Pandemic Flu in Boarding Schools

Prep School Admissions Prep School Parents
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<p>Wednesday, 24 Jun, 2009 | 11:53 AM PST |
WASHINGTON: A US company that on Tuesday was awarded a 35-million-dollar contract to develop an influenza vaccine using insect cell technology has produced a first batch against (A)H1N1 flu, company boss Dan Adams said.</p>

<p>‘We turned out our first batch of doses — about 100,000 — against (A)H1N1 flu last week and we’re continuing to manufacture it,’ Adams, chief executive officer of Connecticut-based Protein Sciences Corporation, told AFP.</p>

<p>The US Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday announced that it has awarded a 35-million-dollar contract to Protein Sciences, which could be extended for another five years to reach 147 million dollars.</p>

<p>The insect cell technology ‘has advanced in recent years to a point that we believe it could help meet a surge in demand for US-based vaccine for seasonal and pandemic flu,’ Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.</p>

<p>A(H1N1), or swine flu, which emerged in Mexico in April, has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization, killing 231 people worldwide and infecting more than 52,000 people in 100 countries.</p>

<p>As the novel strain of swine flu spread, scientists around the world scrambled to develop a seed strain, a necessary first step in developing a vaccine using either chicken eggs or mammalian cells — the way most vaccines are produced.</p>

<p>They warned that the virus could mutate during the southern hemisphere’s flu season before returning north in a more lethal form in autumn, in a pattern similar to that seen in the deadly 1918 flu pandemic, which claimed an estimated 20 to 50 million lives around the globe.</p>

<p>Protein Sciences makes flu vaccine by infecting caterpillar cells with a baculovirus carrying the gene for hemagluttinin, a molecule that sticks out of the surface of the influenza virus.</p>

<p>‘Using this method, vaccine candidates, clinical investigational lots, and commercial-scale vaccine production may be available faster than by using traditional vaccine production methods,’ the health department said in a statement.</p>

<p>The method does not need a seed strain to develop a vaccine, Adams said. ‘While everyone else was waiting to get a seed strain, we worked with the genetic code from the virus,’ said Adams.</p>

<p>‘The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) sent us a dead virus, which is perfectly safe, and then we extracted genetic information from that virus. We can be in manufacturing a lot, lot quicker than people who have to wait for a seed strain,’ he said.</p>

<p>Protein Sciences’ technology is also safer ‘because these caterpillars don’t have any association with man or other animals, so there’s no chance for their cells to learn how to propagate human viruses,’ Adams told AFP.</p>

<p>Under the terms of the grant made to Protein Sciences, if the company’s new insect-cell technology proves to be safe and effective, the pharmaceutical minnow, which has just 50 employees, must boost its US manufacturing capability ‘to provide a finished vaccine within 12 weeks of pandemic onset.’ It would also have to produce at least 50 million doses of flu vaccine ‘within six months of pandemic onset.’ That should not be a problem, said Adams, because manufacturing a vaccine using insect cells can be easily and rapidly scaled up because it does not require the same specialized factories required to produce vaccine using egg or mammalian cells.</p>

<p>‘We can manufacture our product facilities that make monoclonal antibodies, which is a huge class of products with a huge manufacturing capacity around the world,’ said Adams.</p>

<p>Protein Sciences’ new vaccine against swine flu ‘could be available right away’ if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issues an emergency use authorization for it, as it did for the bird flu vaccine developed by Adams’s company.</p>

<p>Swiss drugs giant Novartis, which the US government gave 289 million dollars to help develop a vaccine against (A)H1N1 flu, said around two weeks ago that it was poised to begin pre-clinical trials — tests in vitro and on animals — on its first batch of novel swine flu vaccine.</p>

<p>Sanofi-Pasteur of France has said it hopes to have doses of swine flu vaccine ready for clinical trials within weeks, while Taiwan’s Adimmune Corporation said it expects to complete clinical trials on its A(H1N1) influenza vaccine around September.
<a href=“http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/14-us-company-makes-first-batch-of-swine-flu-vaccine-zj-01[/url]”>http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/14-us-company-makes-first-batch-of-swine-flu-vaccine-zj-01&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>As a nurse, I have made an informed decision which I am comfortable with. Most years, the vaccine you receive doesn’t even protect you against the strain that is prevalent during that year and you have taken a risk (albeit small, but still a risk) for nothing.</p>

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<p>Keylyme has made her decision and I certainly don’t want to talk her into getting a flu vaccine. I wouldn’t want others to be mislead by what she said about the ineffectiveness, however: the data on flu vaccine effectiveness against influenza is impressive, even in years when the match isn’t optimal. Here’s a link to the CDC discussion of the data, if anyone is interested. </p>

<p>[CDC</a> - Influenza (Flu) | Flu Vaccine Effectiveness: Q & A for Health Professionals](<a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/FLU/PROFESSIONALS/VACCINATION/effectivenessqa.htm]CDC”>Flu Vaccine Effectiveness: Questions and Answers for Health Professionals | CDC)</p>

<p>A boarding school environment seems like a good incubator for all kinds of viruses, and with the work load and distance from Mom or Dad’s chicken soup, not a good time to get sick! I hope that all our kids stay healthy!</p>

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<p>I am not trying to “mislead” and I think that was a poor choice of words. You might mean I shouldn’t try to sway others and that is certainly not my intention. I based my decision on much thought, research, and discussion with others, including my personal physician who also chooses not to use the vaccine. </p>

<p>The flu can be very dangerous, particularly for the elderly, infants, and those with other chronic illnesses which might exacerbate flu symptoms. For those populations, it might be an intelligent choice.</p>

<p>The CDC is a government entity and only one source of information. There are many others which make for enlightening reading.</p>

