Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/flu-scan-apr-10-2020
Flu Scan for Apr 10, 2020
Universal flu vaccine landscape; High-path H7N3 avian flu in the US; US flu activity drops
Filed Under:
Influenza Vaccines; Avian Influenza (Bird Flu); Influenza, General
Paper highlights new universal flu vaccine tracking effort
A paper yesterday in Current Opinion in Virology highlights a new effort led by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) to track the development of universal influenza vaccine technologies.
The paper, written by CIDRAP experts and other US and European scientists, provides an overview of the Universal Influenza Vaccine Technology Landscape, a database created in collaboration with the Global Funders Consortium for Universal Development (the Consortium) to compile, curate, and maintain information on universal vaccine technologies that have reached clinical or late preclinical stages of development.
In 2017, the Consortium and a large group of public- and private-sector stakeholders identified the need for a common landscape of investigational universal flu vaccine technologies to facilitate the assessment of research strategies, highlight knowledge gaps, and identify opportunities for informed and efficient investment.
The landscape currently profiles 22 technologies that have reached clinical development and 74 that have reached late preclinical stages. The strategies profiled are categorized by vaccine platform and are aimed at inducing neutralizing B-cell responses, cross-reactive T-cell responses, or a combination. Primary B-cell target antigens include the HA stalk region, neuraminidase, and matrix 2 membrane protein, and T-cell targets include internal proteins, such as nucleoprotein, matrix protein, and nonstructural protein. Routes of administration include intramuscular injection, intranasal, and transdermal approaches.
"The Universal Influenza Vaccine Technology Landscape provides a valuable tool for assessing the status of research on universal influenza vaccines, which are urgently needed to reduce the burden of seasonal influenza and mitigate the risk of pandemic influenza," the authors write. "Having access to up-to-date information on a wide range of experimental universal influenza vaccine technologies facilitates the identification of promising approaches and enables efficient monitoring of their progress through preclinical and clinical development."
CIDRAP is the publisher of CIDRAP News.
Apr 9 Curr Opin Virol paper
High-path H7N3 avian flu strikes South Carolina turkey farm
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) yesterday announced a highly pathogenic H7N3 avian flu outbreak at a commercial turkey farm in South Carolina's Chesterfield County. It said the event marks the first highly pathogenic avian flu outbreak in US poultry since 2017.
A few recent low-pathogenic H7N3 outbreaks had recently been reported in the area, including other turkey farms in two nearby North Carolina counties, and APHIS said the highly pathogenic strain apparently mutated from the low pathogenic strain circulating in the area. A similar pattern has been seen in poultry outbreaks before, including in the United States in recent years.
No human H7N3 cases have been reported and there is no immediate public health concern, APHIS said.
The affected flock showed increased mortality, and samples were first tested at the Clemson Veterinary Diagnostic Center and confirmed at the APHIC National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. Virus isolation is underway. The birds at the farm were culled to prevent the spread of the virus.
A notification from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said the outbreak began on Apr 6 and that the virus killed 1,583 of 34,160 susceptible birds. It added that the facility has an epidemiological link to another South Carolina farm that experienced a low pathogenic H7N3 outbreak.
Apr 9 USDA APHIS statement
Apr 9 OIE report on high-path H7N3 in the United States
US flu activity continues to decline, CDC says
Laboratory confirmed influenza and influenza-like illness (ILI) activity in the United States continued to decline last week, according to today's FluView report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But ILI activity remains elevated, and the agency is still cautioning that the COVID-19 pandemic could be preventing people from seeking care as they normally would, which may affect the data.
The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for influenza at clinical laboratories fell from 2.1% to 0.8% the week ending Apr 4, while visits to clinics for ILI dropped from 5.2% to 3.9%, still well above the national baseline of 2.4%. The number of jurisdictions reporting high ILI activity decreased from 31 the previous week to 21, and the number of jurisdictions reporting regional or widespread flu activity declined from 41 to 31.
While flu severity indicators remain moderate to low overall, the cumulative hospitalization rate for the season increased again, from 67.9 hospitalizations per 100,000 population the previous week to 68.2 per 100,000 hospitalization. And the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza rose from 8.2% to 10%. The CDC says that increase is due to an increase in pneumonia deaths and likely reflects COVID-19 activity.
The CDC also reported 4 more pediatric deaths this season, bringing the total to 166, which is higher than most recent flu seasons but still lower than the 2017-18 season, when 188 child deaths were recorded. In addition, the hospitalization rate for children 0 to 4 years old is the highest the CDC has on record for this group, while the hospitalization rate for children 5 to 17 years old is higher than any season besides the 2009 H1N1 pandemic season.
Testing by public health laboratories shows that 57.1% of the influenza viruses circulating since Sep 29, 2019, are influenza A, and 42.9% are influenza B. The most common influenza A strain is 2009 H1N1 (92.6%), and the most common influenza B lineage is Victoria (98.4%).
The CDC estimates that so far this season there have been at 39 million flu illnesses, 410,000 hospitalizations, and 24,000 deaths. The agency says this is the final week of a full FluView report.
