CDC May Distribute 1918 Killer Flu

[African Herbsman]

Another potentially dumbassed move by the government. How long til a "terrorist" unleashes it?


CDC May Distribute 1918 Killer Flu

By MIKE STOBBE, Associated Press Writer Wed Nov 9, 1:18 PM ET

ATLANTA - Federal scientists say they will consider requests to ship the recently recreated 1918 killer flu virus to select U.S. research labs.


There are 300 non-government research labs registered to work with deadly germs like the Spanish flu, which killed millions of people worldwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will consider requests for samples from those labs "on a case-by-case basis,"
CDC spokesman Von Roebuck said Wednesday.

Dangerous biological agents are routinely shipped through commercial carriers like FedEx or DHL, following government packaging, safety and security guidelines.

Last month, U.S. scientists announced they had created — from scratch — the 1918 virus. It was the first time an infectious agent behind a historic global epidemic had ever been reconstructed.

Researchers said they believed it would help them develop defenses against the threat of a future pandemic evolving from bird flu, which was found to have similar characteristics as the 1918 virus.

About 10 vials of virus were created, each containing about 10 million infectious virus particles. CDC officials said at the time the particles would be stored at a CDC facility in Atlanta, and that there were no plans to send samples off campus.

But that statement did not mean there was a policy against sending samples elsewhere, Roebuck said.

The agency's decision to consider shipping the virus outside Atlanta was first reported in the latest issue of the journal Nature. Some critics of the recreation of the virus were not pleased to learn of plans to ship the germ.

"Obviously, that contradicts what most people were led to believe when the results of the 1918 experiments were published," said Edward Hammond, director of the Sunshine Project, an Austin, Texas-based organization that advocates more control of biological weapons and biotechnology.

In addition to creating the virus, the scientists said they would place the gene-sequencing information from the new research in GenBank, a public database operated by the
National Institutes of Health.

GenBank will allow some research groups to build their own virus, rather than seek samples of what the CDC had created.

"But that would be a lot of work. Wasted, duplicative work, if they (the CDC) have already made it," said Dr. Diane Griffin, chair of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health.

It's impractical to expect every influenza researcher who could learn from the 1918 virus to travel to Atlanta, said Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

"There's very limited lab space there," said Osterholm, director of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.

The CDC currently has no pending requests for the virus, Roebuck said. It's unlikely many requests would come in right away, Osterholm noted.

The government requires researchers who work with such agents to use highly secure labs that meet strict training and equipment requirements. About 300 labs are registered for handling such agents, and all are located in the United States, Roebuck said.

"This (virus) is not going to go willy nilly to anyone who wants it," he said.

 

[fatninja]

how stupid can white people be?

recreate the deadliest flu known to man just in time for the flu season.

ill bet the first people to fall live in the major URBAN regions of america. Global terrorism just got a new weapon. put a few drops of this in an enemy water supply and watch an entire city die.

 

[Fuckallyall]

You two are dead wrong on this one. The reason behind this move are:

A. The virus already exists, and has done major damage, so it's not like creating something new.

B. The government is right in using a multi lateral approach, since it will take about three years to create the tens of millions of doses of innoculation needed. It is estimated by the scientific community that the disease could mutate and go from human to human on a wide basis in maybe a year.

C. Fatninja, you could put gallons of flu virus in running water, and it will just die as running water is very hostile towards microbes. Also, considering the millions of gallons that flow per minute, it would be diluted very quickly. Your theory would not work.

 

[fatninja]

maybe, just maybe, you should read before you comment.

this virus was extinct. they made if from scratch by using the dead lung tissue of a victim of 1918. They Intentionally pulled the DNA strains from this tissue and replicated it AND made it viable that means living.

Also do some research when grown folks are talkin. this particular strain of flu was the most virullent known to man. it killed 6 MILLION people before it died out and theyre is no cure. That would be like making a particularry strong batch of ibola virus and placing it on a street corner and asking if someone wants a sample.