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<p>By and large, vaccines are a good thing. However, they are not without risk. Adverse reactions, sometimes severe, do happen. It’s always best to consult your physician and weigh your decisions carefully with regard to any vaccine.</p>

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<p>There will not be an H1N1 Flu vaccine available to the general public in time for 2009 Flu season.</p>

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<p>Hospitals Verging on Collapse in Argentina
Recombinomics Commentary 23:28
June 28, 2009
Meanwhile, health organizations said that the number of people infected in the country “is substantially greater” than the official toll and that hospitals are “verging on collapse”</p>

<p>The above comments on the state of health care health care in Argentina in general and Buenos Aires in particular due to the exploding number of pandemic H1N1 infections are widely reported. The number of confirmed fatal cases has risen to 29, in the past several days, including two reported today in Rosario, and reports suggest at least 15 additional fatalities are suspect cases. The Buenos Aires website localized 15 fatalities, as well as 180 confirmed cases and over 500 suspect cases (see map), but these cases represent a small percentage of the actual infections. The state numbers identify almost 1400 confirmed cases, including 25 fatalities in the metropolitan area. Similarly, in the adjacent Santa Fe province the number of confirmed is 34, although private labs have confirmed 40 additional cases. However, these are not included because they have not yet been officially confirmed. Moreover, 200 suspect samples have been collected from patients in Rosario (see map) and sent for testing and media reorts suggest there are over 800 cases in Santa Fe province. Similarly, Brazil announced its first confirmed fatality today, who was a truck driver who developed symptoms while in Argentina.</p>

<p>Thus, the state numbers are depressed by a sample backlog at the state for testing suspect cases or confirming positives identified at private labs. Moreover export of cases signal significant under-reporting.</p>

<p>The collected samples are also likely to represent a small percentage of the total. This undercount is common worldwide. In the United States that surveillance system for season flu only tests about 0.1% of samples and it is likely that pandemic flu is similarly undercounted, most cases are relatively mild and most labs are now limiting testing to severe cases or clusters, but even clusters such as outbreaks at schools or summer camps only test a small representative sample from the outbreak.</p>

<p>In Agentina, like some regions in the US, testing has halted and a pandemic H1N1 diagnosis is made based on clinical presentation.</p>

<p>Consequently the number of infections is orders of magnitude higher than confirmed cases, but the concerns in Argentina center both on the state of the health care system in general, as well as the rapid increase in fatal infections, including those that rapidly deteriorate while developing symptoms similar to infected patients in the 1918 pandemic. Moreover, like the 1918 pandemic, the vast majority of infections and fatalities are in previously healthy young adults, and the H1N1 is a swine flu that has recently begun to spread throughout the human population.</p>

<p>Sequence data on the H1N1 spreading in Argentina would be useful.</p>

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<p>Interesting reading :</p>

<p>this article >> USD(P&R) Public Health Emergency Management of the 2009 H1N1 Flu 11 May 2009 (13 May 2009)</p>

<p>on this site>> [DoD</a> Pandemic Influenza Watchboard - U.S. DoD Official Website](<a href=“http://fhp.osd.mil/aiWatchboard/]DoD”>http://fhp.osd.mil/aiWatchboard/)</p>

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<p>[Japan</a> finds first case of H1N1 resistant to Tamiflu | Markets | Markets News | Reuters](<a href=“http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUST25492220090702]Japan”>http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUST25492220090702)</p>

<p>Wouldn’t all the current H1N1 vaccines being made now for the fall need to be dumped, and a new vaccine created which is reworked for this new Tamilful resistant strain?</p>

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<p>Sarum, you are scaring me.</p>

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<p>Wash your hands alot and be conscious of who looks or acts sick around you.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/01/swine.flu.h1n1.vaccine/index.html[/url]”>http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/01/swine.flu.h1n1.vaccine/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Sorry for scaring you. I am just trying to learn as much as possible about this thing, as I have a son joining you next year and I will be an absentee parent. Knowledge is my best recourse.</p>

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<p>Here is a nifty new PSA contest that some creative BS group could win :</p>

<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.flu.gov/]Flu.gov[/url”>http://www.flu.gov/]Flu.gov[/url</a>]</p>

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<p>The Obese and H1N1:</p>

<p>[Swine</a> Flu Packs Bigger Jolt for Obese as ?Striking? Link Found - Bloomberg.com](<a href=“Politics - Bloomberg”>Politics - Bloomberg)</p>

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<p>The swine flu deaths in my area have been people who were severely obese. They noted that as the risk factor on the news after one of the deaths.</p>

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<p>[Clams</a> could stem spread of bird flu - 05 August 2009 - New Scientist](<a href=“Clams could stem spread of bird flu | New Scientist”>Clams could stem spread of bird flu | New Scientist)</p>

<p>Raise any eyebrows?</p>

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<p>[One</a> ‘flu’ over the cuckoo’s nest - Chatham Daily News - Ontario, CA](<a href=“http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1689366]One”>http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1689366)</p>

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<p>CDC recommending 3 flu shots this year with first this month.</p>

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<p>Can you provide a link please with that information?</p>

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<p>The three shot came in a publication we got in the office.</p>

<p>However, here is comments on the “second” shot for swine flu</p>

<p>[CDC</a> H1N1 Flu | Novel H1N1 Vaccination Recommendations](<a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/acip.htm]CDC”>http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/acip.htm)</p>

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<p>Anyone else read this in the Times yesterday? It is evolving.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/08/28/world/international-uk-flu-pandemic.html?_r=1[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/08/28/world/international-uk-flu-pandemic.html?_r=1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I hope I’m not the only one beating the drum here.</p>