In an effort to improve the tracking of avian influenza, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded $5 million in support for a new initiative that will monitor wild bird populations for the disease around the globe, according to the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which will spearhead the project involving more than a dozen private and public partners.
The University of Massachusetts Medical School has partnered with British immunotherapeutics company PowderMed to advance the development of a potential vaccine for avian flu. Under the agreement, PowderMed's leading DNA vaccine candidate for avian flu (H5) will be tested and analyzed in the lab of Shan Lu, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and leader of the UMMS DNA vaccine efforts.
News media are full of scary headlines about the H5N1 bird flu virus and the possibility that it might spread among the human population. Yet researchers note that no human flu pandemic has ever involved a flu virus of the H5 subtype. On the other hand, the H5N1 virus has already jumped from birds to pigs and cats, as well as infecting some people, suggesting it might have the capacity to develop into a flu that passes directly from one human to another. So should we be afraid"”or cynical? Neither, says the June issue of the Harvard Health Letter.
In a bird flu pandemic, prioritizing the elderly, infants and infirm for scarce vaccine supplies may not be smart, argue two bioethicists in a new paper appearing in the journal Science. Accounting for life expectancy and an individual's investment in the future might just move healthy college students toward the front of the line.
The TV movie ""Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" raised questions about the U.S. ability to handle a pandemic. C. Ed Hsu, an expert in public health emergency preparedness for disease and bioterrorism at the University of Maryland looks at some of the issues the movie raised.
The emergence of the avian influenza virus H5N1 that is currently devastating chicken flocks in many countries and threatening to unleash a worldwide epidemic among humans has triggered a renewed interest among scientists in studying influenza A viruses, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
A commercially developed vaccine has successfully protected mice and ferrets against a highly lethal avian influenza virus, according to the investigator who led the study at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The vaccine was developed by Vical Incorporated in San Diego, California.
Based on a clinical model created by the CDC, Dr. Eva Lee, a professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech, has developed a program, called RealOpt, to help U.S. state, city and county health care departments organize and test the most efficient plan for treating infectious illness, whether it's a natural or man-made pandemic. The DeKalb County Department of Health in Georgia is already using the program, and it's being installed at health departments all over the State of Georgia over the next few months. It's slated to be tested in 35 other states, starting with installation for the State of Virginia. The program will soon be available free to all U.S. health departments.
Over 40 percent of public health employees surveyed said they are unlikely to report to work during an influenza pandemic. Local public health workers would play a vital role in responding to a pandemic. The survey was conducted in Maryland by the Center for Public Health Preparedness at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Is a bird flu pandemic "inevitable," as so many health experts believe? Is there a way to protect yourself and your family from this deadly virus? A new report from Harvard Medical School answers these and other urgent questions. This in-depth report goes behind the alarming headlines to provide the most accurate information based on the latest scientific research and practical advice of Harvard doctors.
The Mount Sinai School of Medicine announced today it will collaborate with the prestigious Bionostra Group of Spain to develop an avian flu vaccine. The vaccine will protect against the lethal infection of the H5N1 virus.
Government policies in Burma that restrict public health and humanitarian aid have created an environment where AIDS, drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria and bird flu (H5N1) are spreading unchecked.
A new study of cells in the human respiratory tract reveals a simple anatomical difference in the cells of the system that makes it difficult for the virus to jump from human to human.
Researchers studying a lethal canine virus and a related human virus have determined why the canine virus was able to spread quickly from cats to dogs. Their findings provide a new understanding of the molecular factors that enable viruses to jump from one species to another.
A five-year, $10.7 million federal grant supports research on how adults and children with impaired immune systems respond to influenza vaccine. In addition to common flu, added concerns over potential threats such as an avian flu pandemic or weaponized flu constitute a biodefense issue.
Pet owners can combat animal illness with cleanliness and educated observation, and wellness veterinarians from Purdue University recommend the same procedure in the case of bird flu.
New research from scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and the University of Washington in Seattle suggests that containment can buy time to prepare, but containment alone is not enough to stop a flu pandemic from occurring.
Four new scientific teams joined an international research network developing computer-based simulations of pandemic flu and other infectious disease outbreaks. The results could aid health officials and policymakers in developing preparedness plans for outbreaks that occur naturally or deliberately.
Investigators have completed the first large-scale study of bird flu virus genomes, thereby doubling the amount of genetic information available on the genes and proteins of these viruses. The results of the project could lead to major insights into the bird flu virus known as H5N1, the researchers said.
As avian flu outbreaks occur in Turkey and possibly travel beyond, effective global networks of medical professionals with capabilities to track, monitor and communicate about emerging infections will be essential.
A new study testing an avian flu vaccine in children starts today at Saint Louis University's Center for Vaccine Development.
This symposium brings together 23 national avian flu experts from avian flu research, public health agencies, vaccine and anti-viral manufacturing companies, business preparedness experts, and first-responder experts for an all-day discussion to give the latest information on this threat.
