Avian/Pandemic Influenza Daily Digest: DNI Avian Influenza Daily Digest

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December 24, 2008 15:15 GMT

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Article Summaries ...

Announcement

Happy Holidays
Dear AI Digest subscribers, The AI Digest will not be published on Christmas Day (December 25th) and New Years Day (January 1st). Thank you for another great year of successful collaboration on Avian and Pandemic Influenza! Happy Holidays, Claudinne
Announcement

Conferences and Training

US PACOM Hosting OSINT Conference April 2009

Regional Reporting and Surveillance

Vietnam: Ducks lay golden eggs for delta farmers
12/23/08 Vietnam Bridge--Duck raising in closed farms has brought in more profits for Mekong Delata residents than free-range duck raising.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance

More avian flu found in Bangladesh poultry
12/23/08 CIDRAP--Agriculture officials in Bangladesh said today that they have detected another H5N1 avian influenza outbreak on a farm, the country's fifth one since the virus reemerged in poultry flocks in October.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance

India: Government increases efforts to check bird flu outbreak
12/24/08 Business Standard--The government has increased its efforts to contain the recent outbreak of ?bird flu? (or avian influenza) in West Bengal and Assam.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance

OIE: LPAI Chinese Taipei, Immediate Notification
Low pathogenic avian influenza (poultry), Chinese Taipei Information received on 20/12/2008 from Dr Watson H T Sung, Director General, Director General Office, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, Taipei , Chinese Taipei Summary Report type Immediate notification...
Regional Reporting and Surveillance

India: 30,000 birds culled in flu-hit W Bengal district
12/24/08 Gulf Times--Over 30,000 poultry have been culled in the bird flu-hit Malda district of West Bengal while in Assam culling operations have been affected in some areas due to resistance from people, officials said yesterday.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance

Bangladesh confirms bird flu outbreak
12/24/08 Reuters--Authorities in Bangladesh have stepped up surveillance after a fresh outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza was discovered, officials said on Wednesday.
Regional Reporting and Surveillance

Science and Technology

X-ray structure of NS1 from a highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus
12/23/08 Nature--[Abstract]--The recent emergence of highly pathogenic avian (H5N1) influenza viruses, their epizootic and panzootic nature, and their association with lethal human infections have raised significant global health concerns1, 2. Several studies have underlined the importance of non-structural protein NS1 in the increased pathogenicity and virulence of these strains3, 4. NS1, which consists of two domains?a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) binding domain5, 6 and the effector domain7, separated through a linker?is an antagonist of antiviral type-I interferon response in the host8, 9. Here we report the X-ray structure of the full-length NS1 from an H5N1 strain (A/Vietnam/1203/2004) that was associated with 60% of human deaths in an outbreak in Vietnam1, 2. Compared to the individually determined structures of the RNA binding domain and the effector domain from non-H5N1 strains, the RNA binding domain within H5N1 NS1 exhibits modest structural changes, while the H5N1 effector domain shows significant alteration, particularly in the dimeric interface. Although both domains in the full-length NS1 individually participate in dimeric interactions, an unexpected finding is that these interactions result in the formation of a chain of NS1 molecules instead of distinct dimeric units. Three such chains in the crystal interact with one another extensively to form a tubular organization of similar dimensions to that observed in the cryo-electron microscopy images of NS1 in the presence of dsRNA. The tubular oligomeric organization of NS1, in which residues implicated in dsRNA binding face a 20-Å-wide central tunnel, provides a plausible mechanism for how NS1 sequesters varying lengths of dsRNA, to counter cellular antiviral dsRNA response pathways, while simultaneously interacting with other cellular ligands during an infection.
AI Research

Dutch scientists want to inject wild swans with bird-flu
12/24/08 Digital Journal--The plan to inject swans with a bird-flu virus - said to be harmless in laboratory experiments -- in a year-long GPS-tracking programme of wild swan colonies migrating to arctic Russian Federation countries and to West European countries and the United Kingdom, was approved by the Dutch minister of Health. And the Dutch society for the protection of birds also does not object to the plan.
AI Research

Vical Pandemic Influenza Vaccines Achieve T-Cell Responses and Cross-Clade Reactivity in Humans
12/08 Bio Medicine--Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq: VICL) today announced that the company's Vaxfectin(R)-formulated H5N1 pandemic influenza DNA vaccines induced T-cell responses against a matching strain of influenza virus and demonstrated cross-clade antibody responses against a different strain in a Phase 1 clinical trial. The company previously reported that the vaccines had achieved potentially protective levels of antibody responses in up to 67% of evaluable subjects in the trial's higher dose cohorts. Vical researchers presented the expanded data, as well as new nonclinical data from the company's RapidResponse(TM) DNA vaccine manufacturing program, this week at the DNA Vaccines 2008 Conference.
Vaccines

Pandemic Preparedness

USA: Hawaii Screening of passengers for flu called a success
12/24/08 Honolulu Star Bulletin--A voluntary screening process for flulike illnesses among international arrivals at Honolulu Airport worked so well it may be done more often next year, a state Health Department official said.
Pandemic Preparedness

Glaxo Prepares Work Force For Worst-Case Flu Scenario
12/23/08 Dow Jones Newswire--GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) wants to be one of the safest places to work in the event of a flu pandemic. The U.K. drug maker has spent nearly two years making contingency plans to protect its global work force so the company can continue manufacturing the drugs and vaccines it thinks will be critical if a major flu outbreak hits. Whether the preparations are enough is an open question, as experts note that factors outside Glaxo's control could render the best-laid plans moot.
Pandemic Preparedness

Full Text of Articles follow ...