As far as water goes, theyre are hundreds of thousands of cisterns in the U.S., These hold water that has been purified and keeps it ready to go. pour a few gallons of this stuff in those, that service certain communities and you have a wildfire that will burn out of control.

Do research BEFORE you speak yungun.

 

[JanktheFixer]

I wouldnt doubt if Bush ordered this so they could fabricate a small breakout to justify all the money given to medicine companies and "security" (mass detainment) measures in preparation for the "avian flu" epidemic.

 

[QueEx]

I doubt thats true Jank, but since his credibility is so questionable I can see why a lot of people would think that way.

QueEx

 

[carlitos]

'how stupid can white people be'?

how stupid (er) would we be if line up like sheep for this vaccine?? 8's the matrix son,protect yourself and the family the best way u know how..

 

[fatninja]

i was playing a game called knights of the old republic 2 a couple of days ago and in the game it asks a question to the effect of "you are a public figurehead but your popularity is waining. you learn of an impending attack against one of your cities that will kill thousands. what do you do?

a) evacuate the town and expose the fact you know of the scheme.
b) fortify your defenses to prevent the attack
c) let the attack happen so that the people will rally behind you against a common enemy."


What would Bush do.
think 911

 

[QueEx]

i was playing a game called knights of the old republic 2 a couple of days ago and in the game it asks a question to the effect of "you are a public figurehead but your popularity is waining. you learn of an impending attack against one of your cities that will kill thousands. what do you do?

a) evacuate the town and expose the fact you know of the scheme.
b) fortify your defenses to prevent the attack
c) let the attack happen so that the people will rally behind you against a common enemy."


What would Bush do.
think 911

For umpteenthdamntime, I neither support nor like the S.O.B.

But, what did Bush do with respect to 9-11 that has any relation or similarity with what you said ??? As I recall 911, Bush was in the first year of his first term, his popularity in the polls was secure; and I don't know of any evidence that showed GW knew of the 9-11 attack before it happened.

I'd like to see his bumbling ass out -- but making up silly hypotheticals that aren't based on the best that we know happened won't do it. It just makes the one arguing the point look silly.

QueEx

 

[Fuckallyall]

maybe, just maybe, you should read before you comment.

this virus was extinct. they made if from scratch by using the dead lung tissue of a victim of 1918. They Intentionally pulled the DNA strains from this tissue and replicated it AND made it viable that means living.

Also do some research when grown folks are talkin. this particular strain of flu was the most virullent known to man. it killed 6 MILLION people before it died out and theyre is no cure. That would be like making a particularry strong batch of ibola virus and placing it on a street corner and asking if someone wants a sample.

As far as water goes, theyre are hundreds of thousands of cisterns in the U.S., These hold water that has been purified and keeps it ready to go. pour a few gallons of this stuff in those, that service certain communities and you have a wildfire that will burn out of control.

Do research BEFORE you speak yungun.

(Sigh) Look here, slick. First of all, the 1918 strain is extinct only to the point that it thrives from going from human to human. The bird Flu that is the cause of all this worry is pretty much genetically similar to the one that cause the pandemic, with the exception that it does not yet thrive by going from human to human. This is what has the immunologists and infectious disease specialits very frightened. This strain has all the makings of becoming a human borne virus. And they see what it has done. This is what the epidemiolgists do. They look at what is likely to occur, then plan for it. You would know that, if you knew about epidemiology.

And second of all, I find it funny that you try to embarrass me with the statement concering infecting a water supply. First you mention a few drops, then you mention gallons after I disagree with you. That is like comparing bullets with missles. But anyway, good luck with trying to produce gallons of the stuff without a superpower noticing.

Don't try to dis me like that in this forum. I'll let you off the hook, this time.

