USAHA News Alerts

1. The Only H1N1 Vaccine Available For Swine Produced And Shipped By Iowa State Researcher
Source: Hank Harris, Iowa State University
MedicalNewsToday.com
November 25, 2009

The only swine vaccine available for the H1N1 virus has been sent to vaccinate a swine herd infected with the virus. The vaccination marks the first time vaccine has been sent to a swine herd diagnosed with the pandemic flu.

Iowa State University's Hank Harris, professor of animal science, developed the vaccine this summer and has been shipping preventive doses to swine producers in Iowa, Kansas and Illinois for several weeks.

The latest vaccines were shipped to a swine producer in Indiana that had H1N1 diagnosed in the herd.

"This is the first time we've had a confirmed diagnosis and the farmer wanted to vaccinate," said Harris. "We shipped about 20,000 with about another 11,000 doses to go out to them later."

Vaccinating a herd that has already been infected should have some effect on the spread, but Harris isn't sure how much.

Harris' vaccinations have recently been reviewed and published by the online journal PLoS Current Influenza.

Full text:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/172061.php

2. Study shows CWD effort is failing [WI]
By Kryssy Pease, Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
WiscNews.com
November 27, 2009

Wisconsin's gun-deer season is under way this week, but efforts to manage a threat to future deer hunts - chronic wasting disease - are having little effect, despite seven years and nearly $41 million in state and federal spending, data and interviews show.

The Department of Natural Resources has failed to meet critical goals for reducing the size of the deer herd and reducing infection totals in areas hit by the fatal deer disease, Davin Lopez, who heads the agency's CWD program, acknowledged in an interview.

For instance, in one southwestern Wisconsin deer management unit being monitored for CWD, the population goal is about 1,800 deer. Estimates from earlier this year put the herd around 11,500 in that unit.

The two times that the DNR looked to be making progress with population within the CWD Management Zone, it was only after goals were relaxed and made easier to attain. The population goal in 2008 was more than three times the goal in 2002, when the DNR first started specifically monitoring for CWD.

The rate of infection in adult bucks in the core western area of the CWD management zone, which covers mostly western Dane and eastern Iowa counties, increased from 10 percent in 2007 to 15.5 percent in 2008.

"There's no question more needs to be done," said Ed Harvey, chairman of the Conservation Congress, a 360-member advisory body that works with the Natural Resources Board to manage the state's natural resources.

Full text:
http://www.wiscnews.com/spe/news/467632

3. DNR cuts back on CWD testing [MI]
UpperMichigansSource.com
November 25, 2009

MARQUETTE -- Cutbacks to the DNR has limited their capabilities to test for chronic wasting disease this deer season.

The fatal disease attacks the deer's neurological system, causing the deer to lose control of normal functions.

It hasn't been found in UP deer, but typically the DNR will collect random samples to test for CWD.

But with fewer check stations, that means fewer tests this year.

"Well if we do have suspect animals that come in, whether they're emaciated or things like that, or hunters wanted testing for one reason or another we will collect those specimens and send them down to the lab for testing," says Terry McFadden, DNR Wildlife Biologist.

The DNR will continue to conduct tests downstate in Kent County, where CWD was detected in a captive deer farm.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/y8c3xqa

4. Korea denies resumption of Canadian beef imports
By Kim Hyun-cheol, Staff Reporter
Korea Times
November 25, 2009

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries denied reports from some local newspapers that South Korea is likely to resume beef imports from Canada next year.

The ministry said in a statement Wednesday that it will actively respond to Canada's appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Korea's ban on Canadian beef, saying, "Currently the government is preparing for possible WTO panel hearings."

Earlier, some media outlets speculated that Seoul is preparing for negotiations with Ottawa on lifting the beef import ban, under the judgment that the trade-governing body is likely to take Canada's side in the case.

A three-man dispute panel was formed by the WTO in August, at the request of Canada. Processes are under discussion within the panel, and are expected to speed up early next year.

