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Science & Technology
New strain of bird flu found that 'sidesteps' vaccines
2006-10-31
SCIENTISTS have discovered a new strain of bird flu that appears to sidestep current vaccines. It is infecting people as well as poultry in Asia, and some researchers fear its evolution may have been steered by the vaccination programmes designed to protect poultry from earlier types of the H5N1 flu.

The discovery by Yi Guan, of Hong Kong University, and colleagues is reported in today's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new variant has become the primary version of the bird flu in several provinces of China and has spread to Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand, the researchers report. It is being called H5N1 Fujian-like, to distinguish it from earlier Hong Kong and Vietnam variants.

"We don't know what is driving this," said report co-author Dr Robert Webster, of St Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

While the new virus has infected people, there is no evidence that it can pass easily from person to person, Dr Webster said. He added that new vaccines would now have to be developed. Dr Michael Perdue, of the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s Global Influenza Programme, said the new variant doesn't indicate any increased risk for people "other than the fact it seems to be pretty widespread."

The virus was continuing to change, he added.

Dr Perdue said the WHO is working with the Chinese ministry of health to develop a vaccine for the new form of the virus.
Posted by:Anonymoose

#10  Darrell: There have been no mild cases reported. All cases have developed a severe cytokine storm response which severely damages their lungs, and most fatalities have come from oxygen deprivation to the internal organs. Even the survivors will have permanently scarred lungs.

This is one of many highly unusual characteristics of this strain. Others include its reproduction in areas other than the upper respiratory system, including two or three internal organs; its odd maintenance of its 50%+ mortality rate, instead of following the typical half-life curve of lethal diseases; and its proclivity to certain people in favor of others.

This last oddity is the strangest. In one large family, every blood relation was killed, but not their wives, who otherwise shared everything with their adoptive families.

This strain of H5N1 is unlike any other H5N1, and has a strong potential, regarded as inevitable by most world health authorities, for creating an enormous pandemic the likes of which the world has never seen.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2006-10-31 20:12  

#9  "The fact is that of H5N1 bird flu cases to date the mortality rate is over 50%."
How do you know that's accurate if milder cases don't report?
Posted by: Darrell   2006-10-31 17:08  

#8  It's incorrect to characterize the 1918 pandemic and earlier pandemics as like normal flu, but worse.

In 1918 and the current bird flu cases, the primary killer is Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). ARDS is not bacterial and not treatable with antibiotics.

The fact is that of H5N1 bird flu cases to date the mortality rate is over 50%. If it goes pandemic with anything like this mortality rate, healthcare systems everywhere will collapse and we are in deep deep trouble.
Posted by: phil_b   2006-10-31 16:48  

#7  There are three common types of influenza virus, A, B, C. The A type which includes avian flus, is the most common. The B type also occurs in humans.

The usual influenza shot contains antibodies against Type A and Type B virii.

The sub-types are designated based upon the distribution of certain protiens in the viral shell. The are expressed in the form H?N?. H can run 1-16 and N can run 1-9, giving a large mathamatical universe of potential sub-types.

About half the H sub-types infect humans, though all of them infect birds. Only three of the N sub-types can infect humans at this time, N1, N2 and N7. The bird flu everyone is afraid of is properly shown as A)H5N1.

Within any sub-type, H5N1, you have strains like the one described in this post.

A)H1N1 is the designation given the Spanish Flu. It was rediscovered in humans in the mid 1970's but in a new strain that does not produce a pandemic. A fraction of those who had flu in 2005 in the U.S. had A)H1N1.

The current A)H5N1 is not closely related to the sub-type that produced the Spanish Flu. At any given time, several sub-types and several strains of any given sub-type are in circulation. Flu season is winter in the higher latitudes such as the U.S., but in the tropics it is a year round situation.

Influenza is not normally fatal. In those with a weakened immune system, infants and the elderly it can lead to a bacterial pneumonia which can be fatal. However, in the worst flu pandemic known, the Spanish Flu of 1918-1919, the mortality rate was still about 5% and only about 30% of the U.S. population caught the disease.

The two flu pandemics that followed produced fewer deaths. Pneumonia is treatable with antibiotics, and we have a variety of other medical treatments that we did not have in 1918. We also have the pneumonia vaccine which will prevent a number of bacterial pneumonias, further reducing your chances of death or serious illness.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2006-10-31 15:46  

#6  So, is H1N1 always a result of H5N1, or just a chance result last seen in 1918 or so ?
Posted by: wxjames   2006-10-31 14:05  

#5  Moose, avain flus make the rounds all the time. There are at least two outbreaks currently going on in the US, including a form of H5N1.

The cats who died of the flu were fed infected chickens, or killed and ate sick birds.

In theory, it can appear in pigs since they are omnivorus. It's unlikely that any non-meat eating animals would aquire the disease.

Remember, H5N1 has been around since the late 1950's. H1N1, the variant causing the Spanish Flu, returned in the mid seventies.

Most of the human deaths can be traced to close contact with infected birds, contact far closer than is normal here in the west. It is a disease of bad hygiene, bad animal husbandry, bad food processing and preparation.

The Chinese went nuts with efforts to quell the disease. Anti-virals were used in abundance in poultry. Vaccines of several sorts were also widely used.This sort of shotgun approach is believed to be a very good way to encourage the virus to change and adapt.

As of today, WHO reports 256 cases since 2003 and 152 deaths. The initial focus was in Vietnam and it is now in Indonesia. Those two countries combined account for 64% of the human cases.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2006-10-31 13:35  

#4  planet of the apes.
Posted by: anonymous2u   2006-10-31 12:21  

#3  No matter how you slice it, the avian flu shows signs of being a terrible disaster. Even if it breaks out only in poultry, that is a major source of protein for half the planet, that is, if it is limited to poultry. We already know that it can kill dogs and cats, so what about cattle, pigs and sheep?
Posted by: Anonymoose   2006-10-31 11:09  

#2  Please note that he's talking about POULTRY VACCINES, not human vaccines.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins   2006-10-31 10:57  

#1  150 already. The last I heard it was about 20.
Duck and cover, duck and cover.
Posted by: wxjames   2006-10-31 10:11  

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