European Union Gives Crucell H5N1 Vaccine Grant

Never heard of the company before this news, but apparently they won the contract from the EU. Here's the story from Forbes.com:

"AMSTERDAM (AFX) - Dutch biotechnology company Crucell NV said it was awarded a European Commission-funded grant for the development of a pandemic flu vaccine.

The 1.7 mln eur grant, which was awarded to a consortium of nine leading universities and companies working in the field of influenza research, will finance pre-clinical and clinical testing of H5N1 vaccines.

'With a vaccine already in clinical trial based on H9N2, Crucell broadens its pandemic influenza vaccine portfolio adding another potential pandemic strain,' commented Crucell's Chief Scientific Officer Jaap Goudsmit.

Three influenza subtypes, H5, H7 and H9 have caused highly pathogenic avian influenza. Although presently most vaccine development has focused on H5N1 strains, avian H7 and H9 influenza subtypes remain a pandemic threat and have caused infection in humans in Asia and Europe since 1996, Crucell noted."

----------------------------------------

The race is certainly on. There should be almost half a dozen "consumer-ready" H5N1 vaccines in about six months or so. There's already reports of some in existence, but until I see something from a medical journal showing they gave the vaccine to a pig then inoculated it with H5N1 and it didn't get sick will I believe any claims of efficacy. So keep me posted, New England Journal of Medicine and The Lancet readers, cause I want to be one of the first to report on a successful human vaccine for H5N1.

Bangladeshis Test Positive for H5N1

I was wrong! These guys caught the bird flu! Hopefully they pull through. Here's more from France 24 Hour News:

"Preliminary tests for bird flu were positive on four Bangladeshi workers who had been culling infected chickens in Kuwait, a medical source said on Wednesday, but they have not been officially confirmed.

This would be the first cases of bird flu affecting humans in Arab nations of the Gulf. "

The first test on the four men was positive," the source told AFP, requesting anonymity. "We have taken blood samples for a second test to reconfirm the initial results. We expect the outcome within hours.

"If the outcome is reconfirmed as positive, we will have to send blood samples to the World Health Organisation (WHO) laboratory in Cairo for a final confirmation," the source said.

Health ministry spokesman Ahmad Al-Shatti told AFP an official statement would be made on Thursday, after tests results were reviewed, as to whether the four were indeed infected.

The ministry said specimens "have been sent to the World Health Organisation (WHO) reference laboratory in Egypt for confirmation.

"These measures are in line with recommendations by WHO for guidelines for the diagnosis and announcement of bird flu cases in humans," he said. The four workers were admitted to Kuwait's infectious diseases hospital with flu-like symptoms on Tuesday. The men have been isolated in a special ward and were still at the hospital on Wednesday."

-------------------------------------------------

It could still be a false-positive. If they are infected however, this will be an interesting show of the disease's virulence. We have a nice round number of patients (4), who are being treated early in, what the picture shows at least, a modern medical institution -- surely a "best-case scenario" when it comes to an H5N1 infection. The outcome of their cases will clearly illustrate how combative this disease is towards modern medicine.

Don't get me wrong, though, I'm certainly rooting for the humans.

Four Bangladeshis Hospitalized With Possible Bird Flu

Been a little lax lately, so here's some breaking news with a little more info about the H5N1 situation in Kuwait. This story comes from the Kuwait Times:

"KUWAIT: Four Bangladeshi workers who had been culling chickens infected with bird flu were admitted to hospital in Kuwait with flu-like symptoms yesterday, the health ministry said. "The four men are members of the teams combating the disease and have been involved in culling chickens. They were admitted to hospital over suspicions they might be infected," ministry spokesman Ahmad Al-Shatti told AFP. Shatti said it was not the first time that anyone had been admitted to hospital to be kept under observation for the disease.

A total of 22 people have so far been admitted to the infectious diseases hospital for monitoring before being discharged after testing negative. The spokesman said there was greater concern for the four new admissions, however, as they had been handling infected fowl. A total of 106 cases of the strain have so far been confirmed in birds.

Earlier yesterday, the health ministry said that bird flu hit a new commercial poultry farm leading to the culling of at least 200,000 more egg-laying chickens. Authorities said on Saturday that they have culled 1.5 million fowls, including 1.1 million egg-laying chickens in three commercial poultry farms in Wafra, south of Kuwait City on the Saudi border. The new culling raises the number of layer chickens culled to 1.3 million, which represents about 75 per cent of the state's total. Kuwait also has 32 million broiler chickens, for eating, but no bird flu case has been found among them.

Since the outbreak was first reported on February 25, Kuwait has slapped a total ban on the import and export of birds and closed down bird markets, as well as hundreds of shops that sell live chickens and the state's only zoo. In November 2005, Kuwait announced the first case of a bird infected with the deadly H5N1 strain - a flamingo at a seaside villa. The H5N1 strain, the most aggressive form, has killed more than 170 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and seen millions of birds destroyed. H5N1 is an avian influenza subtype with pandemic potential, since it might ultimately adapt into a strain that is contagious among humans."

