New Vaccine Thwarts Deadly Bird Flu in Mice

[Clara T]

New Vaccine Thwarts Deadly Bird Flu in Mice
By VOA News
02 February 2006


A published report says U.S. researchers have engineered a vaccine that protects mice from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed 85 people worldwide since 2003.
The report was published online by the British medical journal, The Lancet, Thursday one day after two birds in Hong Kong tested positive for the deadly strain.

While traditional vaccines target only one specific type of flu, scientists say a new adenovirus vaccine may also protect against mutations of the virus.

Studies show the adenoviruses trigger two reactions in the body. It activates the body's antiflu antibodies, the body's first line of defense against influenza.
Scientists say the vaccine also activates white blood cells known as T-cells, which create long-lasting immunity to viruses and bacteria.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-02-02-voa6.cfm

There is a simple way to tell whether the stories you are reading about avian flu are likely propaganda or legitimate. Apply this list of questions:
Who wrote it?
Who funded it?
Is it short on fact, long on interpretation and editorializing?
Does it cite sources for the statements made and the statistics mentioned?
Does it make scientific presumptions it does not back up?
Is the only solution to the problem presented a drug or a vaccine?
Is there an abundance of emotional trigger words throughout the report?
How many times is the word pandemic used?
Is there any suggestion that the avian flu threat might just fade out on its own?
Does the article pretend like H5N1 is a proven cause of avian flu?
Does the report assume that germs are the only possible cause of disease?

[SlipperySlope]

1. Thank God; the Mice will be safe...

N/T

[tocqueville]

2. ban the mice/men hybrids nt

[savemefromdumbya]

3. well yes the mice will be lining up for their shots

Does anyone know how the human vaccine is progressing - they are currently doing some trials in Baltimore and in NIH and other centers throughout the country?

[Clara T]

4. Nature abhors a vacuum - new funding requires new threats

Historical context is certainly relevant: avian flu is right on schedule, with the winding down of the post 9/11 smallpox vaccine and SARS vaccine programs. In these two instances, appropriate hysteria was whipped up, billions were spent, and magically - poof! - both threats disappeared.

[HuffleClaw]

5. so after it kills us pesky humans off...

MICE will inherit the earth!

[radwriter0555]

6. HEY now they can test it in IRAQIS! You know, since the mysterious bird

flu has SOMEHOW found its way to Iraq... a nation with very little import or export trade, and with very little international travel!

It's a fukcing MIRACLE how the bird flu got to iraq, now isn't it?

Yes, test the iraqis to SAVE the iraqis! It's all in the name of SAVING THE IRAQIS.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

9. Umm...

Turkey has bird flu. Look at a map. Bird migration has nothing to do with import/export trade or international travel.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

7. In healthy humans, it is the overwhelming antibody response that.....

...that fills the lungs with fluid, thus drowning the patient. That's why so many previously healthy people have died from Avian Flu, and why so many people died from the 1918 Flu Pandemic.

We simply don't need ANY vaccine that "activates the body's antiflu antibodies, the body's first line of defense against influenza."

[I_Make_Mistakes]

8. OK I haven't been here much recently. This is a re cap from the

Philadelphia Area news last week. The University of Pittsburgh, PA, has a flu vaccine that has worked on chickens. The news report stated both mice and birds, and does not require eggs for production. They can grow the live virus in a month, in a test tube.

They are starting human testing soon.

Here is the partial article and link:

Vaccine Provides 100 Percent Protection Against Avian Flu Virus In Animal Study
Vaccine can be made in short time and induces robust immune response in mice and chickens against the deadly H5N1 virus
January 26, 2006 – University of Pittsburgh researchers announced they have genetically engineered an avian flu vaccine from the critical components of the deadly H5N1 virus that completely protected mice and chickens from infection. Avian flu has devastated bird populations in Southeast Asia and Europe and so far has killed more than 80 people.
Because this vaccine contains a live virus, it may be more immune-activating than avian flu vaccines prepared by traditional methods, say the researchers. Furthermore, because it is grown in cells, it can be produced much more quickly than traditional vaccines, making it an extremely attractive candidate for preventing the spread of the virus in domestic livestock populations and, potentially, in humans, according to the study, published in the Feb 15 issue of the Journal of Virology and made available early online.
“The results of this animal trial are very promising, not only because our vaccine completely protected animals that otherwise would have died, but also because we found that one form of the vaccine stimulates several lines of immunity against H5N1,” said Andrea Gambotto, M.D., assistant professor in the departments of surgery and molecular genetics and biochemistry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and lead author of the study.
Dr. Gambotto and his colleagues constructed the vaccine by genetically engineering a common cold virus, called adenovirus, to express either all or parts of an avian influenza protein called hemagglutinin (HA) on its surface. Found on the surface of all influenza viruses, HA allows the virus to attach to the cell that is being infected and is, therefore, critical to the influenza virus’ ability to cause illness and death.

http://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/content.php?page=732&context=ContextNews

Please read. I have not been here for awhile, and don't know if this was posted. My search results were a little weird. This appearred in the Phila. area news last week for a 1 day cycle and I can't find out why.

Main points, no need for eggs (which, dah, with avian flu could cause a problem, and 1 month petri dish turnaround!).

http://www.publichealth.pitt.edu/content.php?page=732&context=ContextNews