Beursonline.nl

[verwijderd] 3 juli 2006 15:36

0

Published online: 29 June 2006; | doi:10.1038/news060626-10

Bushmeat surveyed in Western cities
Illegally hunted animals turn up in markets from New York to London.
Emma Marris

Baboons, duiker antelopes and cane rats are available by the pound in markets in major cities in North America and Europe, a scientist reported at the Society for Conservation Biology meeting in San Jose, California, this week.

While the meat showing up in cities from New York to London represent just a sliver of the illegal bushmeat trade, it highlights the strong demand that still exists for illegally hunted meat, the ecologist says.

Bushmeat (wild animals hunted for food) can be problematic when the animals killed are endangered or carrying disease. Most concern about bushmeat centres on western and central Africa, where great apes are among the animals eaten, and where it represents a serious threat to many animal populations.

Justin Brashares, a conservation ecologist at the University of California, Berkeley, has worked in bushmeat research for nearly a decade. When he was in New York two years ago, sitting in the back of a cab driven by a Ghanaian, they got talking about the wild meats of Ghana.

"You must miss it," Brashares remembers saying.
"Well, I don't really miss it," the cab driver replied, "because I can get it."

Thus began a research project in which African expatriate volunteers were recruited to cruise a local bushmeat market in New York, London, Brussels, Paris, Toronto, Montreal and Chicago, reporting back the kinds, conditions and quantities of African wild meat on offer.

Meat market

The results of the first 20 months of the survey, reported at the Society for Conservation Biology meeting on Wednesday 28 June, show that about 6,000 kilograms of illegally hunted meat moved through the seven markets surveyed, in total, each month.

That's just a smidgen, Brashares says, of what must be flowing out of Africa into Europe and North America. And intercontinental trade, he adds, is again a tiny fraction (he estimates less than 1%) of total bushmeat kill, most of which stays in the country of origin.

Most of the meat in the survey was found to be butchered and smoked, but about 27% was raw, and 21% was not butchered at all. "You have animals basically coming over in plastic bags," Brashares says. This raw meat could be a disease risk, he adds.

"Some disease agents could make the trip and some couldn't," says Nathan Wolfe, an immunologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, who has studied diseases that can jump from bushmeat to humans. "Anthrax, for example, is something that could make the trip. It just depends how fresh it is."

High price to pay

Brashares doesn't know most of his volunteers, nor does he know the exact location of the markets they are surreptitiously surveying. In order to ensure that the information is valid, Brashares asks two wholly independent scouts to survey each location.

Brashares says that the bushmeat is more expensive than beef, so the buyers are presumably stocking up because they want the meat for ceremonial or special occasions. "I am not one to say 'I don't care what your tradition is'," says Brashares. He speculates that a small, legalized trade, combined with a crackdown on large-scale illegal hunting, could one day help to fulfil cultural demand for the meat in a controlled fashion.

Until then, homesick ex-pats will probably continue to turn to these underground markets. "They want to bring home the food their families miss," says Brashares.
www.nature.com/news/2006/060626/full/...

[verwijderd] 3 juli 2006 16:05

1

Gateses take on AIDS prevention in India
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 33 minutes ago

NEW DELHI - The numbers in India are frightening: In a country of more than 1 billion people, some 5.7 million are infected with HIV/ AIDS. That makes India home to more victims of the disease than any other country in the world.

Set against those statistics is an army of people trying to fight the virus. Backing some of them are hundreds of millions of dollars from the world's deepest philanthropical pockets — The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The foundation's AIDS prevention effort in India, known as "Ahavan" — a Sanskrit word meaning "call to action" — has a $200 million five-year grant to operate an HIV prevention program on a scale never done before. But in a country as vast as India, it could do with more.

The AIDS fight here could easily cost $1.5 billion a year, said Ashok Alexander, the foundation's India director, citing recent U.S. government figures.

The challenge is complex. Often the sex trade — a main transmission route for AIDS — is nearly invisible, with prostitutes working out of truck stops, or even in small village homes. Some sex workers are highly mobile, moving from city to city.

One of India's hardest-hit areas, its remote northeast, has an entirely different problem. There, most HIV transmissions come from needles shared by thousands of heroin addicts, a problem fueled by the region's proximity to the poppy fields of the Golden Triangle.

Logistics can also be nightmarish in rural areas that often lack basic infrastructure.

All these problems are confounded by the stigma attached to AIDS in a very conservative country.

Ahavan's strategy has been to adopt a business-style structure. The product is prevention, and the foundation formed a pyramid structure to get it to consumers. It contracted 15 other organizations that, in turn, work with about 150 grass-roots groups. They employ some 5,000 prostitutes, many of them HIV-positive, to get the message out.

