Home Tags Posts tagged with "H5N1"
H5N1
The European Commission is set to announce protective measures to contain a “highly contagious” strain of bird flu discovered at a poultry farm in the Netherlands.
The measures will include killing all contaminated animals and the cleaning of their holding areas.
The Dutch government said the strain, H5N8, could potentially affect humans.
Authorities have already begun destroying 150,000 hens at the infected farm, in the village of Hekendorp.
“This highly pathogenic variant of avian influenza is very dangerous for bird life,” the Dutch government said in a statement.
“The disease can be transmitted from animals to humans.”
The Dutch economics ministry says humans can only be infected through very close contact with infected birds.
The authorities have imposed a three-day nationwide ban on the transportation of poultry and eggs.
The farm reportedly sold eggs rather than poultry. Its produce was sold primarily in the Netherlands, with some also exported to Germany.
Earlier this month, a farm in Germany detected cases of H5N8, which had previously not been reported in Europe.
The strain has never been detected in humans, but an outbreak in South Korea meant millions of farm birds had to be slaughtered to contain it.
Bird flu, also known as avian influenza, has several different strains.
Most forms do not infect humans, but the H5N1 and H7N9 strains have caused serious infections in people, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
The majority of those infected had come into close contact with live or dead poultry.
There is no evidence to suggest the H5N1 and H7N9 viruses can be passed to humans through properly prepared poultry or eggs, the WHO says.
The H5N1 strain has a mortality rate of about 60% in humans, and led to 384 deaths between 2003 and December 2013, according to WHO figures.
Common symptoms for bird flu include a high fever and coughing.
[youtube 3JDfoCZYpGg 650]
Controversial research into making bird flu easier to spread in people is to resume after a year-long pause.
Some argue the research is essential for understanding how viruses spread and could be used to prevent deadly pandemics killing millions of people.
Research was stopped amid fierce debate including concerns about modified viruses escaping the laboratory or being used for terrorism.
The moratorium gave authorities time to fully assess the safety of the studies.
A type of bird flu known as H5N1 is deadly and has killed about half the people who have been infected.
It has not caused millions of deaths around the world because it lacks the ability to spread from one person to another. Cases tend to come from close contact with infected birds.
Scientists at the Erasmus University in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US discovered it would take between five and nine mutations in the virus’ genetic code to allow it to start a deadly pandemic.
Their research was the beginning of a long-running furor involving scientists, governments and publishers of scientific research.
The US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity asked academic journals not to publish key parts of the findings. It was concerned terrorists would use the details to develop a biological weapon.
It provoked outcry among some scientists who said their academic freedom was being restricted. Other scientists said the risk of the virus spreading was too great for such research to take place and described it as a folly.
Controversial research into making bird flu easier to spread in people is to resume after a year-long pause
The details were eventually published in the journals Nature and Science.
However, the academics involved agreed to a voluntary 60-day moratorium on research – which was later extended to more than a year.
It was to give governments time to review safety standards needed in laboratories to conduct research with enhanced viruses and whether they wanted to fund such research.
A letter signed by 40 virus researchers around the world, published in the journals Science and Nature, said the moratorium was being lifted.
It said appropriate conditions had been set in most of the world and their studies were “essential for pandemic preparedness”.
One of the leading proponents of the research Prof. Ron Fouchier, from the Erasmus Medical Centre, said it had been “frustrating” to shut down research for the year.
“This research is urgent, while we are having this pause bird flu virus continues to evolve in nature and we need to continue this research.
“We cannot wait for another year or two years.”
He expects to restart his laboratory’s work within the next couple of weeks.
However, it is a different case for many of the other research groups involved. The US has not decided on the conditions that it will allow the experiments to take place and the same applies to US-funded research taking place in other countries.
The decision has continued debate on whether the research should take place at all.
World Health Organization experts have delayed a decision on whether controversial research into the H5N1 bird flu virus should be released.
