Bird Flu (H5N1 Avian Influenza) Vaccine Blogs This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Earth’s virology course
The spring semester has just ended at Columbia University, which means that my annual virology course has also concluded. The course met twice weekly, during which time we discussed the basic principles of virology, including how virions are built, how they replicate, and how they cause disease. For the last two lectures of the course we discussed viruses in the public eye, namely XMRV and influenza H5N1. Each lecture in my virology course was recorded as a videocast and is available at the course website, at iTunes University, or on YouTube. One hundred and eighty-five Columbia University undergraduates registered for...
Source: virology blog - May 28, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information class course itunes university lecture MOOC viral virus Source Type: blogs

President’s 2014 Proposed Budget Calls For Increase to Overall Healthcare Spending and Major Changes to Medicare Part D
President Obama unveiled his fiscal year 2014 budget for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The budget contained a number of notable figures and proposals, particularly given that many pieces of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) are set to go into effect in 2014. The new budget would provide HHS a total of $967.3 billion in outlays and $80.1 billion in discretionary spending, and it includes initiatives that aim to save $361.1 billion over a decade. MedPage Today reported that the FY 2014 budget “is larger than the $848.2 billion actually spent in FY 2012 and the $907....
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 22, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs

TWiV 229: Partly cloudy with a high of H7N9
On episode #229 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent, Rich, Dickson, and Alan review the current status of human infections with avian influenza H7N9 virus. You can find TWiV #229 at www.twiv.tv. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - April 21, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology avian H7N9 brambling China duck H2N9 influenza pandemic reassortant Shanghai vaccine viral virus WHO wild bird Source Type: blogs

Avian influenza H7N9 viruses isolated from humans: What do the gene sequences mean?
There have been over 60 human infections with avian influenza virus H7N9 in China, and cases have been detected outside of Shanghai, including Beijing, Zhejiang, Henan, and Anhui Provinces. Information on the first three cases has now been published, allowing a more detailed consideration of the properties of the viral isolates. The first genome sequences reported were from the initial three H7N9 isolates: A/Shanghai/1/2013, A/Shanghai/2/2013, and A/Anhui/1/2013. These were followed by genome sequences from A/Hongzhou/1/2013 (from a male patient), A/pigeon/Shanghai/S1069/2013), A/chicken/Shanghai/S1053/2013), and A/en...
Source: virology blog - April 17, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information China H5N1 h7n9 H9N2 influenza pandemic poultry viral virus zoonosis zoonotic Source Type: blogs

First human infections with avian influenza H7N9 virus
Fourteen people in China have been infected with avian influenza H7N9 virus, leading to five deaths. This avian influenza virus has never been isolated from humans. Influenza A viruses with the H7 hemagglutinin protein circulate among birds, and some, such as H7N2, H7N3, and H7N7, have been previously found to infect humans. It is not known how the individuals in China acquired the H7N9 virus. Some of the infections have occurred in Shanghai, where a similar virus was found in pigeon samples collected at a marketplace in that city. It is not clear what types of pigeon samples tested positive for the virus, nor is it known...
Source: virology blog - April 5, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information avian influenza China h7n9 H9N2 HA hemagglutinin pandemic reassortant Shanghai viral virus Source Type: blogs

CDC to Prepare Vaccine for A(H7N9) Bird Flu Strain Just in Case
The World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been monitoring an outbreak of avian influenza A (H7N9) in China. The cases are the first time the virus has been detected in humans. There have been 11 lab-confirmed cases and four deaths according to the last WHO update. The first cases were announced on April 1st. So far, there have been no cases involving human-to-human spread of the bird flu. WHO says people in close contact with the infected are being closely monitored, but none have developed any symptoms to date. NBC reports that the CDC has announced plans to star...
Source: HealthNewsBlog.com - April 4, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: flu bird-flu a-h7n9 Source Type: blogs

