News Scan for Sep 03, 2015

News brief

Pentagon announces moratorium at nine military biolabs

The Pentagon today announced a moratorium on work with dangerous pathogens such as the bacterium that causes anthrax at its nine biodefense labs, USA Today reported. The action comes in the wake of the discovery of live anthrax spores outside of containment at a military lab in Utah and an ongoing investigation by USA Today into problems at the nation's high-containment labs.

Earlier this year the Army's Dugway Proving Ground lab in Utah was found to have mistakenly sent live anthrax to numerous labs in the United States as well as abroad for several years.

In a press release today, the Department of Defense (DoD) said Army secretary John McHugh has directed immediate safety reviews at all nine labs and facilities that play a role in producing, shipping, and handling live and inactivated select agents and toxins.

The DoD said contamination at the Utah lab was reported to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and that the facility commander ordered full decontamination of the biosafety area, which was retested with no detection of Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax. The DoD added no employees were exposed and that the event didn't pose a threat to the public.

Today's action was taken out of an abundance of caution, and the moratorium will remain in place until reviews and investigations are completed, the DoD said.
Sep 3 USA Today story
Sep 3 DoD press release

Africa study shows new malaria drug combo safe, effective

Varied doses of the newer antimalarial drug ferroquine in combination of the established drug artesunate were safe and effective against Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Africa, according to a study yesterday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The study, by a large international team, involved patients at eight hospitals in four African nations in 2009 and 2010. The Sanofi-funded phase 2 trial involved 326 patients randomly assigned to receive artesunate plus either 2, 4, or 6 mg/kg of ferroquine per day or ferroquine alone at 4 mg/kg/day. Artesunate was delivered at 4 mg/kg/day for all three combination-therapy groups. Treatment was once a day for 3 days for all patients.

Cure rates after 28 days for the three combination-therapy groups were 97%, 99%, and 99% from the lowest to highest dose, respectively. The cure rate for the ferroquine-only patients was 79%.

The authors conclude, "Ferroquine combined with artesunate was associated with high cure rates and was safe at all doses tested, and could be a promising new drug combination for the treatment of P falciparum malaria. Ferroquine could also partner [with] other drugs to establish a new generation of antimalarial combinations, especially in regions that have developed resistance."

A related commentary says the drug could "play an important part in the future of antimalarial therapy."
Sep 2 Lancet Infect Dis study
Sep 2 Lancet Infect Dis commentary

Flu Scan for Sep 03, 2015

News brief

Study shows benefit of antivirals for hospital flu in elderly

Treatment with antiviral drugs early in the course of hospitalization for influenza in elderly patients is associated with a shorter hospital stay and a lower risk for extended care after discharge, according to a study yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

US researchers, including those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), studied 6,593 adults 65 years and older who were hospitalized for flu and not from nursing homes; 18% required extended care after discharge.

Antiviral treatment within 4 days of illness onset was associated with a shorter hospital stay for those hospitalized 2 days or less after illness onset (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 1.81) and for those hospitalized more than 2 days after illness onset (aHR, 1.30).

Early antiviral treatment was also associated with patients being 25% to 60% less likely to need extended care after leaving the hospital.

"Flu can be extremely serious in older people, leading to hospitalization and in some cases long-term disability. This important study shows that people 65 and older should seek medical care early when they develop flu symptoms," said Dan Jernigan, MD, MPH, director of CDC's Influenza Division, in a CDC press release.
Sep 2 Clin Infect Dis study
Sep 2 CDC press release

Ivory Coast and Nigeria report more H5N1 in poultry

Veterinary officials in Ivory Coast and Nigeria are reporting several more H5N1 avian flu outbreaks at sites ranging from backyard holdings to commercial farms, according to separate reports from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

Ivory Coast reported six new outbreaks, three in Bouake state that occurred in April and May and three in Abidjan state that began in August. Affected birds included backyard chickens, doves, ducks, and pigeons. Of 7,428 susceptible birds, the virus killed 4,001, and the remaining ones were stamped out.

Meanwhile, Nigeria reported five more outbreaks, mainly at farms, in two different states—Lagos, on the southwestern coast, and Delta, in the south central part of the country.

The outbreaks began between the middle and end of August, affecting layers and pullets. Of 5,913 vulnerable poultry, 1,056 deaths were reported. The survivors were culled to curb the spread of the virus.

The two countries are among a handful in Africa that have reported a reemergence of H5N1 in poultry after a several-year hiatus.
Sep 1 OIE report on Ivory Coast outbreaks
Sep 3 OIE report on Nigeria outbreaks

Experts devise potential high-yield flu vaccine approach

An international group led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin has developed a cell-culture–based method that could result in influenza vaccine yields double or higher the output seen with current vaccines, according to a study yesterday in Nature Communications.

The group screened libraries of mutated influenza A viruses to develop vaccine "backbones"—the six viral RNA segments that don't include hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. From that process they were able to develop a backbone that improved the immune response (measure in titers) of H1N1, H3N2, H5N1, and H7N9 vaccine viruses in African green monkey kidney cells and Madin-Darby canine kidney cells.

Technology to produce flu vaccines using mammalian cell cultures already exists, but in its current form is less efficient than making vaccines in eggs, according to a University of Wisconsin news release. Antigenic changes in vaccine virus grown in eggs was cited as one of the reasons for reduced effective of some vaccines made for the 2014-2015 flu season.

"Depending on the strain, we can get between a twofold and tenfold increase in production using mammalian cells," said Wisconsin's Yoshihiro Kawaoka, DVM, PhD. "Even a twofold increase is substantial for vaccine production."

The release noted that the technique was developed using a type of research that has now been paused by the federal government, which is devising regulations for how certain "dual-use research of concern" (DURC) can be safely undertaken. DURC involves studies that manipulate pathogens and can be used for either good or bad ends.
Sep 2 Nat Commun study
Sep 2 University of Wisconsin news release