"I talk to women about condoms and how they must insist even their regular clients wear condoms," said Vijaymala, a fruit seller who supplements her income by working as a prostitute without her family's knowledge.

She has a third job working as a "peer counselor" at Saathi, a tiny Gates-funded clinic nestled among the shantytown brothels in Turbhe, an industrial area on Bombay's outskirts.

Employing prostitutes means feedback comes quickly when there are problems.

"In talking with sex workers, our team found that the women felt the condoms available in the market did not suit them," said Sanjeev Gaikwad of Family Health International, which runs the Saathi clinic.

So they went to a condom manufacturer to produce the stronger, better-lubricated ones they now distribute.

Alexander said that after three years of work, it's too soon to evaluate how successful Ahavan has been, but he is positive. "We started off with a five-year grant, but I think we will be here as long as it takes," he said.

The Indian government — notoriously testy about accepting help from outsiders and often at odds with AIDS activist groups, accusing them in the past of exaggerating the numbers — has nothing but praise for the Gates Foundation.

"They are playing a very critical role. The foundation is one of our major partners in helping us reduce the transmission of the disease," said Sujata Rao, director general of the government's National AIDS Control Organization.

Associated Press writer Ramola Talwar Badam in Bombay contributed to this report.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060703/ap_on_he...
india_gates_aids;_ylt=AtrDpkJh4RcgFJ0i6BzSs1ms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3czJjNGZoBHNlYwM3NTE-

[verwijderd] 3 juli 2006 21:17

1

quote:
flosz schreef:
Editors' Summary

What Do These Findings Mean?
The researchers have now developed a simplified vaccine against Ebola virus that is effective in monkeys. This vaccine consists of only a modified GP component (which is well tolerated by human cells even at high concentrations) and the rAd5 component.

This vaccine is not the only candidate currently being developed against Ebola, but it seems likely that it is one of a few that will be tested in human volunteers in the near future.

Hartelijk dank voor het artikel flosz. Heeft even geduurd voor ik het kon lezen. Vreemd dat hier zo weinig reactie op is.

Ik kan het niet nalaten de bovenstaande 2 zinnen te quoten. Hoe essentieel het is een simpel vaccin te kunnen maken dat effectief is in apen en goed verdragen wordt in mensen !!!
Het is een van de weinige kandidaten die in de mens getest gaat worden en dus ooit geaccepteerd zal worden !!!

[verwijderd] 11 juli 2006 11:48

0

Gorillas infecting each other with Ebola
17:00 10 July 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Debora MacKenzie

Lowland gorillas are catching the devastating Ebola virus not just from the virus's normal host, thought to be bats, but also from each other.
So conclude Damien Caillaud and colleagues at the University of Rennes in France, who began watching 377 gorillas in Odzala National Park in Congo in 2001. "Maybe 30 are left now" of that original group, Caillaud told New Scientist.
The Ebola virus has killed a third of the world’s lowland gorillas in the past decade, and the epidemic seems to be spreading (see Great apes face Ebola oblivion). The researchers knew each animal individually, so they could chart when each disappeared.
The death rate fits an epidemic model in which gorillas living in groups catch it from other group members, and also pass it to solitary males. These males had previously been thought not to encounter other gorillas often enough to catch the virus from them. This shows that gorillas can spread the virus outside their immediate group, potentially affecting a much wider area.
Crucially, the die-off in 2004 lasted 10 months, much longer than the dry season in which gorillas encounter bats, when both are attracted to fruit on trees. “This means that if some gorillas in an area are infected, soon gorillas for tens of kilometres around will be,” says Caillaud.
Gorillas in groups – which include the females needed to replenish the population – are twice as vulnerable as solitary males, with 97% of group members dying once the group is infected. Researchers are now counting the gorillas outside Odzala and are on the lookout for signs of the virus.
Journal reference: Current Biology (vol 16, p R489)
www.newscientist.com/article/dn9517-g...

www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=Art...
=07%2F11%2F2006&_alid=423048651&
_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_qd=1&_cdi=6243&_sort=d&view=c&_
acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=97e524b32a1ccd5d285780f390400949