Service Member Shares Vaccine Experience
From an anonymous service member, “I do not know what-all was in these vaccines, but I thought I would share my story of three vaccines, all received in the last three years in the US Navy. I had never had a serious reaction to any vaccine before, and it was after the third round of it that I decided to do some research for myself. Now I am carrying my first child, and I am grateful that I have done this research so that I can spare my child the results of a criminal undertaking in the form of mass vaccination. First up: bird flu. December 2009, Great Lakes. Avian Influenza was scaring half the world out of its mind ...
Source: vactruth.com - March 19, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: VT Tags: Questions About Vaccines Vaccine Safety Vaccine Side Effects Source Type: blogs

Flu Vaccine Shows Only Modest Protection
Flu vaccine statistics reported by the CDC for this year’s flu season has shown only modest protection in preventing people from contracting the disease overall and very poor coverage of those aged 65 and older. Flu virus The post Flu Vaccine Shows Only Modest Protection appeared first on InsideSurgery Medical Information Blog. (Source: Inside Surgery)
Source: Inside Surgery - February 21, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Bird Flu Infectious Disease CDC coverage vaccine Source Type: blogs

8 Damn Good Reasons Not to Get the Flu Shot
Are you thinking about getting the flu vaccine? Every year the mainstream media war drum beats for you to get vaccinated against the flu. They rarely discuss anything but the benefits of the vaccine. Why? Maybe it is because many people are already skeptical about the flu vaccine. I’m going to be very up front with you here. You rarely hear about the adverse reactions or about the toxic chemicals being injected into you. My goal is to get you to investigate vaccines more closely. Here are eight reasons to question the flu shot. Let’s begin… REASON #1: NEUROTOXIC INGREDIENTS A common urban myth is that the mercury ha...
Source: vactruth.com - February 1, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Jeffry John Aufderheide Tags: Jeffry John Aufderheide Top Stories American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Dr. Gary Goldman Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Thimerosal vaccine ingredients Vaccine Safety Viral Shedding Source Type: blogs

The risks and benefits of influenza H5N1 research
Both Nature and the New York Times have weighed in on the resumption of influenza H5N1 research. In an editorial from 23 January 2013, Nature opines that “Experiments that make deadly pathogens more dangerous demand the utmost scrutiny”: As several critics point out, the assessments of the relative risks and benefits of such research remain restricted to largely qualitative arguments. The formal, quantitative risk assessment common in the nuclear power and other industries could have helped to nail down and quantify risks, and would have informed the debate better. One year on, an irreproachable, independent ri...
Source: virology blog - January 29, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Commentary aerosol transmission avian influenza H5N1 bioterrorism ferret fouchier kawaoka risk benefit analysis viral virus Source Type: blogs

TWiV 217: I just flu in and my arms are shot
On episode #217 of the science show This Week in Virology, Vincent, Alan, Rich, and Dickson review influenza vaccines. You can find TWiV #217 at www.twiv.tv. (Source: virology blog)
Source: virology blog - January 27, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: This Week in Virology adjuvant afluria cell culture efficacy egg fluarix flulaval flumist fluvirin H5N1 influenza LAIV narcolepsy pandemic pandemrix TIV vaccine viral virus Source Type: blogs

Viruses on Time
Poliovirus recently made the cover of Time magazine. Prompted by a reader question, I searched the Time archive to find out if there have been other virology-themed covers. I found fifteen in all, depicting poliovirus (3), herpesvirus (1), HIV/AIDS (4), influenza (5), and SARS coronavirus (2) (I did not distinguish between US and international editions). The earliest virus-themed cover that I found has Jonas Salk on the cover of the 29 March 1954 issue. Behind Salk is an image of poliovirus particles, probably drawn from an electron micrograph. Salk’s field trial of inactivated poliovirus vaccine had begun in 1954, a...
Source: virology blog - January 21, 2013 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Information AIDS H5N1 herpesvirus HIV influenza poliovirus SARS coronavirus Time magazine cover viral virology Source Type: blogs