This is an arm band which serves as a reminder to be a blessing. Cool.

See the site too: bandofblessing.org

On one side there is quite a bit of surprise that this would come in the month of June since birds are not migrating right now. On the other side, since bird flu broke out on a turkey farm in neighboring Czech Republic last week it is feasible that the cases are related. The Czech border is only 120 Km (75 miles) from Nuremberg where the swans were found dead.

As usual Germany sprang into action and cordoned off a 4 km area. All pets must be kept close at hand and Germany’s national laboratory for avian flu testing is busy on the scene to test and control all animals in the area. The German TV was quick to mention that there is no immediate danger to humans although deaths have been reported in Egypt and Indonesia confirmed its 100th case, in a 27- year-old man from Riau just in the last few weeks.

The last known case of Bird Flu in Germany was August 1, 2006 when a black Australian swan was found dead at the Dresden Zoo in eastern Germany. It appeared to be an isolated case.

Germany continues to be vigilant and open about its findings of H5N1 cases and it is expected that this case will be controllable. More news headlines are here &rarr:

However, behind all those headlines (all of which you can read in our “Current Headlines” section) there were also so interesting stories about vaccines being developed.

Just days ago, GlaxoSmithKline reported that tests of the company’s bird flu vaccine candidate indicate the treatment works for other versions of the virus as well. This would work as a type of primer to help the bodies immune system adjust according to GSK’s England office.

Also being reported is that scientists in Perth, Australia have had promising results from their hard work (although a few scientists had to be quarantined for fear they had been breathing the virus).

Of course vaccine trials are always going on with various companies involved. However, it is good to see that behind the bad news headlines of H5N1 spreading, some good news is emerging as well.

Unlike conventional flu vaccines, which are developed by growing the influenza virus in hens’ eggs and then administered as a weakened or killed form of the virus, DNA-based vaccines contain only portions of the influenza virus’ genetic material. Once inside the body, the DNA instructs human cells to make proteins that act as a vaccine against the virus.

VRC Director Gary Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., together with a team of scientists from the VRC recognized the potential for employing new vaccine technology against influenza, a disease for which effective vaccines have long been made, but for which the reliability of supply and manufacturing capacity has been problematic. Dr. Nabel and his colleagues previously have shown the DNA vaccine approach to be effective against influenza viruses in animal models, including highly pathogenic viruses such as the H5N1 strain and the H1N1 virus that caused the deadly 1918 pandemic. The DNA vaccine used in this study is similar to other investigational vaccines evaluated by the VRC that hold promise for controlling other viruses, such as HIV, Ebola, SARS and West Nile.

“An effective H5N1 influenza vaccine would provide a potentially life-saving advance against a global health threat,” notes NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.”More broadly, development of this DNA vaccine technology has the potential to improve our production capacity for vaccines to prevent seasonal influenza and other diseases.”

“This influenza vaccine trial is further evidence of the ability of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center to rapidly translate basic research into potential products,” he adds.”Our accelerated effort to understand and find new solutions to pandemic influenza is part of the NIAID commitment to respond to new emerging infectious disease threats and to improve public health preparedness.”

Highly pathogenic avian influenza A viruses, specifically H5N1, have emerged in the past decade, causing widespread sickness and death in domestic and wild bird populations. As of December 27, 2006, 261 laboratory-confirmed human cases of H5N1 had been reported to the World Health Organization, resulting in death of more than half of infected individuals. While human cases remain relatively rare and are largely the result of direct virus transmission from infected birds, a few cases of human-to-human transmission have been reported. The severity of disease and the potential for human-to-human spread has provided a major incentive to accelerate developing a human vaccine for avian influenza.

With the spread of avian influenza virus, new strains have emerged, including clade II viruses in Indonesia and elsewhere that have drifted genetically from the initial strains detected in Southeast Asia. With this study, the investigators hope to learn whether new technologies, such as DNA vaccines, can provide protection against such viruses.

“This vaccine is aimed at newer strains of the H5N1 virus that currently pose a threat in Indonesia and represents an example of our ability to respond to shifting viruses with modern technology,” says Dr. Nabel.

The study will enroll 45 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 60. Fifteen will receive placebo injections and 30 will receive three injections of the investigational vaccine over 2 months and will be followed for 1 year. Volunteers will not be exposed to influenza virus.

The vaccine contains no infectious material, and the virus was not present during any stage of the manufacturing process, notes Julie E. Martin, D.O., principal investigator of the study. “It is impossible for the vaccine to cause infection,” she adds, “because it employs new technology known to safely stimulate broad immune responses.” NIAID researchers will measure immune responses to the vaccine, assess its safety, and compare its potency to more traditional vaccine approaches.

Individuals interested in enrolling in the trial may visit http://www.clinicaltrials.gov or call the VRC toll-free at-LIFE (5433).

The candidate vaccine, synthesized using a modified version of the hemagglutinin (H) gene from the H5N1 influenza virus, was manufactured at the VRC Vaccine Pilot Plant. This is the first VRC candidate vaccine manufactured at the VRC Vaccine Pilot Plant. The candidate vaccine went from the research bench into clinical trials in less than 6 months.

INTERNATIONAL COALITION COMES TOGETHER FOR GREATER TRANSPARENCY OF AVIAN FLU DATA

H5N1 Data to be Shared by More Than 70 Top Flu Scientists in New Partnership

Contact: Lorie Fiber

LOS ANGELES > A group of leading medical researchers from around the world announced the formation of a consortium designed to improve the sharing of influenza data, analyze data findings jointly, and publish the results collaboratively as part of the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID). This initiative was announced today in a letter published online by the website for the journal Nature. Among the letter’s 70 signatories are six Nobel laureates.