[verwijderd] 9 augustus 2006 10:15

0

Turkey battles Ebola-like fever
MARIA CHENG, Ankara

Turkey is battling the largest outbreak yet recorded of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), which has killed at least 20 people.
Experts say more cases of the Ebola-like disease are inevitable.
Most cases have occurred in six provinces in the Black Sea and Central Anatolia region: Tokat, Sivas, Gumushane, Amasya, Yozagat and Corum. Authorities say no cases have been reported in tourist areas along the Mediterranean coast.
CCHF is primarily an animal disease, but can also affect humans. It is endemic in parts of Africa,
Asia and Eastern Europe and is transmitted by ticks, which thrive on sheep and cattle.
Infected people can transmit the virus by blood, saliva or droplets from sneezing. The disease causes a sharp drop in platelets, which allow the blood to clot. Without rapid treatment by antivirus drugs and replacement of platelets, victims can bleed to death.
By August 4, the disease had caused 242 cases, including 20 deaths, making it the largest reported outbreak since it was first identified in 1944, authorities say.
"We will unfortunately keep seeing cases at least until September, when the virus starts to slow down because of the cold weather," said Dr Onder Ergonul, a professor at Marmara University.-

www.theherald.co.uk/news/67484.html

[verwijderd] 17 augustus 2006 10:07

0

. The Dutch firm Crucell NV also is working in collaboration with the Army on Ebola vaccine research.
*****************
Firm at forefront of bioterrorism fight
Mt. Pleasant's GenPhar developing vaccine against deadly Ebola virus
BY LUCIA WALINCHUS
The Post and Courier

Tucked away in an inconspicuous brick office building off Johnnie Dodds Boulevard, a Mount Pleasant company stands apart from the numerous real estate agencies, medical practices and consulting firms nearby.
Tiny GenPhar Inc. is on the forefront of research against potential biological nightmares such as avian flu, the West Nile virus and HIV.
More recently, the local pharmaceutical company has made strides by developing a vaccine that was 100 percent effective in recent trials against the Ebola virus, one of the world's deadliest pathogens.
GenPhar, working with the Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, recently exposed rhesus monkeys to the virus at 1,000 times the lethal dose, with not a single monkey getting sick.
The FDA said it couldn't comment on whether the vaccine would be approved. However, the promising results could mean a marketable vaccine within a year.
The Ebola virus has killed a few thousand people since the 1970s, when it first was discovered, but with a 50 percent to 100 percent fatality rate, it's one of the deadliest pathogens known.
"This virus is very dangerous," said Dr. John Dong, co-founder, president and chief scientific officer of GenPhar. "If it spread into a modern city with a dense population, it's basically a disaster."
Ebola, and its cousin, the Marburg virus, cause high fever, nausea, dizziness and, in some cases, hemorrhagic bleeding.
"We have a product that will save lives, help the nation and gets a good economic return, and that's what we focus our business model on," Dong said.
Dong said he anticipates that a lot of goverment grants will go toward biological threat in the future, and that is the direction he hopes to steer his company.
"This is the type of business that should be developed in South Carolina, especially in coastal regions that have a sensitive environment," he said.
GenPhar is looking to build a $10 million facility to manufacture its vaccine. The company hasn't selected land yet, but Dong said he hopes it will be close to the Medical University of South Carolina or Clemson University.
The new vaccine GenPhar researchers are working on would be "multivalent," meaning it would protect against multiple strains of Ebola and Marburg. The vaccine works by inducing the immune system to attack a benign virus with the same shape as Ebola. "A sheep in the clothing of a wolf," Dong said.
The lethal and mysterious nature of the virus has translated into big bucks for the entertainment industry, with such hits as the 1995 movie "Outbreak" and Richard Preston's 1996 best-seller, "The Hot Zone."
In reality, the virus rarely becomes airborne and usually is confined to periodic outbreaks in Africa, mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
However, with an increasingly globalized society, fears are mounting that Ebola could spread through air travel. Ebola also is viewed as a potential bioterrorism threat because it can be spread so quickly and easily.
"Ebola has the potential to go airborne and be spread like the flu. An airborne strain of Ebola could circle the world in about six or seven weeks," Peter Jahrling of the Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases said in a statement.
GenPhar receives $30 million each year, about half from the Department of Defense and half from private investors in New York and California. Because of the potential hazard of the virus, much of the research was done at a secure Army facility in Maryland.
If the vaccine is approved, it will be offered to the Army to protect soldiers, and possibly even civilians, from a bioterrorism threat.
A 2002 FDA rule allows certain drugs go to market if there is a great need for the drug and if testing on humans would be impossible without killing someone. The new vaccine still would have to go through trials to determine the best dose, the effect on fetuses and other unanswered questions. But it would not go to a human phase for ethical reasons.
If a disease threat is particularly hazardous, a drug can go on the so-called "fast track," meaning the application would be reviewed in six months rather than 10.
Other companies also are working in conjunction with the government on Ebola vaccines. The National Institutes of Health did a study based on technology from San Diego-based Vical. The Dutch firm Crucell NV also is working in collaboration with the Army on Ebola vaccine research.
GenPhar was founded in 1999 with about 20 scientists and other workers. Although the Mount Pleasant-based pharmaceutical is small, it has been working in numerous partnerships with other companies and the government to conduct vaccine research. It now is working on vaccines for HIV, avian flu, Spanish flu and other diseases.
Dong, originally from Beijing, moved to the Lowcountry when he founded GenPhar to take advantage of research being done at MUSC and for the quality of life here.
Dong said he hopes the knowledge-based economy in South Carolina will evolve as parts of California have, with "high-technology, high-income, low-environmental-impact development."
"Once (a company has) a technology, they have a project, and they can have a billion-dollar company," he said.
www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/de...

