pandemic

NIAID Initiates Trial of Experimental Avian Flu Vaccine

...etween people. If this were to happen, a worldwide pandemic could follow. Influenza pandemics are global outb...1 is one such flu virus strain. The last influenza pandemic swept the globe in 1968; many public health officials believe the world is overdue for another one. ...

Influenza vaccine uses insect cells to speed development

...ch Meeting. "The bird flu may become the next flu pandemic strain. It could happen at any time," says Keyang Wang, a scientist at Protein Sciences Corp. and a researcher on the study. "The most effective method to control such an outbreak is the widespread use of a vaccine. The traditional egg-based method r...

Norovirus, AIDS vaccine and Hepatitis Virus

...against HIV in attempt to gain control of the AIDS pandemic is a top priority for researchers throughout the world. Extensive testing has been conducted with live vaccines to determine if immunization would be effective at prevention, but they are not suitable for human use due to the potential that the vacci...

To Stop Evolution: New Way Of Fighting Antibiotic Resistance Demonstrated By Scripps Scientists

...dysentery, and lowered the incidence of many other pandemic bacterial infections. These antibiotics are basically natural chemicals (or derivatives of natural chemicals) produced by other bacteria or fungi in the environment to kill off the competition. Scientists in the last century have discovered a number ...

Community MRSA is re-emergence of 1950s pandemic, study suggests

...uipping and re-emergence" of a clone that caused a pandemic 40-50 years ago could mean that community acquired...n children and young adults around the world. This pandemic of both hospital and community acquired infections waned throughout the 1960s as the antibiotic meti...

AIDS expert says global strategy needed to combat feminization of HIV/AIDS

...f those living with HIV/AIDS. At the start of the pandemic in the early 1980s, men accounted for almost 90 percent of cases in developed countries. In the United States from 1999 to 2003, the yearly increase in AIDS cases rose by 15 percent, but only by 1 percent in men. He says that now AIDS is having the ...

Progress on HIV/AIDS significant but insufficient

..., much more than for the four preceding years. The pandemic had also grown disturbingly worldwide, affecting new countries and new populations within countries, particularly women and girls, and 95 per cent of those infected were in low- and medium-income countries. Given the quantum worsening in the epidemi...

Less virulent strains of avian influenza can infect humans

In findings with implications for pandemic influenza, a new study reports for the first time ...ortant step in the development of a flu virus with pandemic potential. Previous studies have focused on the ability of highly pathogenic strains, such as H5N1 "...

Transplanting Animal Organs Could Soon Be A Reality

In findings with implications for pandemic influenza, a new study reports for the first time ...ortant step in the development of a flu virus with pandemic potential. Previous studies have focused on the ability of highly pathogenic strains, such as H5N1 "...

First Whole Genome Map of Genetic Variability in Parkinson’s Disease

In findings with implications for pandemic influenza, a new study reports for the first time ...ortant step in the development of a flu virus with pandemic potential. Previous studies have focused on the ability of highly pathogenic strains, such as H5N1 "...

Eating, body weight regulated by specific neurons

In findings with implications for pandemic influenza, a new study reports for the first time ...ortant step in the development of a flu virus with pandemic potential. Previous studies have focused on the ability of highly pathogenic strains, such as H5N1 "...

European Commission funds EBI to do new research on synergies between bioinformatics and medical informatics

In findings with implications for pandemic influenza, a new study reports for the first time ...ortant step in the development of a flu virus with pandemic potential. Previous studies have focused on the ability of highly pathogenic strains, such as H5N1 "...

UW scientists report a new method to speed bird flu vaccine production

...t as governments worldwide prepare for a predicted pandemic of avian influenza. Writing this week (Oct. 31, 2005) in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS), a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Tokyo report a new way t...

Confronting Influenza: Are We Prepared?

...s aiming to manage both annual and possible global pandemic influenza outbreaks. World-renowned speakers will include: Stephen C. Harrison, HHMI Investigator and Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Professor of Pediatrics and Director of the Harvard-Armenise Center for Structura...

Volunteers sought for avian flu vaccine study

...erts fear that avian flu could lead to a worldwide pandemic if the virus becomes easily transmittable,leading to a public health crisis. Currently, most people are highly vulnerable to infection from avianinfluenza, as the current influenza vaccines do not protect against thisnew strain of the virus, making...

