Hmmm... Interesting post.
Research on H5N1 began in 1961. On cats.
There were a number of reports last year of H5N1 in various mammals, mostly predators. It was thought they had probably eaten infected birds.
The genetic sequences recently found in humans are not matching up with those found in birds. This is leading to speculation that H5N1 has an animal reservoir (host?) other than birds. (Cats??)
Interesting.
It gets better. Newcastle wiped out many chickens and ducks in California in 1976. I was there, and hence my interest in this round of "bird flu". Cats also died during that outbreak. In the event that cats are identified as the mammalian jump, this could explain the Egyptian cluster.
"
Avian H5N1 influenza in cats.
Kuiken T, Rimmelzwaan G, van Riel D, van Amerongen G, Baars M, Fouchier R, Osterhaus A.
Department of Virology, Erasmus Medical Center, 3015 GE Rotterdam, Netherlands. t.kuiken@erasmusmc.nl
During the 2003 to 2004 outbreak of avian influenza A (H5N1) virus in Asia, there were anecdotal reports of fatal infection in domestic cats, although this species is considered resistant to influenza. We experimentally inoculated cats with H5N1 virus intratracheally and by feeding them virus-infected chickens. The cats excreted virus, developed severe diffuse alveolar damage, and transmitted virus to sentinel cats. These results show that domestic cats are at risk of disease or death from H5N1 virus, can be infected by horizontal transmission, and may play a role in the epidemiology of this virus.
PMID: 15345779 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15345779
AI means Avian Influenza.
"„X D. bivalent Avian influenza/Newcastle disease vaccine, has been developed by the Harbin Veterinary
Research Institute in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and quickly put into production before thorough bio-safety studies.
The new vaccine is safer, more convenient to use and cannot kill newborn chicks, attributes that made it more attractive to farmers than a vaccine they were already using.
The vaccine can be injected, given as nasal spray or as eye drops, or put into water supplies and immunizes birds against bird flu and Newcastle disease.
China will produce 1 billion doses by the end of 2005. Production of the live vaccine costs 20% as much as inactivated vaccines on the market, has a longer shelf life of 18 months, and 70-80% effectiveness.
The Chinese bivalent vaccine might be related to a previously published paper on experimental recombinant NCD/AI vaccine.
A recombinant vaccine (rNDV-AIV-H7) was constructed by using a lentogenic paramyxovirus type 1 vector (Newcastle disease virus [NDV] B1 strain, similar to LaSota) with insertion of the hemagglutinin (HA) gene from avian influenza virus (AIV) A/chicken/NY/13142-5/94 (H7N2).
The recombinant virus had stable insertion and expression of the H7 AIV HA gene as evident by detection of HA expression via immunofluorescence in infected Vero cells.
The rNDV-AIV-H7 replicated in 9-10 day embryonating chicken eggs and exhibited hemagglutinating activity from both NDV and AI proteins that was inhibited by antisera against both NDV and AIV H7.
Groups of 2-week-old white Leghorn chickens were vaccinated with transfectant NDV vector (tNDV), rNDV-AIV-H7, or sterile allantoic fluid and were challenged 2 weeks later with viscerotropic velogenic NDV (vvNDV) or highly pathogenic (HP) AIV.
The sham-vaccinated birds were not protected from vvNDV or HP AIV challenge. The transfectant NDV vaccine provided 70% protection for NDV challenge but did not protect against AIV challenge.
The rNDV-AIV-H7 vaccine provided partial protection (40%) from vvNDV and HP AIV challenge.
The serologic response was examined in chickens that received 1 or 2 immunizations of the rNDV-AIV-H7 vaccine.
Based on hemagglutination inhibition and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) tests, chickens that received a vaccine boost seroconverted to AIV H7, but the serologic response was weak in birds that received only one vaccination.
This demonstrates the potential for NDV for use as a vaccine vector in expressing AIV proteinsref. The Chinese scientists applied a similar approach starting with LaSota strain of NDV, inserting an H5 gene (from which virus strain?) instead of H7.
It would be helpful to obtain data on their work, particularly the methods and results of challenge trials, hopefully with better results than the ones obtained by the experimental rNDV-AIV-H7 vaccine."
We used bleach as a disinfectant when working around Newcastle flocks. After immunizing birds, all of the vials and implements were bleached and returned to the county ag agents in sealed containers. I contend that this is not the first encounter with avian flu.