Sinovac Scores Big with Bird Flu Vaccine

Dec 27: Sinovac announces clinical trials of a potential vaccine for avian bird flu. Allowed by the Chinese to fast-track human testing this is exciting news for the company shareholders.

It is too easy to be fooled into thinking a cure is here, remember that the announcements come as company PR press releases rather than from the scientific community.

This company in country being hit economically by bad publicity over virus spread is a shining light for the government spreading good news on China for a change.

Sinovac, masters of working the press and government, have recently scored RMB 7 million worth of funding from China's Ministry of Science and Technology. This is in addition to over US$1 million in government funding received in 2004.

Notable is the timing
Dec 12 Reaped RMB 7 million of funding
Dec 21 Announcement of vaccine ready for trials
Dec 21 Government approval to fast track human testing to only two phases

Panflu possibly a combination of Anflu - translated from Chinese into English as "If you live in safe, you are very lucky" does not instill faith into the capability of the vaccine. However cashing in on a shorter sharper established Tamiflu marketing brand will be of benefit.

Is this really the pandemic cure we all hope for, or merely a PR exercise for China?

References:

Sinovac Company Overview
PRNnewswire
China CSR Sinovac_biotech
Bird flu information

Bird flu virus in Leaky Aerosol Chamber?

Complacency grows with widespread use of scientific samples of the H5N1 bird flu virus.

New Zealand has announced intentions to import and tinker with the virus at a research laboratory in Wallaceville, in the interests of science of course, according to the director of Biosecurity New Zealand.

What is alarming about this announcement is that the facility at Wallaceville is only rated to Biological Safety Level BSL 3.

Just last year the world experienced laboratory infection spread from so called safety labs when a leaky aerosol chamber manufactured by the University of Wisconsin at Madison was responsible for three laboratory-acquired tuberculosis infections in a Seattle BSL-3 lab last year.

The same Madison chamber in use in the New Zealand BSL 3+ facility, full of seals and "O rings" made in the USA.

Do scientists tinkering with viruses and vaccines themselves; pose the real risk of mutating avian influenza?


Aerosal leaks in BSL containment
Ministry of Health New Zealand
Biological safety levels BSL 1 BSL2 BSL 3 BSL 4
Avian flu information

Chinese Brewing Benzene and Bird Flu

With 100 tonnes of deadly cancer causing Benzene spilling into water supplies for millions of Chinese, consideration should be given to the impact on H5N1 bird flu mutation.

Mutant cancer causing cells created by Benzene, when mixed with the current H5N1 avian bird flu strain, not yet deadly for humans, but themselves awaiting mutation to create a human pandemic, make for a deadly movie plot type scenario.

Surely the Chinese would not have caused this scenario to eradicate a hidden bird flu epidemic by poisoning millions of people. Yet the Chinese stories have some flaws, so far we have;
- A chemical plant explosion
- A truck crash filled with chemicals (ten truckloads)
- A dam wall break that was holding back chemicals

The Chinese government is however adamant there will be no cover-up and that they will punish severely any attempt to do this. Mysteriously though a senior official who told reporters that the explosion didn't cause any pollution has reportedly been found dead.

All is not what it seems here.

Reference:
Isn.ethz.ch/news
Leadingthecharge.com/stories
Chinapost.com
Bird flu information

California Thinking Clear on Bird Flu

California's Department of Health Services is taking action to encourage physicians not to dispense Tamiflu to patients.

The effects of this will be two fold, first allowing the state to maintain its stockpile of Tamiflu, second to prevent creating a possible breeding ground for avian influenza H5N1 through resistance to the drug in humans from overuse.

It's a gamble either way for the public, trust the officials or every man for himself.

Given the west coast being a prime target for the first port of call for bird flu due to it providing a gateway for travel to Asian countries it is however good to see officials taking charge.

Also in news from North California, the supposed bird flu found in turkeys whilst technically bird flu, is not the H5N1 strain that everyone is concerned about. Still makes a good news scare though.

References:
Bird flu information
Daily bulletin
MSN