AI Research

X-ray structure of NS1 from a highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus

12/23/08 Nature--[Abstract]--Nature 456, 985-988 (18 December 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature07444; Received 28 July 2008; Accepted 23 September 2008; Published online 5 November 2008

Zachary A. Bornholdt1 & B. V. Venkataram Prasad1,2

1. Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology,
2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA

Correspondence to: B. V. Venkataram Prasad1,2 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to B.V.V.P. (Email: vprasad@bcm.tmc.edu).

The recent emergence of highly pathogenic avian (H5N1) influenza viruses, their epizootic and panzootic nature, and their association with lethal human infections have raised significant global health concerns1, 2. Several studies have underlined the importance of non-structural protein NS1 in the increased pathogenicity and virulence of these strains3, 4. NS1, which consists of two domains?a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) binding domain5, 6 and the effector domain7, separated through a linker?is an antagonist of antiviral type-I interferon response in the host8, 9. Here we report the X-ray structure of the full-length NS1 from an H5N1 strain (A/Vietnam/1203/2004) that was associated with 60% of human deaths in an outbreak in Vietnam1, 2. Compared to the individually determined structures of the RNA binding domain and the effector domain from non-H5N1 strains, the RNA binding domain within H5N1 NS1 exhibits modest structural changes, while the H5N1 effector domain shows significant alteration, particularly in the dimeric interface. Although both domains in the full-length NS1 individually participate in dimeric interactions, an unexpected finding is that these interactions result in the formation of a chain of NS1 molecules instead of distinct dimeric units. Three such chains in the crystal interact with one another extensively to form a tubular organization of similar dimensions to that observed in the cryo-electron microscopy images of NS1 in the presence of dsRNA. The tubular oligomeric organization of NS1, in which residues implicated in dsRNA binding face a 20-Å-wide central tunnel, provides a plausible mechanism for how NS1 sequesters varying lengths of dsRNA, to counter cellular antiviral dsRNA response pathways, while simultaneously interacting with other cellular ligands during an infection.

Regional Reporting and Surveillance

Vietnam: Ducks lay golden eggs for delta farmers

12/23/08 Vietnam Bridge--Duck raising in closed farms has brought in more profits for Mekong Delata residents than free-range duck raising.

The new method has boosted disease control and healthier breeding, especially since the outbreak of avian flu a few years ago.

Nguyen Quoc Nam, a resident of Thap Muoi District in Dong Thap Province, now earns up to VND40 million (US$2,300) per year after he made the move from free-range.

"Before, I had to follow ducks from one province to another. It was quite hard," said Nam.

Nam said that people raising wandering ducks even had to hire vehicles to transport the ducks, then hire land for the ducks so they could feed.

Moreover, the risk is high because breeders cannot control diseases in their duck flocks, since many different flocks can be dropped in the same field.

"Many households were left impoverished after ducks got diseases and died," he said.

The situation eased after the farming model was applied in the province.

With the instruction by staff from the province?s Agricultural Techniques and Expansion Centre, Nam started to raise 500 ducks on a farm of 2,000sq.m. He planted fruit trees to shade the ducks and dug a pond to raise fish, using ducks? stools for food.

"When epidemics broke out in the commune, my ducks weren?t affected because they are injected with preventive drugs regularly in a clean environment," said Nam.

Raising poultry using bio-safety methods has also been launched in other provinces in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta area such as An Giang, Tay Ninh, Long An, Binh Duong, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Tien Giang, according to Nguyen Thanh Son, deputy head of the Department of Livestocks Breeding.

Trinh The Thanh in Chau Thanh District of An Giang Province now has 1,300 ducks, which earns him a tidy VND90 million ($5,200) per year.

"My ducks have never suffered from diseases," he said.

Phan Thanh Binh in Tinh Bien District of An Giang Province is raising some 2,500 ducks in his 2ha-farm and gets a profit of more than VND355 million ($20,000) per year.

"With this model, I can control the number of eggs laid and administer regular preventive injections," Binh said.

According to Pham Thi Hoa, deputy director of the province?s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the model is designed to prevent the occurence of avian flu.

With more than 2.2 million ducks, An Giang Province has the second largest number of the poultry in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta area. More than 87 per cent of households still raise wandering ducks. Hoa said that the province wanted to see 50 per cent of households raising ducks on farm by the end of 2008.

