ping.
The latest from Asia -- now on sale at Wal-Mart.....
a newly found virus that causes pneumonia.
From the ProMedmail report:
Perhaps the most surprising discovery was the recent characterization of a novel pneumovirus (that is, a member of the sub-family _Pneumovirinae_ of the family _Paramyxoviridae)), designated _Human metapneumovirus_, which is associated with respiratory illness in infancy worldwide. Consequently a novel paramyxovirus must rank high among candidates for the etiologic agent of SARS. - Mod.CP]
And here's what they want US to do about it.
U.S. Urged to Lead in Detecting Diseases
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press Writer
The United States is being urged to take the lead in global efforts to detect and counter new diseases, even as medical authorities work to determine the source of a mystery illness now reported in several countries.
The new outbreak of an unknown illness reinforces the need for global surveillance and improved ability to move diagnostic work from remote settings to reference labs, Dr. James Hughes, head of the infectious disease division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday.
Margaret Hamburg, chairwoman of the Institute of Medicine committee that prepared the new study, said: "Infectious diseases cross national borders and require a global response."
As if to prove that point, an urgent search is under way to isolate the causes of the new pneumonia-like illness, which appears to have originated in Asia.
So far, severe acute respiratory syndrome has killed nine people, seven in Asia and two in Canada.
More than 150 people, mostly in Hong Kong and Vietnam, have fallen ill, and World Health Organization officials said they are investigating possible cases in England, France, Israel, Slovenia and Australia, none of which previously had any.
The illness' rapid spread caused a rare worldwide health alert to be issued Saturday by the WHO.
"The United States should help lead efforts to reverse the complacency in industrialized countries" regarding infectious diseases, said Hamburg, vice president for biological programs at Nuclear Threat Initiative, a private group working to prevent the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
"Microbial threats continue to emerge, re-emerge and persist," the report said. "Others are previously known pathogens that are infecting new or larger groups or spreading into new geographic areas."
Other new infections in recent years in the United States and abroad have included hantavirus, Nipah virus and West Nile virus.
New infections are spread by the increasing ease and speed of travel and the continuing growth of cities, which bring huge numbers of people together.
The ability of the U.S. medical establishment to track and respond to infectious diseases depends on a public health structure that has been neglected for years, the report said.
The CDC's Hughes noted that the new report is a follow-up of one done by the Institute of Medicine in 1992.
"We've made some progress, but at the same time today's report shows much work remains to be done," he said.
He said investments in public health capacity and bioterror preparedness complement those with dealing with naturally recurring infectious diseases.
"We have an unprecedented opportunity in the United States right now to rebuild our systems to deal with infectious diseases," he said.
The new report urged federal, state and local governments to direct resources to rebuild and maintain the staff and facilities needed to detect and deal with new diseases.
The CDC should work to improve reporting of infectious diseases by health care providers, including automated electronic lab reporting, the report said.
It also said the United States should help reduce the global health threat by working with the World Health Organization, concentrating in particular on threats in developing countries. It said global surveillance, especially for new infections, is critical.
The report recommended that the U.S. government:
_Develop a national vaccine strategy to protect the public from new infections.
_Work with industry and researchers to ensure rapid development and use of vaccines for both naturally occurring and introduced threats.
_Ensure national security by stockpiling and preparing distribution systems for antibiotics, antiviral drugs and antitoxins.
_Expand efforts to prevent the growth of drug-resistant bacteria by reducing the unnecessary use of antibiotics, including prohibition of their use to promote animal growth if the same antibiotic is used in humans.
_Join international groups in helping ensure the development and distribution of vaccines for diseases that primarily affect people in poor countries.
The Institute of Medicine is a private organization that provides health policy advice to the government under a congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences.
___
On the Net: Institute of Medicine:
http://www.iom.edu
Google on SARS and one could get rather fearful.
Check ou this excerpt from an interview with Sergei Popov...
NOVA: What was your most successful work?
Popov: My most successful research was the finding that a bacteria called Legionella could be modified in such a way that it could induce severe nervous system disease. And the symptoms of nervous disorders [similar to those of multiple sclerosis] would appear several days after the bacterial disease was completely "cured." So there would be no bacterial agent, but symptoms -- new and unusual symptoms -- would appear several days later.
NOVA: What would be the point of that?
Popov: Imagine a new weapon which is difficult to diagnose initially and then which is impossible to treat with conventional antibiotics. That would be a good weapon from the point of view of who originated the problem.
NOVA: But why invent such things? Weren't there already in existence plenty of traditional agents -- anthrax, plague, botulinum toxin -- in their natural state that were deadly enough?
Popov: Certainly, there were. They are deadly enough. But the idea was that a new weapon has to have new and unusual properties, difficult to recognize, difficult to treat. And finally, it has to be a more deadly weapon. Essentially I arranged the research towards more virulent agents causing more death and more pathological symptoms.
NOVA: Can you describe the Hunter Program?
Popov: I didn't really work on the Hunter Program, but I know the basic directions of this research. Essentially, whole genomes of different viruses were being combined together to produce completely new hybrid viruses. They wanted to combine two microorganisms in one, say, a combination of encephalomyelitis virus and smallpox.
NOVA: What would be the advantage of that?
Popov: There could be numerous advantages. First of all, it is a completely artificial agent with new symptoms, probably with no known ways to treat it. Essentially, the major feature would be a kind of surprise effect. Nobody would recognize it. Nobody would know how to deal with it. But nobody could predict the result of that kind of genetic manipulation.
NOVA: How far did they get?
Popov: It is very difficult to say definitely. I would say that they successfully produced several cell combinations of different viruses. And they also continued research in terms of putting certain viruses inside bacterial cells -- so that a double agent, like plague and encephalomyelitis virus, could be combined in one.
NOVA: How would that kind of "superbug" work?
Popov: Imagine a bacterial agent which contains inside its cells a virus. The virus stays silent until the bacterial cells get treated. So, if the bacterial disease gets recognized and treated with an antibiotic, there would be a release of virus. After the initial bacterial disease was completely cured, there would be an outbreak of a viral disease on top of this.
NOVA: What would be a good example of that?
Popov: A good example would be plague bacteria, which is relatively easy to treat with antibiotics, and viral encephalomyelitis inside. So, in case of biological attack, people would be treated against plague, and after that they would be sick with this viral disease of choice. It could be encephalomyelitis. It could be smallpox. It could be ebola. Those viruses were on the list of potential agents.
That is what Sergei used to work on...nice guy huh. I wonder what the other countries like N. korea, China or even Iraq have been cooking up...This new "bug" is kinda suspicious
Does anyone have any information on all those microbiologists / virus specialists who died under mysterious circumstances over the last few years?
It's all starting to make sense.