Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Seasonal flu vaccine offers 'some protection'



Fergus Walsh | 00:01 UK time, Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Research from Mexico City published on BMJ.com suggests that the seasonal flu vaccine may offer some protection against swine flu, particularly the most severe complications of the disease.
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Friday, October 2, 2009

Swine flu science: overview


Swine flu science: overview

NHS ChoicesOct 02, 2009 12:30:00 GMT

This page brings together the latest science and developments on the swine flu pandemic, offering a single accessible resource for both health professionals and the general public.
You will find a range of regularly updated links to scientific resources on the Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus listed below. We will also be critically appraising new research on swine flu as it is published.
For the latest, more general news on swine flu in the UK, including prevalence, NHS policy and guidance, go to swine flu latest from the NHS.
We encourage comments and suggestions from the scientific community on the development of this page.

Recent swine flu appraisals by Bazian

For a full list of related articles see our archive of swine flu news.



Useful links

Journals and research

UK government

International government

The genetics of swine flu


Health & Medical organisations


Blogs, wikis, alerts and other tools
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Monday, September 28, 2009

Swine flu vaccines get first UK trial


Fergus Walsh | 22:23 UK time, Monday, 28 September 2009

Swine flu vaccineResearchers in Oxford have started the first trial of Britain's two swine flu vaccines. Working with teams in Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and London, they are aiming to recruit 1,000 youngsters aged six months to 12 years. Although both vaccines are likely to get licensed in the next few weeks, none of the trials has taken place in Britain. Pandemrix (made by GSK) was approved by the European Medicines Agency on Friday, while Baxter's H1N1 jab seems likely to get approved this week.
This is the first time the vaccines have been used in the UK and the first comparative study of the jabs.
Andrew PollardProfessor Andrew Pollard from the University of Oxford is heading the research: "We are doing this trial to compare head-to-head the two vaccines which are going to be used in the UK against swine flu to see which one works best in children and which one is best tolerated. We are sort of in a race against time because we know the flu season is already started. We hope to immunise the children over the next 10 days or so.
The GSK vaccine is made using the traditional means of growing the virus in embryonated hens' eggs, before the virus is broken and deactivated. The Baxter vaccine is made in cell culture, so is suitable for those who have an egg allergy. The sort of side effects that are expected are sore arms and fevers. The information given to parents also lists rare side effects including Guillian-Barré syndrome which can cause ascending paralysis and even be fatal.
It's worth quoting here from the trial information: "Other very rare events that have been seen with routine flu vaccines include seizures and temporary bleeding disorders. In the past Guillian-Barré syndrome (a rare disorder of nerves) has been associated with flu vaccines but the relationship remains uncertain, with some studies suggesting a possible link but others not finding it. One large study in the UK found that influenza-like illness itself was associated with an increased risk of the Guillian-Barré syndrome but there was no link with the seasonal influenza vaccines, suggesting that vaccination might actually protect against the disorder by preventing flu."
What I take that to mean is that, if you have the vaccine, there is a remote, theoretical possibility that you could get GBS (as happened in the USA in 1976 with their swine flu vaccine), but you are more likely to get it as a result of contracting flu. So while it is impossible to rule out the risk of GBS from the vaccine, it is very remote, and this must be balanced against the very real and proven risks of complications from flu.
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Saturday, September 26, 2009

Weekly pandemic flu media update



Weekly pandemic flu media update

24 September 2009
KEY POINTS
  • The rates of flu-like illness and related activity have shown further increases in England.
  • The flu-like illness rate in England from the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) scheme increased to 16.2 per 100,000 in week 38. Most age groups saw an increase.
  • This week, the antiviral collection numbers in the National Pandemic Flu Service have continued to increase and this has been seen in all age groups under 65. Once again, the biggest increase has been seen in the 5-15 year old age group with antiviral collections again doubling from 2,886 to 5,580.
  • Interpretation of data to produce estimates on the number of new cases continues to be subject to a considerable amount of uncertainty. HPA modelling gives an estimate of 9,000 new cases in England last week (range 5,000 to 20,000).  This is the second weekly increase since week 30.
    This estimate incorporates data from National Pandemic Flu Service and GP consultations.
  • Sharp rises in influenza activity in recent weeks are reported from the USA - concentrated particularly in school age children. Increasing activity has also been reported in a number of European countries, particularly France.


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X-179A - Pandemrix - based on HA & NA - May 27 2009


A candidate reassortant vaccine virus (X‐179A) has been developed, using classical reassortment technology, from an A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)v virus, by the New York Medical College, New York, USA.


The haemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) sequences of the A/California/7/2009 (H1N1)v virus can be found on the public web site of GenBank via the following links:
HA gene sequence
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/227977171?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Sequence.Sequence_ResultsPanel.Sequence_RVDocSum

NA gene sequence
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/229396468?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Sequence.Sequence_ResultsPanel.Sequence_RVDocSum
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