News Reports for August 13, 2012

US: Marine biologist calls for protocols to deal with dead seals (New Hampshire)

A marine biologist and member of Hampton's Conservation Commission said the same environmental conditions that occurred last year when 162 dead seals washed ashore on Seacoast beaches exist today and it will likely happen again. A recent study revealed the seals perished as a result of a new strain of avian flu capable of being transmitted from birds to mammals, possibly humans.

Ellen Goethel will go before the Hampton Board of Selectmen on Monday, Aug. 13, because she wants to see protocols put in place to protect the public in case there is a reoccurrence. "It may never happen again, but my gut feeling is that it's going to," Goethel said.

The report, titled "Emergence of Fatal Avian Influenza in New England Harbor Seals," was released last week by a team of experts tasked with determining why the seals turned up dead from southern Maine to northern Massachusetts last fall. In the report, researchers identify the cause of death as an influenza A virus subtype, "H3N8," a new strain of avian flu that can jump from birds to marine mammals.

While there have been no known human cases to date, researchers urged caution, given the history of bird flu and its ability to evolve into forms that can infect people.

Goethel said the findings are a big concern. "It's dangerous," she said. "We are a coastal community and we need to be on top of it. As a marine biologist, common sense tells you there is possibility of human infection whenever there is infection in a mammal. It's a human health risk and we have to decide how we are going to deal with it."

A big part of that, she said, is coming up with a protocol on the local level for removing the carcasses. "In the past, they just left the carcass on the beach to float away," Goethel said. "But if they're possibly carrying something that can contaminate another animal, we have to dispose of them and figure out how we are going to do it." Continued: http://www.seacoastonline.com/...  

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 07:07:26 AM UTC

State fair officials concerned about swine flu

The precautions - including hand-washing stations and warning signs for children, the elderly and expectant mothers - come at the height of the nation's agricultural fair season, when farm children exhibit their livestock for city dwellers and suburbanites to see and even pet.

The number of cases hit 162 Friday, an "extraordinary" increase from 13 swine flu cases for all of last season, says Lyn Finelli, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of the cases have emerged in the Midwest. Many were reported in children who had contact with pigs at fairs in Indiana and Ohio.

"We expect to continue to see cases as long as fair season continues," Finelli says of the flu strain H3N2v.

•In Indiana, which has a nation-high 129 cases reported, precautions at the state fair running until Sunday included hot-water hand-washing stations near food vendors and dozens of hand-sanitizing stations.

•In Ohio, which has 31 cases reported and 40 county fairs scheduled in the next two months, state agriculture officials are delivering signs urging visitors to wash their hands after petting animals. Members of 4-H or Future Farmers of America are warned not to sleep in pens with their animals.

•In Kentucky, veterinarians are refusing entry of pigs with symptoms such as coughing, sneezing or labored breathing into the state fair in Louisville that will start Thursday .

Precautions also are being taken at fairs in Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri and West Virginia.

Continued: http://www.usatoday.com/news/n...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 07:19:42 AM UTC

Is the "Hype" on Swine Flu for the Birds or People or All of the Above?

National Geographic: http://newswatch.nationalgeogr...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 07:30:11 AM UTC

Effective antibodies against flu strains identified

ISLAMABAD: Scientists have identified three human antibodies effective against flu B virus strains. The same team had earlier reported finding antibodies against flu A strains.

The isolation of these antibodies paves the way for the development of a universal antibody-based flu therapy for use in severe infections or to protect hospital staff during an outbreak.

Importantly, these antibodies may provide key clues to the design of an active universal flu vaccine designed to protect long-term against flu viruses, not just against the current season's strains, the journal Science reports.

"To develop a truly universal flu vaccine or therapy, one needs to be able to provide protection against influenza A and influenza B viruses, and with this report we now have broadly neutralising antibodies against both," said A. Wilson, professor of structural biology at Scripps Institute.

