Successful patient recruitment helps bring new vaccines to market via 112 locations nationwide
p BALTIMORE, June 13 /PRNewswire/ --
Passport Health, an immunization and travel health center with national headquarters in Baltimore, reports that its participation in vaccine trials will expand this year with several new clinical trials in the pipeline.
"We're helping pharmaceutical companies and the FDA bring vaccines to market because this cannot be done without successful clinical trials and proper recruitment of patients," says Fran Lessans, RN, MS, Founder & CEO of Passport Health, which is the largest private purchaser of vaccinations in the U.S.
With more than 65,000 travel health client visits annually through its 112 nationwide locations, Passport Health can recruit from a large patient population.
The new trials involve a Phase III flu vaccine, as well as vaccines for exotic diseases (shigella and cholera) that are prevalent in Southern Hemisphere and Third World countries.
Previously, Passport Health has worked on clinical trials for anthrax, hepatitis B, influenza and yellow fever. In addition to its many resources,...excerpt more at link
UK scientists call for more research into bird flu
Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:18pm ET
LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists called on Tuesday for more research into how avian flu is spread from wild birds to domestic poultry.
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Easton said there was also a lack of scientific data about how the H5N1 avian flu virus can spread to cats and humans.
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Britain confirmed a case of H5N1 in a dead wild swan in Scotland in April.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=globalNews&storyID=2006-06-12T231829Z_01_L12368940_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIRDFLU-BRITAIN.xml
California June 9th
A rare outbreak of dog flu has swept through a kennel in southern California, raising concerns over the possible spread of an untreatable virus, animal control officials said on Thursday.
The disease, a type A influenza virus called H3N8 by scientists, is believed to have mutated from a horse flu common at racetracks where it leapt to greyhound dogs in the state of Florida in 2000.
The virus, however, does not appear to be transferable humans, experts said. No vaccine is currently available for the dog flu, and it cannot be treated by any specific drug, said Dunne.
The flu spread like wildfire at the facility run by Canine Companions for Independence, an organisation that pairs trained dogs with the disabled that is based in Oceanside, a small town south of Los Angeles. Two dogs have tested positive for the virus and the 62 other dogs in the kennel are displaying characteristic symptoms of coughing and sneezing. All dogs at the facility have been quarantined.
While humans are not thought to be at immediate risk from the virus, influenza changes continuously and further species mutation cannot be completely ruled out, Dunne warned.
http://visz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?id=6363&cat=dis&lang=eng