Data collected under the Initiative will be deposited in three publicly available databases participating in the International Sequence Database Collaboration. GISAID’s policies for rapid and complete data release are modeled upon those already established for other initiatives, such as data on DNA sequence variations in the human genome.

The GISAID consortium not only spans national borders, but scientific disciplines as well, with leaders in the fields of Veterinary Medicine, Human Medicine, Bio-Informatics, and Intellectual Property. This cross-disciplinary effort will provide new means to communicate and share information, as each discipline has distinct interests but also shares similar goals.

The Initiative is coming together to work around restrictions which have previously prevented influenza information sharing, with the hope that more shared information will help researchers understand how viruses spread, evolve, and potentially become pandemic.

The GISAID consortium is open to all scientists, provided they agree to share their own data, credit the use of others data, analyze findings jointly, and publish results collaboratively. The three major publicly available databases participating in the International Sequence Database Collaboration are the EBML in the United Kingdom, DDBJ Japan and US based GenBank. The consortium would publish the data as soon as possible after analysis and validation, with a maximum time window of six months to be reduced in time.

The Initiative has earned widespread international support around the goal of better understanding the spread and evolution of the influenza virus, its transmissibility and pathogenicity. With this goal in mind, the group determined scientists from different fields of expertise needed full access to comprehensive genetic sequencing, clinical and epidemiological data, and analysis from both human and animal isolates in order to better understand the virus and its potential mutation to a pandemic pathogen. It is already hailed as a model for future initiatives.

Additional information is available about the consortium and a full list of signatories to the letter is posted at www.gisaid.org and on www.nature.com

CONTACTS:

Peter Bogner (Director GISAID, Santa Monica, CA, USA)

Nancy Cox (Chief of Influenza Division, CDC, Atlanta, GA, USA)

Ilaria Capua (Director of Virology, Padova, Italy)

——————-

A July 24 joint press release from the agencies describes GLEWS as a Web-based electronic platform that will combine data accumulated from all three agencies and their diverse constituencies to detect outbreaks or patterns of disease, and issue warnings as appropriate.

Background:

In January 2005, following the tsunami disaster, Secretary General Kofi Annan called for a global early warning system for all hazards and all communities. Later, as a step toward this goal, he requested the ISDR secretariat and its UN partners to undertake a global survey of capacities, gaps and opportunities in respect to early warning systems.

Sound scientific information, including an understanding of the environment and migratory bird populations, is a necessity for understanding the HPAI H5N1 epidemic. HPAI H5N1 is an avian virus. Humans and other mammals are currently aberrant hosts.

Early detection is essential for the control or eradication of Asian lineage HPAI H5N1. FAO, OIE, and WHO – Global Livestock Early Warning and Response System (GLEWS).

Based on other Global Networks

In April 2000, WHO and partners started the Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network (GOARN) with the aim to combating the international spread of outbreaks among humans.

The achievements of GOARN are impressive. Since April 2000, the network has established detailed standard operating procedures and documents on its structure, an outbreak verification procedure, guiding principles on alert and response, logistical support, and a communications protocol, providing a basis for international collaboration during major outbreaks. However, GLEWS is still necessary.

GLEWS has the potential to be enhanced to also track the spread of HPAI H5N1 in populations of wild birds. The integration of The Global Avian Influenza Network for Surveillance (GAINS) into this EWS is encouraged. This system must be rapid, transparent, and have local, national and international levels.

Link to the PowerPoint Presentation of GLEWS

Link to the U.S. Department of State article entitled: U.N. Health Agencies Launch New Disease-Detection Mechanism

View the 6 minute video called Global Alert, Global Response (windows media player file) (very good)

Details are given about quarantines and border closures although stressing that defence against bird flu is difficult. But the principle goal of the US “implementation plan” is, “the capacity for every American to have a vaccine in the case of a pandemic, no matter what the virus is”, according to the Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt. The plan also stresses more methods to develop vaccines. The government already has ordered $162.5 million worth of vaccine against Asian bird flu.

Specifically, the US implementation plan costs $ 7.1 billion including:

* $1.2 billion for the government to buy enough doses of the vaccine against the current strain of bird flu to protect 20 million Americans; the administration wants to have sufficient vaccine for front-line emergency personnel and at-risk populations, including military personnel.

* $1 billion to stockpile more anti-viral drugs that lessen the severity of the flu symptoms.

* $2.8 billion to speed the development of vaccines as new strains emerge, a process that now takes months. The goal is to have the manufacturing capability by 2010 to brew enough vaccine for every American within six months’ of a pandemic’s start.

* $583 million for states and local governments to prepare emergency plans to respond to an outbreak.

President George W. Bush announced the initial plan in November, 2005. Congress approved about half that amount but is likely to approve the rest soon. “At this moment there is no pandemic influenza in the United States or the world, but if history is our guide there’s reason to be concerned,” Bush said. “In the last century, our country and the world have been hit by three influenza pandemics, and viruses from birds contributed to all of them.”

“The 1918 pandemic was followed by pandemics in 1957 and 1968, which killed tens of thousands of Americans and millions across the world,” continued Bush. “If a pandemic strikes, our country must have a surge capacity in place that will allow us to bring a new vaccine online quickly and manufacture enough to immunize every American against the pandemic strain,” Bush said.

The H5N1 avian bird flu virus has infect 205 people and killed 113 of them in nine countries, according to the World Health Organization.

With a few mutations it could become easily transmitted from person to person and spark a pandemic. And experts say H5N1 looks closer to doing this than any other new flu virus seen in the past 30 years.

Sources :: Health and Human Services (HHS) ; Reuters

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