Eideard

A study of antibodies from people infected with H1N1 swine flu adds proof that scientists are closing in on a “universal” flu shot that could neutralize many types of flu strains, including H1N1 swine flu and H5N1 bird flu.

U.S. researchers said people who were infected in the H1N1 pandemic developed an unusual immune response, making antibodies that could protect them from all the seasonal H1N1 flu strains from the last decade, the deadly “Spanish flu” strain from 1918 and even a strain of the H5N1 avian flu.

“It says that a universal influenza vaccine is really possible,” said Patrick Wilson of the University of Chicago, who worked on the paper published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine…

Wilson’s team started making the antibodies in 2009 from nine people who had been infected in the first wave of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic before an H1N1 vaccine had been produced. The hope was to develop a way to protect healthcare personnel.

Working with researchers from Emory University School of Medicine, the team produced 86 antibodies that reacted with the H1N1 virus, and tested them on different flu strains. Of these, five were cross-protective, meaning they could interfere with many strains of flu including the 1918 “Spanish flu” and a strain of H5N1 or avian flu…

And some of these cross-protective antibodies were similar in structure to those discovered by other teams as having potential for a universal flu vaccine.

“It demonstrates how to make a single vaccine that could potentially provide permanent immunity to all influenza,” Wilson said in a telephone interview.

Good news – and something we’ve been hearing from a number of sources. I’m encouraged enough to believe that, as in a few classic examples with other diseases, we may end up with more than one universal vaccine against flu.

Scientists have discovered for the first time that antibodies in common eggs laid by hens vaccinated against the H5N1 virus can potentially prevent a possible H5N1 pandemic, raising the possibility that the same principle could be applied to the current H1N1 influenza pandemic…

“Our tests show proof-of-concept that antibodies, or the antiviral proteins ‘immunoglobulins Y (IgY),’ found in consumable eggs laid by vaccinated hens may be an affordable, safe, and effective alternative for the control of influenza outbreaks, including the current H1N1 pandemic,” said Dr. Huan Huu Nguyen, an immunologist at the IVI and the lead author of the study.

The scientists isolated H5N1-specific antibodies from consumers’ eggs sold in Vietnam, where hens are vaccinated against the pathogen, and tested them against infections with H5N1 and related H5N2 strains in mice. When delivered into the nose before infection, the antibodies from the egg yolk prevented the infection. When administered after infection, the same antibodies reduced the severity of the infection, enabling mice to recover from the disease.

The chicken antibodies could be administered as a nasal spray. This form of ‘passive vaccination’ could also be applied to prevent disease caused by the current pandemic H1N1, using egg yolk antibodies from hens vaccinated against the H1N1 virus…

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is the world’s only international organization devoted exclusively to developing and introducing new and improved vaccines for the world’s poorest people, especially children in developing countries.

Obviously part of the worldwide socialist plot against American insurance companies and Congress.

Kudos to the researchers for the many children whose lives may be saved.

Click to enlarge

As many as 80 million Americans have been infected with H1N1 swine flu, up to 16,000 have been killed and more than 360,000 hospitalized, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.

But 90 percent of the most vulnerable people remain unvaccinated, with only about 61 million Americans having received shots, the CDC said…

The pandemic, which began in March, is on the wane but health officials stress that influenza is unpredictable and could come back or mutate.

And this new virus, while it has not caused more deaths than seasonal influenza, has killed younger people than seasonal flu does.

About 90 percent of deaths in an average year are among people over 65, while 90 percent of those seriously ill or killed by the new virus are much younger and include as many as 1,730 children.

Health experts say vaccination is by far the best way to ensure the virus does not come back or mutate into a new and more dangerous form, but the vaccine rolled out slowly and the public is now skeptical of the need to be vaccinated…

More pregnant women than usual have been vaccinated — 38 percent as compared to between 15 percent and 25 percent in an average year. Pregnant women are always at high risk from any flu and they accounted for an unusually high percentage of those sickened and killed by H1N1…

The usual anti-science brigade continue their agitprop: religious anti-vaccine nutballs, right-wing Republicans and neolithic libertarians both of whom hate government as strongly as any middle-class undergraduate anarchist.

I don’t especially mind their lockstep march into Darwinian risk; but, I have only contempt for the effect their blathering has on the general public, skeptical enough after eight years of spooky anti-intellectualism from Bush League conservatives.

Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Seasonal flu, which annually kills 30,000 Americans, may not appear in the U.S. for the first time in more than 40 years, crowded out by the swine flu pandemic and mass vaccination campaigns.

Seasonal strains are almost nonexistent in reports from countries where swine flu, or H1N1, has taken hold. In the U.S. and Europe, 99 percent of influenza cases tested last week were H1N1, according to government reports. Seasonal versions of virus that usually arrive in December and peak in February may not emerge at all, said Marc Lipsitch, a flu tracker at the Harvard School of Public Health, in Boston.

