Because of concerns about the safety and efficacy of the new vaccine against 2009 H1N1 influenza (swine flu) Marc Pelletier, PhD from Futures in Biotech and I teamed up to record a public service announcement to encourage vaccination. This announcement addresses safety and side effects, which are expected to be similar to those from any …
The new director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, has been scrutinized for his Evangelical Christian beliefs, which some think might influence his science policy. But there may be an even more serious problem with his leadership of the biggest supporter of scientific research in the United States. A recent New York Times …
President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) has released a report assessing H1N1 preparations. According to the White House Office of the Press Secretary: A Presidential advisory group of the nation’s leading scientists and engineers today released a new report assessing the Obama Administration’s preparations for this fall’s expected resurgence of 2009-H1N1 …
Dispensers of alcohol-based rubs are appearing in public places in an attempt to reduce the spread of pandemic influenza. Are these effective at removing virus from hands? In a recent study, the hands of twenty vaccinated, antibody-positive volunteers were contaminated with 10,000,000 TCID50 of a 1999 seasonal H1N1 influenza virus strain (see this post for …
With just 141 confirmed deaths so far, an interesting question is whether the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus could mutate into something more lethal (“How a Mild Virus Might Turn Vicious“). Of course it could – but is it beneficial for the virus? A fundamental principle of viral evolution is that viruses must spread from host …
Virulence: A positive or negative trait for evolution? Read More »
The World Health Organization, whose duties include directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system, will soon be writing science textbooks. That statement isn’t true, of course. But it was my reaction to reading the latest announcement from Geneva: Bowing to pressure, the World Health Organization announced Friday that it would rewrite its rules for …