According to statistics supplied by the Department of Livestocks Breeding under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the total number of ducks raised in 10 provinces of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta ranges between 18 and 20 million per year. However, since the outbreak of avian flu in the country, farmers in the region have lost more than 10 million ducks.

"It?s time to strengthen the development of raising ducks in farms with proper control on diseases," said Nguyen Thanh Son.

Son added that the model has more advantages than raising free-range ducks, since farmers can control and prevent disease epidemics and reduce environmental pollution. They can also raise fish in farms to boost their income.

"When the avian flu broke out in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region last year, all farm-ducks escaped it," said Pham Thi Hoa.

However, Son also said that the model was applied haphazardly throughout the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region because many farmers could not afford to set up farms for duck raising.

The raising of free-range ducks has been a traditional job in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces, where there are large crop fields. Free-range ducks can be let loose around the fields to find their food; farmers only have to feed them in their first two or three weeks.

Many farmers still raised ducks in this old method due to low investment capital, said Nhi Thi Kim Bach, head of the Department of Veterinary of Thap Muoi District in Dong Thap Province.

"Duck raising in closed farms will need considerable initial investment in order to take off," she said.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked the National Agricultural Expansion Centre and other relevant units to improve the training for farmers. Provinces are being asked to support farmers to set up farms for the sake of the country?s sustainable development.

Currently, Dong Thap Province has the largest number of ducks in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region with more than 4 million. By the end of 2007, the country had more than 68 million ducks.

The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region exports about 52,000 of duck eggs per year.

Announcement

Happy Holidays

Dear AI Digest subscribers,

The AI Digest will not be published on Christmas Day (December 25th) and New Years Day (January 1st). Thank you for another great year of successful collaboration on Avian and Pandemic Influenza!

Happy Holidays,
Claudinne

AI Research

Dutch scientists want to inject wild swans with bird-flu

12/24/08 Digital Journal--The plan to inject swans with a bird-flu virus - said to be harmless in laboratory experiments -- in a year-long GPS-tracking programme of wild swan colonies migrating to arctic Russian Federation countries and to West European countries and the United Kingdom, was approved by the Dutch minister of Health. And the Dutch society for the protection of birds also does not object to the plan.

But Dutch Christian-Democrat parliamentarian Henk Jan Ormel is aghast by the plan by the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam. Ormel demands that the health minister must immediately withdraw his permission - fearing that the bird-flu experiment in the wild could form a great danger to human public health and pose a danger for wild bird populations. The fact that the bird-flu virus they plan to inject the wild swans with is 'harmless in the laboratory', is no guarantee it won't act differently in the wild, Ormel said in a radio interview.

The researchers want to capture and deliberately infect 16 wild Bewick Swans with this 'harmless' bird- flu virus and follow these animals during their transmigrations to the arctic regions of Russia and back to Western Europe in the spring with GPS-tags -- to establish 'how the bird-flu spreads itself in nature'. An uninfected control group will also be tagged and followed.

The researchers claim there would be 'no danger to public health' but also admitted that the GPS-tracking collars do cause the swans hardships during their long migrations because the animals need to work harder to carry the extra weight, and thus lose energy more rapidly.

The Netherlands is a 'hot-spot' for migratory fowl which makes it the perfect test laboratory for such an experiment, the researchers believe.

Ormel said on Dutch radio today that he's not convinced that such plans would be safe for public health in Europe. "I find it extraordinary that the medical centre's media statement s claims that the virus is 'safe in the laboratory but that it could act differently in nature,' he said

For the university medical centre's press release in English: see:

There definitely are enormous risks, the parliamentarian warned, reminding his audience of the devastating flu epidemic which forced the Dutch domestic fowl into indoor holding pens and which had also infected many species of wild waterfowl in 2003. It was only through their diligence in collecting the diseased animals that the Dutch population did not get infected by this bird-flu.

The media statement from Erasmus Medical Centre says that 'in the laboratory wild birds and poultry show no signs of illness from the specific avian influenza virus that will be administered. This may differ under natural conditions where maintenance and migration may be more energetically challenging. "

"Under these circumstances, infection might result in slight discomfort,' the statement says... "such as a temporarily reduced appetite. We know from previous experience that it takes the swans a couple of days to get fully accustomed to the GPS logger. Throughout this winter and the following winter (2009 -2010) all swans will be monitored regularly from a distance, their behaviour observed and data from the GPS loggers downloaded. For this purpose, the researchers are supported by a network of volunteer ornithologists. The GPS loggers will operate for one-and-a-half years.

The researchers from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology and Erasmus Medical Research Centre are highly motivated, they say, to ' increase the understanding of avian influenza viruses in wild birds.'

"At the moment, there is a widespread presumption that migratory birds are responsible for the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza. This often leads to extensive and expensive measures, such as the vaccination and sheltering of domestic poultry.

"This research on low pathogenic avian influenza will serve to quantify the contribution of migratory birds in the spread of avian influenza viruses. The Netherlands is a 'hot spot' for migratory birds including large numbers of waterfowl, making it an obvious site for conducting this research."

