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Virology News
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Topical news snippets about viruses that affect people. And other things. Like Led Zeppelin. And zombies B-)
Curated by
Ed Rybicki
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It has been described as one of the world’s most lethal flu viruses. More than 20 people have already died from it in China, and more than 100 are infected. The new strain of bird flu, the H7N9, has caused such a stir in the medical field that local practitioners are on a drive to educate South Africans on the importance of getting flu vaccines. “This strain is actually nothing new, but the virus is changing itself… it’s becoming bigger and it is absolutely critical that everyone be vaccinated. It doesn’t appear that any South Africans have contracted or are in danger of the virus. but flu spreads quickly, and while we don’t want to scare people, there needs to be awareness,” said Professor Lynne Webber, head of the medical virology department at the University of Pretoria.
Ed Rybicki's insight:
Seconded on people getting flu vaccines...although there IS no available vaccine that would protect against this one, so the point is moot!
What this points up rather strongly is that SA needs a capacity to make emergency response vaccines - because we most definitely will not get any from anyone else, if this one goes pandemic, just as happened in 2009 with the H1N1pdm virus. 
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What scientists are learning about the zoonotic flu virus that has infected more than 100 people in China since February. The virus appears to be more virulent than past H7 avian flu viruses in past outbreaks, which have caused conjunctivitis but have only been blamed for one death. Furthermore, this virus appears to be spreading from its hosts to humans unusually readily
Ed Rybicki's insight:
March 31 to April to publish several papers on the virus: new technology has enabled SUCH rapid progress these days, it is almost unbelievable.
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Two men, aged 27 and 87, have died in the Chinese city of Shanghai after catching a strain of bird flu not previously known in humans, officials say.
The men, aged 27 and 87, both fell ill with the H7N9 strain in February and died some weeks later in March, Xinhua news agency reported.
A woman of 35 who caught the virus elsewhere is said to be critically ill.
It is unclear how the strain spread, but the three did not infect each other or any close contacts, officials say.
Ed Rybicki's insight:
And so it goes on: contact with birds leading to human infections with new variants / types of influenza A viruses, and a N variant never seen in humans before...universal vaccine time!!
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Medicago Inc. (TSX: MDG; OTCQX: MDCGF), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing highly effective and competitive vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), today announced that it has successfully produced a new VLP vaccine candidate for the H7N9 virus that is responsible for the current influenza outbreak in China. Influenza in birds graphic from Russell Kightley Media
Ed Rybicki's insight:
I keep saying, you gotta go green...and Medicago do, and have for H7N9.
Quicker than anyone else, evidently. Truly impressive for plant production technology!
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A new strain of bird flu that emerged in China over the past month is one of the "most lethal" flu viruses so far, worrying health officials because it can jump more easily from birds to humans than the one that started killing people a decade ago,...
Ed Rybicki's insight:
Frightening...! Which is the adult way of saying "scary".
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The number of confirmed H7N9 bird flu cases in China increased by four to 91 on Friday. Jiangsu province reported one new case, and Zhejiang province reported three, the state-run Shanghai Daily reported today. The number of dead was unchanged at...
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An important document - because it lays out in detail just what a high-level team that went to China found during their travels. And it is disturbing: the virus has 6 internal genes of H9N2, with the H7 HA and N9 NA - the first time the latter has been seen in humans. I note that H9N2 keeps popping up in humans, but is not so nasty: the H7N9, however, is a low pathogenicity virus in chickens, but severe in humans.