News Reports for September 24, 2012

India: Surge in swine flu cases (Maharashtra)

PUNE: A whopping 43 people tested positive for swine flu in Pune city last week between September 13 and September 19. A total of 21 people tested positive for the contagion alone on September 18 which is the highest record so far.

"A total 43 people testing positive for swine flu in a week is definitely a high number. If people fail to observe hygiene and continue to remain lax during the festivities, we will probably see more positive cases in the days to come," S T Pardeshi, medical officer of health (MoH), Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

During Ganesh festival, the district administration and the state health department has categorically asked people to avoid crowded places, in view of H1N1's highly contagious nature. "But throwing caution to the wind, people gather in large numbers. They abandon all restrains and mingle in huge numbers at various locations in the city with complete disregard for protective measures. As a result of which the city can see a surge in number of H1N1 infection cases," Pardeshi said. Continued: http://timesofindia.indiatimes...

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 Sep 24, 2012 at 05:51:18 AM UTC

India: Swine flu claims 70-yr-old, toll 7 in city (Madhya Pradesh)

BHOPAL: A 70-year-old woman succumbed to swine flu on Saturday night, taking the death toll to seven in Bhopal. District integrated disease surveillance project (IDSP) sent 8 samples of suspected swine flu cases to the ICMR laboratory in Jabalpur on Sunday evening. (Snip)

The swine flu scare continued as 27 out of 30 undergoing treatment are reportedly in a critical state, according to health officials.

Two samples were sent from private LBS hospital, including that of well-known laparoscopic surgeon, who frequently operates in the same hospital. Other six samples were sent from Rainbow hospital. A cardiac surgeon's wife was among the nine confirmed cases of swine flu on Saturday.

(Snip) confirmed H1N1 cases in the city have been reported from Gandhinagar, Karond, Kolar, Ashoka Garden and Piplani areas.

Test results for about 23 suspected swine flu cases would be known on Monday, as regional medical research centre (RMRC) (Snip)

Medical staff-doctors, nurses and ward staff handling H1N1 patients-are operating without recommended N95 facemasks. These masks are part of personal protection equipment (PPE) made available free to private and government hospitals, authorised for treatment of swine flu victims. Instead of using the IDSP recommended masks, staff and doctors alike continue to use normal masks.

As per government norms, N95 respiratory masks are for necessary for those who come in contact with patients in hospital. "We have provided N95 facemasks according to the requirement received from the hospitals," (Snip)

When asked about lack of protection, a senior doctor at a private hospital treating swine flu victims, said, "I do not think N95 mask is required for me." In the same hospital less than 10 metre from the swine flu isolation ward, medical attendants were having lunch.

Wearing a plastic mask without any protection, an attendant with a 35-year-old H1N1 victim awaits to return home. In close contact with the H1N1 victim for well over a week in an isolation ward under quarantined conditions, the man has not been given Tamiflu as a preventive measure.

(Snip) "As per directions of health officials, attendants of swine flu victims, especially those in close contact, need to be given Tamiflu as a preventive measure," said Dr Shukla. http://timesofindia.indiatimes...

(Note: "The swine flu scare continued as 27 out of 30 undergoing treatment are reportedly in a critical state, according to health officials." Something is seriously wrong here and someone needs to find out what the hell is going on, IMO!!! I'm not going to hold my breath waiting on WHO to do any investigating. As a matter of fact, I think the whole WHO organization has disappeared. Or, maybe they are all just on vacation or maybe we need to wake them up. We sure don't ever hear anything from them anymore!! JMO)

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 Sep 24, 2012 at 06:11:41 AM UTC

Agree - where are the independent observers?

I agree something is wrong, but I can't tell what - are the papers totally over-reacting (I mean, 47 sick people in a city of a million can't be an emergency) or are there more indices of a crisis that aren't being reported? I wish someone could come up with a list of the population of these cities mentioned and then put the numbers of flu-sufferers beside it. I have yet to see a number that seems scary enough, except that in some areas, poor health practices increase the potential to spread out of control.