On a wing and a prayer - Alaska researchers seek clues to bird flu

... present situation could give rise to an influenza pandemic in humans akin to the 1918 "Spanish Flu." On Frida...5N1 outbreak among wild birds. The 1918 influenza pandemic killed more than 500,000 people in the United States and as many as 50 million people worldwide, acc...

Preventing a pandemic: Study suggests strategies for containing a flu outbreak

...flu could probably be sufficient to help contain a pandemic in a population like the one in the model, if the stockpile were deployed within two to three weeks of detection. As part of their study, the researchers consulted with Thai ministry of health officials and concluded that public health workers may d...

Researcher says flu responders can learn from 1918 epidemic

...s research brings lessons and insight to a looming pandemic If health officials and media prognosticators are... University, who has been researching the 1918 flu pandemic that killed an estimated 50 million worldwide. Higgins, who came to Lehigh after earning his B.A. i...

Agricultural workers at increased risk for infection with animal flu viruses

...should, therefore, be considered in developing flu pandemic surveillance plans and antiviral and immunization ...mission among humans and domestic animals during a pandemic and cause considerable damage to the swine and poultry industries, as well as the U.S. economy." Whi...

Science's Breakthrough of the Year: Watching evolution in action

...etic medicine. This year's sequencing of the 1918 pandemic flu virus could have a more immediate impact on medicine. The amazing story of flu genes preserved in permafrost and painstakingly reconstructed has a chilling coda: the deadly flu seems to have started out as purely a bird virus. Understanding the e...

New possibilities for flu antiviral and vaccine research emerge from 'Spanish flu' virus

...her interventions that would work against virulent pandemic or epidemic influenza viruses," said Tumpey. "Science is publishing this study because it provides information necessary for developing drugs and vaccines that could help prevent another global flu pandemic. We carefully considered the implications ...

New U. of Colorado at Boulder flu chip may help combat future epidemics, pandemics

... States to natural catastrophes, she said. "A flu pandemic is inevitable since the virus continually mutates ...." Most experts agree that preparations for a flu pandemic include early identification, vaccine development, the wide availability of pharmaceuticals and plan...

Wild birds help to create human flu vaccine

...ort in Mongolia to be used in development of human pandemic influenza vaccineAvian influenza virus samples col...orld Health Organization to be part of a new human pandemic influenza vaccine currently in development. The samples, collected in the midst of an outbreak in ...

Duke to test bird flu vaccine dosing

...ple could be immunized with existing supplies if a pandemic occurs," he said. The study will use an inactivated flu virus vaccine based on a strain taken from a Vietnamese patient in 2004. "There is no live flu virus in the vaccine, and there is no risk of volunteers contracting bird flu or spreading it to o...

H5N1 avian flu virus vaccine induces immune responses in healthy adults

...s to prepare for the possible emergence of a human pandemic of H5N1 avian influenza," notes NIH Director Elias...als worldwide. The potential for a human avian flu pandemic looms large, say experts, as daily reports indicate an increasing spread of infection in bird popula...

Sweetgum tree could help lessen shortage of bird flu drug

...iled worldwide to slow or stop a possible bird flu pandemic that some experts predict could kill millions ?if ...nough of the drug to treat everyone if a worldwide pandemic occurs. The supply problem resides in the drug’s source: The shikimic acid used to make it is obtain...

UW scientists unravel critical genetic puzzle for flu virus replication

...hould a global outbreak such as the "Spanish " flu pandemic of 1918 recur. That pandemic killed an estimated 30-50 million people. Knowing how influenza A viruses package their genetic con...

Cell barrier shows why bird flu not so easily spread among humans

...e key development required for the virus to assume pandemic proportions. The new report, by a research group ..."No one knows whether the virus will evolve into a pandemic strain, but flu viruses constantly change," Kawaoka says. "Certainly, multiple mutations need to be ...

Medical experts: US unlikely to have enough vaccines to stop avian flu

...vaccine or antiviral medication to stop a bird flu pandemic should the virus mutate into a form that can be sp...kpiles of vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent a pandemic within the next three years. The same experts gave a median estimate of 15 percent for the probabili...

New influenza vaccine takes weeks to mass produce

...ass producing effective vaccines against potential pandemic influenza strains in weeks instead of the months r... at the 2006 ASM Biodefense Research The next flu pandemic could happen any time," says Keyang Wang, a scientist at Protein Sciences Corporation (PSC) and a re...