--------------------------------------------------

Kuwait's actions are smart and quick... I have a feeling these four will be cleared as negative for H5N1. Good thing they still have quite a few million edible chickens. It seems like if you want a sure bet for an investment, the US Poultry Industry can't be beat. Europe is running out of countries to import chickens from...

Indonesia Ready to Listen to Reason

And by that, of course, I mean that they will resume sending samples of their H5N1 to the World Health Organization. Here's the WHO itself with the report:


"JAKARTA -- WHO welcomes the news from the Minister of Health of Indonesia, who announced at a joint news conference today that the country would resume sharing of H5N1 avian influenza virus samples “immediately”. This commitment by the Government of Indonesia follows a two-day meeting organized by WHO in Jakarta on 26-27 March 2007.

Indonesia’s Minister of Health, Siti Fadilah Supari, has focused global attention on the fact that developing countries have supplied H5N1 virus to WHO Collaborating Centres for analysis and preparation for vaccine production, but that the resulting vaccines produced by commercial companies are likely to be unavailable to developing countries such as Indonesia. She called this system “unfair.”

At the same time, withholding viruses from WHO Collaborating Centres poses a threat to global public health security and the ongoing risk assessment for influenza, conducted by WHO Collaborating Centres.

WHO Collaborating Centres perform a number of key influenza-related public health activities, including:

• determining if the virus has acquired human genes or made other significant changes;
• identification of potential vaccine strains;
• testing to determine if the virus remains vulnerable to the recommended class of antivirals;
• tracking the evolution of the virus and its geographic spread; and
• updating diagnostics tests which may be necessary because the H5N1 virus, like all influenza viruses, constantly mutates.

WHO has welcomed the attention that the Minister has focused on this issue and her concern for developing country needs. In order to address these concerns and to maintain sample sharing for risk assessment, WHO organized the Jakarta 26-27 March meeting entitled “High Level Technical Meeting on Responsible Practices for Sharing Avian Influenza Viruses and Resulting Benefits”.

Experts at the meeting included representatives from approximately 20 countries which have had H5N1 animal or human outbreaks; senior scientists, including directors of WHO Collaborating Centres; and potential funders, including representatives from the Asian Development Bank and the Gates Foundation.

"We have struck a balance between the need to continue the sharing of influenza viruses for risk assessment and for vaccine development, and the need to help ensure that developing countries benefit from sharing without compromising global public health security,” said Dr David Heymann, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Communicable Diseases."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Good news, until they crack the strain's DNA open and see just how nasty it is, of course. I have a strong belief that Jakartan Bird Flu is probably the worst strain in the world, Fujian-type included.

We shall see, now that the "Poultry Curtain" has fallen.

Thai Bird Flu Resistant to Drugs

From IOL:

"Hong Kong - Scientists have found that a strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus circulating in Thailand is resistant to the flu drug amantadine, and they called for rigorous study of H5N1 strains to better treat human victims.

While the World Health Organisation has long recommended that Tamiflu be used as the first line of defence against H5N1, it said last May that a "dual therapy" combining amantadine and Tamiflu may be considered in case of an outbreak.

Yong Poovorawan, a medical professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said an H5N1 strain in the central part of Thailand had become resistant to amantadine, casting more doubt over its use to fight the disease.

"It would be very dangerous if we don't know the sensitivity or resistance of the strain to amantadine and we use amantadine (to treat people infected with this strain of H5N1)," Yong said.

He urged more rigorous surveillance and study.

Yong and his researchers came to the latest conclusion after studying the molecular structure of the strain, which has been circulating in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam since 2004.

"We need to conduct in vitro experiments," he said, referring to experiments in a laboratory or other controlled settings.

However, he could not say how effective a dual Tamiflu-amantadine therapy may be as Thailand has not tried administering such a treatment.

Their findings were published in the March issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

There are two H5N1 strains circulating in Thailand, one in the northeast and the other in the central part of the country.

Yong identified the strain in the northeast province of Nakhon Phanom as the Fujian-like strain, which an international group of virologists said in October may start another wave of H5N1 outbreaks in poultry in Southeast Asia and Eurasia.

The Fujian-like strain was first isolated in China's southern Fujian province in 2005."

--------------------------------------

But the Chinese government says that the Fujian-type strain doesn't exist! How could independent Thai scientists isolate it and study it? And here I was thinking China was a completely honest and open partner in the fight against H5N1...

Too bad the WHO doesn't have access to the nasty bastard thats raging in Indonesia, which in all accounts appears to be Tamiflu-resistant.

Pro-tip: Amantadine is the chemical name of the antiviral drug Symmetrel.

Top Interpol Official Warns of Bioterror Attacks

From Gulfnews.com:

"Muscat: A top Interpol officer yesterday said that law enforcement agencies around the world should be prepared for a bioterrorist attack.