The university also has a large research department to research the flu viruses, which constantly change themselves and therefore remain a threat to public health.

Their researchers point out that there were three major influenza pandemics in the 20th century : a worldwide influenza epidemic that can kill millions. And the influenza pandemics of the last century were related to avian flu viruses - which produced a deadly new variant that causes illness and is moreover, very contagious among humans.

Researchers at its Virology department are always working to prepare for the growing risks of an influenza pandemic. Early next year they are holding a seminar and a numbef of public exhibitions about the evolution of the H5N1 influenza virus; about its global spread, the policy measures, the vaccinations and virus inhibitors.
See

Ormel first wants a guarantee from Health Minister Ab Klink that this experiment 'definitely would not endanger the health of animals and humans' -- before withdrawing his demand to cancel the project. The minister has not yet responded to his request - parliament is in recess at the moment.

The university researchers want to inject sixteen wild swans with the flu virus. They will be equipped with GPS bracelets. A test group of 32 non-infected wild swans will also be tagged. All the birds would be followed during their annual bird treks throughout the forthcoming winter and into next year.

A Dutch bird expert, Gerald Derksen of the Bird Protection Society, said in his email to me that this plan is not dangerous and they support it.

He said:
"The bird flu virus which is damaging for humans, type H5N1, occurs among wild birds but they do not show any symptoms. In various parts of the world some really wild ideas have now arisen to stop this virus from spreading. There even were plans for mass-exterminations of wild birds.

"Although this virus was found among wild birds, the infections among humans by this virus are directly linked only to their own domestic fowl and domestic birds.
"There is a large remaining question in the scientific world whether wild birds play any kind of role in spreading this virus at all. Many birds are carriers of this virus without ever having any symptoms.

"Because this virus is so widespread it is difficult to termine how exactly it is being spread - and to establish this for certain once and for all, the plan is to inject 16 small swans with a recognisable virus-variant which by itself is harmless, and from which the birds do not fall ill.

"This way, the spread of this virus among other wildlife can be put on the map once it can be traced. One achieves two goals: it determines whether wild birds spread the H5N1 virus at all, and whether they are the cause of human infection, or not. The stress caused while capturing these few wild birds will lead to better protection for millions of birds worldwide. Our Society will not object to this research.'

Regional Reporting and Surveillance

More avian flu found in Bangladesh poultry

12/23/08 CIDRAP--Agriculture officials in Bangladesh said today that they have detected another H5N1 avian influenza outbreak on a farm, the country's fifth one since the virus reemerged in poultry flocks in October.

Salahuddin Kahn, livestock department spokesman, said the outbreak occurred on a farm in Kurigram in the northern part of the country and that 100 birds were culled to control it, according to a report today from Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Kahn told AFP that Kurigram is the fifth district to be hit by the virus since October. Two states in western India that share borders with Bangladesh?Assam and West Bengal?have also battled recent H5N1 outbreaks.

Also today, a report by the Chinese news agency Xinhua said an H5 avian flu outbreak was detected on two farms in northern Belgium. The report, citing Belgian media as its source, said the virus is not the lethal form of H5N1 and is not dangerous to humans, but it did not list the N (neuraminidase) number.

Tests on Dec 19 detected the virus in ducks and geese in Bocholt, which borders the Netherlands, and also on a farm in Buggenhout in East Flanders province, the story said. The government ordered control measures, including the culling of 5,000 birds and indoor confinement of all birds within 1 kilometer of the affected farms.

Elsewhere, agriculture authorities in Taiwan recently confirmed an outbreak of low-pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza at a farm in Kaohsiung, on the southwestern part of the island, according to a Dec 20 report from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). The outbreak involved chickens, AFP reported on Dec 21.

Of the 18,591 birds at the farm, the virus killed 230 and sickened another 290, according to the OIE report. It said the remaining birds were destroyed.

Officials have not determined the source of the virus, but have disinfected and tested 76 poultry flocks in the area, the report said. Taiwan's last H5N2 outbreak occurred in March 2004, according to the OIE. That outbreak involved a commercial poultry farm.

In other developments, veterinary officials in Denmark are investigating a suspected avian flu outbreak on a chicken farm in a southwestern area, Reuters reported today. Routine blood tests revealed evidence of infection, though the report did list any details about the suspected pathogenicity or subtype.

Officials said they expected to have test results in a few days, according to Reuters.

Denmark's last avian flu outbreak, which occurred in April, involved a low-pathogenic H7N1 strain, according to a previous report from the OIE.

Conferences and Training

US PACOM Hosting OSINT Conference April 2009

12/08 USPACOM

On behalf of US Army Pacific (USARPAC), US Pacific Command's (USPACOM)
Executive Agent for Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), the US Army Asian
Studies Detachment (ASD) is proud and honored to host the first PACOM
Asia-Pacific OSINT Conference from 7-9 April 2009 at Camp Zama, Japan.
Additionally, 10 April 2009 is reserved for follow-on USARPAC-specific
discussions if required.

