Breakthrough In Universal Flu Vaccine Development, Japan
Featured ArticleMain Category: Flu / Cold / SARS
Also Included In: Immune System / Vaccines; Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Article Date: 05 Feb 2009 - 1:00 PDT
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A Japanese media source reported at the end of last week that a team of researchers working under Japan's Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has developed a new universal flu vaccine that will work against many types of influenza virus, and describes the breakthrough as a potential "silver bullet" against new strains.
According to a 30 January report in Yomiuri Shimbun, one of the big five newspapers in Japan, clinical use of the experimental flu vaccine in humans is still years away, but trials in mice have shown promising results, even on flu strains that mutate rapidly.
The daily newspaper reported that the new vaccine was the result of collaboration among scientists from Japan's National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Hokkaido University, Saitama Medical University and the chemical company NOF Corp.
Flu vaccines rely on developing new proteins that coat the surface of invading viruses like "barbs" that are then recognized by the immune system of a vaccinated person. The immune system detects the proteins and attacks the whole mass, including the underlying virus.
But conventional vaccines rely on developing new proteins in line with new mutations of the virus. As the virus mutates, the proteins developed for the previous vaccine don't match the new viruses when they invade the body and so the antibodies generated from the previous inoculation don't recognize and attack them.
That's why new vaccines have to be developed every year. Worldwide experts gather at the end of every flu season and try to predict which strains are likely to give rise to new strains in the next season. These are modelled on computers and give information for vaccine development, usually two or three strains are used to make the new vaccines.
But the information has to be decided well in advance of the flu season to give the manufacturers time to make enough batches to inoculate the population. This "lead time" is sometimes long enough for the virus strains to develop in an unpredicted direction and the vaccine for that year doesn't exactly match the strains that actually circulates in the next season, but it is still close enough to make it worth having the flu shot because they offer some protection.
So what's different about this new research breakthrough? The difference is, unlike the current vaccine technology, this new method targets the proteins inside the virus, not the ones on the outside. The proteins inside the virus don't change as fast as the ones on the outside. Even if the virus mutates, the internal proteins on the new strain are very similar to the ones in the old strain, unlike the coating protein which may change to a completely different shape of "barb".
The experimental vaccine that the researchers on this project are working on uses an artificial version of a protein developed by the team. It is attached to a special lipid membrane and when the vaccine is injected into the organism the immune system attacks the cells infected by the virus.
For this experimental vaccine the researchers used internal proteins from three common influenza strains: the Hong Kong A strain, the Soviet A type, and the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu strain, which many experts predict will one day mutate into a form that passes easily from human to human.
To test the vaccine, the researchers vaccinated mice that had been injected with human genes that boost immunity and then infected them with the three virus strains. The mice showed no symptoms of illness and the vaccine stopped the viruses from multiplying.
The next stage is to investigate the safety of the vaccine in humans, said the report in Yomiuri Shimbun.
Tetsuya Uchida, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and a member of the vaccine development team told the paper:
"We'll investigate what dosage will be safe and effective for humans. I hope the vaccine can be put to practical use as soon as possible."
A UK team of researchers based at Oxford University is also developing a similar type of flu virus, reported the paper.
Click here for the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in Japan.
Sources: Yomiuri Shimbun.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
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Virus
posted by Dan on 5 Feb 2009 at 4:31 amA Very Concerning Sub-Microscopic Infectious Agent
The virus responsible for the disease of influenza created the last pandemic that showed its presence in the United States was nearly 100 years ago, and this deadly outbreak resulted in about 50 million deaths worldwide. There were no vaccinations for this pandemic, as the origin was not identified. It is, in fact, was the influenza virus.
The pandemic that occurred before this one happened about thirty years before the 1918 flu. Influenza epidemics typically occur about every 8 months or so. Influenza is caused by a virus, which is a parasite that needs a host to survive and reproduce within the human cell’s cytoplasm. Some viruses are stronger and more deadly than others.
It was called the Spanish Flu because the first human case was identified there. The pandemic ended up killing more than those that died during WWI.
Understandably there was panic among people worldwide, as influenza was not discovered until 1933, so the mystery was rather frightening of what was happening.
Those who survived have allowed others to obtain antibodies from them to develop other antibodies for future viral outbreaks that may occur with this type of virus.
This last influenza pandemic also allowed others to obtain this virus from those who died as a result to facilitate effective treatments and vaccines for viral outbreaks that may happen in the future as well.
The virus responsible for the 1918 pandemic was an avian influenza. Nearly 700,000 people in the U.S. died as the result of the Spanish Flu- and those that did die was due often to a bacterial pneumonia that followed the viral invasion and damage. Ultimately, this pandemic killed nearly 3 percent of humans infected. Normally, an influenza strain may kill less than one percent of those infected during a typical flu season.
The Spanish Flu caused an unusually severe immune response in the human host which made it very deadly due to overkill of the cells of this host.
The influenza viruses are categorized as A, B, and C. The Influenza A virus is the one that historically has caused pandemics that have developed-, such as the Spanish Flu Pandemic.
The other influenza pandemics primarily have occurred in countries in Asia.
With influenza, it is understood that the disease influenza is a disease caused by a RNA virus that can now infect and kill both mammals and birds. In fact, at least one particular virus can mutate to where it can be shared between the two life forms and multiply within each one of them with ease.