Tamiflu is not a vaccine, and giving it "as a preventative" will increase the number of Tamiflu-resistent mutations out there, so that is an issue of community education. And that's a doctor recommending it! Bad. Using the masks certainly is an important piece, as is monitoring staff cleaning & basic sanitary practices. But it seems part of the problem is that there's a wide variance in responses from over-reacting to non-reacting, and some independent observer needs to monitor and say whether this is a crisis or a tempest in a teapot.

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by: Cathy M @ Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 13:43:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

India: Jabalpur-based laboratory (Madhya Pradesh)

Chief Secretary R Parasuram sought information from the Health Department about efforts being made to prevent swine flu in the wake of cases at some places in the State.

He sought details of swine flu control and treatment measures from Principal Secretary Health Praveer Krishna and Commissioner Health Pankaj Agrawal. The Chief Secretary directed the department to remain vigilant and alert for tackling apprehension of swine flu at any place in the State. He directed divisional commissioners to supervise disease control efforts in their respective areas. He also directed the Jabalpur-based laboratory to double the capacity of swine flu test.

(Snip) the Principal Secretary also convened a meeting on Saturday in which he reviewed departmental efforts. It was informed at the meeting that necessary medicines are being made available to district hospitals and other health centres for treatment of swine flu. Necessary tests should also be conducted in suspected cases. The Health Department has appealed to citizens to consult doctors at health centres if they suspect about the disease.

(Snip) necessary healthcare facilities are being made available to patients with suspected swine flu. Necessary medicines have been made available at health centres also. Besides medicines, an in-charge has also been posted in every sector for inspection of doctors. A person suffering from constant fever, cold and cough should immediately reach nearest health centre for tests and treatment. (Snip)

The Health Department has directed chief medical and health officers to ensure arrangement for a separate ward in district hospitals. Directives have been given to take samples of a suspected swine flu patient and send the same to prescribed centre and then start treatment according to the report. The Principal Secretary informed that now 100 samples instead of 50 can be tested per day at the Jabalpur lab. (Snip) http://www.dailypioneer.com/st...

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 Sep 24, 2012 at 06:23:52 AM UTC

ProMED: Novel coronavirus, confirmation unrelated patients: WHO

Translated

Source: El Financiero, Mexico

A new virus belonging to the same family as the SARS virus that killed 800 people in 2002 was identified in Britain in a man who was recently in Saudi Arabia said on Sunday the World Health Organization (WHO).

The health agency of the UN, which issued a statement through his system "global alert and response," said the patient examinations, a catarí 49, confirmed the presence of a new coronavirus.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, among which include the common cold and SARS. "As this is a new coronavirus, WHO is currently in the process of getting more information to determine the public health implications," (Snip)

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS, for its acronym in English) appeared in China in 2002 and killed 800 people globally before being controlled.

Peter Openshaw, director of the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College London, said that at this stage it is unlikely that the new virus means a concern and may well have been identified only because sophisticated testing techniques. "For now, be attentive but not immediately concerned," he said.

(Snip) patient catarí went to the doctors for the first time on September 3, 2012 with symptoms of acute respiratory infection. On September 7, was admitted to intensive care unit in Doha, Qatar, on 11 September and was transferred to Britain from Qatar in an air ambulance.

"The Agency for Health Protection UK laboratory tested and confirmed the presence of a novel coronavirus," said WHO.

(Snip) scientists compared gene sequences catarí patient virus with virus samples sequenced by Dutch scientists from lung tissue of a Saudi man who died 60 years earlier this year and that both sequences were almost identical. Openshaw said the fact that the two cases found so far apparently not previously involved suggests that "what has been collected is only a rare event that in the past might have gone undiagnosed."

But he added: "Any evidence of sustained transmission from human to human contact or be more worrisome, raising concerns that another agent as SARS could be emerging." (Snip) http://www.promedmail.org/dire...

