Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

[tropical]

"Test are under way to establish the strain of flu they and some members of their families, including a child, suffered."

_____
From: http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/
06:14 AM Police sue force after bird flu outbreak - ic Wales

Police sue force after bird flu outbreak

Nov 2 2007 icWales
Two police officers sent to guard a bird flu protection zone are suing their force, police said today.
The North Wales officers claim they were not given the same protective clothing as staff from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and later fell ill.
Test are under way to establish the strain of flu they and some members of their families, including a child, suffered.
The two officers have not been named.
A North Wales Police spokeswoman said: ?We can confirm that a representation has been made to our legal department.
?The matter is still under investigation and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further.?
The local branch of the Police Federation would make no comment.
The outbreak of H7N2, a less pathogenic strain of the virus to the deadly H5N1, happened on a farm near Corwen, Denbighshire, last May.
North Wales police set up a cordon around the site with officers posted at access points to prevent spread of the virus.
However, they say they were not given adequate protection in terms of clothing and training and later they displayed flu-like symptoms.
Afterwards they say some relatives, including a child, also became ill.
The public health service for Wales says at least 17 people showed flu-like symptoms in the wake of the outbreak.
Tests are continuing although the owners of the farm are thought to have tested negative for the bird flu strain.

 

[HenryN]

Re: Police sue force after bird flu outbreak - Wales

Re: Police sue force after bird flu outbreak - Wales

"Test are under way to establish the strain of flu they and some members of their families, including a child, suffered."

_____
From: http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/
06:14 AM Police sue force after bird flu outbreak - ic Wales

Police sue force after bird flu outbreak

Nov 2 2007 icWales
Tests are continuing although the owners of the farm are thought to have tested negative for the bird flu strain.

The tests have been "continuing" for MANY months. Convelescent serum collected a month after onset of symptoms should be able to readily retective H7 antibodies.

 

[hawkeye]

Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

Nov 2 2007 by Roland Hughes, Daily Post
Cops to sue over lack of bird flu gear

Cops to sue over lack of bird flu gear

A POLICE officer who stood guard outside a farm at the centre of the bird flu outbreak fell ill and are now suing North Wales Police.

The officer is claiming compensation for inadequate training and a failure to provide them with protective clothing.

Two members of the officers? family also fell ill ? and are understood to be included in the landmark legal action lodged against the force.

Wales? first-ever case of bird flu was confirmed on a smallholding near Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr, Corwen, in late May this year. The outbreak was confirmed as H7N2, a less pathogenic strain of the virus than the deadly H5N1, which struck at a Suffolk turkey farm and is circulating in Asia.

Police immediately set up a 1km cordon around the farm to restrict movement, with officers preventing access and looking after the owners, Barbara Cowling and Tony Williams.

But while officers wore their usual police uniforms, public health staff attended in full protective gear.

Both Ms Cowling and Mr Williams showed flu-like symptoms, but tested negative for the illness.

However, the officer showed similar symptoms soon after visiting the farm, with two family members, including a child, following suit.

Doctors are understood to have indicated the policeman did show symptoms of non-human flu, although public health officials yesterday said not all tests had been completed.

The officer felt he were not given adequate training in how to act in the event of a bird flu outbreak.

Asked about the legal action, a North Wales Police spokeswoman said: ?We can confirm that representation has been made to our legal department.

?The matter is still currently under investigation and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further.?

The North Wales Police Federation, which would support the officers? cases, chose not to comment on the case when contacted by the Daily Post.

Public health chiefs said a total of 17 people showed flu-like symptoms in the wake of the outbreak, and a similar case at another farm near Pwllheli days later.

Chris Lines, of the National Public Health Service for Wales, said it was still not known exactly how many people fell ill, and whether those illnesses were down to the bird flu outbreak.

He said: ?We are awaiting the results of serology tests. Essentially, some months after someone has fallen ill, it is a test we can do which shows antibodies you have in your blood.

?If you did indeed suffer the illness, then you will have developed the antibodies. But the tests will take some months to do.?

Mr Lines would not confirm whether police officers were among those who had been tested.

 

[tropical]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

?If you did indeed suffer the illness, then you will have developed the antibodies. But the tests will take some months to do.?

This means that the famous fastest Singapore chip-test can't give precise instant results on humans without the results of serology tests, or that the vet. branch don't wan't to buy it (UK have another type of fast test)?

 

[HenryN]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

?If you did indeed suffer the illness, then you will have developed the antibodies. But the tests will take some months to do.?

This means that the famous fastest Singapore chip-test can't give precise instant results on humans without the results of serology tests, or that the vet. branch don't wan't to buy it (UK have another type of fast test)?

