Unethical research A US court has dismissed a lawsuit by Guatemalan citizens against US officials over American researchers who intentionally infected Guatemalans with sexually transmitted diseases in the 1940s (see Nature 482
an infectious-disease physician at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and co-author of the analysis,
"but I d counter that the international community has gotten millions of children antiretroviral therapy to treat HIV in the developing world,
and the United kingdom, are hotspots of emerging zoonotic infections, such as avian influenza.""Zoonoses present a major threat to human and animal health.
For example, the study estimates that one in eight livestock animals in poor countries are affected by brucellosis,
before fanning out across Russia (see Pig plague). Source: C. Netherton/OIETHE recent spread of the virus means that the Ukrainian outbreak,
Swine-flu alert The number of reported cases in an outbreak of H3n2v virus a variant strain of swine flu that can pass from pigs to humans took a sudden spike last week.
3 9 august 2012h5n1 moratorium Researchers should continue a self-imposed moratorium on lab studies that give new properties to the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5n1, according to Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute
of Allergy and Infectious diseases. Fauci was speaking at a meeting of flu researchers in New york city.
The moratorium has been in place since late January; it was planned originally to last 60 days. See go. nature. com/3zwwq5 for more.
but it lives on in scores of labs. Twelve months after the world celebrated the success of a years-long vaccination campaign that made rinderpest only the second disease after smallpox to be eradicated,
Rinderpest is as deadly to cattle as highly pathogenic H5n1 avian flu is to chickens. In past decades, outbreaks ripped through herds and wiped out up to 90%of animals, often leaving famine,
or shipped to approved high-security labs. The approach is modelled on the post-eradication phase of the smallpox campaign
After smallpox was eradicated, a lab accident in Birmingham, UK, resulted in two infections and one death.
Although the virus is closely similar to the human measles virus, for example, cattle don t catch measles
and humans don t catch rinderpest. Understanding why this is so could provide insight into the pathology and basic biology of viruses,
Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State Univ. AZT-maker dies Jerome Horwitz, the chemist who inadvertently created the first antiretroviral drug for AIDS,
when it was found to be effective against AIDS. Horwitz received no money for his discovery
Need for flu surveillance reiteratedthe emergence of the H1n1 influenza virus that leapt from pigs to humans in 2009,
and his colleagues have isolated a new strain of H1n2 influenza from Korean pigs that kills infected ferrets the model animal of choice for influenza work
Like that responsible for the 2009 pandemic, the new strain, known as Sw/1204, is a'triple-reassortant'virus that is, one with genes from avian, swine and human flu.
Recent experiments show how Avian flu may become transmissible among mammals. In an era of constant and rapid international travel,
The cull was scheduled to start imminently as part of efforts to control bovine tuberculosis, which badgers can transmit to cattle (see Nature 490,317-318;
WHONEW cases of tuberculosis (TB) fell by 2. 2%between 2010 and 2011, the World health organization said in its annual report on the disease.
including chickens engineered to be resistant to the bird-flu virus. A BBSRC spokesperson told Nature:"
it is a menace that infects their cattle with bovine tuberculosis (TB). The disease, caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis,
Breast-milk molecule raises risk of HIV transmissiona type of sugar that occurs naturally in breast milk can double the likelihood of a HIV-negative baby acquiring the virus through breast feeding
if the mother has HIV. The molecule, called 3'-sialyllactose (3'-SL), is found in varying concentrations in the milk of different women.
In a study in Zambia, HIV-negative newborns breastfed by HIV-positive mothers are twice as likely to catch the virus during their first month of life
HIV-negative infants who consumed these sugars had a better chance of reaching their second birthday than did HIV-negative babies who drank breast milk lacking those sugars irrespective of their mothers'HIV status. Once a baby had caught HIV, however
And, potentially, those women whose milk is found to contain less favourable biochemical characteristics such as HIV-positive mothers who make lots of 3'-SL might consider giving their infants donor breast milk in place of their own.
whether a HIV-positive woman in Zambia who learns that she produces 3'-SL-rich breast milk should switch to formula feeding,
Newberg was part of a team that reported2 an association between a dangerous gut disease in babies called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)
when the infected ant bites onto the leaf vein in it's so-called death grip this atrophy causes it to have lockjaw,
HSCICMMR vaccination The immunization of children in England against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) by 24 Â months of age has reached now more than 90,
whereas industry funding has grown (mostly owing to investments in trials for dengue vaccines). 7 december Climate negotiators end a fortnight of debate at the United nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Doha. go. nature. com/wnhovv12 December British scientists start 100
Global Fund boost Germany has announced a donation of  1  billion (US$1. 3  billion) to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS
Tuberculosis and Malaria for the period 2012-16, of which  600  million is new money.
