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<TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>Hutterite communities could help unravel mysteries of flu transmission
UPDATED: 2008-07-29 09:45:52 MST
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By Helen Branswell, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><SCRIPT language=javascript>checkCookie();</SCRIPT>The patterns woven by influenza viruses as they wend their way through Hutterite communities in Western Canada could help unlock lingering mysteries about how the wily bugs spread, researchers embarking on a newly funded study believe.
The research team, led by Dr. Mark Loeb of McMaster University in Hamilton, hopes that by studying Hutterite colonies, they may be able to get a sense of how long sick children and adults give off or “shed” infectious viruses, what role infected people who aren’t suffering symptoms play in spread and how often flu viruses jump between humans and pigs in these agrarian communities.
In an interview, Loeb said detecting patterns of flu transmission should be easier in Hutterite communities because contact between colony members and outsiders is limited. That means there are probably fewer introductions of viruses during flu season than would happen on a university campus, for instance, or in a village where there is regular contact with people from outside its boundaries.
“They’re certainly not hermits,” Loeb said of the Hutterites who’ve agreed to participate in the three-year study. “But there’s relatively limited interaction” with the outside world.
The Hutterites were founded as Protestant sects in the 16th century Anabaptist movement of Switzerland. They practise communal farming in small colonies — made up of generally 80 to 120 people — that are relatively isolated from towns and cities.
<TABLE cellPadding=2 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><!-- BIG BOX HERE --><SCRIPT type=text/javascript> fctAdTag("bigbox",MyGenericTagVar,1); </SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/can.en.smc.calgarysun/news;subz1=news_national;tile=3;sz=300x250;pos=1;h p=1;ord=6087525033?" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT><!-- Template Id = 4439 Template Name = Image Banner - Open in New Window --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>As well, these communities have a high concentration of children; about a quarter of their members are children. That child-to-adult ratio should make it easier to see patterns of spread between children and adults, Loeb said.
It’s been thought children play a key role in transmitting flu in communities and that containing the number of cases among children could reduce cases among adults and especially among vulnerable seniors.
This research is being funded through $1.6 million in grants from the Rx & D Health Research Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
It is part of a large basket of studies Loeb and colleagues have undertaken with willing Hutterite colonies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. This particular one will focus on the residents of 10 colonies based in Alberta.
Despite the fact that it strikes every year, the dynamics of how influenza transmits through populations of people are not well understood. Public health authorities around the world who are concerned about the toll seasonal flu extracts and the dangers posed by an expected influenza pandemic need better information on flu transmission in order to design ways to limit spread.
For instance, while it’s known some people who become infected remain symptom-free, it’s not clear how often those asymptomatic people shed viruses. Nor is it known if they play an important role in keeping flu percolating through a community, or whether they are unlikely to infect others.
Loeb said when asymptomatic people in the study test positive for flu, the molecular makeup of their viruses will be compared to sick people with whom they’ve had contact to see if it’s possible to discern whether they were the source of their contacts’ infections.
Other questions Loeb and his colleagues hope to answer include whether repeated immunization — getting flu shots year after year — influences whether an individual’s immune system can create protective antibodies against viruses in the vaccine. And they hope genetic testing may indicate whether some people are more prone to suffering bad bouts of influenza than others
<TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>Hutterite communities could help unravel mysteries of flu transmission
UPDATED: 2008-07-29 09:45:52 MST
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
By Helen Branswell, THE CANADIAN PRESS
</TD><TD width=230><!-- BEGIN TOOLBAR -->
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><SCRIPT language=javascript>checkCookie();</SCRIPT>The patterns woven by influenza viruses as they wend their way through Hutterite communities in Western Canada could help unlock lingering mysteries about how the wily bugs spread, researchers embarking on a newly funded study believe.
The research team, led by Dr. Mark Loeb of McMaster University in Hamilton, hopes that by studying Hutterite colonies, they may be able to get a sense of how long sick children and adults give off or “shed” infectious viruses, what role infected people who aren’t suffering symptoms play in spread and how often flu viruses jump between humans and pigs in these agrarian communities.
In an interview, Loeb said detecting patterns of flu transmission should be easier in Hutterite communities because contact between colony members and outsiders is limited. That means there are probably fewer introductions of viruses during flu season than would happen on a university campus, for instance, or in a village where there is regular contact with people from outside its boundaries.
“They’re certainly not hermits,” Loeb said of the Hutterites who’ve agreed to participate in the three-year study. “But there’s relatively limited interaction” with the outside world.
The Hutterites were founded as Protestant sects in the 16th century Anabaptist movement of Switzerland. They practise communal farming in small colonies — made up of generally 80 to 120 people — that are relatively isolated from towns and cities.
<TABLE cellPadding=2 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><!-- BIG BOX HERE --><SCRIPT type=text/javascript> fctAdTag("bigbox",MyGenericTagVar,1); </SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adj/can.en.smc.calgarysun/news;subz1=news_national;tile=3;sz=300x250;pos=1;h p=1;ord=6087525033?" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT><!-- Template Id = 4439 Template Name = Image Banner - Open in New Window --></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>As well, these communities have a high concentration of children; about a quarter of their members are children. That child-to-adult ratio should make it easier to see patterns of spread between children and adults, Loeb said.
It’s been thought children play a key role in transmitting flu in communities and that containing the number of cases among children could reduce cases among adults and especially among vulnerable seniors.
This research is being funded through $1.6 million in grants from the Rx & D Health Research Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
It is part of a large basket of studies Loeb and colleagues have undertaken with willing Hutterite colonies in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. This particular one will focus on the residents of 10 colonies based in Alberta.
Despite the fact that it strikes every year, the dynamics of how influenza transmits through populations of people are not well understood. Public health authorities around the world who are concerned about the toll seasonal flu extracts and the dangers posed by an expected influenza pandemic need better information on flu transmission in order to design ways to limit spread.
For instance, while it’s known some people who become infected remain symptom-free, it’s not clear how often those asymptomatic people shed viruses. Nor is it known if they play an important role in keeping flu percolating through a community, or whether they are unlikely to infect others.
Loeb said when asymptomatic people in the study test positive for flu, the molecular makeup of their viruses will be compared to sick people with whom they’ve had contact to see if it’s possible to discern whether they were the source of their contacts’ infections.
Other questions Loeb and his colleagues hope to answer include whether repeated immunization — getting flu shots year after year — influences whether an individual’s immune system can create protective antibodies against viruses in the vaccine. And they hope genetic testing may indicate whether some people are more prone to suffering bad bouts of influenza than others
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