The conference will provide an excellent opportunity to promote
collaboration among interested OSINT users, providers, and managers in
the Asia-Pacific theater. In addition to briefing mission capabilities,
the conference will more importantly bring key Asia-Pacific OSINT
players together for networking opportunities with the end goal of
setting the framework for establishing future collaborative
relationships.

Theme - "Leveraging OSINT Collaboration in the Asia-Pacific"

Objectives -

1. Increase awareness among national, international, and theater-level
participants on OSINT activities taking place in the Asia-Pacific
Region.

2. Facilitate new collaborative partnerships among attending
organizations and strengthen existing partnerships.

3. Determine types of "collaboration" desired among the OSINT
community.

- Joint collection and analysis operations
- Joint reporting
- Interagency analytical exchange
- Resource sharing

4. Discuss process options, existing tools, and tools required for the
collaborative process.

- opensource.gov
- Intelink-U / Intellipedia
- Wikis/Sharepoint
- Shared translation memories

Number of potential attendees - 100 (max 150)

Targeted participants - National and theater-level OSINT activities from
the U.S. and selected international partners.

Facility - Camp Zama Community Cultural Center (CCC)

Classification level - UNCLASSIFIED

The conference agenda is currently under development, but to date the
following organizations have expressed intent to provide presentations:

Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)
ODNI Intelink-U
Open Source Center/Okinawa Bureau (OSC/OW)
Open Source Center/Seoul Bureau (OSC/SK)
Open Source Bureau (OSB) (Australia)
National Virtual Translation Center (NVTC)
Office of Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD(I))Defense
Intelligence Agency (DIA)
National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA)
NGIC/Reserve Linguist Support Program (RLSP)
Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO)
US Embassy Tokyo Media Analysis Team (MAT)
US Forces Korea (USFK) J2 OSINT Cell
441st MI Battalion Technical Support Element (TSE)
ASD

Other expected attendees include representatives from OSC/China Program,
OSC/Korea-Japan Program, OSC/Bangkok Bureau (OSC/BK), OSC/New Delhi
Bureau (OSC/ND), HQ Department of the Army DCS G2, HQ US Army
Intelligence & Security Command (INSCOM) G2, and the Japan Ground Self
Defense Force's (JGSDF) Military Intelligence Command (MIC) and Basic
Intelligence Unit (BIU). Other potential international participation
could include the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence and BBC Monitoring.

Additional conference information and the registration form are located
at https://www.intelink.gov/wiki/Asia-Pacific_OSINT_Conference
(Intelink-U PASSPORT ID required). Please go to this site to register
for the conference. If you have trouble registering online, contact me,
Roger Pratt and Matt Parrish (cc'd) and we'll enter your registration
info for you.

POC: David Reese

Regional Reporting and Surveillance

India: Government increases efforts to check bird flu outbreak

12/24/08 Business Standard--The government has increased its efforts to contain the recent outbreak of ?bird flu? (or avian influenza) in West Bengal and Assam.

The measures taken by the government to check the outbreak in West Bengal include deployment of 328 animal health workers which have culled about 32,000 birds till now, according to a statement issued today by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Earlier this month, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, had notified the outbreak of the flu in Englishbazar block in Malda district of West Bengal.

Also, the first notification of the influenza in Assam came on 27 November in Hajo block of Kamrup district. Since then, 12 other epicenters of the viral activity have been notified by the department in Assam alone, where the government has deployed about 471 health workers who have achieved culling of a total of about 4,00,000 birds.

Avian Influenza or bird flu is an illness caused by an influenza virus that lives inside birds.

Vaccines

Vical Pandemic Influenza Vaccines Achieve T-Cell Responses and Cross-Clade Reactivity in Humans

12/08 Bio Medicine--Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq: VICL) today announced that the company's Vaxfectin(R)-formulated H5N1 pandemic influenza DNA vaccines induced T-cell responses against a matching strain of influenza virus and demonstrated cross-clade antibody responses against a different strain in a Phase 1 clinical trial. The company previously reported that the vaccines had achieved potentially protective levels of antibody responses in up to 67% of evaluable subjects in the trial's higher dose cohorts. Vical researchers presented the expanded data, as well as new nonclinical data from the company's RapidResponse(TM) DNA vaccine manufacturing program, this week at the DNA Vaccines 2008 Conference.

H5N1 Pandemic Influenza Vaccine Phase 1 Trial Update

New data presented at the conference indicates that the company's monovalent Vaxfectin(R)-formulated H5N1 pandemic influenza DNA vaccine induced T-cell responses against the H5 antigen in 75% to 100% of evaluable subjects in the various cohorts. T-cell responses could be important in protecting against serious disease and in limiting the spread of disease during an outbreak.

The monovalent vaccine, which was based on the H5N1 influenza virus strain, A/Vietnam/1203/04, also induced antibody responses against the H5N1 influenza virus strain, A/Hong Kong/156/97 from a different clade, in 50% of responders. Cross-clade responses could be important in providing protection against emerging strains of influenza before a matching vaccine could be deployed.