[verwijderd] 14 september 2006 09:12

0

Public release date: 13-Sep-2006
Contact: Arthur Nead
anead@tulane.edu
504-247-1443
Tulane University

Tulane researcher reports on origin of deadly fever outbreak
Multiple genetic varients clue to source of Marburg hemorrhagic fever outbreak

NEW ORLEANS -- Bats or other cave dwelling animals may have been responsible for the deadly 1998–2000 outbreak of Marburg hemorrhagic fever among gold miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to an article in the Aug. 31, 2006, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Daniel G. Bausch, associate professor of Tropical Medicine at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and an international team of researchers identified multiple genetic variants of the virus in the outbreak, meaning the fever may have been spread directly to humans by the host animals. Marburg hemorrhagic fever, a severe filovirus-caused disease related to Ebola, was first identified in European research facilities in 1967 after outbreaks traced to infected monkeys imported from Uganda. Only a few sporadic cases were reported until the 1998–2000 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The team recorded a fatality rate of 83 percent for that outbreak. Young male miners comprised 52 percent of the cases, suggesting that exposure in underground mines was a factor in the spread of the disease. The discovery of multiple different genetic variants of the virus indicates that the two-year outbreak was fueled by repeated new introductions of the virus into humans from the primary reservoir, rather than simply a single introduction followed by person-to-person spread.
Bausch's study enhances our understanding of Marburg virus, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list as a "select agent" that may potentially be used in bioterrorism. There is currently no approved treatment or vaccine for the disease.
Via www.eurekalert.org

[verwijderd] 17 september 2006 15:26

0

NIH Awards to All Institutions by Rank
Fiscal Year 2005

Rank 1 to 500

326 CRUCELL HOLLAND, BV 1 $7,247,000

grants2.nih.gov/grants/award/trends/R...
Via grants2.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm

- 08-30-2006 -

[verwijderd] 17 september 2006 18:34

0

Posting go erbij:

A Phase I Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of a Recombinant Ebola Adenoviral Vector Vaccine, VRC-EBOADV018-00-VP, in Healthy Adults

Link to the ClinicalTrials.gov record Information obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov on 2006-09-15
Title of trial/grant title A Phase I Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of a Recombinant Ebola Adenoviral Vector Vaccine, VRC-EBOADV018-00-VP, in Healthy Adults
Current status of trial Recruiting
Sponsors and collaborators National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Information provided by National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00374309
Purpose Study Design:

This is a Phase I, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded study to examine safety, tolerability and immune response of a recombinant Ebola adenovirus serotype 5 vector (Ebola-rAd5) vaccine in healthy adults. The hypothesis is that this vaccine will be safe and elicit immune responses to Ebola. The primary objective is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the investigational vaccine VRC-EBOADV018-00-VP in healthy subjects. The secondary objectives include immunogenicity evaluations and adenovirus serotype 5 antibody titers (Ad5 Ab) through Week 4. Exploratory evaluations include immunogenicity evaluations at Weeks 12, 24, and 48 and Ad5 Ab titers at Week 24 and 48.

Product Description:

VRC-EBOADV018-00-VP is a recombinant product composed of two replication-deficient recombinant adenovirus serotype 5 (rAd5) vectors encoding for glycoprotein (GP), one from the Zaire strain and one from the Sudan-Gulu strain of Ebola. The final formulation buffer will be used as the diluent and as the placebo control (Crucell placebo). Injections will be administered intramuscularly (IM) by needle and syringe.
www.controlled-trials.com/mrct/trial/...
www.iex.nl/forum/topic.asp?forum=228&...
&
This study is currently recruiting patients.
Verified by National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC) August 2006
www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT003...
**********************************
En posting Stefan m.b.t. PLOS art.(pagina 1, Immune Protection of Nonhuman Primates against Ebola Virus with Single Low-Dose Adenovirus Vectors Encoding Modified GPs) in de herhaling (volledig art. staat op pag. 1 & 2.):

Hier beschrijven ze een strategie om het vorige Ebola vaccin te aanzienlijk te verbeteren. Het vaccin bestond uit een adenovirus met het ebola eiwit GP (Ebola glycoprotein) en NP (nucleoprotein). In dit artikel wordt een verbeterde versie onthuld. Het nieuwe vaccin bestaat alleen uit Adenovirus-GP met daarin een kleine wijziging (mutatie). Hierdoor is het vaccin veel beter op te schalen en kunnen ze het maar liefst 100x verdunnen om dezelfde effectiviteit te behouden.