Unlike coryza, influenza expresses symptoms more severely, and usually lasts two weeks until one recovers who has the flu. Influenza, however, poses a danger to some with compromised immune systems, such as the chronically ill, so the recommendation is greater in such populations, along with women who may be pregnant during the flu season, residents of nursing homes or chronic care facilities.
Health care personnel are encouraged to get the flu vaccine as well. However this vaccine, as will be described in a moment, offers no guarantee that the one immunized by this vaccine will not acquire the flu.
Such populations of those recommended to receive the flu vaccination are those believed to need the protection the vaccine may offer the most. This is of concern, as Influenza can progress rapidly into the more serious illness of pneumonia.
Symptoms of influenza usually start to express themselves symptomatically about two days or so after being infected with the virus. Over 10 percent of the population is infected with this virus every year- resulting in about 200,000 hospitalizations and nearly 40,000 deaths.
This season’s first influenza case was identified in Delaware in November of 2008, and it was a type B influenza strain.
The flu vaccination is trivalent- meaning it contains three viral strains of suspected viruses for flu outbreaks during a particular winter season, as determined by the World Health Organization, as well as the Centers for Disease Control, and other organizations.
Yet one should keep in mind that these three strains of influenza may not even exist in a particular flu season. The vaccination is a guess, at best, yet is certainly better than the absence of a flu vaccination.
Unfortunately, the influenza vaccine administered last flu season was largely ineffective due to unsuspected strains of the virus infecting others, although about 140 million injections of this vaccine were administered, and this proved to be pointless for preventative medicine.
After giving the vaccination dose to one, it takes about 10 days for that person to build up the immunity for the disease of influenza. The months of October to December are recommended to receive this vaccine. And the vaccine is about 50 percent effective in offering protection from influenza, according to others, if one calculates the previous flu seasons with flu vaccinations.
Vaccines are a catalyst for antibody production in humans, which protect them against the virus, if it happens to present itself within them.
Influenza vaccines can be given by injection or nasally.
Anti-virals, on the other hand, decrease greatly the ability for viruses to reproduce once established in a human. That seems like it should be a focus during viral seasons instead of any vaccination that exist today regarding the disease of influenza.
The Avian influenza that has been mentioned earlier is potentially the next flu pandemic- as humans have no immunity to what is called the H5N1 virus- on of about 1 strains of avian Influenza, as it has already been identified.
For an Influenza pandemic to occur, which means a global disease existence and presence, the virus must emerge from another species to humans without a strong immune system- as well as the ability to make more humans ill than normal due to the constant mutation of the influenza virus.
Also, the virus must be highly contagious for a pandemic to occur. This particular virus that has been identified is just that.
The H5N1 virus appears to replicate in the human GI tract and also has a longer incubation period in humans, one to two weeks, compared with other influenza strains.
The H5N1 Avian influenza virus seems to have become progressively more pathogenic in the past decade, according to others. The letters H and N are the letters of proteins that protrude from the viral shell.
It is these proteins that change so often with the influenza virus, and which is why we continue to be infected with this virus.
With the Avian Influenza existing with the H5N1 strain, millions of birds have been slaughtered due to the danger and unpredictability of this strain.
The first human case infected with this strain occurred in China in 1997. The first human avian flu case outside of China was identified in 2003 in the Netherlands.
The first recorded incidence of human-to-human transmission of the H5N1 virus was in Thailand in 2004. In 2006, it was discovered that the H5N1 had split into two separate strains.
There have been outbreaks of Avian flu in about 15 countries in the world so far- with Indonesia being the worst. Migratory birds spread this influenza virus between continents.
The pathogenic strength of the H5N1 strain varies due to constant re-assortment or switching of genetic material between the viruses- essentially creating a hybrid of what it was before this occurs.
So far, about 300 people worldwide have been infected with this strain- and about half have died from the infection. Vaccinations are being developed and reformulated constantly at this time due to the pandemic threat of the H5N1 Influenza virus.
Yet, the normal flu season that is now occurring was supplied with 150 million vaccines in the United States. However, some studies have shown that this vaccine is rather ineffective based on incidences of the acquisition of the influenza virus by others anyway.
The influenza season peaks between the months of January and March. The vaccine for this influenza season is manufactured by 6 different companies.
Yet the strains chosen contain what are speculated influenza viruses, so this does not eliminate the chance of a new and dominant influenza viral strain that possibly could cause a pandemic regardless if one is vaccinated for influenza. Also, it takes manufacturers about 6 months to make and formulate the influenza vaccination.
There is a vaccine for this illness that is produced every year according to which type of virus types that may be prevalent during a particular flu season. If influenza occurs in a human host, the results may be the patient acquiring pneumonia or meningitis is possible, as well as their ability to transmit such a virus to another.
The presence of influenza can be widespread in certain states, yet not others. The vaccination is recommended to be administered to those who are at high risk, such as the chronically ill.
Also, it is recommended that those under 18 years of age get the vaccine, as well as those people over the age of 50. Furthermore, those people who regularly take aspirin should receive the vaccine, as the influenza disease can become a catalyst for what is called Reye’s Syndrome.
Pregnant women should receive the vaccine as well- as there are many vaccines available to hopefully prevent this potentially dangerous viral disease, perhaps.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/
Dan Abshear
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