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 Sep 24, 2012 at 07:35:20 AM UTC

Outbreak of new coronavirus - same family as SARS - has WHO on alert

The World Health Organization is keeping a close eye on a disease outbreak in Saudi Arabia caused by a virus in the same family as the one that caused SARS.

There have been two confirmed infections with the new coronavirus and tests results are pending on a third suspected case, according to media reports from the Middle East. Two of those three people have died.

While word of a coronavirus outbreak immediately brings SARS to mind, there is too little information at this point to say whether this is anything more than a blip on the viral radar. Still, with pilgrims beginning to gather in Saudi Arabia for next month's Hajj, the public health community is on alert.

(Snip)

There are a large number of coronaviruses. Some infect animals, others infect birds and still others infect people. In humans, coronaviruses typically cause colds. But a coronavirus was also the cause of the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS, which killed 44 people in Toronto and about 775 people worldwide.

The new coronavirus reportedly causes severe pneumonia and kidney failure.

One of the confirmed cases is in intensive care in a hospital in London, Britain's Health Protection Agency said Sunday. A statement from the WHO said the person is a 49-year-old man from Qatar who had travelled to Saudi Arabia before he became sick. He was admitted to intensive care in Doha on Sept. 7, but was transferred to Britain by air ambulance on Sept. 11.

"Given that this is a novel coronavirus, WHO is currently in the process of obtaining further information to determine the public health implications of these two confirmed cases," the WHO statement said. It did not refer to the third suspect case.

Professor John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the Health Protection Agency, said to date there is no sign of spread to health-care workers. That is important because health-care workers often serve as inadvertent sentinels of the spread of infectious diseases. During SARS, for instance, health-care workers were disproportionately affected, catching the new virus from patients they were struggling to save.

(Snip)

(Snip) the British agency's release said there have been other cases of serious respiratory illness in the Middle East over the past three months, including in another person who was treated in Britain. That person has since died, the HPA said.

"This person's illness is also being investigated although there is no evidence at present to suggest that it is caused by the same virus or linked to the other two cases. No other confirmed cases have been identified to date in the UK."

(Snip)

Dr. Ali Mohamed Zaki, a microbiologist from a hospital in Jeddah, revealed that a new coronavirus had been recovered from a 60-year-old man suffering from pneumonia and renal failure. Zaki said the new virus was part of a group of coronaviruses that are closely related to bat coronaviruses.

Tests to confirm that the virus is indeed a newly identified one were conducted at the lab of Dutch microbiologist Ron Fouchier, a leading influenza researcher at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. In an email Sunday, Fouchier said his team compared the genetic sequence of the virus they received from Zaki to that isolated from the patient in London. "The two pieces were 99.5 per cent identical. Although it thus seems that the two cases were caused by the same virus, this is still a premature conclusion," he wrote, cautioning his team had only a small sample of sequence data from the London case to compare to their virus.

The WHO statement said work done in Britain to compare the two viruses also showed they were 99.5 per cent alike.

The WHO is not recommending any travel restrictions at this time. This year's Hajj is expected to take place between Oct. 24 and 29, but according to the Saudi Arabian government's Ministry of Hajj website, the first day for pilgrims to begin to arrive in the Kingdom was Sept. 17. Continued: http://www.660news.com/news/na...

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 Sep 24, 2012 at 08:01:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

New 'Sars-like' coronavirus identified in the UK

A new respiratory illness similar to the Sars virus that spread globally in 2002 and killed hundreds of people has been identified in a man who is being treated in Britain.

The 49-year-old man, who was transferred to a London hospital by air ambulance from Qatar, is the second person confirmed with the coronavirus.

The first case was a patient in Saudi Arabia who has since died.

Officials are still determining what threat the new virus may pose.

More:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/heal...

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by: Ruby Murray @ Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 09:34:14 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

How threatening is the new coronavirus?

Too early to say, basically. Interesting for UK users to remember that the HPA, which identified the virus, is to be abolished under the "Bonfire of the Quangos" announced by the Coalition govt.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/heal...

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by: Ruby Murray @ Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 12:15:11 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

How threatening? We'll find out in about 5-6 weeks.