[verwijderd] 3 oktober 2006 10:15

0

Even het gigantisch fantastisch PB plakken!!!
Aan de reacties te zien was iedereen heel erg blij met dit PB.........

www.iex.nl/forum/topic.asp?forum=228&...
www.iex.nl/forum/topic.asp?forum=228&...

[verwijderd] 3 oktober 2006 10:28

0

onvoorstelbaar...berichten waar elke andere BIOTECH onderneming een erehaag en fanfaregeschal voor zou krijgen, worden in Nederland even genoemd.....ik word daar zo 'verdrietig' van...en zo boos...dit CHRONISCH GEBREK AAN WAARDERING in Nederland en ook daarbuiten...is de Marketing niet goed genoeg...de imagebuilding...de roadshows....te weinig persconferenties in grote hotels....te weinig zendtijd bij Oprah of dr. Phil
(http://www.television-statistics.com/psurveys/talkshow/talkS.htm)

plaatst iemand zijn licht onder de korenmaat...dit kán beter...dus dit moet beter..!

[verwijderd] 3 oktober 2006 10:58

0

quote:
janh1 schreef:
onvoorstelbaar...berichten waar elke andere BIOTECH onderneming een erehaag en fanfaregeschal voor zou krijgen, worden in Nederland even genoemd.....ik word daar zo 'verdrietig' van...en zo boos...dit CHRONISCH GEBREK AAN WAARDERING in Nederland en ook daarbuiten

..... en ook op dit forum....bijna dagelijks hoor ik geschreeuw om een PB & oeverloos geneuzel over een paar centjes erbij e.o. eraf.. ...er hangen veel verwende vette knokkels aan de bar van dit forum die systematisch voorbijgaan aan de ruggengraat van dit bedrijf, mesjogge IMO.
gr.(loop een weekje achter)

[verwijderd] 7 december 2006 22:13

0

Stukje community call.

N.a.v. postings Dirk en gogogoo
www.iex.nl/forum/topic.asp?forum=228&...

Are there any plans to make a veterinary Ebola vaccine to solve the problems of the ape population in Africa? Gary Nabel once said “this would be a very good cause”, but are there any organizations really considering such an effort? Trudy the Monkey.
A: Crucell is working on an Ebola vaccine to protect human beings. The clinical trials for this program are still going on. We are not in a position to make any statements about whether it would be possible to develop a vaccine for apes. (CC 18 okt.)
I would like to repeat this question in view of the tremendous strides you have made and because of the demand from both conservationists and world leaders. Kindest regards, Flosz
A: Crucell’s primary focus is still the development of a vaccine to protect humans against Ebola.
img.iex.nl/content/ir/cru.doc

[verwijderd] 27 december 2006 11:18

0

"It also opens the way for Crucell to speed up the Ebola program with the VRC, which has recently entered a phase I clinical trial. But most importantly, it brings the reality of vaccines such as these significantly closer."

www.iex.nl/forum/topic.asp?forum=228&...

[verwijderd] 23 januari 2007 07:57

0

Ebola vaccine shown to work after infection
Fight against disease is like a race, city scientist says

Mon Jan 22 2007
By Helen Branswell

WINNIPEG'S National Microbiology Laboratory has been instrumental in helping crack the code and develop a vaccine for the deadly Ebola virus.
Testing in three types of animals showed the vaccine kept at least half from dying when it was administered after infection, a lab researcher and others from the United States reported last week.
Four of eight primates injected with a lethal dose of Ebola virus survived when they were given the vaccine within 30 minutes of exposure.
It was the first time a vaccine against one of the species of Ebola viruses has been shown to be effective in what's called a post-exposure setting. In fact, it was the first time anything has been shown to improve survival after infection with an Ebola virus.
"The bottom line is in previous studies, nothing really has worked in post exposure," said the microbiology lab's Steven Jones, head of immunopathology at the lab, and one of two lead authors of the paper.
Most vaccines are given to prevent illness. But a few are used after infection to help the immune system fight off the invading pathogen. In the case of infection with Ebola, Marburg and Lassa fever that help is crucial because the virus act by first suppressing the immune response.

