company.
John Doerr, a partner in the venture capital fund, said both the anti-virals and diagnostics could be ready by the end of next year.
Mr Doerr said KPCB will also invest in "green" technology, seeking to extend the logic of making early-stage investments in huge potential markets like computers, biotechnology, and the internet to the solving of global environmental problems.http://news.yahoo.com/s/ft/20060921/bs_ft/fto092120060033388035
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 21 2006 at 2:38pm |
|
WE need to prep on, but this is the kind of thing that gives us hope. Thanks for all the posts.
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 28 2006 at 7:03am |
| Press Release |
Source: GlaxoSmithKline |
GSK Grants License for Manufacture of Influenza Treatment Zanamivir
Thursday September 28, 9:00 am ET
Agreement Intended to Increase Availability of Supply in Asia and Least Developed Countries
LONDON, and PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK - News) today announced it has signed a licensing agreement with Simcere Pharmaceutical Group of Nanjing, China, granting Simcere the right to manufacture and sell the anti-viral influenza treatment zanamivir in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and all Least Developed Countries (LDCs)(1). Zanamivir is the active ingredient in GSK's Relenza® (zanamivir for inhalation), which was developed by GSK under license from Biota Holdings, Limited.
"GSK is doing everything we can to prepare for a global influenza pandemic, including expanding production of Relenza and developing a pandemic vaccine," said David Stout, President, Pharmaceutical Operations. "This agreement with Simcere is intended to expand available supplies of zanamivir in areas of the world that may be on the front line of a possible influenza pandemic/ Relenza and all least developed countries . How to they administer Relenza < zanamivir for inhalation > ? http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060928/phth007.html?.v=71
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: September 28 2006 at 7:35am |
PDF] RELENZA
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
RELENZA is for administration to the respiratory tract by oral inhalation only. ... Under standardized in vitro testing, RELENZA ROTADISK delivers 4 mg of ...
us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_relenza.pdf - Similar pages | Great read about relenza , what they advise re age groups , side effects and more side effects , what it can't help , over 65's , asthma , how it's admistered , advice from what child age hasn't been tested . Test 's showed children had not been able to use correctly to gain enough in their body.to show high enough levels from the rotadisk . for the least developed countries . http://us.gsk.com/products/assets/us_relenza.pdf
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: October 01 2006 at 6:28am |
| Tamiflu significantly reduces flu death risk: study |
|
< langage=""> printResizeButton();
|
The drug Tamiflu is effective in reducing the risk of death associated with seasonal flu in severely ill patients, according to a new study released on Saturday.
Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir phosphate, has been widely acknowledged as a specific antiviral drug against flu viruses. Latest studies have proven its effectiveness in treating people infected with the H5N1 highly pathogenic avian flu.
According to a research team from the Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada, the drug could reduce the mortality by 71 percent while treating adults infected with seasonal flu. The researchers reported their findings at the InterScience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco.
"This new analysis contributes to the accumulating evidence that oseltamivir also has a significant impact in preventing serious complications including death in older at-risk individuals, " said Allison McGeer, lead investigator of the study.
The study was conducted during two consecutive influenza seasons on 512 patients who were admitted to hospital for illness associated with a positive test for flu. More than half of patients, mainly those with underlying illness, had been previously vaccinated.
Eighty four percent of the patients were treated with antibacterial agents, while 32 percent with oseltamivir at time of admission, the researchers reported. Of those patients, 67 percent were diagnosed with influenza, 13 percent with respiratory infection and 62 percent with fever.
Of all adult patients, 6.4 percent died and these deaths were attributed to influenza, and treatment with oseltamivir was linked with more than a two third reduction in death from influenza, the researchers said.
They concluded that despite prior vaccination, influenza remains a major cause of mortality in patients with underlying illness.
In addition, they suggested that hospitalization may be better avoided by antiviral rather than anti-bacterial therapy in patients with influenza-like illness.
Source: Xinhuahttp://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/templates/birdflu/window.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish.people.com.cn%2F200610%2F01%2Feng20061001_307986.html |
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: October 09 2006 at 8:22pm |
Study finds signs virus resistant to oseltamivir
APIRADEE TREERUTKUARKUL
The bird flu virus has already developed signs of resistance to oseltamivir, the drug widely used to treat the disease's symptoms in humans, a research study has found.
Yong Poovorawan, who headed a group of researchers, said his team learned of the resistance which was reflected in the change of the position of amino acids in the virus samples. It was the first scientific study that could pinpoint such changes _ a result of the genetic shift of avian flu _ and its resistance to oseltamivir. The study would soon be published in the Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal and Journal of Virological Methods.
"This study will enable medical science and health personnel to precisely diagnose bird flu-like symptoms among patients for immediate, appropriate treatment," he said.
Avian flu resistance to oseltamivir had been confirmed in four bird flu patients in Vietnam, three of whom died last year. The Vietnam cases showed the possibility that oseltamivir might be less effective than anticipated, particularly as resistant strains of bird flu become more prevalent.
A previous study in Japan also found a genetic shift in the H3N2 flu strain in 18% of patients who took oseltamivir, he said.
Dr Yong, a virologist at Chulalongkorn University's faculty of medicine, earlier warned the Public Health Ministry and the hospitals run by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to exercise caution when prescribing oseltamivir in patients with influenza and bird flu-like symptoms, saying continuous and frequent use of the medicine without precise diagnoses was likely to trigger viral resistance.
During bird flu outbreaks, health personnel treated people with flu and bird flu-like symptoms with oseltamivir, even if they had not been in contact with poultry.
Disease Control Department director-general Thawat Sundarachan agreed that the anti-viral drug made it harder for doctors and epidemiologists to identify the virus due to the absence of related bird flu symptoms, citing the latest death case in Nong Bua Lam Phu province. Several laboratory tests had to be conducted before the death was confirmed as the country's 17th bird flu fatality.
But Dr Thawat insisted only patients with records of touching or eating chickens that had died mysteriously would be treated with oseltamivir. He believed that the medicine was still the best defence against the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu and other types of human flu.
The closely-related zanamivir drug was also effective, but since the drug had to be inhaled, it was almost impossible for patients with severe lung damage to use it, he said.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/10Oct2006_news08.php
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: October 12 2006 at 4:18am |
INTERVIEW-China to start 2nd trial for bird flu vaccine soon
AlertNet - 0 KB- Found: 2 hours ago
Source: Reuters By Tan Ee Lyn BEIJING, Oct 12 (Reuters) - A Chinese company that is developing a H5N1 bird flu vaccine for humans plans to kick off a second clinical trial before the end of the year and will have ...
|
|
Guests
Guest Group
|
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Quote Reply
Posted: October 15 2006 at 4:50pm |
How To Protect Against A Pandemic With Viral Make-up Unknown Until It Becomes A Threat?
Medical News Today - 0 KB- Found: 3 hours ago
An initial priming shot given in advance of a booster shot may be an effective way to protect people against bird flu, researchers say in a presentation at the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. [click link for full article]
|
|