 

[fatninja]

ok slick

where did you see bird flu anywhere in this thread. the 1918 FLU strain is 20 times worse than the bird flu ..Slick. its like comparing ebola to the common cold....slick

Also...Slick.. people can make anthrax at home...SLICK....and with a gene sequencer and a small irradiation unit...slick, all of which you can usually get from goverment suplus sales...slick you can make anything if you have the right genome map. Slick

Im a lot of things but stupid isnt one. Go back to playin XboX and let grown folks talk.

 

[Fuckallyall]

The 1918 pandemic was an Avian based flu, as just about all flu's are. See the following articles:

"Bird Flu" Similar to Deadly 1918 Flu, Gene Study Finds
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
October 5, 2005

Scientists have reconstructed the genetic code of the deadly 1918 "Spanish flu," which swept the globe and killed an estimated 20 to 40 million people. Among their findings: The 1918 virus strain developed in birds and was similar to the "bird flu" that today has spurred fears of another worldwide epidemic.
By studying the once deadly 1918 virus's genetic information, scientists may become better able to predict future pandemics, or widespread epidemics. It may also aid the development of new vaccines, antiviral medicines, and other treatments to cope with flus.
"The purpose was to get at questions relating to the 1918 pandemic," said Jeffery Taubenberger, of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in Rockville, Maryland. Taubenberger co-authored one of several related papers in this week's issues of the journals Nature and Science.
"How did this particular virus form and get into humans? How did a pandemic start?" Taubenberger said. "Why was this particular virus so virulent? And in a broader sense what can we learn from the lessons of 1918 that can help us in the future?"
Influenza viruses were unknown in 1918, so there was no way for doctors or scientists to directly study the flu during or after the outbreak.
But some institutions, like the AFIP, preserved tissue samples from 1918 flu victims. Those 87-year-old samples—and others from a victim who was buried in, and preserved by, Alaskan permafrost—yielded tiny fragments of genetic material that were used to piece together the virus's genetic coding signature.
The final genes of the virus's genome sequence are being published this week. Scientists used the completed, full viral sequence to create a live virus with the eight viral genes of the Spanish flu, named for an early, devastating outbreak in Spain.
Even if somehow released, that virus would be unlikely to cause a pandemic like that of 1918, because humans have likely acquired some immunity in the intervening decades. Nonetheless, it is currently contained at Atlanta, Georgia's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under extremely strict security.
A Weapon Against the Next Pandemic?
Many experts warn that the world is overdue, and unprepared, for a global influenza pandemic. The next outbreak could well be as deadly as the Spanish flu, also known as H1N1, and potentially leave tens of millions dead.
Currently experts can't determine exactly which viruses might spark pandemics, though the Spanish flu data may help to identify which strains bear close observation.
H5N1, a strain of avian influenza called the bird flu, is the most likely candidate. The largely Southeast Asian disease is commonly found in birds but also occurs in mammals like pigs, cats, and humans. It has killed several dozen people, but as of yet it cannot be easily transferred from person to person and so has not developed into a pandemic outbreak.
Analysis of the 1918 strain revealed several mutations also found in H5N1. The findings suggest that both strains share an ability to jump directly to humans from other animals without having to first combine with a flu strain already adapted to humans.
"The sequence evidence from 1918 suggests that the virus is from completely avian origins," said Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, a microbiologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.
Human immune systems would likely be caught off guard by a purely avian virus to which they have no acquired immunity.
The century's other great pandemics, of 1957 and 1968, were sparked by hybrid flu viruses—human flus that acquired some genes from an avian source.
"This [finding] suggests that pandemics can form in more than one way, which is an important point," said the AFIP's Taubenberger. "We've been identifying a series of mutations that we believe are important in the way that an avian virus would adapt to become a human virus," Taubenberger added.
Though the evidence is compelling, only pre-1918 samples would allow scientists to be 100 percent sure that no aspects of the Spanish flu were previously present in contemporary human flu strains and that the flu was of completely avian origin.
"What makes a virus able to go from an avian reservoir to humans?" Mount Sanai's Garcia-Sastre asked. "That's important. Influenza is mainly a virus of birds. There are many different strains in birds and only a few affect humans. Pandemics occur when one of these jumps into the human population and can affect people by propagating from person to person."
Deadly Virus May Save Lives
CDC officials are taking extreme care to safeguard the re-created 1918 virus, though it would not likely lead to a major pandemic if the strain spread among the general population.
Tests have shown that mice that had been injected with current flu vaccines were protected from the 1918 strain.
"We know that all documented pandemic episodes have involved the emergence of a completely new strain," Garcia-Sastre said. "That happened in 1918, 1957, and in 1968."
"There is also evidence that people who were 40 years or older in 1918 were spared," he added. "One hypothesis to explain that is that persons 40 years old or older were exposed to an H1 virus before and had some immunity."
Now, decades after its outbreak, the 1918 virus may be a weapon rather than an opponent.
"I think we've been able to unmask the 1918 virus, and it's revealing to us some of the secrets that will help us prepare for the next pandemic," said Julie Gerberding, Director of the CDC.

