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Australians take NZ students' samples to create flu vaccine
Fri, 01 May 2009 5:39a.m.
A team of Australian scientists has appropriated samples of swine flu taken from the Rangitoto College group, to help develop a vaccine.
Scientists at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Influenza Centre in North Melbourne are injecting the virus taken from the New Zealanders into fertilised hens' eggs.
The samples were sent to the laboratory by New Zealand health officials, desperate to find out whether the group had contracted swine flu in Mexico.
Tests on the best four samples immediately showed three of them were infected, and it was this virus which was used by the Melbourne laboratory. The fourth sample was of poorer quality.
After cultivating the virus in the eggs, the Melbourne researchers will conduct a series of tests, then send it off to companies that manufacture vaccines, centre director Anne Kelso told The Age newspaper.
An effective vaccine would be worth millions of dollars if the influenza continues to cause serious illness internationally.
New Zealand already has a contract with the Australian government's Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) to be supplied with a pandemic vaccine within 15 to 27 weeks after a pandemic is recognised by the WHO.
Professor Kelso said the US is leading the international race for a vaccine, using viruses from Californian patients.
The number of suspected cases of swine flu in New Zealand was reported last night to have risen to 111, up from 96 on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Health said that the number of people in isolation was also up from 111 to 121.
But the number of people confirmed or being treated as confirmed swine flu cases remained at 13, all in the Auckland area.
The growth in suspect numbers was primarily due to including close family contacts from passengers on flights from affected countries, Health Minister Tony Ryall said yesterday.
In Mexico the deaths of 160 people have been blamed on swine flu, although Mexican health officials say the number of confirmed swine flu cases is only 99, including eight dead.
The WHO has declared a Phase 5 outbreak, the second-highest on its threat scale, indicating a pandemic could be imminent.
Thirty-three countries had now notified WHO they had either suspected or confirmed cases of swine flu.
Mr Ryall said New Zealand had now moved its status to "phase 5.1" but said that was not an escalation of pandemic planning.
The strategy remains to contain and mitigate the spread of the flu, he said.
Of the group of students from Auckland's Rangitoto College who returned from Mexico on Saturday, three had tested positive to swine flu.
There are 10 other people being treated as swine flu cases, having tested positive for influenza A -- of which swine flu is a subset.
More tests have been sent to the WHO accredited lab in Melbourne to be tested for swine flu and more influenza A results were expected shortly.
The Rangitoto College students' symptoms were reported to be no worse than normal winter flu.
Health authorities are now working on setting up a specialised influenza assessment centre at Middlemore Hospital, near Auckland's international airport.
Director-General of Health Stephen McKernan said a decision was likely over the next 24-hours on a preferred site for such a centre.
Deputy Director of Public Health Fran McGrath said scientists were monitoring any possible mutations of the flu.
The anti-viral drug Tamiflu will be available over the counter without a prescription from today to people showing signs of the flu.
Some chemists have criticised the move, saying it could be counterproductive as flu sufferers flocked to their local chemists and possibly spread it further.
Australians take NZ students' samples to create flu vaccine
Fri, 01 May 2009 5:39a.m.
A team of Australian scientists has appropriated samples of swine flu taken from the Rangitoto College group, to help develop a vaccine.
Scientists at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Influenza Centre in North Melbourne are injecting the virus taken from the New Zealanders into fertilised hens' eggs.
The samples were sent to the laboratory by New Zealand health officials, desperate to find out whether the group had contracted swine flu in Mexico.
Tests on the best four samples immediately showed three of them were infected, and it was this virus which was used by the Melbourne laboratory. The fourth sample was of poorer quality.
After cultivating the virus in the eggs, the Melbourne researchers will conduct a series of tests, then send it off to companies that manufacture vaccines, centre director Anne Kelso told The Age newspaper.
An effective vaccine would be worth millions of dollars if the influenza continues to cause serious illness internationally.
New Zealand already has a contract with the Australian government's Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) to be supplied with a pandemic vaccine within 15 to 27 weeks after a pandemic is recognised by the WHO.
Professor Kelso said the US is leading the international race for a vaccine, using viruses from Californian patients.
The number of suspected cases of swine flu in New Zealand was reported last night to have risen to 111, up from 96 on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Health said that the number of people in isolation was also up from 111 to 121.
But the number of people confirmed or being treated as confirmed swine flu cases remained at 13, all in the Auckland area.
The growth in suspect numbers was primarily due to including close family contacts from passengers on flights from affected countries, Health Minister Tony Ryall said yesterday.
In Mexico the deaths of 160 people have been blamed on swine flu, although Mexican health officials say the number of confirmed swine flu cases is only 99, including eight dead.
The WHO has declared a Phase 5 outbreak, the second-highest on its threat scale, indicating a pandemic could be imminent.
Thirty-three countries had now notified WHO they had either suspected or confirmed cases of swine flu.
Mr Ryall said New Zealand had now moved its status to "phase 5.1" but said that was not an escalation of pandemic planning.
The strategy remains to contain and mitigate the spread of the flu, he said.
Of the group of students from Auckland's Rangitoto College who returned from Mexico on Saturday, three had tested positive to swine flu.
There are 10 other people being treated as swine flu cases, having tested positive for influenza A -- of which swine flu is a subset.
More tests have been sent to the WHO accredited lab in Melbourne to be tested for swine flu and more influenza A results were expected shortly.
The Rangitoto College students' symptoms were reported to be no worse than normal winter flu.
Health authorities are now working on setting up a specialised influenza assessment centre at Middlemore Hospital, near Auckland's international airport.
Director-General of Health Stephen McKernan said a decision was likely over the next 24-hours on a preferred site for such a centre.
Deputy Director of Public Health Fran McGrath said scientists were monitoring any possible mutations of the flu.
The anti-viral drug Tamiflu will be available over the counter without a prescription from today to people showing signs of the flu.
Some chemists have criticised the move, saying it could be counterproductive as flu sufferers flocked to their local chemists and possibly spread it further.
