Bird Flu Mutating Rapidly: Post articles here on virus mutations & behavior

[bikerduck]

MONDAY, March 20 (HealthDay News) -- The H5N1 bird flu virus continues to change, with U.S. researchers reporting that two different strains of bird flu are now infecting people in Southeast Asia, representing two distinct genetic subgroups.
Whether these and other changes will increase the likelihood of a human flu pandemic remains unknown, however.

Full article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20060320/hl_hsn/birdfluundergoinggeneticchange

[bikerduck]

Two research teams have independently discovered explanations for the chief features of the H5N1 bird flu virus -- its difficulty infecting humans, and the deadly effects when it does.

Unlike influenza viruses that are passed easily between people, H5N1 has a hard time attaching to cells in the nose, throat and upper airways. But it readily attaches to cells deep in the lungs.
This suggests that people need close and heavy exposure to the H5N1 virus for it to get into the lungs. But once it takes hold, it causes extensive damage to the machinery of respiration -- the cells and air spaces where oxygen is exchanged for carbon dioxide.

Full article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/22/AR2006032202043.html?nav=rss_health

[Sprocket]

Virologists have known for years that human flu viruses attach through a sugar "linkage" designated alpha 2,6. The vast family of avian flu viruses favors a linkage with a different shape, designated alpha 2,3.

A research team led by Kyoko Shinya at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Tokyo looked at what cells in the human respiratory tract contain which linkage. They found that alpha 2,6 -- the receptor for human flu -- predominated in the nose and down the airways to the microscopic passageways that lead to the air sacs, or alveoli. At that point, cells with the alpha 2,3 linkage -- the receptor for bird viruses -- become common. Human viruses attached to the upper airways, while avian viruses attached to cells deep in the lungs.

That "linkage" mechanism is lectins.

From another article, about the same discovery:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8881&feedId=online-news_rss20
The Wisconsin team used lectins – plant molecules that bind to the same complex sugars on the cell surface where the flu virus attaches to cells – to identify how different versions of the sugar molecule vary in humans. They used one lectin specific to the "2,3 form" of the sugar common in birds – which H5N1 is known to prefer, and another specific to the "2,6 form" more common in people.

The existence of lectins has been known for a long time, and biologists use them quite frequently. They are "nature's glue" and are found abundantly in foods.

Bird flu goes for the throat
Helen Carter
ABC Science Online Monday, 3 April 2006

Vietnam's fight against bird flu (Image: Reuters/Kham)
Humans infected with bird flu appear to have more of the virus in their throat and nose than people with standard human influenza strains, a conference is due to hear today.

The findings may help explain why avian influenza A (H5N1) has such a high death rate in humans, more than 50% mortality.

Full article:
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1606935.htm

[Deepwater]

Experts say bird flu virus survives longer
Tue May 2, 2006 8:38 AM BST
By Tan Ee Lyn

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Leading influenza experts urged nations not to lower their guard against the deadly and hardy H5N1 virus, saying it now survives longer in higher temperatures and in wet and moist conditions.

Scientists previously found the virus to be most active and transmissible among birds in the cooler months from October to March in the northern hemisphere, and many people were hoping for some respite in the coming summer months.

Full article:

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-05-02T073745Z_01_T151771_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BIRDFLU-EXPERTS.xml

[bikerduck]

SINGAPORE May 4, 2006 (AP)— A leading expert said Thursday the H5N1 virus is the worst flu virus he's ever encountered, and far too many gaps in planning and knowledge persist for the world to handle it in the event of a pandemic.

The virus is a vicious killer in poultry, moving into the brain and destroying the respiratory tract, said Robert G. Webster, a virologist at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

Full Article at Link

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=1924995&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[Deepwater]

HELEN BRANSWELL

Canadian Press

Toronto — Live H5N1 avian flu virus can be isolated in the blood of its human victims, a finding that will be reported by Thai researchers in an upcoming issue of a scientific journal.

Evidence that H5N1 can spread via the bloodstream to parts of the body not normally attacked by influenza viruses confirms this particular flu strain poses special challenges for both patient treatment and infection control, experts say. It also raises theoretical questions about the safety of the donated blood system should H5N1 trigger a pandemic.