(Snip)

One of the newly discovered antibodies will be of special interest to flu researchers, because it appears to protect against essentially all influenza B and influenza A strains. "It's the only one in the world that we know of that has been found to do this," said Wilson. Continued: http://paktribune.com/news/Eff...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 07:36:39 AM UTC

details from the Scripps Institute article:

[snip]
A Weak Point on the Virus

Antibody CR9114 turned out to bind to a site on the hemagglutinin stem. "It prevents the hemagglutinin protein from undergoing the shape-change needed for the virus to fuse to the outer membrane of a host cell," said Cyrille Dreyfus, a Wilson lab research associate who also was a lead author of the study. "This appears to be a real weak point of the virus, because this epitope is highly conserved among influenza A subtypes as well as influenza B."
[snip]

(Much more at the site)
http://www.scripps.edu/news/pr...

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor

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by: Jane @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 15:07:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Abstract from Science:

Abstract

Identification of broadly neutralizing antibodies against influenza A viruses has raised hopes for the development of monoclonal antibody-based immunotherapy and "universal" vaccines for influenza. However, a significant part of the annual flu burden is caused by two cocirculating, antigenically distinct lineages of influenza B viruses. Here, we report human monoclonal antibodies, CR8033, CR8071, and CR9114, that protect mice against lethal challenge from both lineages. Antibodies CR8033 and CR8071 recognize distinct conserved epitopes in the head region of the influenza B hemagglutinin (HA), whereas CR9114 binds a conserved epitope in the HA stem and protects against lethal challenge with influenza A and B viruses. These antibodies may inform on development of monoclonal antibody-based treatments and a universal flu vaccine for all influenza A and B viruses.

There are 26 authors; Malik Peiris is one.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cont...

You have to be a subscriber or pay to see the whole article.

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor

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by: Jane @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 15:14:24 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

US: Swine flu precautions being taken for Kentucky State Fair

With swine flu concerns sweeping the Midwest, Kentucky officials have taken steps to prevent the disease from spreading to the state fair's Swine Pavilion.

(Snip)

On Thursday the State Department of Health confirmed 130 cases of swine flu across at least 19 Indiana counties. Ohio state officials have confirmed 30 cases, Hawaii and Illinois have confirmed one. More cases are expected to arise in the following days. Between 650 and 675 pigs are expected to be a part of the State Fair, which begins Thursday and lasts until Aug. 26.

To prevent humans from catching the virus, the Kentucky state veterinarian staff will visually inspect all swine upon arrival. If the veterinarian sees signs that indicate swine in animals, include coughing, sneezing, and labored breathing, the animal will be held and evaluated and test results will be sent to the state animal health office. Animals that are infected will not be allowed to enter the fair. Out-of-state swine exhibitors must present a certificate of veterinary inspection within 72 hours of arrival. To maintain safety, a state veterinarian will also inspect all animals in the Swine Pavilion every day.

"We are certainly prepared for the slightest sign of any outbreak, and of course, the public will be notified immediately should anything occur," said Harold Workman, president of the Kentucky State Fair Board.

(Snip)

"It spreads just like it does in people," said John Moran, the state veterinarian who will be at the fair. Continued: http://www.courier-journal.com...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 07:45:05 AM UTC

Patient Zero In The 2011 H3N2v Pandemic

Recombinomics Commentary

The child, who had no recent travel or exposure to swine, was discharged on November 21, and has since recovered from the influenza illness.

An investigation was conducted to ascertain respiratory illnesses among contacts of the child that occurred during November 9-December 19. Multiple contacts, including children who regularly attended day care with the child, were found to have had respiratory illness during this period. On November 29, a second child aged <5 years who attended day care regularly with the first child and who had no recent travel or swine exposure became ill with fever, cough, diarrhea, and rhinorrhea. The second child did not seek medical care and recovered fully from the illness. A respiratory specimen obtained from the second child on December 7 was inconclusive by rRT-PCR at the West Virginia Office of Laboratory Services; however, the specimen was confirmed as influenza A (H3N2)v with the M gene from the A(H1N1)pdm09 virus via genome sequencing at CDC.

...investigation of a case in West Virginia has identified a possible outbreak, with 23 out of 70 contacts of the case reporting ILI.....

The above comments from the December 23, 2011 CDC MMWR (Snip) and a December 15, 2011 alert from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) (Snip) describe this first two confirmed H3N2v cases with a novel constellation of genes, which replaced the NA gene that was in the first 10 H3N2v confirmed cases in 2011 (which had an H1N2 swine lineage) with an NA gene that had an H3N2 swine lineage.  Although both N2 sequences traced back to seasonal H3N2 circulating in 2003, the circulation in swine had produced two readily distinguishable lineages.  The other 7 gene segments, including the H1N1pdm09 MP gene matched in the two sub-clades.