It had been looking at how the work could be released while guarding against its abuse by bioterrorists.
But talks at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva decided more discussions were needed to see if it could be possible to publish in full.
One of the two journals which want to publish has already agreed to wait for talks to be complete.
The controversy is centred on two research papers – one of which was submitted to Science, the other to another leading journal, Nature, last year.
The two papers showed that the H5N1 virus could relatively easily mutate into a form that could spread rapidly among the human population.
World Health Organization experts have delayed a decision on whether controversial research into the H5N1 bird flu virus should be released
The studies prompted the US National Security Advisory Board for Biotechnology (NSABB) to ask both journals last November to redact some sensitive parts of the research, which it believed could be used by terrorists to develop such a virus.
The request caused outcry among some scientists who believed that it was an infringement of academic freedom.
Some pointed out that the scientists had given presentations about their work at conferences and the details were already widely circulated, so redaction would have little purpose.
The scientists who carried out the research, and the journals concerned, have been considering the request and listening to suggestions as to how the research results could be redacted in the scientific journals, but distributed to bona fide researchers who urgently need the information.
The information is vital to develop a vaccine to any human form of bird flu, and it would enable surveillance teams to see if the bird flu virus was mutating into a form that could be transmissible to humans.
But such efforts have been put on hold for four months as governments, scientists and the journals decide what to do.
The Geneva meeting of 22 scientists and journal representatives agreed that publishing only parts of the research would not be helpful, because they would not give the full context of a complete paper.
It agreed to extend a temporary moratorium on research using lab-modified H5N1 viruses, but also recognized that research on naturally occurring virus “must continue”.
Dr. Keji Fukada, assistant director-general of health security and environment for the WHO, said: “Given the high death rate associated with this virus – 60% of all humans who have been infected have died – all participants at the meeting emphasized the high level of concern with this flu virus in the scientific community and the need to understand it better with additional research.
“The results of this new research have made it clear that H5N1 viruses have the potential to transmit more easily between people underscoring the critical importance for continued surveillance and research with this virus.”
Dr. Keji Fukada added: “There is a preference from a public health perspective for full disclosure of the information in these two studies. However there are significant public concern surrounding this research that should first be addressed.”
Experts will now look at what information is already in the public domain and how that relates to the contents of these research papers.
A further meeting is likely to happen in a couple of months’ time.
Nature has said it is happy to wait – if there is a chance it will able to publish in full.
Science’s editor Dr. Bruce Alberts, had previously said it also wanted to publish full details of the work, unless progress was made on how to circulate details of the findings to scientists.
Scientists who created a mutant bird flu, a potentially more deadly strain, have temporarily stopped their research amid fears of bioterrorism.
In a letter published in Science and Nature, the scientists call for an “international forum” to debate the risks and value of the studies.
US authorities last month asked the authors of the research to redact key details in forthcoming publications.
A government advisory panel suggested the data could be used by terrorists.
Biosecurity experts fear a mutant form of the virus could spark a pandemic deadlier than the 1918-19 Spanish flu outbreak that killed up to 40 million people.
The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) recommended key details to be omitted from publication of the research, which sparked international furor.
“I would have preferred if this hadn’t caused so much controversy, but it has happened and we can’t change that,” Ron Fouchier, a researcher from Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, told Science Insider.
“So I think it’s the right step to make.”
While bird flu is deadly, its reach has been limited because it is not transmissible between humans.
However, the H5N1 flu virus was altered to be passed easily between ferrets, during the joint research by Erasmus University in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US.
Two scientific journals want to publish the research – albeit in redacted form – and are trying to work out with the US government how to make the data accessible to “responsible scientists”.
H5N1 flu virus was altered to be passed easily between ferrets, during the joint research by Erasmus University in the Netherlands and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US
The World Health Organization said in a December statement that limiting access to the research would harm an agreement between its members.
The NSABB is made up of scientists and public health experts, 23 from outside the government, and 18 from within.