On 2 Â January, the NIH announced its final determination that Boston University s National Emerging Infectious diseases Laboratory poses little risk to the surrounding community.
Mapping the H7n9 avian flu outbreakssources: Multiple, including WHO and Xinhua News agency. To download map file to view in Google earth,
well-established avian flu virus H5n1 may help to target H7n9 surveillance and control efforts. The map shows human cases of H7n9 (blue circles) superimposed on a risk map developed for H5n1,
and an expert in the epidemiology and ecology of avian flu viruses at the Free University of Brussels, says that
Maryland. go. nature. com/wfnyw227-30 april Flu pandemics, the resurgence of measles and antimicrobial resistance are discussed all at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology
and Infectious diseases meeting in Berlin. go. nature. com/jyfhwf
Europe debates risk to beesdebate over neonicotinoids has become fierce. Conservation groups and politicians in the United kingdom and Europe have called for a ban on their use,
but agricultural organizations have said that farmers will face hardship if that happens. Next Monday, European governments will take a crucial vote on
HIV in breastmilk spikes at weaningthe amount of HIV in an infected mother s breast milk spikes
and abruptly are no more likely to avoid contracting HIV than do those who continue to breastfeed, a finding from in a randomized clinical trial of 958 HIV-infected women in Lusaka,
The milk from women who then stopped breastfeeding abruptly contained markedly higher levels of HIV than did milk from the women who continued to breastfeed exclusively:
including how much HIV was in the mother s blood. The team also analysed changes within individual women,
HIV levels in milk rose markedly between samples taken just before weaning and those taken two weeks later;
"Weaning leads to increases in HIV concentrations in breast milk. That s the big message of the paper, says Aldrovandi."
adds Lynne Mofenson, head of the Maternal and Pediatric Infectious disease Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland.
if mother-to-child transmission of HIV is to be prevented. The current practice of giving mothers one to two weeks of anti-retroviral therapy after weaning may not be enough,
The authors hypothesize that HIV crosses more easily from blood to milk during weaning because the tight junctions between mammary epithelial cells become leaky,
H7n9 bird flu poised to spreadthe H7n9 avian flu virus greatly expanded its geographical range over the weekend,
says Marius Gilbert, an expert in the epidemiology and ecology of avian flu viruses at the Universitã libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.
Urgent search for flu sourcevirologists know its name: H7n9. What they don t yet know is
whether this novel avian influenza virus first reported in humans in China less than two weeks ago will rapidly fizzle out,
who heads the University of Minnesota s Center for Infectious disease Research and Policy in Minneapolis. As Nature went to press,
Scientists urgently want to find out which sources are stoking the human infections that result in flu-like symptoms and, in most reported cases, severe pneumonia.
says Malik Peiris, a flu virologist at the University of Hong kong. Sources: WHO/ECDC/Xinhua state mediabut the various bird species found to be infected may not be the original source,
Researchers know that H7 flu viruses mainly infect wild birds such as ducks, geese, waders and gulls,
Kwok-Yung Yuen, an infectious-disease expert at the University of Hong kong, notes the proximity of the reported human cases to the Yangtze river delta
He also co-convenes the Asia-Pacific Working group on Migratory Waterbirds and Avian influenza with the Food and agriculture organization of the united nations (FAO.
says Masato Tashiro, a virologist at the Influenza Virus Research center in Tokyo, the World health organization s influenza reference
and research centre in Japan. Each time the virus encounters new human hosts, it has fresh opportunities to mutate
Researchers working on the molecular biology of the virus say that it seems to derive from a reassortment of genetic material from at least three known bird-flu groups (see Nature http//doi. org/k4j;
Because flu viruses evolve rapidly, comparing viral sequences from each of the human cases might reveal
and posting them on the GISAID flu database. If human-to-human transmission does start to occur,
Humanity has never been exposed widely to H7 or N9 flu viruses, and so lacks resistance to these subtypes.
experts in emerging infectious disease are only just becoming acquainted with the latest villain in their roster
Bird flu deaths Two men have died after being infected with a type of bird flu never before seen in humans
The nation s support for cheap generic drugs has reduced prices, notably those of anti-HIV medicines.
Novel bird flu kills two in Chinascientists and public-health officials worldwide are on alert after China announced on 31 march that two people had died
and a third was seriously ill from being infected with a new avian influenza virus, H7n9, that has never been seen before in humans.
says Masato Tashiro, a virologist at the Influenza Virus Research center in Tokyo, the World health organization (WHO) influenza reference
and research centre in Japan. The epidemiological picture is troubling too says Malik Peiris, a flu virologist at the University of Hong kong.