The above CDC MMWR was an H3N2v update, which summarized prior H3N2v cases and offered testing guidelines.  It followed an alert that had been sent to all fifty states noting the large cluster described in the above alert issued by the CDPH to county labs in California.  Although the size of the cluster was described in the CDC report to states, the 23 cases of ILI linked to the index case (patient zero) was not conveyed to the public.

However, the MMWR did note that the day care cluster was in a group that did not have swine contact or exposure and the time gap between the two confirmed classmates supported human to human transmission at the day care center.  Although the CDC alert to the fifty state labs did not lead to the detection of a confirmed H3N2v case during the peak of the 2011/2012 flu season, an H3N2v case was identified in late March in Utah.  The sequence of the H3N2v from this case, A/Utah/10/2012, matched the novel sub-clade detected at the West Virginia daycare center.

Much larger numbers of H3N2v have been at state and county fairs, which are targeted by a CDC surveillance program that tests ILI cases with swine exposure.  Sequences from cases in Hawaii, Indiana, and Ohio have been released (Snip) from samples collected from a farmer in Maui, Hawaii, the first four confirmed cases at the LaPorte County Fair in Indiana, the first confirmed case at the Jackson County Fair in Indiana, and the first confirmed case at the Butler County Fair in Ohio.  

All were closely related to each other and matched the novel H3N2v detected in at the West Virginia day care center.  Therefore, the index case for that large outbreak has been designated patient zero for the 2011 H3N2v pandemic.

Although the 2012 H3N2v cases have been associated with swine exposure, the link is dependent on the CDC program targeting off season ILI cases with swine contact.  Jackson County reported ILI in area residents for 6 weeks prior to the fair, but no testing was done until H3N2v was confirmed at the LaPorte County Fair and the Indiana State Department of Health sent out an alert, similar to the alert sent by the CDC on the targeting of cases with swine exposure. Continued:  http://www.recombinomics.com/N...

(Note: I don't agree with the title of this article. We are not in a pandemic... no where close. I think the term is being used because he thinks this strain will go pandemic and that is a real possibility, IMO.)  

 

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 08:02:52 AM UTC

US: After uptick in swine flu, fair organizers stressing cleanliness and sanitation (Ohio)

Organizers say swine will be featured at the Lake County Fair, but they stress precautionary cleanliness measures after a recent rise in cases of swine flu across the state.

"We're going to go ahead with open hogs at the fair," Fair Board President Richard Parker said Friday. "The biggest thing is we're stressing the cleanliness and the sanitation." Thursday night, the fair board met with veterinarians from Big Creek Veterinary Hospital and agreed that strictly observing proper hygiene practices should not negatively affect the public's experience at the fair, he said. "We want everyone to have fun and be safe," Parker added.

The decision comes after officials at the Cuyahoga County Fair banned all swine-related events at their county fair last week because of a recent rash of human cases of H3N2, more commonly known as swine flu.

Cuyahoga fair officials cited "an abundance of caution" as their reasoning for removing swine from the fair, according to a news release.

On Friday, the Lake County General Health District released a statement saying it was monitoring the situation and working closely with the Lake County Fair Board to inform the public. Continued: http://news-herald.com/article...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 08:40:19 AM UTC

H5N1 Story Carried by Associated Press and Canadian Press.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/s...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s...  

"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson

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by: History Lover @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 12:27:59 PM UTC

Link to the Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...  

"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson

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by: History Lover @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 17:56:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

CDC: Rise in Swine Flu Cases

A new strain of swine flu is rising in the U.S. (Snip) Recent reports are contained to Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

(Snip)

Currently there is no vaccine so doctors are urging you to take precautions. "If it becomes human to human transmission as opposed to pig to person, we could be in for quite a ride," said Dr. Thomas Eppes, Forest Family Physicians.

The good news it is still safe to eat pork. Continued: http://www.wset.com/story/1926...  

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 21:41:55 PM UTC

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for August 14, 2012

Thank you!

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. --Unknown

     

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by: Carol@SC @ Tue Aug 14, 2012 at 05:31:08 AM UTC