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Medical News Today Published:
Time Magazine this week cited the approval of a bird flu vaccine earlier this year as the top medical development in 2007. Key testing of the vaccine, the first ever approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent bird flu, was done by doctors and nurses at the University of Rochester Medical Center. More than 750 people in the Rochester area have taken part in studies of bird flu vaccines at the University. Crucial testing of the vaccine was led by John Treanor, M.D., professor of Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology. His team on the University’s Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, together with scientists around the nation, showed that large doses of the vaccine are safe and effective at protecting people against bird flu. Read the full report here.
The recent news on a son-to-father bird flu infection should not cause alarm. Studies done on the samples taken from father and son shows that the virus has not yet mutated into a highly contagious strain. The people with whom the father and son came into contact with were also not infected, an indication that the virus must have been passed on due to very intimate contact. This is good news as people are fearing a pandemic. But despite this development, authorities and researchers are still on the watch for further spread, and are continuously searching for a vaccine to fight the deadly disease.
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A recent report has confirmed that a father and son in China had been infected with bird flu, wherein the son caught the virus in a poultry market, and the father caught the flu from his son. The 24-year old son died while the 52-year old father survived after being treated and vaccinated in a H5N1 clinical trial. Other family members, colleagues and friends were also treated to make sure the virus does not spread. All the others tested negative for the H5N1 virus, which means the virus does not easily spread through casual contact. Samples of the virus from father and son showed almost identical genetic characteristics.
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The previous articles might sound too paranoid. But the fact is flu spreads fast and easy. Vaccines take time to be developed, manufactured and distributed. Not everyone have access to treatment and proper health care. The virus may mutate with every infection, and a new set of vaccines will have to be developed. Most of the time, the population dismiss a certain case as “it will never happen†until it is already happening.
Prevention is the key. And prevention should not be an individual effort, but a collaborative effort between and among governments, health institutions and citizens. Let us be aware of the developments on the bird flu.
Links:
World Health Organization - Avian Influenza
How to survive bird flu