Human Viruses

Swine influenza detected in the East African Community / EAC Partner States institute appropriate measures to eliminate spread of the disease

Swine influenza detected in the East African Community / EAC Partner States institute appropriate measures to eliminate spread of the disease    ARUSHA, Tanzania, July 3, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Cases of Swine Influenza (AH1N1) have been detected in the East African Community in the Republics of Kenya and Uganda. The Kenyan and Ugandan authorities have instituted appropriate measures to minimize and eliminate the spread of the disease. The EAC Secretariat is in constant communic more...

Dynasty: Influenza Virus in 1918 and Today

The influenza virus that wreaked worldwide havoc in 1918-1919 founded a viral dynasty that persists to this day, according to scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. In an article published online on June 29 by the New England Journal of Medicine, authors Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Jeffery K. Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., and David M. Morens, M.D., argue that we have lived in an influenza pandemic era since 1918, and more...

The genealogy of H1N1

Via CIDRAP, a good article by Lisa Schnirring:  > Experts look for clues in 1918 pandemic virus family tree">Experts look for clues in 1918 pandemic virus family tree . Excerpt: To outside observers, the novel H1N1 virus spreading quickly to every corner of the globe must seem like it came out of nowhere, but the organism is a fourth generation of the 1918 pandemic virus and comes from an H1N1 family tree that is colorful and complex, according to two historical reviews that appear today more...

Engineering Prof Gets $5 Million for Groundwater Research

More than a million people living in some of southern Ontario's fastest-growing communities rely on bedrock aquifers for their water, including Guelph, which draws its water from fractured dolostone. As demand for water increases, so do potential risks associated with contamination of the water-yielding underground layers of porous fractured rock. Yet there is minimal understanding about the threats posed by contamination moving through the overburden soil into the bedrock below. Universi more...

Virology pop quiz

This week’s pop quiz involves analysis of an AFP news article entitled “ US company makes first batch of swine flu vaccine “. The article reports that Protein Sciences has been awarded a contract from the US Department of Health and Human Services to produce a vaccine by synthesizing the viral HA protein in insect cells. Here are two paragraphs from the article: They warned that the virus could mutate during the southern hemisphere’s flu season before returning north in a more lethal form i more...

Man Caught Smuggling Rat Meat Into US

Giant African Bush RatCustoms officials have confiscated the luggage of an American man who was attempting to smuggle 19 pounds of rat meat into the country from Africa.The unpreserved meat, known simply as Bush Meat, comes from wild species in Africa, legal or illegal and includes antelope, elephant, monkey, and rodents. Authorities consider it to be a potential carrier of zoonotic, or animal-to-human, viruses like Ebola, HIV or monkeypox, and have banned its importation into the States.Cane ra more...

First case of H1N1 flu case detected in Sri Lanka

An eight year boy who arrived from Australia over the weekend is said to have swine flu. This is the first confirmed swine flu case in Sri lanka. " COLOMBO, June 16 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka has identified its first case of the H1N1 flu virus in a young patient who arrived from... read more more...

Wisconsin's High H1N1 Cases Result of Top Surveillance

News last week of Wisconsin's first A H1N1 (Swine Flu) death reveals odd figures on the spread of the disease through the population. Of the 11,054 confirmed cases in the United States (and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico), 2,071 are reported in Wisconsin, equal to some 18 percent of all confirmed American cases, though Wisconsin has only 1 percent of the American population. Health authorities point out the influenza surveillance system in Wisconsin that diagnoses such infections i more...

What Do You Get When You Cross Bird Flu With H3N2?

  # 3303     This, of course, is one of the big questions scientists have wrestled with over the past few years.    What happens if you take a virulent flu that doesn’t transmit readily between humans ( H5N1 ) and cross it with a mild virus that does transmit easily ( H3N2 )?   We know that two ( or more ) flu viruses are capable of infecting the same host, and that sometimes dissimilar flu strains can swap genetic material ( reassort ) and produce a new offsprin more...

India confirms fifth case of swine flu

India has confirmed a fifth case of swine flu in a man travelling from the United States through London. According to a Health Ministry statement, the 28-year-old man, who arrived in Hyderabad on May 31, reported symptoms of fever, cold and sore throat. The Ministry said in a statement issued late Friday that he tested positive for the A (H1N1) influenza strain. “His close contacts are being traced and advised home quarantine and their health status is being monitored,” the statement said. more...