Guest guest Posted April 2, 2006 Report Share Posted April 2, 2006 A Sat, 1 Apr 2006 19:40:07 -0500 Flu 'Oddities' Sat, 1 Apr 2006 http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html Flu 'Oddities' Receive (free) CLG newsletter/news alerts! Sign up here. Join the US_bioterror_events egroup Flu 'Oddities' Hot Articles are below the Breaking News. FLU 'ODDITIES' BREAKING NEWS Last updated: Sun, 02 Apr 2006 00:45:48 GMT Bird flu expected on U.S. West Coast by summer 01 Apr 2006 http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143 & sid=6592998 California officials expect bird flu to arrive on the U.S. West Coast this summer in what could be the first sign in the United States of the deadly virus, which has already swept from Asia across Europe and down to Africa. " The H5N1 virus in birds is expected in the next couple of months in the United States, " California Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe told reporters on Thursday at a state bird flu pandemic preparedness meeting. [see: U.S. to create a bird flu virus mutation 24 Mar 2005 http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050324-030452-8400r.htm The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun a series of experiments to see how likely the bird flu virus could result in a human pandemic. See: KBR awarded $385M Homeland Security contract for U.S. detention centers 24 Jan 2006 http://www.marketwatch.com/news/newsfinder/pulseone.asp?dateid=38741.5136277662-\ 858254656 KBR, the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton Co., said Tuesday it has been awarded a contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to support its Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the event of an emergency [Gee, what 'emergency' could that be?] See: Rumsfeld's growing stake in Tamiflu 31 Oct 2005] http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/newsmakers/fortune_rumsfeld/ http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143 & sid=6592998 Sunday 02.04.2006, CET 10:43 April 2, 2006 10:12 AM Bird flu expected on U.S. West Coast by summer By Jill Serjeant LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California officials expect bird flu to arrive on the U.S. West Coast this summer in what could be the first sign in the United States of the deadly virus, which has already swept from Asia across Europe and down to Africa. " The H5N1 virus in birds is expected in the next couple of months in the United States, " California Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe told reporters on Thursday at a state bird flu pandemic preparedness meeting. Officials said the virus was likely to be carried into either the east or west coast of the United States by migrating birds starting their journeys south, either from Alaska on the Pacific Flyway, or the Atlantic Flyway on the other side of North American continent. They said some 60,000 birds, mostly waterfowl, would begin their migration south from Alaska in mid-August, working their way down through Oregon, Washington and into California. Although both coasts have set up monitoring systems for any signs of the avian virus " we expect there will be access (to the United States) through Alaska rather than upstate New York, " said Ryan Broddrick, director of the California Department of Fish and Game. He did not elaborate. The H5N1 virus overwhelmingly infects birds but has sickened 186 people in eight countries and killed 105 of them. Experts believe it poses the greatest threat in recent years of a global flu pandemic that could kill millions, if it acquires the ability to pass easily from human to human. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt warned against panic when avian flu hits U.S. shores for the first time, saying it would not inevitably mean the start of a human pandemic. " It is almost certain that a wild bird will find its way into the United States with H5N1 on board. That will not be a crisis, " Leavitt told reporters in Los Angeles. But he warned states to lay the groundwork for possible human to human transmission. " There is clearly a lot of buzz (but) I worry there is not enough busy-ness, " he said. Leavitt said research published on Wednesday finding that an experimental vaccine against bird flu in humans works only at very high doses was " not unexpected. " " We are working to develop adjuvant technology that will allow us to boost the effects of vaccine and we are optimistic that that can be part of the solution, " he said. GlaxoSmithKline on Thursday announced the start of human trials of two new bird flu vaccines using adjuvants -- additives that are put into vaccines that boost the immune system and make it respond more efficiently. If the vaccines work they would be ready to manufacture by the end of the year, the company said. Reuters http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050324-030452-8400r.htm U.S. to create a bird flu virus mutation Atlanta, GA, Mar. 