News Reports for May 31, 2012

US: CDC Says Flu Season is Over

CDC says this was one of mildest flu seasons on record. If you managed to avoid catching the flu this year you may be in the clear.
(Snip)
All in all, the CDC says this season was mild compared to other years.

(Snip) 26 children died from the illness, the lowest number since the CDC started tracking this data.

(Snip) this year also set a new record for having lowest and shortest peak for flu-like illness since it started keeping track. The mild winter and the fact that more people are getting flu shots could account for that. http://www.wtvy.com/alabamanew...

 

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 @ Thu May 31, 2012 at 05:15:33 AM UTC

Rapid Virus Detection With New H5N1 Test Kit

There's that old adage, better to be prepared than to be sorry. Researchers have made it possible to be prepared in the case of a pandemic outburst of the H5N1 virus (Snip)  An effective and quick H5N1 bird flu test kit has been made available after a collaborative effort among the Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC), the Agency for Science and Technology Research (A*STAR), as well as clinicians from Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH). Doctors can quickly determine all existing strands of the H5N1 virus within an hour with the help of the kit. Makers of the kit believe that it assists various public healthcare groups in preparing against H5N1

(Snip)

"In the event of a pandemic, the most crucial thing is to identify the pathogens - what is causing the problems. The second is to seek the proper medical care for treating patients. Thirdly, if the pathogens are highly infectious to the community, we must prevent further spread of the infection using accurate and rapid diagnostic test is one of the immediate medical needs. Until now, there was no H5N1 injection kit," explained Dr. Masafumi Inoue, a Senior Research Scientist and Project Director of Technology Development from ETC.

The made-in-Singapore H5N1 test kit, otherwise known as the 5N1 real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) assay, is currently the only device that can detect all the strains of the H5N1 virus quickly and effectively within a few hours. The test was developed by Inoue and Dr. Timothy Barkham, a senior consultant of Laboratory Medicine from TTSH.

"We managed to develop a kit that could now rapidly and accurately detect all existing strands of H5N1... We have managed to provide solutions to critical problems that will benefit the health care of the public immensely," remarked Inoue. "We are excited to be able to contribute to the fight against H5N1 virus with our expertise and know-how. Our technology has greatly simplified and accelerated the process of detection and identification of new H5N1 variants. Such information is especially critical when the virus mutates to become more dangerous, such as in drug resistance."

The new H5N1 test is also compatible with the "4-plex" Influenza diagnostic kit that is currently used by a number of hospitals in Thailand. The researchers believe that using multiple assays will help detect and diagnose the different types of influenza in a rapid manner with a single test. The test will decrease costs and time spent by hospital labs and clinicians in determining key factors of the influenza. Continued:  http://www.redorbit.com/news/h...

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 @ Thu May 31, 2012 at 05:27:00 AM UTC

Researchers fight flu with antiviral manufactured genes

An international team of researchers has demonstrated methods for using manufactured genes as antivirals that disable key processes within the influenza virus in a new study.

Tim Whitehead, an assistant professor of chemical engineering and materials science at Michigan State University, and his colleagues used computer-aided design to create proteins to target the virus's vulnerable sites. The team then optimized the proteins by finding the mutations that gave the proteins the best advantage when attacking the viruses, Medical News Today reports.

"Our most potent design has proven effective on the vulnerable sites on many pandemic influenza viruses, including several H1N1 (Spanish flu, swine flu) and H5N1 (avian flu) subtypes," Whitehead, the paper's co-lead author, said, according to Medical News Today. "These new therapeutics are urgently needed, so we were especially pleased to see that it neutralizes H1N1 viruses with potency." Continued: http://vaccinenewsdaily.com/me...

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 @ Thu May 31, 2012 at 05:40:04 AM UTC

Study: Antibodies to human flu viruses common in Cambodian pigs

CIDRAP: A serologic study of Cambodian pigs found for the first time that exposure to human influenza A is relatively common in the country's swine (Snip) The group from Cambodia's Pasteur Institute based its findings on an analysis of 1,147 blood samples obtained from pigs going through a slaughterhouse in Phnom Penh from 2006 to 2010.

They noted that most Cambodian swine are raised on small farms in proximity to humans and other animal species. So far, swine influenza viruses have never been isolated in Cambodia, and only rarely in surrounding countries. Antibodies against influenza A were detected in 14.9% of samples.

The 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus was found after the pandemic virus reached Cambodia and was the most frequently found virus, peaking in 2010, followed by seasonal H1N1 and H3N2 subtypes, which peaked in 2008. Researchers found that some of the pigs had been exposed to more than one human flu virus, a factor they said could lead to reassortment events that could produce new pathogenic variants. Tests on 150 random samples found no evidence of H5N1 avian influenza exposure. (Snip) http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr...

May 29 Influenza Other Respi Viruses abstract http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com...

(Note: IMO, 150 random samples tested for H5N1 exposure (presence of antibodies) is to small to mean anything since there are millions of pigs in Cambodia.)

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 @ Thu May 31, 2012 at 06:26:11 AM UTC

Without adjuvant, H1N1 vaccine induces weak response in dialysis patients

CIDRAP: A study from Taiwan suggests that a single dose of 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine without an adjuvant induces only a weak immune response in adult and elderly hemodialysis patients, according to a report today in Vaccine. The researchers administered the monovalent vaccine to 110 hemodialysis patients and 173 healthy volunteers. Only 25.4% of adult (ages 18 to 60) and 23.4% of elderly (over 60) dialysis patients showed seroconversion (at least a fourfold increase in hemagglutination-inhibition antibody titer) after vaccination. Similarly, both groups showed only a 1.8-fold increase in geometric mean titer after vaccination. Immune responses were significantly higher in the healthy volunteers. Continued: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidr...

May 30 Vaccine abstract http://www.sciencedirect.com/s...

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 @ Thu May 31, 2012 at 06:42:24 AM UTC

Please post new news stories to...

News Reports for June 1, 2012

Thank you!

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by: AlohaOR @ Fri Jun 01, 2012 at 05:05:04 AM UTC