Hajj is expected to fall between October 24-29, 2012.  About 3 million pilgrims will be in Saudi Arabia from around the world.

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by: AlohaOR @ Tue Sep 25, 2012 at 04:19:35 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

UK: WHO monitoring new virus from same family as SARS in Saudi Arabia, 2 cases reported

LONDON - British health authorities have alerted the U.N. of a new respiratory virus that resembles SARS in a severely ill patient who recently traveled to Saudi Arabia - where another man died of a similar illness earlier this year. The man in the new case was sickened by a coronavirus, which causes most common colds but also causes SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. In 2003, SARS killed hundreds of people, mostly in Asia, in a short-lived outbreak.

Britain's Health Protection Agency and the World Health Organization said in statements that the 49-year-old Qatari national became ill on Sept. 3, having previously traveled to Saudi Arabia. He was transferred from Qatar to Britain on Sept. 11 and is being treated in an intensive care unit at a London hospital for problems including kidney failure.

The Health Protection Agency said it was unaware of any ties the patient had to Britain but that he likely was in a private clinic in the Middle East before being transferred to a London hospital. None of the health workers involved in his care has so far fallen ill with any flu-like illnesses, the agency said.

The U.N. health agency says virus samples from the patient are almost identical to those of a 60-year-old Saudi national who died earlier this year.

Experts said it was unclear how dangerous the virus is. "We don't know if this is going to turn into another SARS or if it will disappear into nothing," said Michael Osterholm (Snip) He said it was crucial to determine the ratio of severe to mild cases. Osterholm also said more information was needed on how the virus is spread - whether it's spread as easily as a common cold or, as in the case of SARS, mostly through close contact and via specific medical procedures like a lung intubation. He said it was worrying that there had been at least one death from the new virus.

"You don't die from the common cold," he said. "This gives us reason to think it might be more like SARS." The SARS virus was particularly deadly and killed about 10 percent of the people it infected. Continued: http://www.washingtonpost.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 Sep 24, 2012 at 15:01:29 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Wealthy Qatari man, 49, contracts new strain of deadly SARS-like virus at home - then hires private jet to Britain for hospital treatment. Now the NHS are paying

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

A Qatari man infected with a potentially-fatal SARS-like virus is being held in quarantine at a London hospital.

The 49-year-old man, who had travelled to Saudi Arabia before falling ill, is in critical condition in an intensive care unit. He has become infected with a new type of virus which experts know little about.

Comment The reporter and the commenters are uptight about the UK paying for this man's treatment. Personally I'd rather a case flew in on a private jet and went straight to a UK hospital than they came in in droves on budget airlines. If there's a virus problem, the sooner the HPA start working on it the better. No negotiating for samples from some dumb health minister of a foreign country.  

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by: UK - Bird @ Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 16:26:05 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Agree! n/t

Meteorologist in Florida!?!  Now we're talkin'!!!

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by: Tempest @ Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 17:35:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hola UK-Bird!!

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

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by: History Lover @ Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 22:19:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hellooooo!

Sorry I'm not around much recently but I'm busy looking after my parents. My Dad's on his third stroke and knows enough to get into trouble but can no longer talk his way out of it and my Mum, not satisfied with every day strains of pneumonia, has now started breeding her own.

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by: UK - Bird @ Tue Sep 25, 2012 at 15:55:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Sorry, UK-Bird, I just saw your post.

I am so sorry that your parents are having health problems.  It sounds like you have your hands full over there.  I suggest a good dose of "Carol's Friday Jokes!"

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

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by: History Lover @ Tue Oct 09, 2012 at 21:34:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

UK: GB reports the return of SARS, Qatari found w/ coronavirus

(AGI) London - A SARS alert is launched again after a 10-year pause. The respiratory syndrome detected in 2002 (Snip) now found in a 49-year old Qatari who is presently hospitalized in Great Britain. Confirmation that it is a case of coronavirus, the same virus as in SARS, was given on Monday (Snip)

The man had been travelling in Saudi Arabia where a fatal case of the disease was reported. After first being hospitalized in Qatar, the man was then transferred to Great Britain (Snip) At the moment, his conditions are critical. The laboratory tests showed that that the virus is practically identical to the one that killed the man in Saudi Arabia.