Any time an animal influenza virus crosses to humans it is a cause for concern,
and with three severe cases of disease over a short period of time, we certainly have to take it seriously,
All three developed flu-like symptoms before developing severe pneumonia. The cases were announced on 31 march by China's health ministry, the National Health and Family planning Commission,
Chinese researchers have moved swiftly to decipher the new virus. THE WHO Chinese National Influenza Center in Beijing has sequenced isolates from each of the three cases,
and published them on the GISAID flu sequence database on 31 march. Researchers around the world have
Flu viruses have eight genes: two that encode the haemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N) proteins that stud the surface of the virus,
because this protein allows the virus to bind to host cells seems to belong to a Eurasian group of H7 avian flu viruses.
Most of the genetic analyses are still being carried out confidentially within THE WHO's global flu-research networks.
Flu viruses that don t sicken birds can, however, cause severe disease in humans simply because we lack any immunity to them.
China has reported not any recent H7 flu infections in birds, perhaps because such infections would not show up as serious disease,
Flu experts say that other urgent requirements include testing any human cases of serious pneumonia for traces of the virus
These findings, published online today in Nature1, could help scientists to design insect repellents to combat malaria, dengue and agricultural pests.
Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that carries dengue and yellow fever, and Anopheles gambiae, which hosts the malaria parasites,
In 2011, scientists reported the sequence of the plague-causing bacteria responsible for the Black death of the 1340s.
with scientific discussions including threats from the avian influenza viruses H7n9 and H5n1. gm. asm. org21-23 may The Pasteur institute in Paris hosts an international symposium on HIV research,
marking 30 Â years since the first reports of a retrovirus associated with AIDS. www. 30yearshiv. org
Pear-shaped nucleus boosts search for new physicsa lopsided atomic nucleus may help to refine nuclear theory.
Wellcome head Jeremy Farrar, an expert in infectious diseases, is the next director of the Wellcome Trust,
as pilot culls to control the spread of bovine tuberculosis begin. As protesters descended on the nation s capital last week, the chief scientific adviser of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs (Defra),
My basic message to the meeting was we ve basically lost control of tuberculosis (TB) in the countryside.
Defraian Boydthe problem is tuberculosis not badgers. Badgers happen to be in the middle of this, and unfortunately the methods for dealing with that problem mean we need to reduce the densities of badgers.
and showed the effect that sustained removal of badgers can have on reducing bovine tuberculosis in cattle.
I think that we can eradicate tuberculosis, but it all depends to some extent on resources but, more than that, on the determination of people generally.
In its heyday, the disease the only one other than smallpox to be eradicated from nature killed hundreds of millions of cattle, mainly in Europe, Asia and Africa
according to a 2011 survey published in January 2013 in the journal Emerging Infectious diseases: 37%of them in Asia, 29%in Africa and 26%in Europe (G. Fourniã et al.
Flu vaccine backfires in pigspreventing seasonal sniffles may be complicated more than researchers suspected. A vaccine that protects piglets from one common influenza virus also makes them more vulnerable to a rarer flu strain,
researchers report today in Science Translational Medicine1. The team gave piglets a vaccine against H1n2 influenza.
The animals responded by making antibodies that blocked that virus but aided infection with the swine flu H1n1,
which caused a pandemic among humans in 2009. In the study, H1n1 infected more cells
The root of the different immune responses lies with the mushroom-shaped haemagglutinin protein found on the outside of influenza-virus particles
The protein occurs in all types of flu, but the make-up of its cap and stem vary between strains.
Much of the work to develop a universal flu vaccine has targeted the stems of haemagglutinin proteins
because they are relatively consistent across many types of influenza viruses. The new study suggests that such vaccines could also produce antibodies that enhance the ability of some viruses to infect new hosts,
But that does not mean that researchers should stop developing novel flu vaccines, including those that target haemagglutinin stems,
Gary Nabel, a flu-vaccine researcher and chief scientific officer at the biotechnology firm Sanofi in Cambridge, Massachusetts, agrees."
Still, researchers have not yet tested whether human influenza vaccines can produce the same effect. And differences between pigs and humans make it difficult to interpret how relevant the findings are to the development of human vaccines,
Emergence of H7n9 avian flu hints at broader threatthe H7n9 influenza virus did not emerge alone.