It cannot stop publication but makes recommendations to researchers.
The scientists’ letter published on Friday argues that knowledge of more infectious strains before they mutate in nature is valuable for public health.
“More research is needed to determine how influenza viruses in nature become human pandemic threats,” the statement says, “so that they can be contained before they acquire the ability to transmit from human to human, or so that appropriate countermeasures can be deployed if adaptation to humans occurs.”
But some said the pause on research was not enough.
One critic of the studies, Richard Ebright, a biologist at Rutgers University, told Science Insider that the letter “includes flatly false statements” making assurances about the safety of H1N1 research labs.
Reports say that a meeting debating the research and steps forward could come during a World Health Organization meeting in February.
A Chinese man, who was the first case of bird flu in the country in more than a year, has died in the southern city of Shenzhen, according to health officials.
The 39-year-old bus driver was admitted to hospital with pneumonia but tested positive for the bird flu virus.
The H5N1 bird flu strain has a high level of mortality, killing up to 60% of humans infected with it.
Positive tests on a dead market chicken last week prompted nearby Hong Kong’s government to issue an alert.
Hong Kong authorities culled 17,000 chickens after three birds were found to have died from the H5N1 bird flu strain.
It also banned imports and the sale of live chickens for three weeks after the infected chicken carcass was found at a wholesale market.
But it was not clear whether the chicken came from a local farm or was imported.
The Shenzhen victim had not been in contact with poultry, nor travelled recently, China’s Ministry of Health told Hong Kong health authorities.
In November 2010, a 59-year-old woman was isolated in Hong Kong with bird flu but survived.
In October 2011 a 29-year-old woman confirmed to have contracted the virus died on the Indonesian island of Bali.
The World Health Organization says bird flu has killed 332 people since 2003.
The virus has been eliminated from most of the 63 countries infected at its 2006 peak, which saw 4,000 outbreaks across the globe, but remains endemic in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
China’s Ministry of Agriculture warned last month that the bird flu virus seemed to exist widely in the poultry markets of mainland China, particularly in the south.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization has expressed deep concern about the way research was being carried out on the H5N1 virus, which can be fatal if transmitted to humans.
Such work carried significant risks and must be tightly controlled, said the WHO.
Scientists in the Netherlands and the US said last week they had discovered ways in which the virus might mutate so it can spread more easily to – and between – humans and other mammals.
The US government has asked the scientists not to publish full details, in case the information is used to produce a biological weapon.
Dutch researchers who developed a deadly strain of bird flu to help create vaccines have been told their research is a terrorist threat.
Scientists have for the first time been able to mutate the H5N1 strain of avian influenza so that it can be transmitted easily through the air.
Previously it was thought that H5N1 bird flu could only be transmitted between humans if they came into very close physical contact.
The research team of the Erasmus Medical in Rotterdam was hoping their work would help with the development of drugs and vaccines to counter mutations of the disease.
However, the groundbreaking investigation may never see the light of day amid fears that it could be used to develop a biological weapon.
Last month it was reported that there were fears the modified strain of the H5N1 virus is more dangerous than anthrax.
At the time, virologist Ron Fouchier admitted the strain is “one of the most dangerous viruses you can make”, but is still adamant he wants to publish a paper describing how it was done.
Last month it was reported that there were fears the modified strain of the H5N1 virus is more dangerous than anthrax
The findings had been due to be published in the American journal Science, but the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity is now reviewing the paper to assess whether it should be blocked from publication.
One senior scientific advisor to the U.S. Government was last night quoted as saying: “The fear is that if you create something this deadly and it goes into a global pandemic the mortality and cost to the world could be massive. The worst-case scenario here is worse than anything you can imagine.”
The mutated virus is being stored under lock and key in a basement building at the centre in Rotterdam, but is without armed guards.
Dr. Ron Fouchier, who led the study, said that by experimenting on ferrets, whose immune system is very similar to humans, it is possible to create a highly-infectious strain through just a few mutations.
