State Shorebirds Tested for Flu
Wisconsin State Journal
23 Aug 2006
David Wahlberg
Photo courtesy of Joseph W. Jackson III - State Journal

More Wisconsin efforts to look for bird flu are taking flight. As testing of samples from birds in Alaska nears its peak at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, the state Department of Natural Resources has started sampling shorebirds around Wisconsin for the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus.

Neither project has detected the virus, which has devastated flocks in Asia and Europe. The virus has also killed 141 of the 240 people known to be infected since late 2003, mostly in Southeast Asia, leading researchers to fear it could trigger a global pandemic of human flu.

Similar flu viruses are showing up in birds in the United States, a report from Michigan confirmed last week. Two wild swans on the shore of Lake Erie were found to have a low-grade version of H5N1 - not a cause for alarm but a reason to remain vigilant, scientists say.


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Biological Crisis Management in Human and Veterinary Medicines 2006 - Emerging Diseases: Preparedness and Implementation Issues (Archive Number 20060822.2365)
ProMed
22 Aug 2006
Michele Michaud and Betty Dodet

Organised by the International Association for Biologicals (IABs) in
association with WHO, NIAID and OIE.

As the first meeting of a new series on Biological Crisis Management in
Human and Veterinary Medicines, BCM 2006 will bring together experts and
representatives from industry and regulatory bodies to discuss important
public health problems related to emerging infectious diseases.

The goal of BCM 2006 is to help assure the rapid availability of safe and
effective biologicals for use in emergency situations by identifying
safety, efficacy, standardisation, liability and regulatory issues related
to their production and use and to propose solutions.

The meeting aims to provide recommendations for the scientific community,
manufacturers and health authorities concerning the production, evaluation,
standardisation and regulation of biologicals for use in emergency situations.


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CDC Releases Blueprints of Flu Viruses
The Associated Press (Posted by seattlepi.com)
22 Aug 2006
Mike Stobbe

U.S. health officials have placed the genetic blueprints of more than 650 flu viruses into a public data base, in an attempt to increase flu research and set an example for other nations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deposited the information last week, CDC officials said Tuesday.

The genetic information is only for naturally circulating viruses isolated in the United States. It includes data from the annual U.S. flu season, animal flu viruses that infect humans, and new strains that may emerge in this country, such as the H5N1 bird flu.

The data was deposited in Genbank, a public-access library for virus sequences managed by the National Institutes of Health, and in a database housed at Los Alamos National Laboratories. The action stems from a collaboration with the Association of Public Health Laboratories, which represents state labs, where most of the virus information originates.


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Mysterious Substance is Red Tide
The Herald (Posted by HeraldToday.com)
24 Aug 2006
Carl Mario Nudi
Photo courtesy of Brian Blanco

A scare of an oil slick or some other environmental calamity, which briefly closed beaches Wednesday as scientists scooped up and studied the residue, turned out to be a mixture of the red tide organism, Karenia brevis, and a blue-green algae, called Trichodesmium.

Together, the primordial soup laid down an oily, brownish coating atop the surf and on scattered beaches. Water samples taken Wednesday morning showed high concentrations of both K. brevis and Trichodesmium, which provides nutrients for the red tide organism.

Jennifer Wolny, a harmful-algae-bloom biologist at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, said the K. brevis counts "were high - in the millions of cells per liter. "When you have cell concentrations that high you can get fish kills, respiratory distress and discolored water," Wolny said.


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Viruses Can Jump Primate-Human Species Barrier, Researchers Warn - University of Washington
Mongabay.com
23 Aug 2006
Photo courtesy of Rhett A. Butler

Viruses that jump the species barrier between monkeys and humans can harm both people and animals, and we should take steps to reduce the risk of virus transmission. That's the message running through the September issue of the American Journal of Primatology, a special issue on disease risk analysis edited by a primate expert at the University of Washington.

The special issue covers a range of topics, including an estimate of the viral transmission risk for visitors to a monkey temple in Indonesia, and a study showing how methods to limit contact between monkeys and humans can reduce the risk of transmission between the species.

Other researchers describe how human viruses infecting monkeys and apes can wreak havoc on those animals' populations. "Viruses are already jumping the species barrier and affecting both people and animals, and there is the potential for much worse," explained Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, a research scientist in the Division of International Programs at the UW's Washington National Primate Research Center and guest editor for the journal's special issue.


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