From the BBC

1918 killer flu 'came from birds'
The Spanish flu virus that killed up to 50 million people in 1918-19 was probably a strain that originated in birds, research has shown.
US scientists have found the 1918 virus shares genetic mutations with the bird flu virus now circulating in Asia.
Writing in Nature, they say their work underlines the threat the current strain poses to humans worldwide.
A second paper in Science reveals another US team has successfully recreated the 1918 virus in mice.
We are revealing some of the secrets that will help us predict and prepare for the next pandemic
Julie Gerberding

The virus is contained at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under stringent safety conditions.
It is hoped to carry out experiments to further understand the biological properties that made the virus so virulent.
The virus was recreated from data produced by painstaking research by a team from the US Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.
Lung tissue samples
Working on virus samples from the remains of victims of the 1918 pandemic, the researchers were able to piece together the entire genetic sequence of the virus.
They found the virus contained elements that were new to humans of the time - making it highly virulent.
And analysis of the final three pieces of the virus' genetic code has revealed mutations that have striking similarities to those found in flu viruses found only in birds, such as the H5N1 strain currently found in south east Asia.
This strain has so far killed at least 65 people.
Many experts believe it is only a matter of time before H5N1, or a similar strain, causes many deaths in humans - possibly after combining with a human flu strain.
Crucially, the mutations identified by the US researchers were found in genes which control the virus' ability to replicate in host cells.
The researchers say these mutations may have helped the 1918 virus replicate more efficiently.
At this stage, they say the H5N1 strain shares only some, and not all, of these mutations.
Increased virulence
But these mutations may be enough to increase the virus' virulence - and give it the potential to cause serious human infection without first combining with a known human flu strain.
The researchers believe the two other major flu pandemics of the 20th century - in 1957 and 1968 - were caused by human flu viruses which acquired two or three key genes from bird flu virus strains.
But they believe the 1918 strain was probably entirely a bird flu virus that adapted to function in humans.
Julie Gerberding, director of the US Centers for Disease Control, said: "By unmasking the 1918 virus we are revealing some of the secrets that will help us predict and prepare for the next pandemic."
And Dr Jeffery Taubenberger, lead researcher of the Nature study, said: "Determining whether pandemic influenza virus strains can emerge via different pathways will affect the scope and focus of surveillance and prevention efforts."
Warning
Professor John Oxford, an expert in virology at Queen Mary College, London, said the suggestion that the virus had the potential to jump between humans without first combining with a human virus made it even more of a threat.
"This study gives us an extra warning that H5N1 needs to be taken even more seriously than it has been up to now," he said.
Dr Terrence Tumpey, of the US CDC, defended the decision to recreate the 1918 flu virus.
He said: "We felt we had to recreate the virus and run these experiments to understand the biological properties that made the 1918 virus so exceptionally deadly.
"We wanted to identify the specific genes responsible for its virulence, with the hope of designing antivirals or other interventions that would work against virulent pandemic or epidemic influenza viruses."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/4308872.stm

Published: 2005/10/05 17:00:59 GMT

So, as you see, you were talking about the Bird Flu all along. And that the 1918 flu WAS the bird Flu.