These are two VERY different tests. Serological tests measure antibodies, which peak 3-4 weeks after symptoms. However, since the peak period has long since passed, the results should have been available long ago (and was promised at the Options VI meeting in Toronto in June).

 

[tropical]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

Thank you dr. Niman.

Is it always necessary to additionaly make that different serological test and waiting few months to get a sure result, when we have a "fast" test option?
If yes, it is because the fast test alone is not enaugh precise to give a sure result, or for other reasons?

 

[HenryN]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

Thank you dr. Niman.

Is it always necessary to additionaly make that different serological test and waiting few months to get a sure result, when we have a "fast" test option?
If yes, it is because the fast test alone is not enaugh precise to give a sure result, or for other reasons?

In most caszes appropraite samples were not collected - detecting the virus requires the right samples collect at the right (early) times, which have long sinced passed.

 

[cartski]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

I think we've talked about this kind of action before.

The officer was in the course of his employment wehn he contracted the virus. Usually (but see the caveat below) when the connection bewteen work and viruse is well known, this disease relationship is an occupational disease, and the victim can file a workers compensation claim. If there is any legal action for negligence, the workers compensation board files a subrogated action against the responsible party, assuming the party is not immune from suit under the compesnation legislation.

The family of the officer would not be covered by workers compensation; hence, they would have to turn to any private insurance or legal action for any compensation, medical benefits, or rehabilitation benefits.

"Usually" is very poor choice of words in this case. How the workers compensation regime works in Wales is unknown to me. And the regime may be more similar to the U.S. compensation regime, where legal actions are common, and not to Canadian provinces.

The very ambiguity and differences in handling work-related injuries is, however, very interesting in its own right. Pandemic planners need to think about how these situations will play out in their jurisdictions, what the impacts and outcomes will be, and what revisions to the system needed.

J.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

.....Pandemic planners need to think about how these situations will play out in their jurisdictions, what the impacts and outcomes will be, and what revisions to the system needed.

What do you think would happen with/without planning?

What will happen for workers who are ordered to work, e.g., electrical workers, emergency service personnel, etc.? Will the ordering authority assume any liability?

.

 

[cartski]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

Without planning leads to test cases like this one. Not envisioning and preparing for transmission of viral outbreaks, victims will resort to the courts for damages. If all goes relatively well, the department administrations will learn from the test cases and adapt their processes to avoid future cases. The people and workers in Wales, ironically, may become better off in the long run due this officer's sacrifice and drive for restitution.

On the other hand, without planning for a surprise, massive outbreak, the floodgates will open as workers head to the courts en mass. Legal actions are post facto (after the injury) and time lagged. So the actions will only lead to changes for the next pandemic wave.

There is generally a right to refuse dangerous work, at least in Canada. But I don't know enough about that to say how that refusal would play out in the administrative boards (Labour Boards) or courts. But again, there would be test cases in each jurisdiction, or a huge surge in cases when a pandemic hits.

The point I was really trying to make was that people, groups, associations, unions, employers, administrators - whoever, need to envision the scenarios that would likely happen and follow them through the legal and quasi-legal processes with assistance of local legal experts.

Having those detailed scenarious in hand would likely help interest groups persuade administrators to take preventative measures.

J.

 

[Coleman]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

“If you did indeed suffer the illness, then you will have developed the antibodies. But the tests will take some months to do.”

This means that the famous fastest Singapore chip-test can't give precise instant results on humans without the results of serology tests, or that the vet. branch don't wan't to buy it (UK have another type of fast test)?

The lab-on-chip bird flu test is on PCR-basis, so we don't have to wait for antibodies.
But I don't know the frame of the diagnostical window for H5N1.
How many days does it need to identify HA or NA with PCR according to the individual species? Niman?

For HIV it needs 10 - 14 days in humans after risk contact, to get save results.

 

[tropical]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

Thank you Coleman.

I don't know for the window period, but if the news text is right wroted:

"The public health service for Wales says at least 17 people showed flu-like symptoms in the wake of the outbreak."

1. If they already showed the simptoms than - they surpased the necessary illness window period

2. the fast test can be done because is NOT only for chickens
"... test that can detect the H5N1 flu strain within 30 minutes, without the need to ship the sample to one of only 200 qualified labs internationally...
JP: Say you take it from the throat swab, blood or urine and this equipment is necessary to purify RNA or DNA from the sample.
... What we have done is miniaturised all the lab components into a ‘lab-on-a-chip’.
check chickens for bird flu every day or every hour even. You can do this with people so it’s just flexible, especially in regions where there is no power supply ..."