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun a series of experiments to see how likely the bird flu virus could result in a human pandemic. The six-month series of experiments seeks to simulate the mixing and matching of genes from the H5N1 avian flu virus that has plagued Asia and a common human flu virus that public-health experts fear could turn avian flu into a pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. CDC scientists inside an ultra-secure laboratory have started swapping the genes of the H5N1 avian virus with the genes of an H3N2 virus, the strain behind most recent human flu outbreaks. The goal is to substitute the eight genes of each virus, one by one, with the eight genes from the other virus to see which of more than 250 possible combinations create flu viruses that could spread easily among humans. The work responds to fears by global public health experts that the bird flu virus could mutate to form one that could spawn a global outbreak of the disease. http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B62C8724D%2DAE8A%2D4B5C%\ 2D94C7%2D70171315C0A0%7D & dateid=38741%2E5136277662%2D858254656 KBR awarded Homeland Security contract worth up to $385M By Katherine Hunt Last Update: 12:19 PM ET Jan 24, 2006 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- KBR, the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton Co. (HAL : Halliburton Company Last: 73.02-1.28-1.72% 4:04pm 03/31/2006 HAL73.02, -1.28, -1.7% ) , said Tuesday it has been awarded a contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to supports its Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the event of an emergency. The maximum total value of the contract is $385 million and consists of a 1-year base period with four 1-year options. KBR held the previous ICE contract from 2000 through 2005. The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to expand existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs, KBR said. The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster, the company said.... cont. http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/newsmakers/fortune_rumsfeld/ Rumsfeld's growing stake in Tamiflu Defense Secretary, ex-chairman of flu treatment rights holder, sees portfolio value growing. October 31, 2005: 10:55 AM EST By Nelson D. Schwartz, Fortune senior writer NEW YORK (Fortune) - The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the world. Rumsfeld served as Gilead (Research)'s chairman from 1997 until he joined the Bush administration in 2001, and he still holds a Gilead stake valued at between $5 million and $25 million, according to federal financial disclosures filed by Rumsfeld. The forms don't reveal the exact number of shares Rumsfeld owns, but in the past six months fears of a pandemic and the ensuing scramble for Tamiflu have sent Gilead's stock from $35 to $47. That's made the Pentagon chief, already one of the wealthiest members of the Bush cabinet, at least $1 million richer. Rumsfeld isn't the only political heavyweight benefiting from demand for Tamiflu, which is manufactured and marketed by Swiss pharma giant Roche. (Gilead receives a royalty from Roche equaling about 10% of sales.) Former Secretary of State George Shultz, who is on Gilead's board, has sold more than $7 million worth of Gilead since the beginning of 2005. Another board member is the wife of former California Gov. Pete Wilson. " I don't know of any biotech company that's so politically well-connected, " says analyst Andrew McDonald of Think Equity Partners in San Francisco. What's more, the federal government is emerging as one of the world's biggest customers for Tamiflu. In July, the Pentagon ordered $58 million worth of the treatment for U.S. troops around the world, and Congress is considering a multi-billion dollar purchase. Roche expects 2005 sales for Tamiflu to be about $1 billion, compared with $258 million in 2004. Rumsfeld recused himself from any decisions involving Gilead when he left Gilead and became Secretary of Defense in early 2001. And late last month, notes a senior Pentagon official, Rumsfeld went even further and had the Pentagon's general counsel issue additional instructions outlining what he could and could not be involved in if there were an avian flu pandemic and the Pentagon had to respond. As the flu issue heated up early this year, according to the Pentagon official, Rumsfeld considered unloading his entire Gilead stake and sought the advice of the Department of Justice, the SEC and the federal Office of Government Ethics. Those agencies didn't offer an opinion so Rumsfeld consulted a private securities lawyer, who advised him that it was safer to hold on to the stock and be quite public about his recusal rather than sell and run the risk of being accused of trading on insider information, something Rumsfeld doesn't believe he possesses. So he's keeping his shares for the time being. -- http://www.legitgov.org/flu_oddities.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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