Researchers have traced the evolution of the deadly avian flu currently spreading in China, and have found evidence that it developed in parallel with a similar bird flu, H7n7,
which can infect mammals1. Although there is no evidence that this H7n7 strain will infect humans,
a co-author of the study and an influenza specialist at St jude Children s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
says lead author Yi Guan, an influenza specialist at the University of Hong kong. In China, the virus has infected 135 people
This is a very different influenza ecosystem from other countries says Guan. Guan's team sampled wild birds and poultry markets around Shanghai in April,
About 10%of samples tested positive for an influenza virus; of those, 15%were an H7 virus
and compared them to other bird-flu strains, they found H7n9 and H7n7 to be hybrids of wild Eurasian waterfowl strains, such as H7n3 and H11n9.
David Morens, an influenza researcher and senior adviser at the US National institutes of health in Bethesda, Maryland, says that the evolutionary pathway that the viruses followed suggests that more surveillance
H7n9 virus persists China reported on 11 august its first new case of the H7n9 avian influenza virus in three weeks:
which was marked by high death rates from diseases such as smallpox, typhus and whooping cough. They investigated how crop yields around the time of birth affected people's survival and reproductive success during the famine.
Because the main cause of death during the Finnish famine was infectious disease, which the PAR hypothesis does not address,
only if they are marketed as quitting aids. The United kingdom has said it will regulate them as medicines meaning they will have to meet strict quality standards but its regulator
cut back influenza monitoring and resulted in the loss of observing time at major telescope facilities.
AIDS chief On 9 january, US President Barack Obama nominated physician Deborah Birx to coordinate the country s global AIDS efforts
and administer the US President s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Birx currently heads the AIDS programme at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. The PEPFAR programme,
which receives about US$6 Â billion per year to distribute antiretroviral drugs and medical care in countries affected by AIDS (see Nature 457,254-256;
2009), received a five-year reauthorization in December 2013. USGS chief US President Barack Obama announced on 9 Â January that he had nominated Suzette Kimball to lead the US Geological Survey.
which also examined the United kingdom s stockpiling programme for the influenza drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir), the authors say that evaluation of the efficacy of Tamiflu
when researching a vaccine against human immunodeficiency virus  1 (HIV-1) by spiking rabbit blood samples with antibodies.
because it shows that smoking is not more intractable than other public-health priorities, such as infectious disease."
Vietnam on high alert over flu riskthe H7n9 avian-influenza virus that has killed more than 100 people in China in the past year has for the first time been detected in a province bordering Vietnam,
The news comes as a surge in human H7n9 flu cases in China since the start of the year shows signs of abating,
H7n9 flu was detected first in China in March last year, and almost all of the human cases were reported the following month.
more than 200 human cases of H7n9 flu have been registered in China this year, compared with around 160 recorded in 2013 (see Ups and downs).
although with a coastal and southerly shift (see The flu front line). Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces are affected the worst.
Last week, the first human case of H7n9 flu was detected in Jilin province in the far north of the country, raising a further risk of spread to North korea and Russia,
The country was hit hard by another avian-flu virus, H5n1, a decade ago, and suffered enormous economic losses and more than 60 Â human deaths.
and mitigate avian-flu outbreaks, including boosting the number of veterinary surgeons and improving diagnostic facilities. To specifically address the risk of H7n9 flu,
Vietnam has banned the importation of poultry from China. It has introduced also twice-weekly monitoring for H7n9 in markets in the north of the country,
says Ben Cowling, a flu epidemiologist at the University of Hong kong.""My impression is that financial concerns had a greater influence this winter compared to last spring.
But the surge in H7n9 flu cases highlights the continuing public-health and possibly pandemic threat that it poses.
a crowd-funded initiative to develop an HIV vaccine that has sparked debate among scientists. See go. nature. com/hwcnwu for more.
Study revives bird origin for 1918 flu pandemicthe virus that caused the 1918 influenza pandemic probably sprang from North american domestic and wild birds, not from the mixing of human and swine viruses.
Worobey and his colleagues analysed more than 80,000 gene sequences from flu viruses isolated from humans, birds, horses,
but there is evidence that the influenza virus evolves at different rates in different hosts faster in birds than in horses, for example.
The analysis also reveals a shared ancestor for almost all avian flu strains and an H7n7 virus that struck down horses and mules throughout North america in 1872.
"We now have this idea that the source for a lot of influenza virus we see now worldwide is potentially equine,
I wonder if you had a child who was bitten allegedly by a wolf would you okay the rabies test you cite that could be reliable
and perhaps infected with the always fatal rabies disease would you opine about the population of wolves DNR practices of wolf management and the ethical treatment of animals?