Also...Slick.. people can make anthrax at home...SLICK....and with a gene sequencer and a small irradiation unit...slick, all of which you can usually get from goverment suplus sales...slick you can make anything if you have the right genome map. Slick

No shit, sherlock. But to make weapons grade material (which is what you would need to distribute the material in a manner that would make many people sick), you need the abilty to aerosolize it, and that is very expensive and time consuming for many reasons. And Anthrax is a bed example, as it can be found in the dirt of most pastures west of the Mississippi. Anthrax can also thrive outside of a host for an extended period of time. And, most importantly, Anthrax is a bacteria, while the Flu is a virus. Bacteria are plants, which makes them easier to replicate, while viruses are a mixture of DNA and crystalline structure, which makes them sort of like animals, which are much more difficult to duplicate, due to thier much more complicated structure.

Im a lot of things but stupid isnt one.

Yeah, right.

The next time you disagree with me (which will probably be soon, so you can feel better), don't insult me off the bat. You could get embarassed even quicker than you did thts time.

 

[fatninja]

did you read the whole article or just the parts u highlighted...slick.
and a quote you could have written yourself means nothing to me. im looking at the article right now from the american journal of science.

Similiar genetic markers does not make it the bird flu. you have similiar genetic markers to a babboon but you arent one.

or maybe you are.

 

[Fuckallyall]

A. Please post the article. I am in the Journal right now, and I cannot locate an article of that nature.

B. I read the entire articles (that happened to be how I got the areas to embolden). Apparently you did not read them (or did not understand what you read.) The second sentence of the first article and the HEADLINE of the second article clearly stated the the 1918 flu came from birds. Also, the link for the BBC article is at the end of the article (there goes that reading thing again). Here is the link for the National geographic Article:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1005_051005_bird_flu.html

C. And what quote are you talking about ?

D. Before you come out your face again, slick, KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT !!! And when you return, stick to the facts and don't try to deflect the debate away on some tangent. That shit might fly on the debate team, but it will not fly with me. Stick to the facts. I am totally right, and it's ok. Man up and learn.

Holla.

 

[Fuckallyall]

And another thing Fatninja, like most cats here on this board, I am in my mid thirties, and am highly educated (mostly self). Judging from what I've seen of you so far, I have probably forgotten more than you now know. Stop bringing knives to a gunfight and back up your assertions with more than hollow hyperbole. Slick.

 

[QueEx]

[frame]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4719502.stm[/frame]

 

[GET YOU HOT]

Correction....Humans aka Homosapiens are very similar...to the genetic make up of chimpanzees...not baboons.. Mentality of Apes written in 1925, I quote, "chimpanzees manifest intelligent behavior of the general kind familiar in human beings... a type of behaviour which counts as specifically human".

 

[QueEx]

<font size="5"><center>Bird-Flu Vaccine May Be Ready by Next Year</font size></center>


By MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

LONDON — GlaxoSmithKline may be able to produce a vaccine in mass quantities to protect humans from bird flu by next year, the drugmaker said Wednesday following encouraging results from a clinical trial.

The prototype vaccine, which could potentially be used during a pandemic caused by the H5N1 virus, uses low doses of its active ingredient, meaning that greater quantities could be produced. The vaccine uses an inactivated strain of H5N1 that was isolated in Indonesia last year.

The results were based on a trial conducted on 400 adults in Belgium, using a vaccine including adjuvant, an ingredient added to vaccines to stimulate the immune system and increase the response to the vaccine.

