What Happened to the Flu Pandemic?
Normally, this is the peak period for the flu in the United States. But that just doesn’t seem to be the case this year.
The number of states reporting widespread cases of the flu mysteriously plunged from 49 at the end of October to zero at the beginning of the January, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the beginning of March, most states are only reporting sporadic cases of the flu.
It seems only a few short weeks ago when medical authorities declared a flu pandemic, the first in more than 40 years, and warned that because of the simultaneous existence of both the H1N1 and regular seasonal flu strains, the 2009-10 flu season could wind up as one of the worst on record.
So what happened?
Only time will tell, said Dr. Michael Koller, associate professor, in Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood. Flu pandemics are highly unpredictable and no one can say for certain when one will start, when it will end and how severe it may be. A particular flu strain can go “poof” and disappear, or it could mutate and ramp up with a deadly vengeance, as has happened in the past. (more…)
Will Genomics Help Prevent the Next Pandemic?
This week, the Public Library of Science, an open-access publisher, presents the “Genomics of Emerging Infectious Disease,” a collection of essays, perspectives, and reviews that explores how genomics—with all its associated tools and techniques—can provide insights into our understanding of emerging infectious disease.
As pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza (commonly referred to as swine flu) continues to spread around the globe, people want to know if this flu poses more of a threat than other seasonal flu strains, how fast it’s spreading (and where), and what can be done to contain it. The increasing speed at which complete genome sequences and other genome-scale data can be generated provides tremendous opportunities to address these questions by identifying the molecular changes in disease agents such as influenza viruses that will enable us to track their spread and evolution and to generate the vaccines and drugs necessary to combat them. The “Genomics of Emerging Infectious Disease” collection discusses the challenges involved and how scientists and public health professionals might take advantage of these opportunities and advances to prevent the next pandemic. (more…)
Future Pandemics: Protein from Algae Shows Promise for Stopping SARS
Shanghai SARS Alert.
A protein from algae may have what it takes to stop Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) infections, according to new research. A recent study has found that mice treated with the protein, Griffithsin (GRFT), had a 100 percent survival rate after exposure to the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV), as compared to a 30 percent survival for untreated mice.
The research will be presented at the American Thoracic Society’s 105th International Conference in San Diego on Wednesday, May 20.
Despite its dramatic entrance into the domain of worldwide public health threats in 2002, little headway has been made therapeutically toward preventing or treating SARS after infection. But GRFT, a lectin protein derived from algae, offers a new possible hope. GRFT is thought to exert its anti-viral effects by altering the shape of the sugar molecules that line the virus’ envelope, allowing it to attach to and invade human cells, where it takes over the cells’ reproductive machinery to replicate itself. Without that crucial ability, the virus is unable to cause disease. (more…)
Predicting Pandemics Before They Happen
![“Once any significant number of cases are identified [in an area], the pandemic spread is virtually impossible to control," says industrial engineer Sandra Garrett.](http://x-journals.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/sandra-garrett.jpg "sandra-garrett")
“Once any significant number of cases are identified 9in an area0, the pandemic spread is virtually impossible to control," says industrial engineer Sandra Garrett.
“The goal is a public information and awareness system for pandemic with the same level of credibility, timeliness and visibility as storm-warning icons presented on television screens,” said Barrett Caldwell, a Purdue University associate professor of industrial engineering.
The system works by monitoring “event phases” of human behavior leading up to a pandemic, such as an increase in people purchasing flu-related medications or “foraging” on the Internet for certain types of information related to the flu.
Understanding these phases might be a way to overcome a fundamental hurdle in controlling pandemic: Conventional approaches require public-health officials to know when certain events leading to pandemic begin, Caldwell said. (more…)
Research Indicates 1918 Pandemic Virus and Swine Flu Virus Are Same Lineage
This 2005 photograph of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Dr. Terrence Tumpey, one of the organization’s staff microbiologists and a member of the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID), showed him examining reconstructed 1918 Pandemic Influenza Virus inside a specimen vial containing an orange-colored supernatant culture medium. (Photo Credit: James Gathany/CDC)
In 1918 a human influenza virus known as the Spanish flu spread through the central United States while a swine respiratory disease occurred concurrently. A Kansas State University researcher has found that the virus causing the pandemic was able to infect and replicate in pigs, but did not kill them, unlike in other mammalian hosts like monkeys, mice and ferrets where the infection has been lethal.
Juergen A. Richt, Regents Distinguished Professor of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology at K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, studied the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic with colleagues from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
Their research supports the hypothesis that the 1918 pandemic influenza virus and the virus causing the swine flu were the same. Richt said the virus was able to infect and replicate in swine and cause mild respiratory disease. The 1918 virus spread through the pig population, adapted to the swine and resulted in the current lineage of the H1N1 swine influenza viruses. The researchers’ study is published in the May 2009 Journal of Virology. (more…)
Avian Flu Research Sheds Light on Swine Flu Outbreak
By Gwyneth Dickey
Prof. Daniel Perez in his lab at the University of Maryland. (Photo by John Consoli)
A new study by University of Maryland researchers suggests that the potential for an avian influenza virus to cause a human flu pandemic is greater than previously thought. Results also illustrate how the current swine flu outbreak likely came about.
As of now, avian flu viruses can infect humans who have contact with birds, but these viruses tend not to transmit easily between humans. However, in research recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor Daniel Perez from the University of Maryland showed that after reassortment with a human influenza virus, a process that usually takes place in intermediary species like pigs, an avian flu virus requires relatively few mutations to spread rapidly between mammals by respiratory droplets. (more…)
Universal Flu Vaccine May Be On the Horizon
Robert Belshe, M.D., the lead researcher presents his findings on April 27 at the National Foundation for Infectious Disease Conference for Vaccine Research.
An influenza vaccine that protects against death and serious complications from different strains of flu is a little closer to reality, Saint Louis University vaccine researchers have found.
“This is a significant first step in developing a universal vaccine to help protect against pandemic influenza,” said Robert Belshe, M.D., director of the Saint Louis University Center for Vaccine Development.
Belshe, the lead researcher who studied a vaccine made with proteins from strains of influenza viruses A and B, presents his findings on April 27 at the National Foundation for Infectious Disease Conference for Vaccine Research in Baltimore.
Currently drug companies manufacture a different flu vaccine each year to match the strains of influenza that researchers predict will circulate. Adding a universal influenza vaccine to a seasonal vaccine would help improve protection against strains of influenza as they change each year. (more…)
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