Apr 10 CDC FluView report
Flu Scan for Apr 10, 2020
Universal flu vaccine landscape; High-path H7N3 avian flu in the US; US flu activity drops
Filed Under:
Influenza Vaccines; Avian Influenza (Bird Flu); Influenza, General
Paper highlights new universal flu vaccine tracking effort
A paper yesterday in Current Opinion in Virology highlights a new effort led by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) to track the development of universal influenza vaccine technologies.
The paper, written by CIDRAP experts and other US and European scientists, provides an overview of the Universal Influenza Vaccine Technology Landscape, a database created in collaboration with the Global Funders Consortium for Universal Development (the Consortium) to compile, curate, and maintain information on universal vaccine technologies that have reached clinical or late preclinical stages of development.
In 2017, the Consortium and a large group of public- and private-sector stakeholders identified the need for a common landscape of investigational universal flu vaccine technologies to facilitate the assessment of research strategies, highlight knowledge gaps, and identify opportunities for informed and efficient investment.
The landscape currently profiles 22 technologies that have reached clinical development and 74 that have reached late preclinical stages. The strategies profiled are categorized by vaccine platform and are aimed at inducing neutralizing B-cell responses, cross-reactive T-cell responses, or a combination. Primary B-cell target antigens include the HA stalk region, neuraminidase, and matrix 2 membrane protein, and T-cell targets include internal proteins, such as nucleoprotein, matrix protein, and nonstructural protein. Routes of administration include intramuscular injection, intranasal, and transdermal approaches.
"The Universal Influenza Vaccine Technology Landscape provides a valuable tool for assessing the status of research on universal influenza vaccines, which are urgently needed to reduce the burden of seasonal influenza and mitigate the risk of pandemic influenza," the authors write. "Having access to up-to-date information on a wide range of experimental universal influenza vaccine technologies facilitates the identification of promising approaches and enables efficient monitoring of their progress through preclinical and clinical development."
CIDRAP is the publisher of CIDRAP News.
Apr 9 Curr Opin Virol paper
High-path H7N3 avian flu strikes South Carolina turkey farm
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) yesterday announced a highly pathogenic H7N3 avian flu outbreak at a commercial turkey farm in South Carolina's Chesterfield County. It said the event marks the first highly pathogenic avian flu outbreak in US poultry since 2017.
A few recent low-pathogenic H7N3 outbreaks had recently been reported in the area, including other turkey farms in two nearby North Carolina counties, and APHIS said the highly pathogenic strain apparently mutated from the low pathogenic strain circulating in the area. A similar pattern has been seen in poultry outbreaks before, including in the United States in recent years.
No human H7N3 cases have been reported and there is no immediate public health concern, APHIS said.
The affected flock showed increased mortality, and samples were first tested at the Clemson Veterinary Diagnostic Center and confirmed at the APHIC National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. Virus isolation is underway. The birds at the farm were culled to prevent the spread of the virus.
A notification from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said the outbreak began on Apr 6 and that the virus killed 1,583 of 34,160 susceptible birds. It added that the facility has an epidemiological link to another South Carolina farm that experienced a low pathogenic H7N3 outbreak.
Apr 9 USDA APHIS statement
Apr 9 OIE report on high-path H7N3 in the United States
US flu activity continues to decline, CDC says
Laboratory confirmed influenza and influenza-like illness (ILI) activity in the United States continued to decline last week, according to today's FluView report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But ILI activity remains elevated, and the agency is still cautioning that the COVID-19 pandemic could be preventing people from seeking care as they normally would, which may affect the data.
The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for influenza at clinical laboratories fell from 2.1% to 0.8% the week ending Apr 4, while visits to clinics for ILI dropped from 5.2% to 3.9%, still well above the national baseline of 2.4%. The number of jurisdictions reporting high ILI activity decreased from 31 the previous week to 21, and the number of jurisdictions reporting regional or widespread flu activity declined from 41 to 31.
While flu severity indicators remain moderate to low overall, the cumulative hospitalization rate for the season increased again, from 67.9 hospitalizations per 100,000 population the previous week to 68.2 per 100,000 hospitalization. And the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza rose from 8.2% to 10%. The CDC says that increase is due to an increase in pneumonia deaths and likely reflects COVID-19 activity.
The CDC also reported 4 more pediatric deaths this season, bringing the total to 166, which is higher than most recent flu seasons but still lower than the 2017-18 season, when 188 child deaths were recorded. In addition, the hospitalization rate for children 0 to 4 years old is the highest the CDC has on record for this group, while the hospitalization rate for children 5 to 17 years old is higher than any season besides the 2009 H1N1 pandemic season.
Testing by public health laboratories shows that 57.1% of the influenza viruses circulating since Sep 29, 2019, are influenza A, and 42.9% are influenza B. The most common influenza A strain is 2009 H1N1 (92.6%), and the most common influenza B lineage is Victoria (98.4%).
The CDC estimates that so far this season there have been at 39 million flu illnesses, 410,000 hospitalizations, and 24,000 deaths. The agency says this is the final week of a full FluView report.
Apr 10 CDC FluView report