Work Begins on Possible Vaccine Against Novel Flu Bug

Work Begins on Possible Vaccine Against Novel Flu Bug

www.medscape.com

CDC …has prepared a "seed virus" …that drug manufacturers can use to develop a vaccine if needed. Preparing a seed virus involves genetically manipulating specimens to incorporate preferred features.

…The CDC …develops the seed viruses… which the FDA distributes to vaccine makers.

(visit the link for the full news article)

The only way to develop vaccines and treatments is to grow the disease-causing agent from "seed stock" and then, experiment with it.

Creating "seed stock" involves genetically manipulating specimens. Even viruses like H5N1 bird flu and ebola need to be genetically manipulated to create "seed viruses," which then are distributed for use in developing treatments and vaccines.

The CDC collects flu and other virus samples from around the world, creates seed stock and through the FDA, distributes "disease seed" to their corporate partners in Big Pharma, the military-industrial complex and the new biodefense industry.

Creating seed viruses and other seed stocks is big business - vaccine development and production is even bigger.

In this light, it's obvious that the recent "scandal" about the two flu researchers developing an airborne strain of H5N1 bird flu and wanting to share their results with other flu scientists has little to do with protecting the public, and everything to do with protecting Big Pharma, the military-industrial complex and the new biodefense industry's monopoly. The real issue is whether or not scientific research should be "Open Access" or privately owned for profit.

They put the mutated H5N1 into the nose of one ferret, then took a sample of nasal fluid from that ferret and put it in the nose of another. After 10 ferrets, the virus began spreading from ferret to ferret via the air just about as easily as a seasonal flu virus.

In all that ferret hopping, the virus gained only five new genetic substitutions. And that was also “very bad news,” Fouchier proclaimed, adding an “indeed” for emphasis, just in case the ramifications were lost on any of the hundreds of flu folks in the audience.

…All of the mutations needed to make the virus an airborne threat have already been detected in the wild, but they have not been found together in a single virus “just yet”, Fouchier noted. The discovery also confirmed that H5N1 would not need to mingle with a mammalian virus before becoming easily transmissible among us.

The biodefense industry has grown by leaps and bounds to become a major player in the biopharmaceutical industry. But growth -and profits- hinge on protecting scientific information as "Intellectual Property."

One company to watch is Emergent BioSolutions, a multinational headquartered in Maryland and controlled by Fuad El-Hibri - the only FDA-licensed supplier for the human anthrax vaccine in the United States.

Anthrax Vaccine Licensing and Production

The only FDA-licensed human anthrax vaccine' in the United States, Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed (AVA, trade name BioThrax), is produced by Emergent BioDefense Corporation, formerly known as BioPort Corporation in Lansing, Michigan. The parent company of Emergent BioDefense is Emergent BioSolutions of Rockville, Maryland. Both Emergent BioSolutions and Porton International Group, Ltd., Porton Down, UK, are controlled by Fuad El-Hibri.

….In the U.S., the principal purchasers of the vaccine are the Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services. Ten million doses of the vaccine have been purchased for the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile.

Maybe El-Hibri wanted Emergent BioSolutions to get the patent on the vaccine for airborne H5N1 bird flu. Unfortunately, the CDC lost its control over H5N1 bird flu samples back in 2007 when Indonesia - the world's "bird flu hotspot" - stopped sharing its flu samples.

Historically, flu samples collected around the world went to the CDC for genetic analysis, for use in developing treatments and vaccines. The CDC did NOT share the genetic information with other nations, just with its Big Pharma partners.

So in 2007, Indonesia stopped sharing its flu samples - demanding fair access, transparency, and benefits-sharing. Indonesia is a hot spot for bird flu viruses, but it took 4 years for the issues to be resolved.

In April of 2011, it looked like the CDC and industry partners regained control when Indonesia signed a new contract - and the announcements and press releases started flowing.

Bangladesh to help make bird flu vaccine

September 18 - Bangladesh will share a new strain of bird flu virus, identified as a possible pandemic threat, with US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) to develop 'seed virus,' key ingredient to make a vaccine in emergency.

Indonesia ready to produce AI vaccine for humans

September 19 - The deputy of Indonesian Coordinating People’s Welfare Ministry, Emil Agustiono, has said that the country is ready to produce H5N1 vaccine for humans. “Airlangga University in Surabaya has prepared the master seed. This master seed then will be produced to be a vaccine by Bio Farma,” Agustiono informed. “By following the WHO’s recommendations, finally we found the variant which fulfill the aspect of immunology and its compatibility with field virus as master seed for vaccine,” he said.

Then it came out that Fouchier and Kawaoka planned to publish their H5N1 bird flu research, and share their results with flu scientists everywhere - which would have broken the monopoly held by the CDC and its partners in Big Pharma, the military-industrial complex and the new biodefense industry. Not in the program.

The novel flu strain the CDC is now creating a "seed virus" for is the one currently circulating in the USA -A(H3N2)v- which has a gene from the pandemic 2009 influenza A(H1N1) virus. It is described as "no more severe than ordinary seasonal influenza" and is slated to be covered in the Fall 2012 flu vaccine.





www.medscape.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Stephen King's 'The Stand' was a great movie. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys such movies with both religious and end time themes...in a fictional structure.