Antibody and/or T-cell responses against the matching H5 antigen
'/>"/>

Pandemic Preparedness

USA: Hawaii Screening of passengers for flu called a success

12/24/08 Honolulu Star Bulletin--A voluntary screening process for flulike illnesses among international arrivals at Honolulu Airport worked so well it may be done more often next year, a state Health Department official said.

The process was tested recently on 435 arriving Japan Airlines passengers, said Dr. Sarah Park, chief of the Disease Outbreak Control Division.

The program is aimed at intercepting passengers with possibly infectious diseases such as bird flu or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) before they can expose a broader population.

The passengers "did their part to help us out," Park said. "We were pleasantly surprised how fast they went through. Each time we do this, we're learning and tweaking the process and improving upon it."

Fearing the introduction of infectious diseases into Hawaii, the state in November 2005 became the first in the nation to set up a passive airport surveillance program for Hawaii-bound international travelers.

Pilots must notify the airport tower if they have a potentially ill passenger on board, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Quarantine Station is called to evaluate the passenger at the gate. Those who have fever and respiratory symptoms are asked to be tested for flu.

In June, the Health Department worked with the CDC, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Transportation and Hawaiian Airlines to start a pilot project. Federal officials hope that efficient standard procedures can be developed to be used across the country.

The second screening, involving a Japan Airlines flight that arrived about 6:20 a.m. Dec. 3, took longer to arrange because of efforts to address non-English-speaking passengers, Park said. "It's one thing to screen people quickly and efficiently who speak your language. It's another thing to those who don't speak the language or share your culture."

Health officials worked with the state tourism liaison to discuss the situation with the Japanese Consulate and one of the consuls asked to observe the screening, she said.

A short informational video was produced, asking the passengers to participate in a voluntary health screening and explaining a questionnaire given to them. The form, in Japanese and English, asked for basic demographic, recent travel and illness information, including presence of a fever, she said.

The airline was asked to distribute the questionnaires and show the video to passengers so there would be no surprises, she said. "We told our airline partners we don't want passengers disgruntled and upset because upset people don't comply," Park said.

All partners "were pleasantly surprised how many people did opt in and without question went through health screening with no concerns," she said.

Sixteen makeshift kiosks were set up at screening points with trained medical staff to take the questionnaires from passengers leaving the airplane and ask if they had a fever.

Two passengers didn't feel well and were referred to a medical evaluation area with registered nurses, physicians and CDC quarantine observers, she said. Neither had fever or met the criteria for an influenzalike illness, but they were given a fact sheet and advice about flu and allowed to proceed, she said.

Avian influenza hasn't mutated into human influenza, "but when it does accidentally move to the human side, it causes severe disease with high mortality," Park said.

"It has taken this long to screen a second flight," she said, "but I'm extremely confident, and our partners are confident, that should we suddenly be hit with a pandemic alert level or SARS, we're prepared in Hawaii."

A voluntary screening process for flulike illnesses among international arrivals at Hono- lulu Airport worked so well it may be done more often next year, a state Health Department official said.

The process was tested recently on 435 arriving Japan Airlines passengers, said Dr. Sarah Park, chief of the Disease Outbreak Control Division.

The program is aimed at intercepting passengers with possibly infectious diseases such as bird flu or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) before they can expose a broader population.

Health officials worked with the state tourism liaison to discuss the situation with the Japanese Consulate and one of the consuls asked to observe the screening, she said.

All partners "were pleasantly surprised how many people did opt in and without question went through health screening with no concerns," she said.

Sixteen makeshift kiosks were set up at screening points with trained medical staff to take the questionnaires from passengers leaving the airplane and ask if they had a fever.

Avian influenza hasn't mutated into human influenza, "but when it does accidentally move to the human side, it causes severe disease with high mortality," Park said.

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www.starbulletin.com > News > Hawaii News >
Screening of passengers for flu called a success

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 24, 2008
(Page 2 of 2) | Single Page View

A voluntary screening process for flulike illnesses among international arrivals at Hono- lulu Airport worked so well it may be done more often next year, a state Health Department official said.

The process was tested recently on 435 arriving Japan Airlines passengers, said Dr. Sarah Park, chief of the Disease Outbreak Control Division.

The program is aimed at intercepting passengers with possibly infectious diseases such as bird flu or severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) before they can expose a broader population.

Health officials worked with the state tourism liaison to discuss the situation with the Japanese Consulate and one of the consuls asked to observe the screening, she said.

All partners "were pleasantly surprised how many people did opt in and without question went through health screening with no concerns," she said.

Sixteen makeshift kiosks were set up at screening points with trained medical staff to take the questionnaires from passengers leaving the airplane and ask if they had a fever.

Avian influenza hasn't mutated into human influenza, "but when it does accidentally move to the human side, it causes severe disease with high mortality," Park said.