The World Health Organization has contacted the Health Authorities of Qatar and Saudi Arabia and the Stockholm European Prevention Center. For the time being, there is no evidence that the virus is contagious although the British Agency has already informed that it is a virus that is "different from any other identified in human beings". http://www.agi.it/english-vers...

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 Sep 24, 2012 at 18:15:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

HPA page for new virus

http://www.hpa.org.uk/NewsCent...

Is this similar to SARS?

SARS was also caused by a coronavirus but this is not SARS. Coronaviruses can cause a range of symptoms varying from mild symptoms such as the common cold to more serious respiratory illnesses. The two laboratory confirmed cases have experienced a serious respiratory illlness which makes it similar to SARS in this respect.

[snip]

The incubation period is currently considered to be up to seven days and therefore any respiratory illness occuring in the seven days following last contact with this case is considered relevant and staff should alert their manager / occupational health service as soon as possible. Symptoms would include fever, cough, or other respiratory symptoms.

At the current time any person recently returning from Saudi Arabia or Qatar with a serious respiratory illness should be managed in strict respiratory isolation (ideally a negative pressure room) and all staff should wear PPE as described above.

Comment quotes from linked Q&A and section for health professionals.

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by: UK - Bird @ Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 18:32:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

SARS-Like Virus, Type Of Coronavirus, Detected In The Middle East

(Snip)

Health officials don't know yet whether the virus could spread as rapidly as SARS did or if it might kill as many people. "It's still (in the) very early days," said Gregory Hartl, a WHO spokesman. "At the moment, we have two sporadic cases and there are still a lot of holes to be filled in."

Hartl said it was unclear how the virus spreads. Coronaviruses are typically spread in the air but Hartl said scientists were considering the possibility that the patients were infected directly by animals. He said there was no evidence yet of any human-to-human transmission. "All possible avenues of infection are being explored right now," he said.

So far there is no connection between the cases except for a history of travel in Saudi Arabia. SARS was first spread to humans from civet cats in China.

Hartl said no other countries have so far reported any similar cases to WHO.

Other experts said it was unclear how dangerous the virus is. "We don't know if this is going to turn into another SARS or if it will disappear into nothing," said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota. He said it was crucial to determine the ratio of severe to mild cases. Continued: http://www.huffingtonpost.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 Sep 24, 2012 at 22:07:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Indonesia Says Bird Flu is Under Control; Expert Disagrees

September 24, 2012

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com...

The government is claiming success in its efforts to tackle avian flu despite almost half of all the deaths recorded around the world occurring in Indonesia. Bayu Krisnamurthi, executive chairman of the National Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (Komnas FBPI), told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday that although Indonesia was leading the world in the number of recorded fatalities from bird flu, "the total number of reported cases keeps decreasing."

Since the virus first emerged in 2003, 138 people have died from infections in Indonesia, while the worldwide death toll is less than 300. In 2006 alone, more than 40 Indonesians succumbed to the H5N1 virus. In 2009, however, there were just 13 confirmed deaths from bird flu, the lowest number of fatalities since 2005.

"The virus is still sometimes found in poultry and occasionally in humans, but now people already know how to react and respond to the problems," Bayu said.

He said the improved awareness was proof that the campaigns promoted by the government were working well, and that people were learning about how to prevent transmission and what to do in the event of an outbreak. Bayu said that in a bid to better integrate programs relating to animal diseases that could be jump to humans, also known by the technical term zoonosis, Komnas FBPI's would be replaced when its mandate expired on March 13 with a National Committee on Zoonosis (Komnas Zoonosis).

"What we really need now is a stronger position to be able to not only make recommendations, but also act on those recommendations," he said, adding that the finer details, such as the new body's budget, were yet to be worked out.