Study outlines genetic differences between potential pandemic influenza strains

...ates with the potential to cause a human influenza pandemic is getting more genetically diverse, which makes studying the virus more complex and heightens the need for increased surveillance. She expects further continued diversity in the future. "Change is the only constant. Only time will tell whether th...

Avian influenza virus in mammals spreads beyond the site of infection to other organ systems

...he current outbreaks in Asia and the potential for pandemic spread. This virus is highly contagious in birds ...may limit the risk of H5N1 virus developing into a pandemic influenza virus." ...

How can we protect patients with weakened immune systems from influenza?

...ed concerns over potential threats -- an avian flu pandemic or the use of flu as a weapon of biological warfar... program. "Even if the worst-case scenarios of flu pandemic or weaponized flu attack do not occur in the next few years, we will have greater understanding of h...

Landmark discovery of a Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus receptor

...b-Saharan Africa. But then at the dawn of the AIDS pandemic in the early 1980s, the small purplish Kaposi's sarcoma skin lesions began appearing on the bodies of young American men, many of whom went on to develop opportunistic infections. Dr. Berger became interested in KSHV because of his interest in how ...

Avian flu modeled on supercomputer, explores vaccine and isolation options for thwarting a pandemic

...mulation model examines the nationwide spread of a pandemic influenza virus strain, such as an evolved avian H...avian influenza-based vaccine containing potential pandemic influenza antigens, coupled with the capacity to rapidly make a better-matched vaccine based on huma...

Five surprising facts about starvation that could change the international agenda

... children, although the authors state that "as the pandemic progresses, high HIV/AIDS rates will contribute to worsening nutrition, both from the direct effects of the disease and from an indirect impact on household food security and childcare. Without dual action against wasting and HIV/AIDS, the deadly syn...

H5N1 vaccine could be basis for life-saving stockpile

...efore be suitable for stockpiling for use during a pandemic (worldwide epidemic) until a new vaccine could be developed specifically against the variant causing the outbreak, the researchers said. An antigen is a molecule that stimulates production of antibodies by the immune system. A prepublication report...

Scientists to employ Arctic ice and polar bears to protect diversity of world's crops

...efore be suitable for stockpiling for use during a pandemic (worldwide epidemic) until a new vaccine could be developed specifically against the variant causing the outbreak, the researchers said. An antigen is a molecule that stimulates production of antibodies by the immune system. A prepublication report...

Study defines effective microbicide design for HIV/AIDS prevention

...S, acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The HIV pandemic continues to overwhelm current preventative measures as an estimated 12,000 people contract the infection each day, the researchers said. Increasingly, a disproportionate number of women are becoming infected. In several African countries, for exampl...

Mouse study reveals new clues about virulence of 1918 influenza virus

...us that caused the devastating 1918-1919 influenza pandemic is an urgent imperative as we pursue efforts to prepare for--and possibly thwart--the next flu pandemic," says NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. "This elegant research gives a detailed picture of the overzealous host reaction to infection by a ...

Control measures fail to stop spread of new H5N1 virus

...the most likely virus to trigger a human influenza pandemic (worldwide epidemic). Moreover, the increasing number of transmissions from birds to humans in the past year supports this opinion, said Robert G. Webster, Ph.D., a co-author of the PNAS paper. Webster is a member of the Infectious Diseases departmen...

St. Jude test of bird flu vaccine proves successful

...ar that such an H5N1 variant would trigger a human pandemic (worldwide epidemic). Webby is scheduled to present the findings of this study at the U.S. Public Health Service Professional Conference in Denver, Colo., May 3 at 12:30 pm EDT. The investigators used two versions of Vical's multi-component, DNA-ba...

Air travel and pandemic flu

...u. This happened, for example, in 1918, when a flu pandemic killed between 20 million and 100 million people. Recently, there have been concerns about the new type of bird (avian) flu. At present the virus responsible does not pass easily from birds to humans, and it does not seem to pass from one human to an...

Molecular anatomy of influenza virus detailed

...should boost our efforts to prepare for a possible pandemic flu attack," says NIAMS Director Stephen I. Katz, M.D., Ph.D. "This work will allow us to 'know our enemy' much better." One of the difficulties that has hampered structural studies of influenza virus is that no two virus particles are the same. In...

H9N2 avian flu vaccine paired with adjuvant provokes strong human immune response at low doses

... spread easily from person to person, an influenza pandemic could result, health experts say. In 2004, NIAID directed Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics (formerly Chiron Corporation) to produce 40,000 doses of an experimental H9N2 vaccine at its vaccine manufacturing facility in Siena, Italy. Some of the vac...

