Bob_Arctor
03-29-2006, 08:43 PM
Bird flu vaccine promising in humans
Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:25 AM GMThttp://i.today.reuters.co.uk/images/spacer.gif
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Tests in humans of an experimental vaccine against H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) show that the vaccine is safe and spurs the immune response needed to protect against the deadly illness. The achievement is reported in The New England Journal of Medicine this week.
Dr. John J. Treanor, from the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, and his associates developed the vaccine, in part, by using the hemagglutinin protein, the "H" in the virus designation, and the neuraminidase protein, the "N" in the virus designation, taken from an avian flu virus that killed a boy in Vietnam in 2004. The vaccine also contains genes derived from a lab flu strain commonly used for seasonal influenza vaccines.
According to Treanor's team, tests conducted on 451 healthy adults showed that the vaccine was generally well tolerated and produced an immune response that the researchers think may protect against exposure to avian flu.
Roughly half of the volunteers who got the vaccine and a booster shot of the highest dosage of the vaccine developed infection-fighting antibodies that current data suggest would neutralize the virus...
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-03-30T022614Z_01_RID008433_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-BIRD-FLU-VACCINE-PROMISING-HUMANS-DC.XML
So it's a mixed bag of news. A normal flu shot has something like 7.5 or 15 ug (micrograms) of antigen, which gives a good immune response - and you don't usually need a booster. This new vaccine only worked on half of the people who got the highest dosage of 90 ug, and they got an equally strong booster shot a month later! That much more and two doses only worked in half the people. That's actually not very good, because wordwide flu vaccine production capacity could only make, at best, shots for 900 million people - and that's with the far lower normal dose of antigen. Contrast 7.5 or 15 ug with 180 ug - so realistically if we went with this new version, worldwide capacity would only be able to provide two doses for maybe 100 million people. That won't be good enough.
Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:25 AM GMThttp://i.today.reuters.co.uk/images/spacer.gif
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Tests in humans of an experimental vaccine against H5N1 avian influenza (bird flu) show that the vaccine is safe and spurs the immune response needed to protect against the deadly illness. The achievement is reported in The New England Journal of Medicine this week.
Dr. John J. Treanor, from the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, and his associates developed the vaccine, in part, by using the hemagglutinin protein, the "H" in the virus designation, and the neuraminidase protein, the "N" in the virus designation, taken from an avian flu virus that killed a boy in Vietnam in 2004. The vaccine also contains genes derived from a lab flu strain commonly used for seasonal influenza vaccines.
According to Treanor's team, tests conducted on 451 healthy adults showed that the vaccine was generally well tolerated and produced an immune response that the researchers think may protect against exposure to avian flu.
Roughly half of the volunteers who got the vaccine and a booster shot of the highest dosage of the vaccine developed infection-fighting antibodies that current data suggest would neutralize the virus...
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-03-30T022614Z_01_RID008433_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-BIRD-FLU-VACCINE-PROMISING-HUMANS-DC.XML
So it's a mixed bag of news. A normal flu shot has something like 7.5 or 15 ug (micrograms) of antigen, which gives a good immune response - and you don't usually need a booster. This new vaccine only worked on half of the people who got the highest dosage of 90 ug, and they got an equally strong booster shot a month later! That much more and two doses only worked in half the people. That's actually not very good, because wordwide flu vaccine production capacity could only make, at best, shots for 900 million people - and that's with the far lower normal dose of antigen. Contrast 7.5 or 15 ug with 180 ug - so realistically if we went with this new version, worldwide capacity would only be able to provide two doses for maybe 100 million people. That won't be good enough.