January 29, 2006

• SUNDAY GOOD NEWS

  Breakthrough in Bird Flu Vaccine

  I tell you, I get so confused about all this flu information. First we got surprised last year by the first lack of vaccine I can remember. Then, all of a sudden we start hearing about bird flu, which apparently has been around for 100 years worldwide, first identified in Italy. All birds can get it (plus pigs), but some are less likely than others and it has a wide range of symptoms from mild to killer. Till now, the serious outbreaks were all substrains H5 and H7 of influenza A virus. We actually had an epidemic in the ‘80’s in the U.S. which we wiped out by destroying 17 million birds. I so don’t remember that, but it’s true. All Type A flu vaccines (which are the kind we get the shots for – well some of us – each year) constantly mutate, so that’s why the vaccine is different every year. The first time we knew it had crossed to humans was 1997 in Hong Kong when 6 people died during a bird outbreak. So they killed ALL the poultry in Hong Kong to corral it. In February 2003 it happened again in Hong Kong. Lots of living up close with chickens in those parts. Same month it popped up in The Netherlands. The most recent freakout was January 2004 in Vietnam. The strain called H5N1 is the one everybody is concentrating on. You can read more of the history here. The Good News is that this week researchers at the University of Pittsburgh announced it had taken just one month to make a bird flu vaccine that completely protected chickens from H5N1. They are already making a plan to test it in humans. The way vaccines were made before was to grown them in chicken eggs, which took a long time and wasn’t 100% foolproof to work. For this vaccine, they didn’t use the actual H5N1 virus, just genetic sequence data from the CDC. Are you following this now? Instead, they artificially generated the DNA coding for the gene that controls a protein on the H5N1 virus’s surface. Then they spliced the DNA into a human common cold virus. This produced a two-fold immune response, making the body generate both antibodies and T cells (which fight infection). OK, I’m exhausted now, but I hope you get the picture. The cavalry is coming!
  

  ---

  Deep Thought: “I bet the sparrow looks at the parrot and thinks, yes, you can talk, but listen to yourself!”
  Today I am grateful for: Doppler radar
  Guess the Movie: “Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” Answer: Patton, 1970. Winner: twoberry.
  US Peace Activist Cindy Sheehan Meets Venezuela Leader, Ponders US Senate Run
  CARACAS, Venezuela – U.S. peace activist Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, said Saturday she is strongly considering running for office against U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein because the California Democrat will not support calls to immediately bring troops home. (Rest of article here.)

  • 3:20 pm
  • 12 Comments