Monkey vaccine for H5N1 ready human trials

This vaccine is now a potential human vaccine against Avian Flu! Keep your fingers crossed that it will protect humans in addition to African monkeys!
-Kelsey

New Vaccine That Protects Monkeys against Avian Flu is Ready for Human Trials

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2007) — Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and University of Maryland report that a new vaccine that protects monkeys against the avian influenza virus is now a candidate for clinical trial in humans.

In the study researchers developed a live vaccine incorporating the avian Newcastle disease virus (NDV), which expresses a common gene found in the H5N1 avian influenza virus, and tested it in African monkeys. The vaccine was administered both intranasally and through the respiratory tract in two doses with a 28-day interval in between.

Response after one dose showed low amounts of virus shedding indicating protection. Following two doses, high levels of neutralizing antibodies were present in all immunized monkeys. A substantial response to either dosage was noted in the respiratory tract indicating a likely reduction in transmission in the event of an outbreak.

"In this study, we have developed a vaccine candidate, NDV-HA, for immunization against H5N1 HPAIV and have tested it in a nonhuman primate model," say the researchers. "The vaccine was well tolerated and induced substantial local and systemic immune responses, demonstrating that NDV has potential as a live virus candidate vaccine against HPAIV."

Norwalk virus on Norwegian Cruise

Hundreds Sickened on Hawaiian Cruise

By MARK NIESSE

HONOLULU (AP) — A highly contagious virus that causes stomach flu sickened about 220 passengers aboard a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship that returned Monday to Honolulu after its weekly seven-day cruise around the islands, officials said.

Lab tests confirmed a norovirus — which causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea — aboard the Pride of Hawaii, said Janice Okubo, spokeswoman for the Hawaii Department of Health.

"It's one of the common viruses we've been seeing on cruise lines," Okubo said. "Most of the time, people recover."

The Norwalk-like virus infected about 9 percent of the ship's 2,500 passengers, and no one was hospitalized, the cruise line said. Virus symptoms typically last a day.

Passengers who felt sick, as well as their cabinmates, were asked to remain in their rooms for 24 hours. Norwegian said it was giving those passengers a $200 on-ship credit.

Surfaces in the ship were cleaned to eliminate lingering viruses, it said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating, Okubo said.

Norwegian describes Pride of Hawaii as the largest and most expensive U.S.-flagged cruise ship ever built. It began service last year.

Norwegian was acquired in February 2000 by Star Cruises PLC of Malaysia, according to the cruise line's Web site.

Avian Bird Flu in Indonesia might be spreading

Might Avian Flu be spreading back West Timor?

West Timor is located in the East Nusa Tenggara province (Map link: www.fallingrain.com/world/ID/18/Kupang), the capital of Indonesia and has not had a reported infection of avian flu since 2005.
However, in the past two weeks thousands of chickens have expired in Kupang, located in W. Timor. The East Nusa Tenggara
Husbandry Agency Unit head of the animal health, Maria Geong, said on Tuesday, November 6th (2007) that 7000 chickens had died in Kupang in the last 2 weeks. Local authorities are fearing avian influenza as the cause.

Source: The Jakarta Post, Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
(www.thejakartapost.com/yesterdaydetail.asp?fileid=20071107.H03)

-Deshka

Tomato Torrado Virus Identified!

Tomato Torrado Virus is identified for the first time!

The symptoms of this emerging virus were first recognized in 2003-2004 in Wielkopolska, a region of Poland and included leaf necrosis, severe stunting and malformation (apparently usual symptoms for a tomato virus). There was an association drawn between such affliction and greenhouse whiteflies (Trialeurodes vaporariorum).

In a recently published article, The first report of Tomato torrado
virus in Poland, by H. Pospieszny et al, the virus was identified and shown to be similar to the tomator necrotic dwarf virus (ToNDV) (California) and the newly identified tomato torrado virus (ToTV) (Spain). The association with the whitefly was also demonstrated as these flies were shown to vector the virus.

The American Phytopathological Society, Plant Disease 2007; Tue 13 Nov 2007


[Reference: H. Pospieszny et al: The first report of Tomato torrado virus in Poland. Plant Dis; 91(10): 1364; DOI: 10.1094/PDIS-91-10-1364A]

poor tomatoes!

-Deshka

4 transplant recipients infected with HIV in US

Just as we were talking about the blood/transfusion supply not being 100% safe from HIV earlier in the quarter, here we see the tragic consequences of the remaining tiny level of risk. In January 4 people received donations from a donor that turned out to be HIV+ despite the tests run before donation. It's likely that the donor had been infected recently and had not yet developed a high enough viral load to be detected by the current tests used. The patients themselves only learned of the problems in early November. I had been very comfortable with the thought of leaving such a small level of risk of HIV in the blood supply before this happened, because of the enormous amount of funding it would require to eliminate that risk, which could be better spent in other ways. But this example shows that maybe this level of risk is not ok. Perhaps we need to take steps to further secure our blood supply despite the high costs.

Jon

here's the USA Today link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-11-13-hiv-organ_N.htm

Turkey massacre in England-- and no, not for Thanksgiving

... because the Brits don't celebrate Thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, 6,500 birds, mostly turkeys, are being slaughtered on an open-range bird farm in England, because H5N1 was detected amongst them. It sucks to be that bird-farmer-- they're just doing their best to satisfy increasing demand for open-range birds but as a result, it puts them into more contact with wild migratory birds that might be carrying flu.

In the words of Environment Secretary Hilary Benn (and must be said with a Brih-tish ahc-cent):
"What we're doing is working our darndest to make sure that it stays where it is."

Cheerio,
Jessie


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7092988.stm <-- check it out here

Dang! Dengue in Honduras

-A young girl died of dengue hemorrhagic fever on November 4 of this year, marking the disease's most recent casualty and the 14th death in Honduras in 2007 attributable to DHF. This figure is up from the DHF-related deaths in 2006. More than 26,500 people have been affected by dengue fever in Honduras this year.
-Honduras has spent approximately $2 million in cleaning operations such as fumigation intended to eliminate the breeding grounds for the Aedes aegyptis mosquitoes.
-For its part, the government has requested that its citizens eliminate standing water sources in and near their homes (such as tires, bottles, etc.) where the mosquito vector is able to reproduce and proliferate.


For more info, see: http://espanol.news.yahoo.com/s/ap/071106/salud/amc_med_honduras_dengue (this report is in Spanish; I've done my best to translate & summarize above)

Katie