Full text:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2009/11/123_56119.html

See Also:

Korea to suspend beef imports from countries with new mad cow cases
Korea Herald
November 27, 2009

Korea plans to automatically suspend beef imports from countries that report a new outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow, parliamentary sources said Friday, according to Yonhap News.

The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries recently outlined an updated action plan to better protect the public from harmful meat, the sources said.

The measure was announced at a recent meeting of the National Assembly's food and agriculture committee, and calls for automatic suspension of all quarantine inspections on beef from countries that report new BSE cases.

Under the measure, the government will convene a livestock quarantine consultation committee to determine the exact health risks in case of a new case of mad cow.

Full text: http://tinyurl.com/yhs9ceb

5. Chinese expert warns of H1N1 and H5N1 pandemic mutation
By Michael Krebs
DigitalJournal.com
November 25, 2009

With H1N1 mutations seen in Norway and noted in several countries, a Chinese expert issues a warning on the potential for a superbug combination of bird flu and swine flu.

As mutating viruses go, influenza species are notorious for making sloppy copies of themselves - and this behavior presents a challenge to public health officials who are charged with containing more dangerous and widespread disease. On Wednesday, a Chinese disease expert spoke out on the possibility of a dangerous combination between a more dangerous H1N1 swine flu virus mutation and China's endemic H5N1 bird flu species.

A swap in genetic code between these two dangerous viruses could create a superbug pandemic with the potential to wipe out the majority of human populations worldwide.

"China, as you know, is different from other countries. Inside China, H5N1 has been existing for some time, so if there is really a reassortment between H1N1 and H5N1, it will be a disaster," Zhong Nanshan, director of the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Diseases in China's southern Guangdong province told Reuters.

Recently, Norwegian scientists discovered a more virulent mutation of the H1N1 swine flu virus. Their discovery was immediately followed by disclosures from the World Health Organization that this same mutation has been observed in several countries, including China. While experts believe that current vaccines are effective against the mutation, the WHO disclosures remained disconcerting.

Full text:
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/282690

6. From where did the 2009 'swine-origin' influenza A virus (H1N1) emerge?
Adrian J Gibbs , John S Armstrong and Jean C Downie
Virology Journal 2009, vol. 6
Abstract (provisional) published online Nov. 24, 2009

The swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus that appeared in 2009 and was first found in human beings in Mexico, is a reassortant with at least three parents. Six of the genes are closest in sequence to those of H1N2 'triple-reassortant' influenza viruses isolated from pigs in North America around 1999-2000. Its other two genes are from different Eurasian 'avian-like' viruses of pigs; the NA gene is closest to H1N1 viruses isolated in Europe in 1991-1993, and the MP gene is closest to H3N2 viruses isolated in Asia in 1999-2000. The sequences of these genes do not directly reveal the immediate source of the virus as the closest were from isolates collected more than a decade before the human pandemic started. The three parents of the virus may have been assembled in one place by natural means, such as by migrating birds, however the consistent link with pig viruses suggests that human activity was involved. We discuss a published suggestion that unsampled pig herds, the intercontinental live pig trade, together with porous quarantine barriers, generated the reassortant. We contrast that suggestion with the possibility that laboratory errors involving the sharing of virus isolates and cultured cells, or perhaps vaccine production, may have been involved. Gene sequences from isolates that bridge the time and phylogenetic gap between the new virus and its parents will distinguish between these possibilities, and we suggest where they should be sought. It is important that the source of the new virus be found if we wish to avoid future pandemics rather than just trying to minimize the consequences after they have emerged. Influenza virus is a very significant zoonotic pathogen. Public confidence in influenza research, and the agribusinesses that are based on influenza's many hosts, has been eroded by several recent events involving the virus. Measures that might restore confidence include establishing a unified international administrative

Open access: http://www.virologyj.com/content/pdf/1743-422x-6-207.pdf