Regional Reporting and Surveillance

OIE: LPAI Chinese Taipei, Immediate Notification

Low pathogenic avian influenza (poultry),
Chinese Taipei

Information received on 20/12/2008 from Dr Watson H T Sung, Director General, Director General Office, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, Taipei , Chinese Taipei

Summary
Report type Immediate notification (Final report)
Start date 12/11/2008
Date of first confirmation of the event 24/11/2008
Report date 20/12/2008
Date submitted to OIE 20/12/2008
Date event resolved 14/11/2008
Reason for notification Reoccurrence of a listed disease
Date of previous occurrence 03/2004
Causal agent Low pathogenic avian influenza virus
Serotype H5N2
Nature of diagnosis Laboratory (advanced)
This event pertains to the whole country

New outbreaks
Outbreak 1 Yua-Chih farm, KAO-HSIUNG
Date of start of the outbreak 12/11/2008
Outbreak status Resolved (14/11/2008)
Epidemiological unit Farm
Affected animals
Species Susceptible Cases Deaths Destroyed Slaughtered
Birds 18591 520 230 18361 0
Summary of outbreaks Total outbreaks: 1
Outbreak statistics
Species Apparent morbidity rate Apparent mortality rate Apparent case fatality rate Proportion susceptible animals lost*
Birds 2.80% 1.24% 44.23% 100.00%

* Removed from the susceptible population through death, destruction and/or slaughter

Epidemiology
Source of the outbreak(s) or origin of infection

* Unknown or inconclusive

Epidemiological comments The primary surveillance in the 3-km-radius is completed. All the 76 flocks in this area have been disinfected and screened. The surveillance programme will be conducted for three months.

Control measures
Measures applied

* Stamping out
* Quarantine
* Movement control inside the country
* Screening
* Zoning
* Disinfection of infected premises/establishment(s)
* Vaccination prohibited
* No treatment of affected animals

Measures to be applied

* No other measures

Diagnostic test results
Laboratory name and type Animal Health Research Institute (National laboratory)
Tests and results
Species Test Test date Result
Birds haemagglutination inhibition test (HIT) 24/11/2008 Positive
Birds intravenous pathogenicity index (IVPI) test 19/12/2008 Positive
Birds reverse transcription - polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) 24/11/2008 Positive
Birds virus isolation 24/11/2008 Positive

Future Reporting
The event is resolved. No more reports will be submitted.

Regional Reporting and Surveillance

India: 30,000 birds culled in flu-hit W Bengal district

12/24/08 Gulf Times--Over 30,000 poultry have been culled in the bird flu-hit Malda district of West Bengal while in Assam culling operations have been affected in some areas due to resistance from people, officials said yesterday.

In Assam, more than 400,000 poultry have been killed so far in three weeks since the disease broke out.
West Bengal Animal Resources Development (ARD) Minister Anisur Rehman said in Kolkata yesterday: ?Veterinary workers have culled over 30,000 chicken and ducks till Monday night at Narhatta and Satgheria villages in Malda and finished the mopping up operations there on Monday night. Our officials inspected the affected areas today and reported the operations as successful.?

West Bengal has set a target of culling about 25,000 poultry birds in the affected areas of Malda, about 350km from here.

Veterinary workers, wearing white protective suits, gloves and masks, started the culling on December 16 after blood samples of dead poultry sent to the High Security Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Bhopal tested positive for avian flu.

Assam Veterinary Commissioner S Mewra said in Guwahati: ?Culling operations are near complete in four of the seven bird flu-hit districts, although in the three districts of Chirang, Barpeta and Bongaigaon, we have not been able to finish the operations due to lack of co-operation from the locals.? Seven Assam districts were hit by bird flu, killing hundreds of chicken and ducks about three weeks ago.
?We have culled more than 420,000 birds. There have been no reports of fresh deaths or bird flu virus in new areas since last week,? Mewra said.

But lack of co-operation from locals in the three districts was posing a serious health risk, he said.
?Bird flu virus could spread to the adjoining areas if locals in the three districts do not co-operate with the culling operations. There are risks of the virus spreading to humans if people resist culling.?
Meanwhile, expert central health teams are continuing door-to-door checks to ensure that the virus does not spread to humans.

?So far there are no reports of the virus spreading to humans,? central health ministry official Parthajyoti Gogoi said.

The state government has so far disbursed Rs10mn as compensation to villagers for the poultry culled. ? IANS

Regional Reporting and Surveillance

Bangladesh confirms bird flu outbreak

12/24/08 Reuters--Authorities in Bangladesh have stepped up surveillance after a fresh outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of avian influenza was discovered, officials said on Wednesday.

"So far 10,000 birds were culled at several infected firms and surrounding areas in five districts," said Salehuddin Khan, director of the government's livestock department.

The H5N1 virus was first reported near the capital in March 2007 and spread to 47 of Bangladesh's 64 districts, forcing authorities to kill more than 1.65 million birds.

Industry officials said about 40 percent of the country's more than 150,000 poultry farms have been closed, making half a million people jobless.