"It's a good and exciting piece of science," Dr. David Nabarro, the United Nations' coordinator for avian and pandemic influenza, said. "But as with all new discoveries, quite a lot of work has now got to be done to establish its place in public health and pandemic preparedness."

Adding adjuvant to a vaccine allows makers to use less antigen, a key ingredient in vaccines. Previous attempts to create a pandemic vaccine have been disappointing, as they have required large amounts of antigen to provoke a strong immune response.

Using a proprietary adjuvant, GlaxoSmithKline PLC has apparently succeeded in producing an effective vaccine using a very low dose of antigen.

"This is very significant because it shows the principle that this adjuvant might do the job," said Dr. Albert Osterhaus, head of the virology department at Erasmus University in the Netherlands.

According to GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine provoked a strong immune response in more than 80 percent of the people tested. "There is still a lot more work to be done with this program, but this validation of our approach provides us with the confidence to continue developing the vaccine," said J.P. Garnier, GlaxoSmithKline's chief executive officer.

While cautioning that the clinical results are still preliminary, some pandemic influenza experts are optimistic that this may ultimately result in the production of many more doses of pandemic vaccine. "It's still small numbers, but if GSK can corroborate this data, it shows that their adjuvant is good," said Osterhaus.

Because production capacity during a pandemic will be limited, using as little antigen as possible will be essential to mass-producing vaccine.

"With this adjuvant added to the vaccine, provided the rest of the tests are OK, you could make 10 times as much vaccine," said Osterhaus, emphasizing that it is still a two-dose vaccine.

Creating a prototype pandemic vaccine, however, does not guarantee that countries will be protected in the event of a flu pandemic. "This vaccine will only give protection against this particular H5N1 strain and possibly other H5N1 strains," said Osterhaus. Thus, if the next influenza pandemic is sparked by a subtype other than H5, much of this vaccine may prove of little use.

"It's a risk judgment for those potentially purchasing vaccine," said Dr. Angus Nicoll, influenza coordinator at the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

Because it is impossible to predict which influenza strain will spark the next pandemic, it is equally impossible to produce a vaccine that will be completely effective.

"It's a very difficult decision for a country to decide whether to invest in pandemic vaccines," said Nicoll. "If there is no H5N1 pandemic ... then eventually the vaccine expires and the resources invested in it are lost," he added.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4073186.html

 

[QueEx]

`

There are references all over the place to the 1918 Flu.

Bump.

`

 

[Makkonnen]

`

There are references all over the place to the 1918 Flu.

Bump.

`

You know, you can say a whole lot of things about BGOL but Im not ashamed to be a member.
I don't know any other site, besides Google, where we could hit the archives to find this stuff on damn near every topic.

Julie Gerberding, director of the US Centers for Disease Control, said: "By unmasking the 1918 virus we are revealing some of the secrets that will help us predict and prepare for the next pandemic."
And Dr Jeffery Taubenberger, lead researcher of the Nature study, said: "Determining whether pandemic influenza virus strains can emerge via different pathways will affect the scope and focus of surveillance and prevention efforts."
Warning
Professor John Oxford, an expert in virology at Queen Mary College, London, said the suggestion that the virus had the potential to jump between humans without first combining with a human virus made it even more of a threat.
"This study gives us an extra warning that H5N1 needs to be taken even more seriously than it has been up to now," he said.
Dr Terrence Tumpey, of the US CDC, defended the decision to recreate the 1918 flu virus.
He said: "We felt we had to recreate the virus and run these experiments to understand the biological properties that made the 1918 virus so exceptionally deadly.
"We wanted to identify the specific genes responsible for its virulence, with the hope of designing antivirals or other interventions that would work against virulent pandemic or epidemic influenza viruses."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...th/4308872.stm

Published: 2005/10/05 17:00:59 GMT

 

[jblaque]

 

[African Herbsman]

blast from the past