"Al Qaida could use chemical or biological weapons to perpetrate its terrorist actions," said Ronald K. Noble, Interpol Secretary General, to Gulf News on the sidelines of the Interpol Workshop on Preventing Bioterrorism, at a hotel here.

He said that the training material recovered from Al Qaida and information gathered from some of their captured operatives have convinced the world law enforcement community that the terrorist outfit has had plans to use chemical and biological weapons in their actions.

"Nobody really knows when Al Qaida will strike with chemical or biological weapons but it is just a matter of time before the terrorists believe they are ready," he said, adding that the only restraints the terrorists were facing was the technical complexity of operating them properly and effectively.

Justifying the fears of bioterrorism, Noble said: "In Iraq there have been no fewer than three chlorine bomb attacks, targeting innocent civilians, in the recent past. It is not difficult to imagine these attacks being extended from chemical to biological."

-----------------------------------

The Interpol, of course, having much more of a reputation to uphold than pretty much any other intelligence agency besides maybe Mossad, coming out with a warning about bioterror should carry some weight.

I know the rabid left (and I am not implicating all leftist or social democratic parties or people here!) like to believe that all terrorist warnings are fictions of the Bush administration, but I think Interpol is just a tad bit removed from US politicking.

I imagine Al Queda bioterror attacks will be largely simplistic in nature - infecting water supplies and crops and such Either that or they will be fairly harmless but big and showy, which is always the terrorist's preference...

You only need a small amount of anthrax in a powder substrate to give the desired effect, I can an imagine an IUD exploding in a crowded market, only no big explosion, just a bunch of white powder everywhere. I think 1 part per 1000 anthrax to baking powder or whatever will certainly make a few people sick.

I hereby coin the term "powder bomb." You saw it in print here first, folks!

H5N1 Report Round-Up

Hey folks! Sorry it's been a long little while since I updated. As I am a college student, the past two weeks have been midterm hell. So, you can expect another little pause near the second week of May, as well... heh.

While I have been studying and writing about a billion papers H5N1 has been pretty active. I assume you go to other sources for your bird flu news when I'm not regularly updating, and I tend to only report on fairly interesting news anyway (new infections, new deaths...), so a lot of this may be redundant...

Indonesia was going to give it's H5N1 samples to the WHO, but has recently decided that it will not do so after all, and will not share it's bird flu samples. This came a few days before the country confirmed its 65th death from H5N1.

Right, of course there's no interest to take a look at the strain that has killed the most people worldwide besides to use it for exploitative pharmaceuticals. Indonesia, your rhetoric rings hollow and your political games will only result in the death of more of your people!

Aside from Indonesia, Egypt has also confirmed new H5N1 infections. Seemingly out of the woodwork, H5N1 has also hit Laos and Kuwait. All this now in Mid-March, well out of the flu season.

In the humor section, the deputy administrator of the USDA-ARS made a fairly boneheaded statement (in a Scientific American article), referring to H5N1 entering the US via migratory fowl:

It is unlikely that a sick bird would be able to carry the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus into the United States through the Pacific and Atlantic flyways, U.S. officials said on Wednesday.

"The distance may be too long for a (sick) bird to get that far," Steve Kappes, deputy administrator at the U.S. Agriculture Department's Agricultural Research Service, told reporters at a briefing on bird flu.

It's as if he didn't know that wild birds are CARRIERS of H5N1 and do not usually show signs of the illness or are killed by it! That would be ridiculous to assume, though, as I'm sure the administration of the USDA are very intelligent and aware of how biological and ecological systems work, as well as the current state of the bird flu situation...

Scientific American seemed to be unaware of this basic fact as well, unless this esteemed scientific journal (er, pop-sci trash) believes that a chicken in any state of health has a chance of crossing the Atlantic ocean.

Well, I hope that's made up somewhat for my hiatus in posting. My bioterror and conspiracy round-up will be sure to follow tomorrow or the next day. Its my spring break coming up this week so I'm sure I will inundate you all with biological minutiae as I have no money and thus will be bored as hell.

Take care!

China Confirms New Human H5N1 Infection

From CBS News:

"A farmer in southeast China has contracted the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, state media reported Thursday.

Xinhua News Agency said it was China's first human case of bird flu since Jan. 10, when the government said a 37-year-old farmer in Anhui province in eastern China had contracted bird flu but had recovered.

In the latest case, in coastal Fujian province, Xinhua said a 44-year-old farmer with the surname Li was diagnosed on Feb. 18 after he developed a fever and began coughing.

Xinhua said tests by the provincial disease control and prevention center showed Li had been infected with the H5N1 virus strain and that the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the result on Feb. 27.

The report did not say whether the farmer worked with poultry or whether infected birds were found."

-------------------------

China waited 12 days to report this news. Maybe in two weeks we'll get to find out whether he died or not.

Also note how amazingly detailed the report was! "Farmer has the bird flu." What farm? Was it a poultry farm???

The lack of information and delay in reporting is just a little suspect, I think. Watch this turn out to be a pig farmer.

Year of the pig, indeed!