The World Health Organisation in May confirmed the first human case of bird flu in Bangladesh, a 16-month-old baby infected in January. The infant recovered.

Since the virus resurfaced in Asia in late 2003, at least 247 people have died from bird flu in a dozen countries, the WHO says.

Pandemic Preparedness

Glaxo Prepares Work Force For Worst-Case Flu Scenario

12/23/08 Dow Jones Newswire--GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) wants to be one of the safest places to work in the event of a flu pandemic. The U.K. drug maker has spent nearly two years making contingency plans to protect its global work force so the company can continue manufacturing the drugs and vaccines it thinks will be critical if a major flu outbreak hits. Whether the preparations are enough is an open question, as experts note that factors outside Glaxo's control could render the best-laid plans moot.

Glaxo's plan includes providing antiviral drugs and pandemic-related vaccines to up to 435,000 people in 137 countries. That represents Glaxo's more than 100,000 workers, plus their families and key suppliers such as the farmers who provide eggs used to make vaccines. Thousands of employees would be told to work from home, and those who do come to work would be spread out to minimize human contact.

Glaxo says it wants to minimize any disruption to production not only of its antiviral drug Relenza and pandemic vaccines, but also its other drugs and vaccines. "If we can't make those, we'd be failing patients with HIV, asthma and cancer," Ronald Joines, director of employee health and business continuity, said in a recent interview near Glaxo's Philadelphia office.

Health authorities worldwide have warned in recent years of a possible flu pandemic, driven by reports in numerous countries of a type of avian influenza known as H5N1, a virus that experts fear could mutate into one that spreads easily among humans and potentially kill millions.

Since 2002, the World Health Organization has tallied about 391 human infections with bird flu, 247 of which resulted in death. The ongoing risk was underscored last week when Chinese authorities ordered a slaughter of thousands of chickens after discovering some birds infected with H5N1.

Glaxo has supplied drugs and vaccines to governments and health organizations in preparation for a pandemic, either through sales contracts or outright donations. More recently, however, sales of Relenza have fallen off, and Glaxo has tried to bolster sales by promoting corporate stockpiling. Relenza sales for the first nine months of 2008 fell about 77% to $86 million. Roche Holding AG (RHHBY), which makes competing antiviral drug Tamiflu, has seen similar trends.

Relenza is used to prevent flu or reduce its severity. In addition, Glaxo makes Pandemrix, a pandemic flu vaccine, and Prepandrix, which is designed to be given before the onset of an expected H5N1 pandemic. Glaxo is studying a similar pre-pandemic vaccine in North America. A Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) H5N1 vaccine is approved for use in the U.S.

One of the first steps Glaxo took was to improve employee participation in its seasonal flu-shot program. The seasonal flu vaccine is meant to prevent non-pandemic flu that circulates annually. Previously, only about 40% of Glaxo's global work force had easy access to seasonal flu shots, partly because the shots weren't available in some countries. Now, about 90% of Glaxo's global work force have access to some sort of seasonal flu shot program, Joines said.

Aside from its immediate benefits, the increased participation is meant to get employees used to the idea of getting a flu shot. Glaxo also has expanded flu-vaccine manufacturing capacity, which can be used in the event of a pandemic.

If health authorities conclude that a flu outbreak is approaching a pandemic, Glaxo's office workers will be reminded to wash their hands frequently and use sanitizing wipes to clean their work spaces. They'll be spread out into empty conference rooms and cafeterias will be closed to minimize human contact - a concept called "social distancing."

The roughly one-third of Glaxo workers who are considered "critical" - including manufacturing employees - would be given daily preventive antiviral medications beginning before an official pandemic is declared, and some would be given respiratory masks while at work. The antiviral options would probably include not only Relenza but also Roche's Tamiflu and generic drugs.

Non-critical workers, including those working from home, wouldn't have to take daily preventive antiviral therapy. Employee participation in the drug and vaccine program would be voluntary, Joines said, because it would be unethical to make it mandatory.

The preparations have led Glaxo to do things it might not have done for business reasons. Previously, Relenza wasn't approved for use in more than 30 countries in which Glaxo operates, either because they weren't considered commercially viable or governments hadn't requested the drug, Joines said. Glaxo has taken steps to register the drug in those countries so its employees have access to the drug in the event of a pandemic.

Glaxo has spent about $6 million to $10 million making the contingency plans, Joines estimated.

It remains to be seen whether these efforts will be sufficient. The company probably won't be able to protect every single employee, and Joines said in a worst-case scenario 1% to 2% of Glaxo workers could die. However, he believes Glaxo's infection and death rates would be lower than the broader population's due to the company's preparations.

There may also be factors outside Glaxo's control that render its preparations moot. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center of Infectious Disease Research & Policy at the University of Minnesota, sees a pandemic disrupting the supply chain for coal, which would in turn disrupt the electricity supply. That would pose problems for any company's preparedness plans.

"I don't want to dismiss or say these aren't important things," Osterholm said of Glaxo's efforts. "But we need the corporations of the world to stand up and demand protection for basic infrastructure."