RTI International has experts available to address issues concerning a bird flu outbreak.
An editorial paints a picture of a world population very susceptible to an avian flu pandemic, but also offers suggestions to physicians that could help answer questions presented by patients who may be feeling anxious about the "bird flu."
A new article puts in perspective some "startling" new research regarding Avian flu.
The federal government recently announced a $7.1 billion national strategy to combat pandemic influenza. To help your audience understand the various issues surrounding the Asian Bird Flu, expert sources are available at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
How many lives could be saved if we could peer into a "crystal ball" and see what medical threats loom in the future? Researchers may have achieved the medical equivalent when they developed and patented a technique to reconstruct and characterize the Spanish flu of 1918.
Dr. Brian Currie, Senior Medical Director at Montefiore Medical Center and Professor of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is a specialist in epidemiology and infectious diseases. He is informed and frequently quoted in national media about flu viruses and H5N1.
Private businesses need to act sooner rather than later in preparing for a possible avian flu outbreak, says William Stanhope, associate director of the Institute for Biosecurity at Saint Louis University School of Public Health.
The federal government needs to take a lead in directing state and local health departments to prepare for an avian flu pandemic, says Greg Evans, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Biosecurity at Saint Louis University School of Public Health.
In a free, public lecture on Saturday, December 3, 2005 at 5:30pm in Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's Grace Auditorium, Dr. Kanta Subbarao will address these and many other intriguing questions about the H5N1 influenza strain of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu.
To many agricultural purists, corporate control of food production is for the birds. The business model, however, could be a key component in preventing an outbreak of avian influenza within the U.S. poultry industry, say two poultry experts based at Purdue University.
The avian flu is likely to place a huge financial strain on U.S. hospitals unless the government offsets losses not covered by insurance, authors of a book chapter on international health management predict. The researchers studied how SARS affected Taiwan hospitals in 2002-2003.
SDSU's Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory is making preparations to become a testing center for the highly virulent strain of avian influenza identified as H5N1.
Avian influenza virus samples collected from wild birds in Mongolia by veterinarians from the New York City-based Wildlife Conservation Society have been selected by the World Health Organization to be part of a new human pandemic influenza vaccine currently in development.
Researchers at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering have developed software that is helping public health officials design vaccination clinics and streamline processes to ensure that the optimal number of people will be vaccinated quickly, especially in times of crisis.
In the absence of a specific avian flu vaccine, could antiviral drugs thwart a pandemic should the virus spread from birds to humans? One person with a detailed knowledge of that subject is Dr. Anne Moscona, an infectious-disease expert at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Concern about avian flu is spreading internationally. Kenneth McIntosh, MD, emeritus chief of the division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital Boston, has studied historical outbreaks and can provide detailed information about potential strains, mutations and vaccines.
Thanks to a new technique to more efficiently produce the disarmed viruses that are the seed stock for making flu vaccine in large quantities, life-saving inoculations needed to fight an influenza pandemic may be available more readily than before.
Virologists at Cornell University's Animal Health Diagnostic Center isolate hundreds of respiratory and intestinal tract samples each month from New York City's live bird markets in an effort to root out any types of avian influenza virus and prevent such a flu in humans.
Understanding how the avian flu virus enters and infects a cell may lead to new vaccines and antiviral drugs that will be critical if a virulent form of bird flu jumps to humans.
Experts from the Virginia Tech and University of Maryland campuses of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine will brief media on avian flu and other looming infectious animal-human diseases, effects of disasters on animals and their owners, and emergency preparedness for disease and disaster.
Health officials have issued warnings for months about the danger the avian flu could pose to humans, but an expert from Purdue University says that while the threat is real, there is a great deal that can be done to stop a worst-case scenario.
Alfonso Torres, director of the Animal Health Diagnostic Center and associate dean for veterinary public policy at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, discusses the avian flu virus and international policy to deal with it.
A harmless virus used as a delivery vehicle may help set a roadblock for a potentially catastrophic human outbreak of bird flu, according to researchers at Purdue University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Wildlife health experts from the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society warn that efforts to control the spread of avian flu across Asia and beyond must focus on better management practices on farms and in markets.
A carefully chosen combination of public health measures, if implemented early, could stop the spread of an avian flu outbreak at its source, suggest two international teams of researchers.
Governments around the world must stop burying their heads in the sand over the growing threat of a global epidemic of avian flu, argues a GP.
A group of scientists and veterinarians from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society today applauded China's decision to ban trade in wild birds to help prevent the spread of Avian Flu.
A group of scientists and wildlife health experts say that closing Asia's wild bird markets would reduce the spread of Avian flu. The markets place tens of thousands of wild and domestic birds in close quarters, allowing diseases to make the jump between wild animals, livestock, and ultimately humans.
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