Africa

Monitoring For 'Pandemic' Mutations By Examining Bird Flu Infections

Scientists funded by the Wellcome Trust are to examine what is preventing the H5N1 avian influenza virus from causing a human pandemic and what mutations are required to realise its deadly potential. The research could hold the key to early identification of a potential influenza pandemic, and to developing drugs and a vaccine. Since its reappearance in 1997, the H5N1 influenza virus has caused disease and death in millions of birds around the globe.

9/1/2008 1:00:00 AM

Discovery Offers Potential For Drugs To Fight Bird Flu, Other Influenza Epidemics

Researchers at Rutgers University and The University of Texas at Austin have reported a discovery that could help scientists develop drugs to fight the much-feared bird flu and other virulent strains of influenza.

8/27/2008 2:00:00 AM

Pitt Scientists Receive $3.6 Million To Test Vaccine Against Deadliest Strain Of Avian Flu

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Vaccine Research have been awarded $3.6 million from the National Institutes of Health to conduct animal studies of vaccines designed to protect against the most common and deadliest strain of avian flu, H5N1. Recent outbreaks of H5N1 have prompted health officials to warn of its continued threat to global health and potential to trigger an avian flu pandemic.

8/27/2008 12:00:00 AM

Flu Antibodies Recovered From 1918 Pandemic Survivors

Scientists in the US recovered antibodies to the 1918 flu virus from elderly survivors of the pandemic, used them to create cell lines of monoclonal antibodies and then showed they were still potent by injecting them into infected mice that survived, whereas the controls did not.

8/18/2008 12:00:00 AM

Bird Flu In Indonesia: Prevalence, Mortality, And Action

In order to help Indonesia improve its high human mortality due to bird flu (H5N1 influenza), more effective diagnostic methods must be used and improved case management must be implemented to achieve faster treatment with antivirals, according to the authors of an article released on August 14, 2008 in The Lancet. Most of us are familiar with the flu, which seasonally affects many populations.

8/16/2008 12:00:00 AM