Full Article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060504.wfluu0504/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home

[daffle]

New Indonesia cases are different in disturbing ways
Commentary from Dr. Henry Niman. Cutting through the virology jargon, the implications here are very important and frightening.

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What caused the suspected human-to-human transmission at Kubu Sembelang is still a mystery. Nature has learned that the cases differed from past Indonesia cases, in that they had much higher viral loads in the throat and nose. Human-to-human transmission is more likely through droplets coughed from the nose and throat than from infections further down the respiratory tract.

Mutations in cases in Turkey earlier this year showed a substitution of glutamic acid with lycine at position 627 in the PB2 component of the polymerase gene. The mutation is thought to allow the virus to survive in the cooler nasal regions. This mutation has not been publicly reported in Indonesia previously, but Nature has learned that it occurred in at least one case in August 2005.


Full article:

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/0...atra_E627K.html

[daffle]

"Montreme," the screen name of one of the flu experts that publishes on the flu boards, puts this recent phenomenon in perspective:

I" cannot emphasize enough how important this news is. The change in the polymerase gene, which is being witheld by the WHO, means that H5N1 is now more virulent and more likely to be transmitted human-to-human via respiratory droplets. The virus is clearly adapting to humans. It boggles my mind that anyone doubts this at this point.

We need to profusely thank whoever Declan Butler’s source is. Whoever this is, they are very brave. We have asked a hero to leak key information in the interest of all of humanity, and someone has. "

Unfortunately WHO and the government of Indonesia are playing very dangerous games by withholding information from the world's scientific community. Indonesia, because of its legendary corruption, is withholding flu genetic information because it wants to benefit econically from a headstart on vaccines when the pandemic starts in that country.

[Deepwater]

Bird Flu Transmission Is Proven in Indonesia (Update1)
June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Bird flu was spread directly between members of an Indonesian family in the first laboratory- confirmed case of human-to-human transmission of the lethal virus, a World Health Organization official said.

Genetic sequencing of a virus sample taken from a 10-year- old boy who died from the H5N1 avian influenza strain showed a minute change that was also found in a virus sample taken from his father, who later died from the virus, said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the United Nations health agency in Geneva.

``We have seen a genetic change that confirms in a laboratory that the virus has moved from one human to another,'' Thompson said in an interview. The change in the virus ``doesn't seem to have any significance in terms of the pathology of the disease or how easily it's transmitted,'' he said.

Human-to-human transmission had previously been suspected as the cause of infection in seven members of the Indonesian family from the island of Sumatra. The cases attracted international attention because they represent the largest reported instance in which avian flu is likely to have spread among people. They also provide the first evidence of a three- person chain of infection.

At least 130 of the 228 people known to be infected with bird flu since 2003 have died, according to the WHO. World health officials are tracking the spread of the virus in the event it becomes more adept at infecting people.

Full article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=a_g3QljBkLwE&refer=asia#

[Deepwater]

WHO changes H5N1 strains for pandemic vaccines, raising concern over virus evolution
Lisa Schnirring Contributing Writer


Aug 18, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today changed the H5N1 avian influenza strains recommended for candidate vaccines for the first time since 2004, causing some experts to question how far the virus has evolved.

The WHO's new prototype strains, prepared by reverse genetics, include three new H5N1 subclades.

The hemagglutinin sequences of most of the H5N1 avian influenza viruses circulating in the past few years fall into two genetic groups, or clades. Clade 1 includes human and bird isolates from Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia and bird isolates from Laos and Malaysia. Clade 2 viruses were first identified in bird isolates from China, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea before spreading westward to the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. The clade 2 viruses have been primarily responsible for human H5N1 infections that have occurred during late 2005 and 2006, according to WHO.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/news/aug1806vaccines.html

[Deepwater]

Reports of missed mild bird flu cases raise questions about scope of spread

17:54:50 EDT Sep 17, 2006

Canadian Press: HELEN BRANSWELL

(CP) - Recent reports from South Korea and Indonesia of after-the-fact discovery of a handful of mild human cases of H5N1 avian flu have again raised questions about whether the disease's extraordinarily high death rate is being inflated because mild cases are being missed.