The decision on whether the findings should be published has divided academics as well as security specialists.
Thomas Inglesby, of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, told the New Scientist: “The benefits of publishing this work do not outweigh the dangers of showing other how to replicate it.”
Some critics have said that the research should never have been carried out because there is a risk that the dangerous form of flu could escape from the laboratory.
But Dr. Ron Fouchier defended the experiment, saying: “We know which mutation to watch for in the case of an outbreak and we can then stop the outbreak before it is too late. Furthermore, the finding will help in the timely development of vaccinations and medication.”
A second team of independent researchers at the universities of Wisconsin and Tokyo have carried out a similar study and are thought to have found similar results, which show how easy it is to create a more contagious strain.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu is fatal in 60% of human cases, but its spread has been limited because it is not passed between humans easily.
It has led to the deaths of millions of birds, but has only killed around 300 people since 2003.
There are more than a dozen strains of bird flu in the wild. The most virulent are H5 and H7, while the H5N1 subtype is the deadliest.
Scientists have previously warned that H5N1 could mutate into a new, deadly form of human flu.
Paul Keim, chairman of NSABB, said: “I can’t think of another pathogenic organism that is as scary as this one. I don’t think anthrax is scary at all compared to this.”
Traditionally scientific research has always been open so that fellow scientists can review the work of others and repeat their methods to try and learn from them.
But numerous scientists have said they believe research on the avian flu should be suppressed.
However bio-defense and flu expert Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the work carried out was medically important.
He added he could not discuss the papers because he was a member of NSABB but said if they were published certain information could be withheld and made available to those who really need to know.
“We don’t want to give bad guys a road map on how to make bad bugs really bad,” Michael Osterholm said.
A group of scientists from Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands is pushing to publish research about how they created a man-made flu virus that could potentially wipe out civilization.
The deadly virus is a genetically tweaked version of the H5N1 bird flu strain, but is far more infectious and could pass easily between millions of people at a time.
The research has caused a storm of controversy and divided scientists, with some saying it should never have been carried out.
The current strain of H5N1 has only killed 500 people and is not contagious enough to cause a global pandemic.
But they are fear the modified virus is so dangerous it could be used for bio-warfare, if it falls into the wrong hands.
Virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Centre led a team of scientists who discovered that a mere five mutations to the avian virus was sufficient to make it spread far more easily.
A group of scientists from Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands is pushing to publish research about how they created a man-made flu virus that could potentially wipe out civilization
Ron Fouchier conducted his tests on ferrets as the animals have become a model of choice for influenza and they have similar respiratory tracts to humans.
He is so prepared for a media storm that he has hired an advisor to help him work on a communication strategy.
The research done was part of an international drive to understand H5N1 more fully.
Ron Fouchier admitted the strain is “one of the most dangerous viruses you can make” but is still adamant he wants to publish a paper describing how it was done.
The study is one of two which has caused serious debate about scientific freedom and about regulating research which might have potential public health benefits but at the same time could also be useful for bio-terrorism.
The other paper, also on H5N1, was done by a joint team at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Tokyo.
It is understood to have had comparable results to the study done by Ron Fouchier.
Both papers are now being reviewed by the U.S National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB).
NSABB does not have the power to prevent the publication but it could ask journals not to publish.
Paul Keim, chairman of NSABB, said: “I can’t think of another pathogenic organism that is as scary as this one. I don’t think anthrax is scary at all compared to this.”
Traditionally scientific research has always been open so that fellow scientists can review the work of others and repeat their methods to try and learn from them.
But numerous scientists have said they believe research on the avian flu should be suppressed.
However bio-defense and flu expert Michael Osterholm, who is director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said the work carried out was important medically.
Michael Osterholm added he could not discuss the papers because he was a member of NSABB but said if they were published certain information could be withheld and made available to those who really need to know.
“We don’t want to give bad guys a road map on how to make bad bugs really bad,” he said.
