H7N9

User avatar
cronus
Black Market Analyst
Posts: 18122
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:09 pm
About me: Illis quos amo deserviam
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: H7N9

Post by cronus » Thu May 09, 2013 8:56 am

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... t-bay.html

US invokes emergency act to keep H7N9 flu at bay

THE US government has declared that H7N9 bird flu "poses a significant potential for a public health emergency", and has given "emergency use authorisation" for diagnostic kits for the virus. This means tests can be used that haven't gone through the usual lengthy approval process by the US Food and Drug Administration.

They are right to be concerned. H7N9 could be a tough adversary: New Scientist has learned that it provokes a weaker immune response than most flu, making vaccines hard to produce.

Although H7N9 is not, so far, transmissible between humans, it does cause severe disease in people, is easier to catch than other bird flu strains, and may need only a few mutations to go pandemic. The UK has already given doctors instructions on when to test people for H7N9, and how to manage any with the virus.

The US's emergency authorisation will allow the use of a kit that looks for flu genes using a polymerase chain reaction test, which has been made specific for H7N9. The kit has had preliminary tests but would normally need more exhaustive tests to be approved. Innovative new diagnostics should eventually be authorised too, says Charles Chiu of the University of California in San Francisco.

This kind of fast, high-throughput screening for pandemic flu, possibly at borders, might allow early cases to be treated with antiviral drugs, potentially slowing the spread of the virus while vaccines are made.

The next emergency authorisation is likely to be for immune-stimulating chemicals called adjuvants to put in those vaccines. These were used in vaccines in Europe and Canada during the 2009 pandemic, but adjuvants suitable for flu are not currently approved in the US.

Labs are now making "seed" viruses for manufacturers to create H7N9 vaccine. That process faces the same development delays as in 2009, when vaccine arrived too late for most people.

(continued)
What will the world be like after its ruler is removed?

User avatar
JimC
The sentimental bloke
Posts: 74196
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:58 am
About me: To be serious about gin requires years of dedicated research.
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Contact:

Re: H7N9

Post by JimC » Thu May 09, 2013 9:04 am

Scrumple, I'm glad you're back. Your news posts, for example, are always interesting, gloomy or not...

:tup:
Nurse, where the fuck's my cardigan?
And my gin!

User avatar
cronus
Black Market Analyst
Posts: 18122
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:09 pm
About me: Illis quos amo deserviam
Location: United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: H7N9

Post by cronus » Thu May 09, 2013 3:47 pm

JimC wrote:Scrumple, I'm glad you're back. Your news posts, for example, are always interesting, gloomy or not...

:tup:
I may go for good soon. Consider this the epilogue.
What will the world be like after its ruler is removed?

User avatar
Svartalf
Offensive Grail Keeper
Posts: 41058
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:42 pm
Location: Paris France
Contact:

Re: H7N9

Post by Svartalf » Thu May 09, 2013 4:38 pm

If you go, I might just come after you to drag you back, or ask Pappa and rachel to plague all your computer accounts with virii and bugs.
Embrace the Darkness, it needs a hug

PC stands for "Patronizing Cocksucker" Randy Ping

Coito ergo sum
Posts: 32040
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:03 pm
Contact:

Re: H7N9

Post by Coito ergo sum » Thu May 09, 2013 4:46 pm

It's really the H3N2 virus that constitutes a global pandemic. Thousands of people a year are dying - dropping like flies -- and yet, our media covers H7N9 and stuff like SARS. It's a conspiracy!

Captain Trips is already among us! It is the H3N2 virus! Run!

User avatar
Jason
Destroyer of words
Posts: 17782
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2011 12:46 pm
Contact:

Re: H7N9

Post by Jason » Thu May 09, 2013 10:39 pm

SARS is/was a joke.. I'm sure I mentioned that back in the day of the SARS panic in Toronto I was working at Mount Sinai hospital..

Coito ergo sum
Posts: 32040
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:03 pm
Contact:

Re: H7N9

Post by Coito ergo sum » Fri May 10, 2013 12:26 pm

Făkünamę wrote:SARS is/was a joke.. I'm sure I mentioned that back in the day of the SARS panic in Toronto I was working at Mount Sinai hospital..

We have SARS.

There is only a 98% survival rate from SARS.

That means, soon, only 98% of us will be alive....

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests