Human Vaccine Against Bird Flu Within Reach: New Discovery

Human Vaccine Against Bird Flu Within Reach: New Discovery

www.sciencedaily.com

The discovery, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals how boosting T cell immunity could better protect humans from a bird flu pandemic.

The continued spread of the highly virulent "bird flu" virus has experts worried that we are facing a new potential influenza pandemic which could transfer between humans. Furthermore, given the bird flu is new, there is no pre-existing immunity in the population and current vaccine formulations would be useless.

"The 'Killer T cell' is the hit-man of the immune system. It is able to locate and destroy virus-infected cells in our body helping rid us of infection," said A/Prof Stephen Turner, from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne who is a lead author on the paper.

"Unfortunately, current influenza vaccines are poor at inducing killer T cell immunity. Therefore, we wanted to see if we could improve the current vaccine formulation to induce killer T cells after vaccination," he said.

"We added a compound, known to increase immunity, to the flu vaccine in an animal model. The addition of this compound promoted significant generation of potent killer T cell immunity and provided protection from infection.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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The race is on for developing anti-virals and flu vaccines, and getting them to market. Each day sees a new announcement promising the ultimate universal cure/treatment/fix.

Lower down on the page you'll find the second big issue - current legislation is not stringent, but still, it takes time for new drugs to go to human trials and then to market, a factor guaranteed to cut into profits.

There's the rub - and the backstory. Big Pharma wants deregulation; the WHO is over a barrel.

New disease threats challenge European livestock

...new strains of bluetongue are a threat, including new mutating strains. But there are also a number of others including classical swine fever, bird flu, peste des petits ruminants, West Nile Virus and Rift Valley Fever.

The VMD is part of the European Technology Platform for Global Animal Health which seeks to speed up the development and introduction of vaccines and medicines to combat diseases. A particular focus is on ensuring that legislation does not hold up the introduction of vaccines, particularly when a disease threat is imminent.

Many people know the dangers of anti-virals and vaccines: resistance, and the development of new strains and diseases.

But there are no other options for treatment, are there? ...What should be done?

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

Nice find. It seems logical that by fortifing the immunse system itself you have much broader coverage than vaccines tailored to single diseases etc.

I wonder though what effect these meds would have on bone marrow etc over the long haul?

Originally posted by FredT

I wonder though what effect these meds would have on bone marrow etc over the long haul?

Me too.

It seems the campaign to deal with bird flu is suddenly intensifying, and many are ready for desperate action.

But - The best decisions are NOT made in haste.

Seems to me that everyone sat on their butts doing nothing for 10+ years when this could have been stopped - so why not stay seated and let it play out naturally, without doing more to make it worse?

PS. Thanks FredT

What happens when the enhanced vaccine causes inflammatory reactions like rheumatoid arthritis, brain swelling, endocrine system faitgue and failure, catastrophic immune system failure.

Will they ever stop trying to 'force' the body to perform it's natural function artifically?

I don't trust these doctors at all.

Make them take the vaccine first - all of them. THEN we'll see.

[edit on 3-3-2009 by Maxmars]

Originally posted by Maxmars
What happens when the enhanced vaccine causes inflammatory reactions like rheumatoid arthritis, brain swelling, endocrine system faitgue and failure, catastrophic immune system failure.

Exactly what 'they' want I suppose. This is the solution, just waiting on the problem-reaction now.

Peace

Another thing.

The new discovery is about boosting the immune system. BUT. The problem is that H5N1 can cause a "cytokine storm," an overwhelming -and fatal- response by a healthy immune system.


Cytokine Storm

A cytokine storm is a potentially fatal immune reaction consisting of a positive feedback loop between cytokines and immune cells, with highly elevated levels of various cytokines.[1]

Lab study supports idea of 'cytokine storm' in H5N1 flu

Nov 16, 2005 (CIDRAP News) – A recent laboratory study has produced more evidence that infection of human lung cells with the H5N1 avian influenza virus leads to intense inflammation similar to what was seen in victims of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.

Researchers from Hong Kong report that lung cells growing in a laboratory responded much more intensely to the H5N1 virus than to an ordinary flu virus, even though the viruses reproduced at about the same rate, according to the report published online by Respiratory Research.

The H5N1 viruses were "more potent inducers" of cytokines and chemokines—chemical messengers that trigger inflammation—than H1N1 viruses were, says the report by a team led by J.S.M. Peiris of the University of Hong Kong. A flood of inflammation-triggering chemicals released by the immune systems has been referred to as a "cytokine storm."

Autopsies of H5N1 avian flu victims in Vietnam and elsewhere have revealed lungs choked with debris from the excessive inflammation triggered by the virus. Similar severe lung damage was frequently reported in victims of the 1918 pandemic, which disproportionately killed people with the strongest immune systems—young, healthy adults.

Cytokine storm issue poses another big H5N1 question

But there is another question that is not widely discussed by the general public but is of great interest to researchers trying to develop effective drugs to treat H5N1 human infections. These investigators are asking: “Is the immune system ‘cytokine storm’ the main cause of death caused by H5N1 infection?”

The cytokine storm is an example of too much of a good thing. It’s a blizzard of signaling proteins called cytokines that is generated by various immune system cells as they coordinate an attack on an invading microorganism. But if this response runs out of control, it can cause potentially fatal inflammation and damage to the lungs. And that is what many researchers have thought kills people who are infected with H5N1.

But now a team of St. Jude investigators have raised issues about that widely held theory by showing that depression of cytokines in mice infected with a particularly virulent strain of the virus still causes the mice to die. The team said the new finding suggests that pathogenicity is a complex question of host response and virus load. Scientists should concentrate on finding ways to reduce the amount of the virus in an infected person as well as analyzing the concept of the cytokine storm—a storm that is, caused by a sustained infection with the virus itself.

“The H5N1 cytokine storm appears to erupt when there is no resolution to the viral infection,” said Robert Webster, PhD, Infectious Diseases. “However, we found that preventing components of the cytokine storm from erupting fails to protect mouse models of H5N1 infection against death. This strongly suggests that it’s necessary to focus on limiting the multiplication of the virus itself as well, and more fully understand the cytokine storm.”

The situation - like the human body - is complex.

So again - is deregulation the answer? Do we really want Big Pharma pushing untested or improperly tested drugs?


.

reply to post by Maxmars


I agree! But I think you left off a few dozen other side effects.

I have even heard speculation that this new vaccine may actually contain the "magic bullet" that will trigger the beginning of massive depopulation. I don't trust Big Pharma, the FDA, the CDC or any of them. They can keep their vaccines.

The best thing to do is work at maintaining a strong immune system through a good diet and supplements.

My question is how many people have actually even contracted Bird Flu?

I agree with the poster who says that this is the solution they want. Now we await the problem-reaction... And I think they already have that in mind. The story not too long about about how they mixed bird-flu with the regular influenza bug in order to make this vaccine in the first place.

I wonder where they will release it.

And how many people the vaccine will kill.

Most of you know that I have no problem with vaccines... but...

The policies have a point. Dishing out a vaccine because of an impending crisis -seems- like the right thing to do. However, remember polio? People were racing for a vaccine against polio because so many people were dying. When it was tested in humans and worked, everyone was thrilled. But because of the haste due to the epidemic, at least a few "bad batches" (in this case with live polio cultures instead of dead) got out into the public, and it caused those vaccinated with those batches to contract polio.

It would be horrible if something like that happened again. That is why researchers need to take the time to improve the vaccines until they are near-perfect, rather than tossing them around because of urgency.

We don't understand everything about the human body. We don't know everything about viruses. And both the human immune system and the defense and offense systems of viruses are evolving faster than we can track.

Therefore, reducing exposure to possible outbreaks (in the form of quarantine for humans and population control for vectors) is JUST as important as creating vaccines, if not more so.

Hmmmm I wonder if Baxter's Parmaceutical has something to do with this new discovery.

After all, they just admitted to the second most incredibly dangerous incompetence going.... with bird flu being accidentally released, this time mysteriously mixed with a fast spreading flu virus that could have triggered an pandemic had it mixed in the human body, as it seems someone intended it to do. HMMMM.....

Originally posted by mystiq
Hmmmm I wonder if Baxter's Parmaceutical has something to do with this new discovery.

No. This particular discovery comes from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne.

But - what with a looming pandemic, rampant resistance to antibiotics and anti-virals, plus new diseases and strains evolving incredibly rapidly - no one really knows what to do, so everyone is grasping at straws.

Which is why I asked - is deregulation the answer? Do we really want Big Pharma pushing untested or improperly tested drugs (and vaccines)?


.

[edit on 3-3-2009 by soficrow]

What looming pandemic?

Seriously, have people started contracting Bird-Flu?
I don't understand the issue here.

They've been talking up Bird-Flu for years now. Are people contracting it?
If not, what is the big deal? Why the need for an untested vaccine?

This story has more questions than anything. I don't like it.

reply to post by soficrow


No Thanks!! There is NO WAY - I will ever let the govt. give me some type of vaccine - anymore!!

As far as I know, it will be the live virus..........................

NO NOT FOR ME!!!

reply to post by soficrow


Of all topics considered, the vaccine and medical conspiracy is one of the most important in my opinion.

I say that because we entrust our health and our lives to another institution which has been completely misrepresented to us as having our interests (life) as a major concern.

There is nothing different with this institution - Big Pharma (or a major portion of the allopathic medical establishment for that matter) from other completely corrupt systems such as the Federal Reserve banking system and the creation of the money supply. These systems or institutions are completely of self serving interests and are NOT here to make life better for us.

It always seems humanity's short memory of the past is to our continued stranglehold and stagnation as a race.

Whether it be the time at which control of oil (and ultimately energy) turned monopolistic still to the present day by Rockefeller's Standard Oil...

Whether it be the time when the money and debt system, set-up by the Federal Reserve, began to enslave us again...

Whether it be Rockefeller and Co.'s “philanthropist” commencement of the American Cancer Society or the many other “charitable” organizations of the soon to be leading research and education establishments in the country...

We lost control of all of it. Not only that but we've been convinced that their purpose is for our betterment.

It is very important to understand all the victimized medical professionals; from doctors and nurses to scientists and researchers. We’re all of those people, we’re all victims of the allopathic medical establishment and Big Pharma’s profits/problem reaction solution MO. We’ve become completely unsuspecting that the original manipulation of information as education is the REAL source of control that need be.

When the very means of information is initially controlled, the end result or product will be whatever the public relations authority says it is. We have no means to dispute, whatsoever.

At this point, history can show us just as it has with money, the FED and debt (I use that example as a non-arguable conspiracy), that the creation of most major medical charities, leading medical schools and leading research facilities we're monopolized at the same time by the same individuals. Our health was seen as currency from that point on and information has been controlled accordingly. Big Pharma is an tool of the same machine.

So to answer your question -

“Which is why I ask - is deregulation the answer? Do we really want Big Pharma pushing untested or improperly tested drugs (and vaccines)?”

No, we don’t want Big Pharma pushing anything. It would only serve their own interests.

Originally posted by mystiq
Hmmmm I wonder if Baxter's Parmaceutical has something to do with this new discovery.

After all, they just admitted to the second most incredibly dangerous incompetence going.... with bird flu being accidentally released, this time mysteriously mixed with a fast spreading flu virus that could have triggered an pandemic had it mixed in the human body, as it seems someone intended it to do. HMMMM.....

Well Mystiq, you might be right

Take a look at this

I'd hate to be the first batch of 'test subjects' just to find out if these 'vaccines' are effective in the long run. Of course, there is always the risk of death during these 'trials-and-errors'.

Originally posted by Jay-in-AR
What looming pandemic?

Seriously, have people started contracting Bird-Flu?
I don't understand the issue here.

They've been talking up Bird-Flu for years now. Are people contracting it?
If not, what is the big deal? Why the need for an untested vaccine?

