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Friday, April 12, 2013 ? China has now reported a total of 43 cases of human infection with the new avian influenza A (H7N9) virus; 11 of which have resulted in death. While there are no reported cases of H7N9 in the United States or anywhere else outside of China, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is taking standard pandemic preparedness precautions, including beginning to develop a candidate vaccine virus to produce an H7N9 vaccine should it become necessary. On Thursday April 11, CDC received the first H7N9 virus isolate from China, which will support this process.
While CDC had begun work on some preparedness measures based on the genetic sequences of the first three H7N9 viruses posted by China, the arrival of the actual isolate from China will allow this work to expand.
The virus isolate will be used to:
Continue to develop and evaluate a candidate vaccine virus against H7N9.
Further evaluate the CDC diagnostic test kit for detecting H7N9 infections in humans and make adjustments if needed.
Develop a serologic assay to test for the presence of antibodies against the H7N9 virus in human blood samples. This will allow CDC to conduct studies to determine whether there is any pre-existing immune protection against this virus in the human population.
Grow the virus and share it within the World Health Organization's (WHO) system with laboratories with proper USDA permits and biosafety containment for preparedness activities.
Conduct additional testing to determine the susceptibility of the H7N9 virus to existing antiviral drugs.
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While CDC had begun work on some preparedness measures based on the genetic sequences of the first three H7N9 viruses posted by China, the arrival of the actual isolate from China will allow this work to expand.
The virus isolate will be used to:
Continue to develop and evaluate a candidate vaccine virus against H7N9.
Further evaluate the CDC diagnostic test kit for detecting H7N9 infections in humans and make adjustments if needed.
Develop a serologic assay to test for the presence of antibodies against the H7N9 virus in human blood samples. This will allow CDC to conduct studies to determine whether there is any pre-existing immune protection against this virus in the human population.
Grow the virus and share it within the World Health Organization's (WHO) system with laboratories with proper USDA permits and biosafety containment for preparedness activities.
Conduct additional testing to determine the susceptibility of the H7N9 virus to existing antiviral drugs.
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