"It's like a race," Jones said. "With all of these infections I think that the reason they're so deadly is the virus always wins the race against the immune system."
The microbiology laboratory also grabbed headlines last week when it helped uncover new findings about the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic.
In addition to the Winnipeg lab, the Ebola research team is drawn from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., and the biodefense clinical research branch of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Jones and his co-authors, who are working on vaccines against the range of these viruses, last year reported that post-exposure testing of their Marburg vaccine protected 100 per cent of infected macaques monkeys -- the type of primates used in the Ebola work as well.
The macaque testing was set up to model how quickly the vaccine would be given if a researcher working with Ebola inadvertently infected himself or herself in a lab accident, as did a Russian scientist who died in 2004.
But the researchers hope that by administering the dosage in a series of injections -- like rabies shots -- the Ebola vaccine might prove useful in an outbreak, where it is unlikely infected people could get to treatment within half an hour.
Ebola Zaire -- the subtype used in this vaccine -- kills 90 per cent of people known to be infected. It obliterates entire families as those caring for patients inevitably become infected themselves.
"If we know there is a case in the family, then we can come in and vaccinate all of the contacts and sort of ring the initial patient with people who will become protected," Jones explained. "And the data from this paper shows that even if those people have been exposed to Ebola, there is potential for this vaccine to protect . . . if we give it to them relatively early on." The vaccine protected 100 per cent of mice and 66 per cent of guinea pigs treated within the 30-minutes window. When researchers waited 24 hours to give infected guinea pigs the vaccine, 50 per cent survived.
While the work offers promise, there is almost no acceptable way to prove the vaccine can prevent infection in people or improve survival rates among those who become infected.
www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/...

*****************************
: J Virol. 2007 Jan 17;
Proteolytic Processing of the Ebola Virus Glycoprotein Is Not Critical for Ebola Virus Replication in Nonhuman Primates.
Neumann G, Geisbert TW, Ebihara H, Geisbert JB, Daddario-Dicaprio KM, Feldmann H, Kawaoka Y

Department of Pathobiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Maryland, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, Special Pathogens Program, National Microbiology Laboratory, Public Health Agency of Canada, and Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Division of Virology, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Enveloped viruses often require cleavage of a surface glycoprotein by a cellular endoprotease such as furin for infectivity and virulence. Previously, we showed that Ebola virus glycoprotein does not require the furin cleavage motif for virus replication in cell culture. Here, we show that there are no appreciable differences in disease progression, hematology, serum biochemistry, virus titers, or lethality in nonhuman primates infected with an Ebola virus lacking the furin recognition sequence compared to those infected with wild-type virus. We conclude that glycoprotein cleavage by subtilisin-like endoproteases is not critical for Ebola virus infectivity and virulence in nonhuman primates.
PMID: 17229700

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcg...

[verwijderd] 23 januari 2007 12:42

0

quote:
flosz schreef:
Ebola vaccine shown to work after infection
Fight against disease is like a race, city scientist says

Mon Jan 22 2007

......
While the works offers promise there may eventually be a way to change the course of devastating Ebola outbreaks, finding a way to test and license this and the other filovirus vaccines remains a vexing challenge. That is because there is almost no acceptable way to prove the vaccine can prevent infection in people or improve survival rates among those who become infected.
For that reason, the scientist credited with naming the Ebola virus viewed these findings with something akin to resignation.
"I don't think this takes us any closer to actually having something," said Dr. Karl Johnson, who headed the special pathogens unit at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control when Ebola first came to the attention of developed countries.
Johnson said it would be unacceptable to use the vaccine in Africa - where Ebola outbreaks occur - until it's been shown to be safe and effective elsewhere.
"I see almost no chance that this vaccine will be used in a natural outbreak in Africa; unless and after it is used with success in more than one accidental infection in a lab in the developed world," he said by e-mail. Johnson is not involved in this research.
"To get even to that point, here in the U.S. it would require an emergency 'compassionate use' permit from our FDA."
Thankfully, lab accidents with filoviruses are exceedingly rare, because of the high levels of training and of biosafety required to work with these most horrific of viral killers. It could be years before there was even an opportunity to test the vaccine in a lab accident victim.
Jones agreed it would be "politically and ethically" unacceptable to use untested vaccines in Africa. But he insisted some way must be found to prove whether the vaccines are safe and effective in people.
"It is a big barrier. Unfortunately it's one that we have to overcome if we're ever going to be able to intervene and prevent these (outbreaks)," Jones said.
bodyandhealth.canada.com/channel_heal...

[verwijderd] 25 januari 2007 15:35

1

quote:
flosz schreef:
Stukje community call.

N.a.v. postings Dirk en gogogoo
www.iex.nl/forum/topic.asp?forum=228&...