This story has more questions than anything. I don't like it.

There are a handful of Influenza virus subtypes which pass through the populace as seasonal flu. We have some immunity to them because they are similar to previous outbreaks (The concept of annual flu shots is to pick particular strains each year for vaccines that aim to give even better immunity - for those strains. Sometimes they guess wrong).

In recent years there has been an outbreak of a A(H5N1) subtype; millions of birds have been infected (and millions more chickes have been killed attempting to stop it). Around 300 humans have caught it, directly from birds or very nearly so. About 2/3s of reported cases die even with treatment (there may be unreported milder cases which would dilute these figures).

This new bird flu is a very real problem in birds, so it has economic impact and governments and chicken farmers are concerned and looking for animal vaccines.

It hasn't been a big problem for humans. The current H5N1 strains do not have the (genetically determined) mechanisms for easy human to human spread.

The big fear however is that a mutation of the virus might achieve easy transmission among humans. Because it's new to the human population, we don't have immunities and it's possible that a easily spread H5N1 virus could become a major killer, as the 1918 pandemic was.

I say a "mutation", but more technically the main concern is swapping of genetic material between co-infecting strains of H5N1 and some existing human flu virus, perhaps in a pig as they are susceptible to both and are often raised near chickens. Such swaps happen in viruses, but it's impossible to predict when or where. Or exactly how virulent such a hybrid would be.

They won't know which strain to make a vacinne for until it begins to go pandemic, and then production will take 6-9 months with current mass technology. A pandemic could be worldwide much sooner than that. Hence there are lots of attempts to find new technologies that would help protect.

Estimates are that the 1918 flu killed 10 to 100 million people worldwide (reporting in remote regions was unreliable). It killed many strong people with healthy immune systems; this is believed to be because unlike the secondary bacterial infections that kill people with weak systems each year from seasonal flu, the 1918 flu killed people directly with cytokine storms, using their own immune system against them. We don't really have effective treatment for that even today; antibiotics are much better than in 1918 but alas don't help.

A few years ago suspicious people thought the governments were trying to cover this up, suppress and discount the threat. Now such people sometimes think the government is making it all up. But there's a good deal of science out there if you look.

After a few years, this begins to sound like crying wolf - the killer mutation (recombination) hasn't happened yet, so what's the fuss? Indeed, even experts don't know if it ever will - or if it does, will it happen next week or 40 years from now?

I'm actually glad some of the research seems to be paying off. If there was a confirmed outbreak, the first vaccines would go to that area, trying to keep it from spreading further.

Avoiding this "panic and then nothing happens", or crying wolf, dynamic was one of the reasons some authorities claimed to be trying to downplay the early news. SARs is another reason - it never became a large threat after all, but caused many millions of dollars of economic damage. So medical & political authorities differ on whether to "warn people" or "wait and see".

Anyway thats the background.

reasoner

By the way, the authorities are not likely to be producing or distributing mass quantities of an H5N1 vaccine until after a major outbreak is confirmed. Long after, if there isn't new technology by then.

So you don't have to worry about it until then.

Besides this T-cell boosting, there's some hope that a non-mutating region of the various Influenza A versions (including H5N1 as well as current seasonal strains and the 1918 strain). This might allow a vaccine that works against all of them, instead of needing to be tailored to one specific (mutating) strain. Two teams have promising results in this area recently. If this pans out, it would likely replace the annual flu shot for seasonal flu, so (1) you would then have to decide whether to trust it, before there is a major life threat pushing the decision, and (2) it might make bird flu a minor concern thereafter.

reasoner

Originally posted by mystiq
Hmmmm I wonder if Baxter's Parmaceutical has something to do with this new discovery.

After all, they just admitted to the second most incredibly dangerous incompetence going.... with bird flu being accidentally released, this time mysteriously mixed with a fast spreading flu virus that could have triggered an pandemic had it mixed in the human body, as it seems someone intended it to do. HMMMM.....

It's the ole trick -

1. they cause it -
2. they find a cure for it.
3. someone gets very rich