“I would bet against a seasonal flu this year,” said Lipsitch, a professor of epidemiology, in a telephone interview. “But I wouldn’t bet very much money.”

One of the seasonal strains most likely to appear this year, known as type B, was responsible for 7 of 478 positive cases in a testing sample for the week ended Dec. 5, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A second form, H3N2, hasn’t been spotted at all.

Neither seasonal strain emerged after H1N1 struck in the Southern Hemisphere, where the winter flu season ended in September, according to the World Health Organization in Geneva…

Scientists aren’t sure exactly how some flu strains can crowd out others, said William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and an outside adviser to the CDC on vaccine policy…

The last time seasonal flu strains were crowded out entirely in the U.S. was during the Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968, Lone Simonsen [researcher at GWU] said. She predicted that swine flu will return in January and may circulate simultaneously with seasonal flu strains, potentially attacking both the young and old.

“It’s probably still a very good idea to get vaccinated, because this is not over,” Lone Simonsen said in an interview on Dec. 8. “I don’t have a crystal ball, but we had two historical pandemics where there was an early fall wave — 1918 and 1957 — and both of those were followed by a winter wave.”

RTFA. Lots of interesting detail to theories. And like Ms. Simonsen says – none of us has a crystal ball. The details may yet kill a bunch of us.

Thanks, Mr. Fusion

Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) have found what they believe is a weakness in H1N1′s method for evading detection by the immune system.

Comparing its genetic sequences going all the way back to the virus’s first known appearance in the deadly “Spanish flu” outbreak of 1918, they discovered a previously unrealized role of receptor-binding residues in host evasion, which effectively becomes a bottleneck that keeps the virus in check…

The researchers discovered several key residues involved in both antigenic sites and the receptor-binding site, the part of the protein that attaches to a cell and allows the virus to invade…

The common belief has been that the receptor binding could not change. “The site is known, but no one thought it was involved in the immune system. In order to recognize the receptor, that particular region has to be robust,” Ma said. “But it turns out this region is not only variable, but also interacts with the immune system…”

“If the binding is abolished, the virus dies,” said Jianpeng Ma, a Rice professor in bioengineering with a joint appointment at BCM…

“It becomes a weak link and provides us with a window into the virus that we can monitor,” Ma said. “The virus’s bottleneck is our opportunity…”

“An underlying implication is that this may not be restricted to H1N1,” Qinghua Wang said. “It may apply to other influenza viruses as well. If studying viral evolution can help predict what will cause a severe problem in humans, you can actually pre-stock vaccines, which will save time.”

Bravo!

In fatal cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza, the virus can damage cells throughout the respiratory airway, much like the viruses that caused the 1918 and 1957 influenza pandemics, report researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner.

The scientists reviewed autopsy reports, hospital records and other clinical data from 34 people who died of 2009 H1N1 influenza infection between May 15 and July 9, 2009. All but two of the deaths occurred in New York City.

A microscopic examination of tissues throughout the airways revealed that the virus caused damage primarily to the upper airway—the trachea and bronchial tubes—but tissue damage in the lower airway, including deep in the lungs, was present as well. Evidence of secondary bacterial infection was seen in more than half of the victims…

“This study provides clinicians with a clear and detailed picture of the disease caused by 2009 H1N1 influenza virus that will help inform patient management,” says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. “In fatal cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza, it appears the novel pandemic influenza virus produces pulmonary damage that looks very much like that seen in earlier influenza pandemics.”

The new report also underscores the impact 2009 H1N1 influenza is having on younger people. While most deaths from seasonal influenza occur in adults over 65 years old, deaths from 2009 H1N1 influenza occur predominately among younger people. The majority of deaths (62 percent) in the 34 cases studied were among those 25 to 49 years old; two infants were also among the fatal cases…

“This pattern of pathology in the airway tissues is similar to that reported in autopsy findings of victims of both the 1918 and 1957 influenza pandemics,” notes Dr. Taubenberger.

You’ll find a range of support info about influenza over here.

It’s not like we have too many regular readers here at Eideard.com – please get your flu shot!

Catholic churches in Italy are installing automatic holy water dispensers to help reduce the risk of spreading swine flu.

The outbreak of the H1N1 virus has led many churches to suspend the tradition of having holy water in open fonts into which people dip their hands.

The new machine works like an automatic soap dispenser, squirting water when a hand is passed under the tap.

Father Pierre Angelo Mota, from Capriano Briosco, north of Milan, said squirtable holy water had surprised some of his parishoners at first.

“People initially were a bit shocked by this technological innovation but then they welcomed it with great enthusiasm and joy. The members of this parish have got used to it,” he added.