Are there any plans to make a veterinary Ebola vaccine to solve the problems of the ape population in Africa? Gary Nabel once said “this would be a very good cause”, but are there any organizations really considering such an effort? Trudy the Monkey.
A: Crucell is working on an Ebola vaccine to protect human beings. The clinical trials for this program are still going on. We are not in a position to make any statements about whether it would be possible to develop a vaccine for apes. (CC 18 okt.)
I would like to repeat this question in view of the tremendous strides you have made and because of the demand from both conservationists and world leaders. Kindest regards, Flosz
A: Crucell’s primary focus is still the development of a vaccine to protect humans against Ebola.
img.iex.nl/content/ir/cru.doc

Mon, January 22, 2007

Ebola vaccine targeting apes

Primates would be unable to pass disease to humans

By HELEN BRANSWELL, THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO -- Great Apes could be among the early beneficiaries of groundbreaking work scientists from Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory are doing to develop a vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus.
"The Great Apes are actually at substantially more risk of elimination because of Ebola infection than humans," said Steven Jones, a special pathogens expert from the Winnipeg lab who is a member of a team of researchers working on the vaccine.
"Their populations are already at risk and it's getting worse, because they're dying of Ebola at a horrible rate."
It is believed the Ebola virus is normally found in some species of bats. Contact between the bats and apes can lead to infection that rips through communities of these primates.
Protecting Great Apes from Ebola could lower the chance the vaccine would be used in a human outbreak. It's known that hunters slaughtering and eating Ebola-infected apes have become infected themselves, triggering human outbreaks.

"So if the Great Apes aren't getting Ebola virus, people aren't going to get it from the dead Great Apes," Jones said.
"Preventing the infection in Great Apes is potentially a key public health protection measure as well as being environmentally sound in protecting the Great Apes."
www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2007/...

gogogoo 25 januari 2007 15:50

1

quote:
flosz schreef:
"So if the Great Apes aren't getting Ebola virus, people aren't going to get it from the dead Great Apes," Jones said.
"Preventing the infection in Great Apes is potentially a key public health protection measure as well as being environmentally sound in protecting the Great Apes."
www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2007/...

Nou, Crucell als je dan geen vaccin maakt voor dieren maar er wel een hebt die werkt op apen dan moet er toch iets te regelen zijn. Tenslotte dient het wel de mensheid.

"A: Crucell’s primary focus is still the development of a vaccine to protect humans against Ebola.
img.iex.nl/content/ir/cru.doc"

[verwijderd] 27 februari 2007 08:30

0

Neutralizing Antibody Fails to Impact the Course of Ebola Virus Infection in Monkeys

Wendelien B. Oswald1, Thomas W. Geisbert2, Kelly J. Davis2¤a, Joan B. Geisbert2, Nancy J. Sullivan3, Peter B. Jahrling2¤b, Paul W. H. I. Parren1¤c, Dennis R. Burton1*
1 Departments of Immunology and Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, United States of America, 2 United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Fort Detrick, Maryland, United States of America, 3 Vaccine Research Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Prophylaxis with high doses of neutralizing antibody typically offers protection against challenge with viruses producing acute infections. In this study, we have investigated the ability of the neutralizing human monoclonal antibody, KZ52, to protect against Ebola virus in rhesus macaques. This antibody was previously shown to fully protect guinea pigs from infection. Four rhesus macaques were given 50 mg/kg of neutralizing human monoclonal antibody KZ52 intravenously 1 d before challenge with 1,000 plaque-forming units of Ebola virus, followed by a second dose of 50 mg/kg antibody 4 d after challenge. A control animal was exposed to virus in the absence of antibody treatment. Passive transfer of the neutralizing human monoclonal antibody not only failed to protect macaques against challenge with Ebola virus but also had a minimal effect on the explosive viral replication following infection. We show that the inability of antibody to impact infection was not due to neutralization escape. It appears that Ebola virus has a mechanism of infection propagation in vivo in macaques that is uniquely insensitive even to high concentrations of neutralizing antibody.
pathogens.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?...

