Vaccine Effective Against Avian Flu

FiReaNGeL writes "Researchers announced they have genetically engineered an avian flu vaccine from the critical components of the deadly H5N1 virus that completely protected mice and chickens from infection. This virus has thus far killed 80 people, devastated bird populations in Southeast Asia and Europe and caused for billions in damage through the world." Here's hoping it works on us, too.

Comments

Re:Virus Fund, let's do it.

[(negative video)]

Only 80 deaths. That is not statisticaly signifigant in any size population.

The significance is that the manner of death was wholly unexpected. Young, strong people virtually never die from sudden lung inflammation. Tuberculosis, yes. Bacterial pneumonia, yes. But their own immune system just suddenly deciding to burn their lungs to the ground? Never happens.

There are litteraly thousands of more deadly illnesses out there, currently active, and currently transmitible between humans.

True, but most of them are either difficult to transmit (HIV, hepatitis A, rabies), are virulent and have obvious symptoms so that quarantine can be effective (ebola), or produce lasting immunity (bacterial meningitis, cholera).

Influenza, however, combines most of the worst things into a single virus. It is an RNA virus, so it mutates rapidly. It has a tiny genome, providing a minimal target for the adaptive immune system. It spreads easily through the air, allowing less-ill carriers to spread it widely (the Tyhoid Mary effect). It starts out by pretending to be the common cold, so carriers ignore it and continue to expose the community. Very few disease organisms combine these factors, and most of those that do (measles, smallpox, diptheria) are mercifully vulnerable to vaccines.

Why should we spend billions on this one virus that has thus for only shown the potential for danger?

Because the potential is real and quantified, not blindy extrapolated from fears. Influenza does regularly sweep across the world, leaving death and destruction in its wake. It does regularly kill people even in wealthy countries. The 1918 pandemic did send millions of strong, healthy adults to their deaths.

Certain strains are right now killing strong, healthy adults. Certain other strains do right now have the molecular factors for extreme transmissibility. It is an absolute guarantee that those strains will fuse in a single infected person, producing a new strain that has both virulence and transmissibility. When that happens, we will have another 1918-style pandemic on our hands.

And unless we can rapidly turn-around production of a strong vaccine, that pandemic will strike down millions of us. On the basis of missed work days alone, it makes sense to pour billions of dollars into preventing a flu pandemic.