“Some people had stopped dipping their hand into the holy water font as they were afraid of infections,” he told Reuters.

This is all absurd to the point of being hilarious.

There is no one more foolish than someone dedicated to religious self-delusion?

There wasn’t any such thing as flu vaccine in 1918

President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency, giving his health chief the power to let hospitals move emergency rooms offsite to speed treatment and protect noninfected patients…

Health authorities say more than 1,000 people in the United States, including almost 100 children, have died from the strain of flu known as H1N1, and 46 states have widespread flu activity. So far only 11 million doses have gone out to health departments, doctor’s offices and other providers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials…

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius now has authority to bypass federal rules when opening alternative care sites, such as offsite hospital centers at schools or community centers if hospitals seek permission…

The national emergency declaration was the second of two steps needed to give Sebelius extraordinary powers during a crisis.

On April 26, the administration declared swine flu a public health emergency, allowing the shipment of roughly 12 million doses of flu-fighting medications from a federal stockpile to states in case they eventually needed them. At the time, there were 20 confirmed cases in the U.S. of people recovering easily. There was no vaccine against swine flu, but the CDC had taken the initial step necessary for producing one.

”As a nation, we have prepared at all levels of government, and as individuals and communities, taking unprecedented steps to counter the emerging pandemic,” Obama wrote in Saturday’s declaration.

The most contemptible political contradictions in this process come from conservatives and libertarians who started out fear-mongering over vaccines and have now switched to finger-pointing, trying to blame the government for the inability of producers in the U.S. to come up with an adequate supply to match demand.

RTFA to understand how the regs mostly concern quarantine and treatment centers.

The influenza-like illness that we track with our ILInet sentinel provider system is showing higher levels of illness than we saw last week. Again, these are unprecedented levels of illness. The national average is about 6.1% of doctors visits, for purposes of influenza-like illness that’s very high at any time particularly in October. We also track mortality around the country. Through something called the pneumonia and influenza mortality survey with 122 cities. And for the first week this fall, we’re seeing that the amount of influenza and pneumonia mortality is above the epidemic threshold. All of these things may suggest it’s a very busy and difficult flu season and we are seeing very high levels of activity around the country. We are also having updates on the pediatric deaths. Unfortunately those are going up as well…

We hope that the continuing deaths in children will be as few as possible but this is a very brisk number, usually in a whole season that lasts from going to September all the way to may, you would only have about 40 or 50 deaths so in just one month’s time we’ve had that many…

Overall, fewer than half of Americans (47%) say that they would get the swine flu vaccine if it was available to them; an identical percentage says they would not get the vaccine. A clear majority of Democrats (60%) say they would get the swine flu vaccine if it was available, compared with 41% of Republicans and the same percentage of independents.

It might seem like Democrats are more inclined to trust this government, and that the anti-Administration bent of right wing nutters is taking a toll. After all, there’s a partisan edge to this:

More than half of Republicans (54%) say news reports are overstating the swine flu’s danger, compared with 42% of independents and just 35% of Democrats…

Sometimes, it’s true, those concerns go beyond any appeal to reason. They grow out of a visceral mistrust of authority in general – and of government, regulatory agencies, medical researchers and multinational pharmaceutical companies, in particular. A sophisticated anti-vaccine movement has emerged that plays on this wariness, and helps to feed the conspiracy theories about the H1N1 vaccine that are circulating on the Internet and in viral e-mails…

If you’re still on the fence and are too lazy to check any of the peer-reviewed science, here’s a decent editorial piece about the myths and reality.

My own seat of the pants reckoning – just following the stats in New Mexico and Texas communities – is that the death rate among children is running 4 to 8 times higher than the usual flu season. Does killing your own kids qualify you for a Darwin Award?

Three pigs on exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair’s swine barn this year may have had H1N1…potentially marking the first time that the pandemic flu has been found in U.S. hogs.

It’s not clear what became of the pigs — they may have been slaughtered after the fair and sent into the food chain — but health officials downplayed any dangers from the sick pigs.

“This is a people virus,” said Jeff Bender, co-director of the University of Minnesota Center for Animal Health and Food Safety. “A person cannot get flu from eating pork, or pork products.”

Still, the timing couldn’t be worse for the pork industry, which has struggled this year to make a profit. As news broke Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were conducting tests, the National Pork Producers issued an e-mail reiterating that pork is safe to eat…

The suspect pigs were discovered by researchers carrying out a CDC project studying the spread of flu viruses at places where people and pigs come into close contact — such as state fairs. The pigs, from three separate farms, appeared healthy at the time samples were taken, but preliminary tests at the U of M this week found evidence that they might have had H1N1.

I’ll let my wife know that pork prices should be coming down before we go grocery shopping next weekend.