2. "... at the moment, we are only able to trace one particular strain. What we would like to do is multiplexing, that means there are several channels which would allow us to distinguish if it is a normal flu or bird flu."
___

That means what:

a) it can trace only one strain (H5N1)
- we CAN'T take many chip-test items, and set it (singulary) for different flu strains?

or
b) it CAN be set like multiple different test-items for different flu virus strains
- many test devices - every test-item set for only one strain?

___

2. "With our device, medical or humanitarian aid workers would be able to detect the presence of the H5N1 virus directly from throat swab samples on-site in less than half an hour."
* This research has been published in Nature Medicine (DOI: 10.1038/nm1634) in a paper titled "Catching bird flu in a droplet."

3.
In a disaster scenario like the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome epidemic which spread throughout Singapore in 2003, this test would be on the frontline of defence.

JP: Just imagine that someone in your office has the flu and how long does it take for you to develop symptoms? Maybe two or three days and then you start getting fever. What is really important in infectious diseases, especially flu is to detect it really fast and then contain it. So imagine now, your classroom or office is contaminated with this virus, you just need to close down the whole office with the people inside. With the people inside, you’d let no one out and then you can contain the flu just within the office so that it doesn’t spread throughout Singapore.

It has to be fast and if you have a lot of individuals, it has to be cheap and that is what we have achieved, we are fast and cheap.

Dr Jurgen Pipper, project leader of the team from the Institute of Bioengineering in Singapore. This has been Frontiers with me, Loretta Foo only on Radio Singapore International.

4. Also, exists an prototype in York ("the box"):

Avacta's prototype (based at York Science Park) "the box" -
- It can instantly detect avian flu or be used as a medical diagnostic tool.
Avacta completed a phase of laboratory bench testing of the technology earlier this year and has been in discussions with HPA and CSL with a view to converting the prototype into a practical and reliable hand held field detector.

FT references:
______________________________________________________________
FT thread:

Singapore scientists develop lab-on-chip bird flu tests




<HR style="COLOR: #cccccc" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->25 Sep 2007
Researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) and Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) have developed a device able to detect the H5N1 bird flu virus.
If successfully commercialized, the device could be used in affected
regions for pre-emptive surveillance of an avian influenza pandemic.
According to project leader and lead author of the Nature Medicine
publication, IBN Research Scientist Dr Juergen Pipper,
"With our device, medical or humanitarian aid workers would be able to detect the presence of the H5N1 virus directly from throat swab samples on-site in less than half an hour."
Complex biochemical tasks can thus be processed in a fashion similar to that of a traditional biological laboratory on a miniature scale," explained Pipper.
Apparently tests have shown that IBN's platform is as sensitive as, yet
considerably faster, than available tests, as well as notably cheaper.
* This research has been published in Nature Medicine (DOI: 10.1038/nm1634) in a paper titled "Catching bird flu in a droplet."
______________________________________________________________
FT thread:

THE-BOX_can instantly detect avian flu or be used as a medical diagnostic too(l)
Science firms light the way-instantly detect avian flu - The Press
8:08am Tuesday 11th September 2007
...
Yorkshire And Humber Bioscience Awards:
FOUR York companies swept the board at a prestigious bioscience award ceremony.
They won four out of five categories at the annual Yorkshire And Humber Bioscience Awards ...
...
Avacta, the AIMS listed detection and analysis company based at York Science Park - and last year's New Business Of The Year in The Press Business Awards - scooped the Recognition Of Advancement Award.
The firm has developed "the box" - amazing technology which can rapidly identify the nature of viruses used in, for instance, germ warfare.
It can instantly detect avian flu or be used as a medical diagnostic tool.
..

Link to the company: http://www.avacta.com/avacta/index.asp​

Description of the technology at the stage of proof-of-concept testing
Avacta Group plc
Office of Science and Innovation funded agreement with government
research organisations
Field Detection of Micro-organisms
...
Avacta completed a phase of laboratory bench testing of the technology earlier this year and has been in discussions with HPA and CSL with a view to converting the prototype into a practical and reliable hand held field detector.
_______
FT thread:

"check chickens for bird flu every day or every hour even"
Today, 12:00 AM The H5N1 Lab-on-a - chip test
Story from:
Radio Singapore International (Mediacorp Radio)
http://www.birdflubreakingnews.com/t...44%2F1%2F.html

Frontiers
The H5N1 Lab-on-a-chip test
October 16, 2007
Welcome to Frontiers with me, Loretta Foo.