flosz 1 maart 2008 10:57

1

DEVELOPING AN EBOLA VACCINE FEBRUARY 2008

There is currently no vaccine or antiviral therapy to prevent or treat infection with Ebola virus. Attempts to vaccinate against Ebola virus using a variety of classical vaccine strategies have failed, and developing a live attenuated virus vaccine is considered too dangerous. However, it has been shown that a single-dose immunization with a recombinant vaccine that expresses Ebola virus proteins solidly protects monkeys against an otherwise deadly infection. These results were published in Nature in August 2003 (Ref: Nature 424 (6949):681-84 (2003)). Based on these results, Crucell decided to develop an Ebola vaccine.
Crucell entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the United States to jointly develop, test, and manufacture an adenovirus-based Ebola vaccine. (An adenovirus is a type of virus that causes little or no disease.) Under the terms of the agreement, Crucell has an option for exclusive worldwide commercialization rights to the Ebola vaccine resulting from this collaboration. The CRADA has been extended to cover vaccines against Marburg and Lassa infections.
In 2004, results of pre-clinical experiments, performed by the VRC and the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), showed that a single dose of Crucell’s vaccine completely protected non-human primates against a very high Ebola virus challenge. Under a production contract with the NIH, Crucell is manufacturing the Ebola vaccine according to Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) requirements.
The Ebola vaccine is currently being tested for safety and potency in a Phase I clinical trial, which commenced in September 2006. Two groups of 16 volunteers have been enrolled and vaccinated. Clinical data is still blinded, however initial indications suggest that the vaccine is safe at the tested doses and appears to be immunogenic in a subset of subjects.
Crucell’s Ebola vaccine is targeted toward government officials, military and healthcare personnel at risk, travelers, and people living in Ebola endemic areas in Africa. In addition, the vaccine could be used to provide protection from the lethal virus in the event of biological warfare.
Ebola Vaccine Production Process
Crucell's recombinant adenovirus-based Ebola vaccine is made by inserting selected parts of the Ebola virus into an adenoviral vector, which acts as a vehicle for vaccination delivery. The adenoviral vector carrying the Ebola material cannot replicate independently – it is ‘replication incompetent’. Replication of the vector can only occur in PER.C6® cells. Once the vector carrying the Ebola material is inoculated into PER.C6® cells, large quantities of the vector are produced, making commercial-scale manufacturing of the vaccine possible. The resulting product then undergoes extensive purification before use as a vaccine.
This vaccination method provides a very important safety advantage, while ensuring that a strong immune response is elicited against the Ebola virus. The steps used in producing such a vaccine are outlined in a simplified form in the following diagram.
About PER.C6® Technology
Crucell’s PER.C6® human cell line technology is ideally suited for the development and large-scale manufacturing of a wide range of biopharmaceuticals including vaccines, antibodies, therapeutic proteins and gene therapy products. Many of today's vaccines are produced on animal-derived substrates, including fertilized chicken eggs and mouse brains. To overcome limitations in production capacity, processing time, and potential safety risks associated with the use of animal derived substrates, Crucell’s PER.C6® technology is an attractive alternative production technology for the manufacturing of inactivated whole virus, live-attenuated, live-vector and subunit vaccines. PER.C6® technology supports the growth of a wide variety of human disease-causing viruses that can subsequently be processed into vaccines suitable for administration to humans. Many viruses have been demonstrated to efficiently replicate on PER.C6® cells. In addition, Crucell’s PER.C6® technology allows for efficient production of recombinant vaccines.
www.crucell.com/page/downloads/Factsh...

Ebola Vaccine
VRC 205
Current status(dd 12-12-2007):
The study is undergoing a scheduled review by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board and the FDA prior to starting the next dose level. VRC researchers plan to only enroll volunteers at low risk of HIV infection.

12-02-2008
AdVac®/PER.C6® Technology-Based Ebola Vaccine : For the Phase I study for the Ebola vaccine, which Crucell is currently developing in partnership with the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), two groups of 16 volunteers have been enrolled and vaccinated.The clinical data is still blinded, however initial indications suggest that the vaccine is safe at the tested doses and appears to be immunogenic in a subset of subjects.

AEX 923,36 +4,69 +0,51% 18:05


Germany40^	18.635,80	+0,32%
BEL 20	3.916,97	+0,26%
EURO50	5.068,16	+0,24%
US30^	38.886,10	+0,22%
Nasd100^	19.019,40	-0,04%
US500^	5.351,51	-0,05%
Japan225^	38.618,60	-0,90%
Gold spot	2.373,72	+0,78%
EUR/USD	1,0891	+0,19%
WTI	75,56	+1,93%

BESI	+2,97%
ASR Nederland	+2,88%
ABN AMRO BANK...	+1,54%
ASML	+1,47%
ING	+1,36%

FASTNED	-2,86%
NX FILTRATION	-2,65%
VIVORYON THER...	-2,45%
PostNL	-1,90%
Basic-Fit	-1,88%

Crucell « Terug naar discussie overzicht

Publ.Goudsmit/VRC/NIAID/NIH

Meedoen aan de discussie?

Direct naar Forum

Markt vandaag

Aandelenadviezen van IEX.nl

Stijgers

Dalers