Meanwhile, Chairul Anwar Nidom, a virologist with the Tropical Disease Center at Airlangga University in Surabaya, said the government's claims of success in controlling bird flu were premature.

"It depends on how you define the word success," he said. "If it means we have made progress, then yes, we are quite successful, but if it means bird flu in Indonesia is totally under control, then no, we're still far from being successful."

Nidom said that even though the number of human fatalities had declined in 2009, the virus remained endemic in poultry across the country.

"As long as the virus is still here, it still has the possibility to infect humans at any time," he said.

Nidom said bird flu persisted in the nation partly because the government's programs designed to combat its spread were disorganized and inefficient.

"Each ministry works independently, while they should be working together," he said.

"Bird flu is a very complex issue because it affects both the health and economic sectors."

According to Nidom, Komnas FBPI's successor should be granted more wide-ranging powers to make policy and directly implement it in the field.

United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com

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by: cottontop @ Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 09:39:19 AM UTC

Vietnam's new strain of bird flu spreading fast

Local authorities worry that it took just one month to spread from north to central Vietnam, but international experts do not predict a worse scenario than in previous years.

A new strain of the H5N1 virus known as bird flu has appeared in Vietnam, but the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says there is no reason to believe it is any more virulent than previous strains. "In the past, the occurrence of variations in the virus has resulted in limited upsurges of outbreaks and the FAO expects this situation will be the same," the UN agency said in a statement to Vietweek.

According to the Vietnamese Department of Animal Health, bird flu outbreaks have been detected in the northern and central provinces of Ha Tinh, Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh, Bac Kan, Quang Ngai, Hoa Binh and Tuyen Quang, where more than 180,000 chickens and ducks have been culled so far.

"There is a new strain of the H5N1 virus that is spreading fast with a high capacity to kill humans," Diep Kinh Tan, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said at a recent meeting of the National Committee for Avian Influenza Disease Control and Prevention. "The central government is very concerned," he said.

(Snip)

Hoang Van Nam, acting director of the Department of Animal Health, said the new H5N1 strain is "more toxic" than previous ones. He said the strain belongs to a subclade of the 2.3.2.1 clade that infected poultry in Vietnam in 2011. "There is a high possibility that this new subclade will spread wider," he said.

(Snip)

Smuggled chicks to blame?

Nguyen Thanh Son, deputy director of the Husbandry Department said he suspected that the source of the new strain of infected poultry was chicken smuggled into the country from China. "The virus spread where the smuggled chicken was being brought to," he explained.

Deputy minister Tan instructed the Husbandry Department to step up surveillance efforts aimed at preventing newly-hatched chickens from China from entering Vietnam for breeding, which carries far greater risk of spreading the virus than chicken for food.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), bird flu has been especially deadly in Vietnam, which has recorded at least 61 deaths among 122 infected patients since 2003. Continued: http://www.thanhniennews.com/i...

(Note: Well, I can only imagine how serious the situation is in China!!!)

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 Sep 24, 2012 at 18:27:16 PM UTC

Ron Fouchier on the New Coronavirus: We Need to Fulfill Koch's Postulates

http://news.sciencemag.org/sci...

[snip]

Q: Do you want to study this new virus?

R.F.: Yes, we do. We've written a case report with Dr. Zaki about this first case and we're working on the annotation of the full genome, which we'll write up as a paper as well. But of course we'll need to start doing animal experiments. Initially, we assumed it was one isolated case in Saudi Arabia; now that the virus has surfaced in London as well, I think we'll need to become a bit more aggressive.

For starters, we'll find out whether animals get sick from this virus. You can isolate a virus from a patient, but that does not mean they died from it; to show that it causes disease you need to fulfill Koch's postulates. That's what we did for SARS, and it's what we hope to do here; we've applied for emergency ethical approval. The most obvious animal species to put this virus in are mice, ferrets, and perhaps monkeys. We've got to see what we can get approval for.

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by: UK - Bird @ Mon Sep 24, 2012 at 19:01:42 PM UTC

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for September 25, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Tue Sep 25, 2012 at 04:12:06 AM UTC