Giuseppe
Emeritus
[I think this piece contains some 'recycled' materials. However, the opinion it expresses I think it is worth to be posted. IOH]
-
Vaccinate Now To Avoid Bird Flu Outbreak Warn Experts (from The Herald )
-
Vaccinate Now To Avoid Bird Flu Outbreak Warn Experts (from The Herald )
Vaccinate now to avoid bird flu outbreak, warn experts
GERRY BRAIDEN - November 03 2008
People should be vaccinated against bird flu now to avoid the disastrous effects of a sudden global pandemic with "urgent consideration" given to priming potential victims with a preparatory jab, experts have warned.
It would involve an initial vaccination to build up the immune system followed by a booster shot as soon as the first signs of a pandemic emerge, the team of international researchers said.
People primed in advance would then be fully protected in a week, instead of six.
Just weeks ago, UK academics said a vaccine currently being tested could save lives in a future bird flu pandemic, with jabs given years earlier priming the immune system to fight a variety of strains.
One leading specialist has suggested governments should consider "stockpiling vaccines in people's arms".
A lethal strain of bird flu has been spreading around the globe for more than four years, killing millions of birds and hundreds of humans. A pandemic flu has been labelled the "gravest threat" to the UK by a recent government document.
Fears of a pandemic have not so far materialised, even though the mortality rate among humans is above 60%.
Booster would be provided if disease spreads
Experts point out that cross-infection to humans is still relatively rare and usually occurs where people have been in close contact with infected birds.
The biggest fear remains the risk of the deadly H5N1 bird-flu strain combining with a human strain to produce a mutation, more dangerous and difficult to combat - so far, every victim of the virus is thought to have been in contact with infected birds.
Writing in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, the researchers say there may be no warning before H5N1 explodes in the human population.
Current vaccination strategies require two jabs, six weeks apart but the experts warn that may be too late to prevent widespread loss of life.
The experts wrote: "We simply cannot afford to ignore it as a major global threat.
"The maximum benefit from using a pre-pandemic vaccine may be gained from priming populations before there is evidence of a novel virus emerging and spreading, when systematic supply, distribution and vaccination strategies can be put in place."
Bird flu claimed its first human victim, a three-year-old boy in Hong Kong, in May 1997. Since then it has spread through Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
As of January this year, the World Health Organisation had confirmed 348 cases of H5N1 in humans in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam, leading to 216 deaths.
Despite mass culls, exclusion zones and other measures to prevent its spread, the H5N1 virus has continued to travel.
In one week in February 2006, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria, France, Slovenia, India, Iran and Egypt confirmed their first cases of H5N1 in wild birds.
In March 2006, a mute swan found dead in the harbour at Cellardyke, near Anstruther in Fife, was confirmed as carrying avian flu.
There is not yet a definitive vaccine but antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu are already available and being stockpiled by the UK and other countries.
-
<cite cite="http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2465081.0.Vaccinate_now_to_avoid_bird_flu_outbreak_warn_experts.php">Vaccinate Now To Avoid Bird Flu Outbreak Warn Experts (from The Herald )</cite>GERRY BRAIDEN - November 03 2008
People should be vaccinated against bird flu now to avoid the disastrous effects of a sudden global pandemic with "urgent consideration" given to priming potential victims with a preparatory jab, experts have warned.
It would involve an initial vaccination to build up the immune system followed by a booster shot as soon as the first signs of a pandemic emerge, the team of international researchers said.
People primed in advance would then be fully protected in a week, instead of six.
Just weeks ago, UK academics said a vaccine currently being tested could save lives in a future bird flu pandemic, with jabs given years earlier priming the immune system to fight a variety of strains.
One leading specialist has suggested governments should consider "stockpiling vaccines in people's arms".
A lethal strain of bird flu has been spreading around the globe for more than four years, killing millions of birds and hundreds of humans. A pandemic flu has been labelled the "gravest threat" to the UK by a recent government document.
Fears of a pandemic have not so far materialised, even though the mortality rate among humans is above 60%.
Booster would be provided if disease spreads
Experts point out that cross-infection to humans is still relatively rare and usually occurs where people have been in close contact with infected birds.
The biggest fear remains the risk of the deadly H5N1 bird-flu strain combining with a human strain to produce a mutation, more dangerous and difficult to combat - so far, every victim of the virus is thought to have been in contact with infected birds.
Writing in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, the researchers say there may be no warning before H5N1 explodes in the human population.
Current vaccination strategies require two jabs, six weeks apart but the experts warn that may be too late to prevent widespread loss of life.
The experts wrote: "We simply cannot afford to ignore it as a major global threat.
"The maximum benefit from using a pre-pandemic vaccine may be gained from priming populations before there is evidence of a novel virus emerging and spreading, when systematic supply, distribution and vaccination strategies can be put in place."
Bird flu claimed its first human victim, a three-year-old boy in Hong Kong, in May 1997. Since then it has spread through Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
As of January this year, the World Health Organisation had confirmed 348 cases of H5N1 in humans in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam, leading to 216 deaths.
Despite mass culls, exclusion zones and other measures to prevent its spread, the H5N1 virus has continued to travel.
In one week in February 2006, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria, France, Slovenia, India, Iran and Egypt confirmed their first cases of H5N1 in wild birds.
In March 2006, a mute swan found dead in the harbour at Cellardyke, near Anstruther in Fife, was confirmed as carrying avian flu.
There is not yet a definitive vaccine but antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu are already available and being stockpiled by the UK and other countries.
-