Bird flu vaccine additive may stretch supply

...not the H5N1 virus currently feared as a potential pandemic strain. However, the study does suggest that if the feared pandemic comes to be, adjuvants might be used to extend the vaccine supply. Furthermore, the authors note, H...

Recurrence of a flu pandemic similar to infamous 1918 flu could kill 62 million

...ate both the global mortality patterns of the 1918 pandemic and, based on 2004 population data, how a similar pandemic would affect the world today. These findings, to be published in the December 23, 2006 issue o...

Experimental vaccine protects mice against deadly 1918 flu virus

... this virus, a tool that could help contain future pandemic flu strains. These findings are important, the res...e of the H1N1 influenza virus that caused the 1918 pandemic and to protecting against virulent flu strains in the future, including the H5N1 avian flu virus. De...

First-time analysis reveals millions of Europeans left at risk from influenza

...it has important implications for global influenza pandemic preparedness. In 2003, the World Health Assembly r... this with a call to all countries preparing for a pandemic to increase use of seasonal influenza vaccines 2 to help increase vaccine production capacity in pre...

U of S Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization team discovers key step in flu virus replication

... and prevent the disease, as well as add to global pandemic preparedness research." To survive, the influenza virus hijacks the host animal or human's cellular machinery and forces it to make more copies of the virus. The researchers believe that the cellular events involved in this process are an excellen...

Scientists find mutations that let bird flu adapt to humans

...s have identified key genetic changes required for pandemic strains of bird flu. The new work, reported in th...lls, it may be possible to detect the emergence of pandemic strains earlier, providing public health officials and vaccine manufacturers with precious time to p...

Wild gorillas carriers of a SIV virus close to the AIDS virus

...ir of HIV-1 virus group M, the source of the world pandemic and that of another, very rare variant, HIV-1 group N. However, the reservoir of the third HIV-1 group, group O which infects humans (3), remained unidentified up to now. This team announces, in an article in the journal Nature, the discovery of a ...

New drug blocks influenza, including bird flu virus

...nd treat influenza at a time when fear of a global pandemic is heightened and available antiviral drugs are losing their potency. "This gives us another tool," says Stacey Schultz-Cherry, a UW-Madison professor of medical microbiology and immunology and the senior author of the new report. "We're quickly lo...

A silent pandemic: Industrial chemicals are impairing the brain development of children worldwide

...micals are responsible for what they call a silent pandemic that has caused impaired brain development in mill...e researchers believe that the total impact of the pandemic is much greater than currently recognized. In supplementary documentation (see below for a link), ab...

'Protecting virus' offers instant flu protection and converts flu infections into their own vaccines

...influenza A infections, including H5N1 and any new pandemic or epidemic strains infecting humans. The 'protect...as H5N1. This is especially problematic when a new pandemic strain emerges, as all existing vaccines are likely to be totally ineffective. Professor Dimmock h...

A first glimpse of the influenza replication machine

...0 million people died during a worldwide influenza pandemic caused by mutation of a bird-specific strain of the influenza virus. Recently H5N1, another highly infectious avian strain has caused outbreaks of bird flu around the world. There is great concern that this virus might also mutate to allow human-to-h...

Bird flu -- Call for antiviral drugs to be shared

...o model the global spread of an emerging influenza pandemic and its containment. They conclude that much will depend on the 'reproductive number' (a measure of how many people an infectious individual infects on average) of the new virus that emerges. If this number is low, it will take many months before the...

2,000 influenza virus genomes now completed and publicly accessible

... greater concern is the potential for an influenza pandemic caused by the emergence of a new, highly lethal vi...the last century, the most lethal of which was the pandemic of 1918, which caused an estimated 40 to 50 million deaths worldwide. "A few years ago, only limi...

Pacific Rim researchers to collaborate on distributed bioinformatics analysis of avian flu

...flu, in hopes of helping to head off a much-feared pandemic in the region of the world where the disease has a...diseases as well." Added Arzberger: "Fighting a pandemic will also be easier if we put in place the infrastructure to replicate data, support medical informa...

Study uncovers a lethal secret of 1918 influenza virus

... obtained from the tissues of victims of the great pandemic in a reverse genetics process that enables scientists to make fully functioning viruses. "In 1918, the existence of viruses had barely been recognized. In fact, the influenza virus wasn't identified until 1933. Thanks to recent technological adva...