As of September 2007, bird flu has accounted for 200 deaths out of 328 confirmed cases world wide. While the number may seem small, these statistics are merely the tip of the iceberg because of the difficulty in confirming the presence of the H5N1 bird flu virus. Furthermore, many are predicting that the H5N1 virus will not only be able to spread from animal to human but from human to human in future.

Amidst all this, scientists in Singapore have offered a beam of hope in the frantic race against the virus, with a new test that can detect the H5N1 flu strain within 30 minutes, without the need to ship the sample to one of only 200 qualified labs internationally.

Dr Jurgen Pipper is the project leader of the team that comes from the Institute of Bio-engineering in Singapore. He tells us that the device relies on two technologies. The first part of the test purifies the raw samples taken from the test subject.

JP: Say you take it from the throat swab, blood or urine and this equipment is necessary to purify RNA or DNA from the sample. If the sample is purified, you have another machine would is called a thermocycler and it can run a so-called polymerase chain reaction, a reaction that will amplify trace amounts of DNA to detectable levels. So all this equipment has to come together and typically, it’s heavy and costly and it has to be operated by a lab officer at least. What we have done is miniaturised all the lab components into a ‘lab-on-a-chip’.
The test has been proven to be 10 times faster, 40 to 100 times cheaper and is as sensitive as conventional tests. This makes it a valuable tool in the fight against bird flu, especially in poorer countries which cannot afford expensive laboratory testing.

JP: At the moment, it’s something like this. The sample has to come to the lab and if it’s small and portable, the device can go to the sample. So you go to the chicken farm for example and check chickens for bird flu every day or every hour even. You can do this with people so it’s just flexible, especially in regions where there is no power supply because again, small equipment means less power consumed.
IBN has developed a technique that uses magnetic force to manipulate individual droplets containing silica-coated magnetic particles, allowing the test to be shrunk into a palm-sized device.

JP: What we have done so far is proof of concept. It works quite well in the lab but this does not necessarily mean it will be perfect in the field. There are still a lot of other details. For example, designing a special cartridge where all the components are contained, maybe in a freeze dried form so we don’t need a fridge because biochemicals are quite sensitive to heat. This also needs to be developed because at the moment, we are only able to trace one particular strain. What we would like to do is multiplexing, that means there are several channels which would allow us to distinguish if it is a normal flu or bird flu.
Besides being used to detect H5N1, Dr Pipper says that the test can be used to detect many other diseases as well.

JP: In general, you can copy every DNA to detect levels so you have your DNA and I have my DNA which are all different. It’s the same with the viral RNA or bacterial DNA, so a virus or a bacterium, they would have different sequences. You can then define the sequence you want to amplify by choosing the right primer and they are specific for what you are looking for. You can develop a special primer for every strain of dengue, for Hepatitis B, to distinguish if you are male or female.

In a disaster scenario like the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome epidemic which spread throughout Singapore in 2003, this test would be on the frontline of defence.

JP: Just imagine that someone in your office has the flu and how long does it take for you to develop symptoms? Maybe two or three days and then you start getting fever. What is really important in infectious diseases, especially flu is to detect it really fast and then contain it. So imagine now, your classroom or office is contaminated with this virus, you just need to close down the whole office with the people inside. With the people inside, you’d let no one out and then you can contain the flu just within the office so that it doesn’t spread throughout Singapore. It has to be fast and if you have a lot of individuals, it has to be cheap and that is what we have achieved, we are fast and cheap.

Dr Jurgen Pipper, project leader of the team from the Institute of Bioengineering in Singapore. This has been Frontiers with me, Loretta Foo only on Radio Singapore International.

 

[HenryN]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

The lab-on-chip bird flu test is on PCR-basis, so we don't have to wait for antibodies.
But I don't know the frame of the diagnostical window for H5N1.
How many days does it need to identify HA or NA with PCR according to the individual species? Niman?

For HIV it needs 10 - 14 days in humans after risk contact, to get save results.

The outbreak in England was H7N2 (not H5N1). Speed of testing for PCR is not the issue on Emgland. It is collecting the right samples and at teh right time and the sensititivy/specifificity of H7 testing.

Antibodies are more relliable if convelescent serum is used.

 

[Coleman]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

I just want to know the diagnostic window (time) from infection till (possible) diagnostic with PCR?
Does exist differences acc. that issue in different strains?
Has anyone an answer to that question?

 

[HenryN]

Re: Bird flu officer to sue North Wales Police

I just want to know the diagnostic window (time) from infection till (possible) diagnostic?
Has anyone an answer to that question?

PCR requires the virus, which os cleared at different sites at different times, but the window is in days and has long since past.

The issue on infection and spread for this outbreak is addressed with serum antibodies, not PCR on uncollected or degraded samples.