@streakygopher...wolves don't pass on rabies. The killed wolf was sent to the University of Minnesota for testing both DNA testing to see
if it was the same wolf that attacked the teen camper and rabies testing. Wolves are not reservoirs of rabies meaning they can't pass it on
but they do sometimes catch it from other animals like foxes.)Mt guess is the testing for rabies is to try to gain an understanding of why the wolf behaved in such a way
if it is even the same animal. There was no reason to kill the first wolf they ran across.
However the author states that wolves cannot pass on rabies. I'm not sure what exactly he's referring to but
I have not seen any evidence that a wolf cannot get infected with rabies via a bite
I would absolutely recommend that they take steps to get treatment for potential rabies infection.
It makes more sense to start rabies shots rather than wait for something that may never happen.
Besides rabies shots are not what they used to be decades ago with a series of very painful shots.
if there was a danger from rabies. Maybe they thought that human suffering was of some import.
Can a wolf pass on rabies or not? A definitive answer please. Thanks cheers. To Dan No-wits The wolf was trapped
Everything from bats to raccoons (which carry rabies. Oh but those traps are okay right
Investigators found no evidence in any of the wolves of contributing factors to the attack such as rabies disease defense of food or habituation to human food.
Wolves are not reservoirs of rabies...YES THEY ARE! Where do you get your information?
and kill this individual wolf for rabies and DNA testing. If it is the wrong wolf then that honestly is too bad
Either way the boy will need rabies shots because there is no way to be certain so killing the wolf serves no purpose except for some misguided vengeance or revenge.
The added genes are similar to the ones that appear in Oxitec's mosquitos which the company has tested in Brazil bringing down one town's dengue-fever-carrying mosquito population by 96 percent.
HIV is probably the best-known retrovirus. This EAV-HP retrovirus is responsible for inserting that weird gene the one that turns the chicken eggs blue.
#The latest outbreak of measles in the U s a preventable disease that the Western hemisphere eradicated decades ago thanks to vaccines has been traced to a megachurch in Texas. The church's senior pastor Terri Pearsons had criticized previously vaccines USA Today reports.
One ill child is 4 months old too young to have received the measles vaccine. On average among 1000 kids who contract measles one gets a serious brain infection called encephalitis and one or two kids die.
After the outbreak the church offered its members free immunizations and urged the congregation to get vaccinated which sounds great.
For one Pearsons suggested that excessive amounts of Vitamin d may bolster the body against measles. There is no evidence to support that.
The Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark Texas released a statement for its members on August 15 the day after the Tarrant County Public health Department informed the church that one of its missionaries who traveled to a country where measles is had still endemic brought the virus
In a statement about the church's measles outbreak Pearsons urged adults and kids to take three times as much Vitamin d as their recommended daily allowance.
First Vitamin d does not protect against measles. Second that's about three times as much Vitamin d as kids and adults need.
It states that measles was âÂ#Âoeeradicatedã¢Â# in the West. To âÂ#Âoeeradicateã¢Â# a disease means to eliminate it entirely even to the point of the virus itself.
what evidence the Tarrant County Health Department has that the missionary brought the measles that supposedly infected the congregation.
In fact given the means of measles transmission it is ridiculously easy to stage an artificial infection.
because they don't receive vaccines for measles at such an early age. But that would mean that before the vaccination was available measles would have to have been something regularly if not universally contracted in infancy.
And there are no records of that ever being the case. Indeed infants may be protected naturally from the disease.
Vaccines are your friends that's how we*eradicated*polio and smallpox. Fool. Self correcting problem anyway.
Only the nuts will die from measles. They removed it for the same reason popsci should remove you from here.
Massive breakout of measles in what could have been prevented an easily occurrence. These idiots. I'd doubt they'd say the same of smallpox
if it was still prevalent! Now nothing to fret concerning about earnings. Our company needs home users for their financial reporting.
including HIV. Nothing. Enjoy!!!Do not try and bend the spoon. That is impossible. Only try and realize the truth-there is no spoon.
and vaccines are good and proven science (we are rather glad not to have to deal with smallpox anymore).
Flu pertussis measles you name it many of the infected (if not most) are fully or partially vaccinated people.
If you dig through old writings from the last couple centuries many physicians found evidence supporting the idea of immune issues involved with smallpox.
The smallpox vaccine had discovered critics who from their field work that the vaccine didn't work
which to the physicians made it clear smallpox was likely related to nutritional deficiencies (smallpox outbreaks would often follow poor growing seasons which invariably led to malnutrition for many...
and the clear downward trend every disease was displaying (Scarlet fever is interesting as it followed a similar progression down
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