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.

Medicago, IDRI to present Phase I clinical results of H5N1 vaccine at World Vaccine Congress

IDRI, a Seattle-based non-profit research organization that is a leading developer of adjuvants used in vaccines combating infectious disease, and Medicago Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles, today announced that they will be presenting positive interim Phase I clinical results for their H5N1 Avian Influenza VLP vaccine candidate "H5N1 vaccine" at the World Vaccine Congress.

9 Apr 2013

Research findings could help develop effective vaccines against new strains of bird flu

Scientists have described small genetic changes that enable the H5N1 bird flu virus to replicate more easily in the noses of mammals.

9 Apr 2013

WHO considers sending experts to China as death toll from H7N9 virus hits 7

The WHO "is talking with the Chinese government about sending international experts to China to help investigate a new bird flu strain that has sickened at least 24 people, killing seven of them," the Associated Press reports.

9 Apr 2013

A*STAR's professor receives Szent-Gy-rgyi prize for groundbreaking cancer pill

Professor Alex Matter, Chief Executive Officer of A*STAR's Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC), has been awarded the 8th Annual Szent-Gy-rgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research by the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) for his contributions to the development of the first drug specifically targeting a molecular lesion in cancer.

7 Apr 2013

Journalists, experts discuss China's response to H7N9 outbreak

In a conversation in the ChinaFile blog, David Wertime, co-founder and co-editor of Tea Leaf Nation, an English-language online magazine that analyzes Chinese social media, speaks with Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations; journalist Isabel Hilton; Donald Clarke, a professor at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.; Susan Jakes, editor of ChinaFile; Dorinda Elliott, editor at large at ChinaFile; and James Fallows, a correspondent for The Atlantic, about the emergence of a new strain of avian flu called H7N9 in China and the country's response to the outbreak so far.

6 Apr 2013

Anti-vaccination messages spread more easily than positive ones on Twitter, researchers find

On Twitter, a popular microblogging and social-networking service, statements about vaccines may have unexpected effects -- positive messages may backfire, according to a team of Penn State University researchers led by Marcel Salath-, an assistant professor of biology.

5 Apr 2013

China reports 2 more cases of H7N9; Researchers continue to investigate transmission routes

"China has found two more cases of a new strain of bird flu and one of the victims has died, state media said on Wednesday, bringing to nine the number of confirmed human infections from the previously unknown flu type," Reuters reports (Blanchard/Kelland, 4/3).

5 Apr 2013

More information needed about new strain of bird flu in China

In a Foreign Policy opinion piece, Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, recounts recent events in China, including the discovery of hundreds of dead pigs, ducks, and geese in rivers and the diagnosis of several human cases of a new strain of avian influenza, H7N9, and she writes, "[T]his could be how pandemics begin."

3 Apr 2013

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals receives preliminary comment letter from FDA on peramivir

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it received a preliminary comment letter from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration that outlines a pathway by which BioCryst could file a New Drug Application seeking regulatory approval of intravenous (i.v.) peramivir.

1 Apr 2013

New vaccine proves highly effective against H5N1 virus

Until now most experimental vaccines against the highly lethal H5N1 avian influenza virus have lacked effectiveness. But a new vaccine has proven highly effective against the virus when tested in both mice and ferrets. It is also effective against the H9 subtype of avian influenza.

26 Mar 2013

Some public health experts concerned over Saudi Arabia's response to SARS-like virus

"A SARS-like virus has infected 15 people, nine of whom have died, mostly in Saudi Arabia, worrying some Western scientists who question whether the kingdom is sharing enough critical data on the outbreak," "[b]ut a top Saudi Arabia health official rejected those complaints on Tuesday and said the virus posed a low risk of pandemic," the Wall Street Journal reports.

21 Mar 2013

UCLA researchers predict hotspots for future outbreaks of influenza virus

This year's unusually long and rocky flu season would be nothing compared to the pandemic that could occur if bird flu became highly contagious among humans, which is why UCLA researchers and their colleagues are creating new ways to predict where an outbreak could emerge.

17 Mar 2013

H1N1 flu vaccination associated with small excess risk of acquiring Guillain-Barré syndrome, but benefits outweigh risks

A meta-analysis of safety data gathered during the 2009 H1N1 vaccination programme in the US has established that the vaccination was associated with a small excess risk – about 1.6 extra cases per one million people vaccinated – of acquiring Guillain-Barré syndrome, a disorder of the nervous system which can result in temporary or more long-lasting paralysis and infrequently death. The authors conclude that the benefits of the 2009 H1N1 vaccination campaign greatly outweighed the risks.

14 Mar 2013

ST131 infection is more prevalent in LTCF residents and elderly population

Antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli) continues to proliferate, driven largely by expansion of a strain of E. coli know as sequence type ST131. A new study points to hospitals and long-term care facilities (LTCF) as settings in which this antibiotic-resistant strain is increasingly found.

14 Mar 2013

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Medicago, IDRI to present Phase I clinical results of H5N1 vaccine at World Vaccine Congress

Research findings could help develop effective vaccines against new strains of bird flu

WHO considers sending experts to China as death toll from H7N9 virus hits 7

A*STAR's professor receives Szent-Gy-rgyi prize for groundbreaking cancer pill

Journalists, experts discuss China's response to H7N9 outbreak

Anti-vaccination messages spread more easily than positive ones on Twitter, researchers find

China reports 2 more cases of H7N9; Researchers continue to investigate transmission routes

More information needed about new strain of bird flu in China

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals receives preliminary comment letter from FDA on peramivir

New vaccine proves highly effective against H5N1 virus

Some public health experts concerned over Saudi Arabia's response to SARS-like virus

UCLA researchers predict hotspots for future outbreaks of influenza virus

H1N1 flu vaccination associated with small excess risk of acquiring Guillain-Barré syndrome, but benefits outweigh risks

ST131 infection is more prevalent in LTCF residents and elderly population

New paper examines long-term damage that political strife can do to public health

Researchers determine way to predict and protect against new strains of flu virus

Influenza drug: an interview with Dr Jenny McKimm-Breschkin, CSIRO

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