Experts say the evidence to date points away from that notion. But they add that it is important to continue to search for mild cases. Understanding the true number of human infections and the range of symptoms experienced could help scientists better assess the pandemic risk posed by the virus.

As well, tracking mild cases over time could provide an early warning if important changes to H5N1 occur, they suggest. Climbing rates of mild cases might signal the virus was adapting to become a human flu strain, moving closer to triggering a flu pandemic.

Full Article:

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/060917/x091704.html

[Deepwater]

Robert Roos News Editor

Sep 29, 2006 (CIDRAP News) – A microbiologist who reviewed the evidence about how influenza viruses spread says that some official guidelines, including the US pandemic influenza plan, may not go far enough in protecting healthcare workers who take care of flu patients.

Writing in Emerging Infectious Diseases, Dr. Raymond Tellier of the University of Toronto says there is good evidence that flu viruses often spread via tiny airborne particles, despite a common belief that they travel mainly in large droplets that quickly fall to the ground after a flu patient coughs or sneezes.

Good protection from airborne particles requires the use of an N95 respirator. Yet the US, Canadian, and British pandemic flu plans advise healthcare workers to use simple surgical masks, which are much less effective, Tellier contends.

"Compelling evidence in the literature indicates that aerosol transmission of influenza is an important mode of transmission, which has obvious implications for pandemic influenza planning, and in particular for recommendations about the use of N95 respirators as part of personal protective equipment," he writes.

Full Article:

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/news/sep2906airborne.html

[Deepwater]

A very good overview article and information about the H5N1 virus, what is known about it and the major problems of vaccine development:

http://healthyamericans.org/reports/fluscience/FluScience.pdf

[David_Lohr]

Bird Flu Strain Could Start New Outbreaks

Mediafax
Oct 31

Scientists in Hong Kong and the United States have detected a new strain of H5N1 bird flu virus in China and warned it might have started another wave of outbreaks in poultry in Southeast Asia and move deeper into Eurasia, reports Reuters.

Read the full story here:
http://www.mediafax.ro/english/articole-free/Bird-Flu-Strain-Could-Start-New-Outbreaks-569254-9.html

[bikerduck]

WASHINGTON - The bird flu virus is changing, but it still doesn't appear to spread easily from person to person.
As a result, there doesn't appear to be an increasing risk for people "other than the fact it seems to be pretty widespread," says Dr. Michael L. Perdue, of the World Health Organization's Global Influenza in Switzerland.

A new strain is infecting people as well as poultry in Asia, and some researchers fear its evolution might have been steered by the vaccination programs designed to protect poultry from earlier types of the H5N1 flu.

The discovery is reported in today's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new variant has become the primary version of the bird flu in several provinces of China and has spread to Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand, the researchers report. It is being called H5N1 Fujian-like, to distinguish it from earlier Hong Kong and Vietnam variants.

"We don't know what is driving this," report co-author Dr. Robert Webster of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., said. On the Web

http://www.theolympian.com/101/story/48255.html

[icewater]

Despite fewer outbreaks this year, UN agency warns bird flu still threatens lives
Written by pub
Monday, 02 April 2007
UNITED NATIONS, Apr. 2 (APP) - Although there have been fewer outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus this year, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Monday warned that the disease continues to spread to new areas in countries where it has not been contained, threatening the lives of those working around poultry and hurting farm economies.

Worldwide, “there have been fewer cases of the disease this year than last year at the same time, indicating that there is a reduction in overall viral load,” said Joseph Domenech, Chief Veterinanry Officer of the FAO.

Read More Here:

http://www.app.com.pk/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7108&Itemid=2

[Uriel]

Led by Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the new study found the H5N1 virus has apparently mutated into a new strain that increases the risk of a human pandemic due to its increased level of communicability, The Independent said Saturday.


http://www.physorg.com/news111044805.html

[Fire and Ice]

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AvianFlu/wireStory?id=4057161

Fire