Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/12/news-scan-dec-08-2020
News Scan for Dec 08, 2020
COVID-19 in childcare workers; Binge drinking during COVID lockdown; Early promise for universal flu vaccine; Avian flu in Europe
Filed Under:
COVID-19; Influenza Vaccines; Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
s (LAIVs) or inactivated influenza virus vaccines (IIVs), and the presence of an adjuvant.
All regimens included a booster of some kind on day 85. Out of 65 study participants, most adverse events were mild or moderate, with common effects across all intervention groups being headache, fatigue, and muscle soreness.
Using 1,280 stalk antibody area under the curve (AUC) levels as an acceptable level of immune response, the most promising long-term regimen was an intramuscular, adjuvanted IIV expressing cH8/1N1 on day 1 and a booster of adjuvanted cH5/1N1. Between 66.7% and 73.3% of participants still remained in this immune threshold considered to be protective between days 242 and 588, approximately 2.25-fold above baseline.
The other two regimens used LAIVs, and while the addition of an IIV booster vaccination produced long-term immune response in only 7.7% of recipients, 40.9% of those who received an IIV booster with an adjuvant had sufficient titer levels for immunity.
Dec 7 Nat Med study
H5N8 avian flu strikes more poultry, wild birds in Europe
Two countries—France and Poland—reported more highly pathogenic H5N8 avian flu outbreaks in poultry, and France and two other European countries reported more detections of the virus in wild birds, according to the latest notifications from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
In France, the virus struck a duck farm during the open-air prefeeding phase in Landes department in the far southwest of the country. The event began on Dec 5, killing 400 of 6,000 birds. An investigation into the source of the virus is still under way, but the farm is near a wetland area where migratory birds stop.
Poland reported H5N8 at a layer farm in Pomorskie province in the northwestern part of the country. The outbreak started on Dec 3 and killed 6,000 of 176,871 chickens at the facility.
In wild bird reports, France reported H5N8 detections in waterfowl in Loire-Atlantique department in the northwest and Meurthe et Moselle department in the northeast. Slovenia reported more H5N8 in waterfowl, this time from Ljubljana, its capital and largest city. And the Netherlands reported three more outbreaks in waterfowl, two in South Holland province and one in Utrecht province.
Dec 8 OIE report on H5N8 in French poultry
Dec 8 OIE report on H5N8 in Polish poultry
Dec 8 OIE report on H5N8 in French wild birds
Dec 7 OIE report on H5N8 in Slovenia
Dec 7 OIE report on H5N8 in the Netherlands
News Scan for Dec 08, 2020
COVID-19 in childcare workers; Binge drinking during COVID lockdown; Early promise for universal flu vaccine; Avian flu in Europe
Filed Under:
COVID-19; Influenza Vaccines; Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
s (LAIVs) or inactivated influenza virus vaccines (IIVs), and the presence of an adjuvant.
All regimens included a booster of some kind on day 85. Out of 65 study participants, most adverse events were mild or moderate, with common effects across all intervention groups being headache, fatigue, and muscle soreness.
Using 1,280 stalk antibody area under the curve (AUC) levels as an acceptable level of immune response, the most promising long-term regimen was an intramuscular, adjuvanted IIV expressing cH8/1N1 on day 1 and a booster of adjuvanted cH5/1N1. Between 66.7% and 73.3% of participants still remained in this immune threshold considered to be protective between days 242 and 588, approximately 2.25-fold above baseline.
The other two regimens used LAIVs, and while the addition of an IIV booster vaccination produced long-term immune response in only 7.7% of recipients, 40.9% of those who received an IIV booster with an adjuvant had sufficient titer levels for immunity.
Dec 7 Nat Med study
H5N8 avian flu strikes more poultry, wild birds in Europe
Two countries—France and Poland—reported more highly pathogenic H5N8 avian flu outbreaks in poultry, and France and two other European countries reported more detections of the virus in wild birds, according to the latest notifications from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
In France, the virus struck a duck farm during the open-air prefeeding phase in Landes department in the far southwest of the country. The event began on Dec 5, killing 400 of 6,000 birds. An investigation into the source of the virus is still under way, but the farm is near a wetland area where migratory birds stop.
Poland reported H5N8 at a layer farm in Pomorskie province in the northwestern part of the country. The outbreak started on Dec 3 and killed 6,000 of 176,871 chickens at the facility.
In wild bird reports, France reported H5N8 detections in waterfowl in Loire-Atlantique department in the northwest and Meurthe et Moselle department in the northeast. Slovenia reported more H5N8 in waterfowl, this time from Ljubljana, its capital and largest city. And the Netherlands reported three more outbreaks in waterfowl, two in South Holland province and one in Utrecht province.
Dec 8 OIE report on H5N8 in French poultry
Dec 8 OIE report on H5N8 in Polish poultry
Dec 8 OIE report on H5N8 in French wild birds
Dec 7 OIE report on H5N8 in Slovenia
Dec 7 OIE report on H5N8 in the Netherlands