I'd REALLY appreciate it if TPTB would stop trying to turn that fictional structure into a modern reality and give us the "Captain Tripps" flu bug Stephen King dreamed up for his plot. I'd really really appreciate them not finding new and unique ways to kill me (or anyone else for that matter), if it's all the same to them.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


What's happening naturally in the natural world today is WAAYYY more dangerous than what the idiots are doing in their labs - and the accelerated microbial evolution caused by everyday industrial contamination is as much to blame as GM, GE and nanotechnology.

...We changed our world - at the molecular level - and now all the viruses, bacteria, fungi and other microbes are mutating, adapting and evolving like crazy in the "wild." Problem is, they're evolving into forms and strains we did not evolve to handle. Ooops.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Funny you should mention The Stand. I picked it up to read it over the holidays and as usual I got quite far in to it before I started to have the beginnings of a cold...and promptly put the book away because it freaked me out!

Rev

reply to post by revmoofoo


I read The Stand years ago - great book but I forget most of the details now. Just wish everyone wasn't so focused on bioterrorism - really a red herring at this point. Wrote the following for another thread, but it works here.

Viruses respond to environmental changes by mutating, adapting and evolving. Just like bacteria and other microbes do. Any disease created in a lab and set loose will mutate almost immediately - in response to the environmental change. Any 'protections' against the original strain would be neutralized - no one would be "immune," including the 'developers.'

Evolution is a continual process. Scientists who work on such things know this, even if the American public remains ignorant of basic biology. No one educated and smart enough to create a pandemic disease is so ignorant and stupid as to release it. But they don't have to - nature has taken over.

Industrial activities contaminate our air, soil and water, thereby change the environment, and provoke mutation in viruses and other microbes. Continual changes mean continual mutation; life on our planet is now experiencing a period of accelerated evolution. This accelerated evolution is most obvious in viruses and microbes, and in the "disease" effects on humans and other complex organisms.

The fastest growing, most secure career path is now "Food Safety" - for good reason.


NOTE: I know "bio-weapons research" has yielded some horrific stuff, and have no doubt there have been accidental and purposeful releases. But trust me, the dangers of political "bioterrorism" pale in comparison to the effects of all the everyday, legal industrial releases. For example, nanotechnology alone has the power to redirect a billion years of evolution, and it looks like it already is. Don't forget - life is made of molecules - industry is changing our molecules and adding all-new never-before-seen synthetic molecules to the mix of life on our planet. Life is a process, like evolution, and the building blocks have been changed. So hang on for the ride. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Great Job for the info

Live vaccines are always dangerous since they can mutate and regain their virulence. Even using only genetic material so our adaptive immune systems can learn is still not safe since 9 out of 10 cells in our bodies is not human.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


That's exactly what I was thinking whilst reading that. Didn't the outbreak come from a CDC lab in the film?
Now I've got this stuck in my head.



Star and Flag OP. Cheers!

Originally posted by BoneMosaic
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

That's exactly what I was thinking whilst reading that. Didn't the outbreak come from a CDC lab in the film?
Now I've got this stuck in my head.

Star and Flag OP. Cheers!

Yes, it did, actually. For those who haven't seen it...this all happens in the opening segments of the movie so can't really be seen as a spoiler..but stop reading anyway if knowing even that much of the movie bothers someone. The whole premise of how it starts for the film is a purely accidental release of a super-form of the common flu. Much like some labs in the headline today, it was supposed to be in a 100% contained and secure Bio-Level 4 facility....and would have never been a problem if not for human nature.

Someone lets the genie out, it spreads in the lab and the Gate Guard for the complex makes an instant decision to save his family and run like the wind...believing it couldn't have already touched him topside from the deep underground labs people are dying in. Well.. ooops... No, he wasn't clean, it wasn't safe..and that one perfectly understandable moment of human weakness destroys untold work and treasure spent to make the place secure.



Kinda gives a warm and fuzzy feeling when we hear about people re-animating Spanish Flu and making entirely new versions of the Flu heretofore unseen on Earth. Oh yeah.. I know I have total confidence that nothing can go wrong...After all, they are 100% secure labs this happens in.


Great song too!

The "Dumbing Down Americans Campaign" was successful - most evident in the nation's lack of "pandemic awareness," and ignorance about viral and microbial evolution.

Seems more Americans -especially American guys- are worried about a terrorist attack than they are about a pandemic, or about disease jumping from animals to humans - scenarios that are far, far more likely. Over 75% of Americans believe scientists or the government can prevent the next global disease outbreak - and are completely ignorant of the fact that the window for pandemic prevention closed long ago.

ATS member Surfeit posted the link in his OP: National Survey on Pandemic Awareness and Attitudes.

NATIONAL SURVEY ON PANDEMIC AWARENESS AND ATTITUDES. Conducted October 28-31, 2011.

A plurality (40%) of adults believe that the most likely source of the next global disease outbreak is human to human. Less than one in five Americans (17%) know that animal to human is the most likely source.

More than three quarters of Americans (76%) believe that scientists or governments can do at least something to prevent the next global disease outbreak.

Of course those pesky human trials can be a real problem with these flu vaccines - IF you follow the rules.

Clinical Trial Data Repressed