Experts Say Swine Flu Mutations Do Not Warrant New Alarm

The World Health Organization tried this week to dampen fears about mutations seen in the swine flu virus in several countries, noting that both mutations had been found in very few people.

A change that created Tamiflu resistance has been found in about 75 people around the world, said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, chief flu adviser to the W.H.O.’s director general. Two clusters, in cancer units at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina and a hospital in Wales, were both among patients whose immune systems had been severely suppressed by cancer treatment; some had had their bone marrow, which produces infection-fighting white blood cells, wiped out so that replacement blood stem cells could be injected.

Such patients are more likely to develop resistant viruses when on Tamiflu because they can not clear a virus on their own. But the mutant strain appears not to spread easily in people with normal immunity, like hospital workers.

“We don’t know the full answer, but it is more likely that we are not seeing a major shift,” Dr. Fukuda said.

Widespread Tamiflu resistance is a serious problem in the seasonal H1N1 virus, but it has not crossed over into the swine H1N1.

Dr. Fukuda also said W.H.O. scientists were “not sure” of the level of threat posed by a separate mutation that helps the virus reach the lungs. It has been found in Norway, Ukraine, Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico and the United States, in both serious and mild cases.

Experts still need to see whether the mutation — whose shorthand name in virology is D222G or D225G — is becoming more common, and how often it leads to severe disease, he said.

One isolate from Ukraine with the mutation had changed so that swine flu vaccine probably would not protect against it well, Britain’s...

Because of this article with the misleading title Dr. Nimam thinks the swine flu vaccine might not work because of the mutation.

Even though the NY Times article says mutations do NOT warrant alarm in the title . In the actual article it says the swine flu vaccine would not protect against mutations .

Very , Very , Misleading Title IMO

One isolate from Ukraine with the mutation had changed so that swine flu vaccine probably would not protect against it well, Britain’s national medical laboratory reported Friday.

Flus mutate so fast, Dr. Fukuda cautioned, that announcing each change is “like reporting changes in the weather.”

One isolate from Ukraine with the mutation had changed so that swine flu vaccine probably would not protect against it well, Britain’s

WHO Silence on D225G Vaccine Mismatch Confuses Media
Recombinomics Commentary 15:53
November 28, 2009

The vaccine can still prevent the virus from entering body cells to reproduce. These new changes should instead encourage all French to go to be vaccinated with adjuvant.

The above translation is from a French story on the discovery of D225G in two fatal French cases, one of which was also Tamiflu resistant. Because of the failure of WHO to disclose the “low reactor” status of Ukraine H1N1 with D225G, media reports are distributing the false information, stating that the activity of the vaccine is unaffected by D225G.

This misinformation is fueled by the WHO update on Ukraine, which stated that the vaccine appeared to be unaffected based on the sequence. For the “low reactor” the HA only had one amino acid difference, which was D225G.

As has been noted daily in new media reports, D225G is widespread, and phylogenetic analysis shows that the sub-clade in Norway and Ukraine is even more widespread than reported isolate with D225G, raising concerns that the D225G is circulating undetected because most samples are collected from the upper respiratory tract, while D225G is largely in the low respiratory tract.

The designation of a “low reactor” means that the titer of a reference anti-sera is reduced by at least 4 four. A four fold reduction in titer is typically called a mis-match and mismatched vaccines are a concern because a vaccination will not eliminate the new changes that reduced the titer, but will eliminate the wild type that competes with the variant. Therefore the use of a poorly match vaccine leads to increased vaccine resistance and in this case would select for D225G.

The failure of WHO to address this issue is the height of irresponsibility. Although the NY Times noted the Ukraine low reactivity due to D225G, it is not clear that the WHO comments were in response to the vaccine failure, since similar statements were made at the WHO virtual press conference and the reactivity of the vaccine was not addressed in statements or answers to questions, although the weatherman comment was in responces to questions about D225G..

Therefore a statement by WHO is long overdue to end that false information distributed through media reports and the WHO needs to address plans to deal with the vaccine failure against D225G and potential similar failures against D225E and D225N which are also widespread.

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11280902/WHO_D225G_Silence.html

I think this statement is the crux of the article and the actual title is very misleading ....

One isolate from Ukraine with the mutation had changed so that swine flu vaccine probably would not protect against it well, Britain’s national medical laboratory reported Friday.

Flus mutate so fast, Dr. Fukuda cautioned, that announcing each change is “like reporting changes in the weather.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/health/28flu.html?_r=1&ref=world&pagewanted=print

In this article the one expert is saying the vaccine most likely won’t work against the mutation of fatal cases . But the title is saying no worries about the mutation even though the vaccine most likely won’t work !

Where’s Baghdad Bob when you need him the most (are we really sure that guy didn’t work for the WHO)?

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11280901/WHO_D225G_Vac.html

Audio:Nov16 Nov 18 Nov19 Nov24RSS Feed twitter News Now
Live feed of underlying pandemic map data here
Commentary

WHO Confirms D225G Vaccine Failure

Recombinomics Commentary 03:31
November 28, 2009

One isolate from Ukraine with the mutation had changed so that swine flu vaccine probably would not protect against it well, Britain’s national medical laboratory reported Friday.

Flus mutate so fast, Dr. Fukuda cautioned, that announcing each change is “like reporting changes in the weather.”

The above quote from tomorrow’s NY Times piece by Donald McNeil, acknowledges the vaccine failure for viruses with D225G. However, although WHO has publicly confirmed the failure, they don’t think an announcement is required. Thus, they continue to offer altering opinions on the significance of D225G, which directs H1N1 to the lung and was present in four of four fatalities in Ukraine.

The associate of D225G with the Ukraine fatalities led to a survey of samples in Norway, where D225G was found in three patients (two who died and 1 who was in serious condition). Similarly, France found D225G in two fatal infections, including one who was Tamiflu resistant.

However, even though this change is drawing additional attention daily, WHO has taken a position that the vaccine failure against H1N1 with this D225G is not worthy of an announcement.

This mindset is significant cause for concern and is hazardous to the world’s health.
_________________
WHO has now confirmed that the H1N1 swine flu virus has mutated in Ukraine.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.