Faculty Bibliography

''The tests clearly indicate that the viruses from Vietnam and South Korea are very closely related,'' said Dr. Klaus Stohr, a W.H.O. influenza expert. But he said they were distinct from the strain found in Hong Kong last year. That strain infected 18 people in Hong Kong in 1997, killing 6, and was found in duck meat in South Korea in 2001. In a new development, the birds have been found to be producing large amounts of type A virus, of the H5N1 strain, in respiratory secretions and saliva. In the past they usually excreted the virus only in feces, Dr. Stohr said. Developing a vaccine is a complex process. Because the H5N1 strain kills chickens, scientists cannot use chicken eggs in the initial stage of making the vaccine, as they do for human strains of influenza virus. Instead, scientists working with the health agency -- in London, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and elsewhere -- are using a newer laboratory technique known as reverse genetics

The worry is that the avian influenza strain, A(H5N1), could combine with a human influenza virus to create a new strain. That strain, in turn, could cause a large epidemic in people. It might even become the seeds of an influenza pandemic that many experts agree is inevitable and possibly imminent. Italian scientists are credited with identifying avian influenza (often called bird flu) more than a century ago. There are now about 15 avian influenza strains that usually infect birds exclusively, particularly migratory waterfowl. The strains produce a range of illness from mild to lethal. Birds that survive infection excrete the virus and can spread it widely in flight patterns. Influenza experts still fear the exchange of genetic material between the bird A(H5N1) strain and a human influenza virus. The swap occurs in a process called reassortment, which occurs when people are concurrently infected with human and avian influenza strains. In effect, humans serve as a virus mixing bowl

The World Health Organization said a 5-year-old boy in Nam Dinh Province died this month of avian influenza, bringing the country's total of confirmed deaths from bird flu in recent weeks..

Nigeria has exported polio cases to at least six countries in West Africa in recent months, the health agency has said, jeopardizing efforts to have polio join smallpox as the only diseases to be eliminated from the human population. ''Nigeria is unequivocably committed politically to the eradication of polio,'' Professor [Eyitayo Lambo] said. ''We want to bury totally polio in Nigeria by December 2004.'' Dr. David L. Heymann, the epidemiologist in charge of the agency's program to eradicate polio, said that the ministers were given the option of the end of 2004 or 2005 as their goal for stopping transmission of the polio virus, and that they chose 2004

Officials had warned that there was a mismatch between the current vaccine and the Fujian strain of influenza virus that was causing most illness this season. But they said the vaccine should still offer some protection to many people. At meetings last February and March where experts made educated guesses about what strains to use in preparing this season's vaccine, the panel members knew about the new Fujian strain. But it was too late to include it in the vaccine manufactured for the Northern Hemisphere. The vaccine being prepared for the Southern Hemisphere is formulated to protect against the Fujian strain. The effectiveness rates of influenza vaccine vary in part according to the age and health status of the individual. Influenza vaccine prevents illness in about 80 percent of children and young adults. The vaccine is less effective in preventing symptoms among those 65 and older, but prevents major complications like pneumonia in about 70 percent of those who receive it in the older population

Laboratory tests have confirmed that Nigeria was the source of the polio virus that led to two new cases of the crippling disease in Benin and Cameroon in West Africa, the World Health Organization said

Nine children and an adult have died in Hanoi since October from a rare strain of avian influenza that usually spreads from birds to people, the World Health Organization said. Three other children have survived infection from the strain, known as Influenza A(H5N1)

A year ago, the transmission of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, was occurring in Guangdong Province in China. But provincial and Chinese officials did not report SARS to the World Health Organization, as they were supposed to do. Initially, officials kept secret the cases of the new disease that were first detected in November 2002. Then officials lied until the disease spread from Guangdong and China to other countries in Asia and Canada in February 2003. Now, in an effort to persuade the world that they are cooperating and taking steps to control the disease, Chinese officials have slaughtered hundreds of civets and other animals in which the SARS coronavirus has been found. Also, they are reporting even suspect SARS cases to the W.H.O., something that is not required, said Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the United Nations agency. Chinese officials have not disclosed the number of people tested for possible SARS. If they have tested hundreds of people and only the four have shown some evidence of SARS, then SARS might represent less of a health problem

Nigeria has exported polio to at least six West African countries in recent months, [David Heymann] said. His team is awaiting molecular tests to determine whether the viruses isolated from the Benin and Cameroon cases came from Nigeria or one of the seven neighboring countries that have reported cases. They are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Niger and Togo. Cameroon and Benin are now conducting such campaigns in an effort to prevent the imported cases from spreading further. But the immunization campaigns are costly and put an added burden on countries that had previously eradicated polio because they take money from other important health programs, Heymann said. In a second move, the WHO has invited the health ministers from affected countries to discuss polio eradication at the agency's headquarters in Geneva on Thursday. Nigeria's national health minister has made a commitment to attend the meeting, as has a representative of the state of Kano, where the opposition to polio vaccination programs is centered, Heymann said

Nigeria has exported polio to at least six West African countries in recent months, [David Heymann] said. His team is awaiting molecular tests to determine whether the viruses isolated from the Benin and Cameroon cases came from Nigeria or one of the seven neighboring countries that have reported cases. They are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Niger and Togo. Cameroon and Benin are now conducting such campaigns in an effort to prevent the imported cases from spreading further. But the immunization campaigns are costly and put an added burden on countries that had previously eradicated polio because they take money from other important health programs, Heymann said. In a second move, the WHO has invited the health ministers from affected countries to discuss polio eradication at the agency's headquarters in Geneva on Thursday. Nigeria's national health minister has made a commitment to attend the meeting, as has a representative of the state of Kano, where the opposition to polio vaccination programs is centered, Heymann said