Jul
31
Genetic Changes Could Pose More Problems: The Global Flu Situation
Filed Under Medical Insurance, Uncategorized | 5 Comments
The word is out on Swine Flu. The international community has recognized the threat that the virus poses and has moved rapidly to deal with the situation, mainly by producing mass stocks of TamiFlu and making loud noises about ensuring the right population segments receive the vaccine. This is all well and good, not to mention exactly what we expect from our world leaders, but the question could be posed that, perhaps, we are focusing on the H1N1 strain of flu a little too extensively?
On the 30th of June 2009, a report was released by the South China Morning Post (subscription required) outlining the details relating to a wide spread infection of H3N2 flu throughout
At the issuing of the afore mentioned report Swine Flu accounted for 49% of all flu infections in Hong Kong, while the H3N2 strain accounted for 43%. However, without knowing what the genetic changes in the virus actually mean, these figures are not terrible in and of themselves. What is concerning is the fact that the genetic mutation observed in Hong Kong has also been noted by public health officials in
H3N2 Flu viruses are not new to science, in fact, none of the “A” type influenzas are unknown – they all tend to occur seasonally in populations around the world. Swine Flu, for instance, is a relation to the Spanish Flu of 1918 – 1919 (one of the main reasons for inflated levels of caution when dealing with this strain), and reappeared in North America during 1976 – leading to one confirmed fatality and a Presidential decision for national vaccination across the
The first identification of an H3N2 influenza strain occurred in 
All of the A Type Influenzas (H1N1, H2N2, H3N2, H5N1, etc) are naturally carried by wild Fowl, and have been demonstrated to be transmitted between wild fowl and humans or pigs. These viruses can then be transmitted from Humans to Pigs or Humans to Domestic poultry. The 2009 incidence of H1N1, or Mexican Swine Flu, is thought to be based in a transmission from pigs to humans at pig farms in rural
This transmission vector means that in certain parts of the world, those where humans, swine, and poultry live in close proximity to each other, it is relatively easy for new flu strains to occur. This fact is evidenced by the recent global outbreak of Mexican Swine Flu which is believed to have jumped from pigs in massive industrial farms to humans. A similar situation is with regards to the H5N1 strain of Avian Influenza (Bird Flu), which continues to have periodic outbreaks in areas with large numbers of migratory birds. Avian Influenza is believed to have jumped from domestic fowl and poultry populations in southern
All of this information means that while healthcare professionals and scientists may have a general understanding of the way that global pandemics may progress, we cannot be 100% certain of any given outcome. Which is why, when the mutation of the H3N2 virus was noted in
The fact that Swine Flu has been relegated to a “second tier” of news rather than dominating headlines around the world should raise some serious alarms. While most major governments have assured their populations that the resources are in place to fight the pandemic, the question of whether those resources will continue to work going into the northern hemisphere’s winter months remains unanswered. If the genetic changes in the H3N2 virus prove to be worse than we currently imagine, and if those changes – as currently thought – have the potential to render current anti-viral drug stocks irrelevant, how are we prepared to deal with the fallout?
In places like the USA, where the headlines are currently being dominated by a debate on Obama’s Healthcare Reform Proposal (a topic on which we will expand in a later post), it is understandable that Swine Flu, perceived in the USA as a relatively mild seasonal flu, is not receiving the full attention that it deserves. However, with the H3N2 mutation being observed in populations where the Swine Flu infection is spiraling out of control (as in Britain, where the number of confirmed cases has exceeded 55,000 people and is rising) something must be done sooner rather than later.
Who knows what the end result could be.
Jul
10
Leaps and Bounds: Progress in Stem Cell Research
Filed Under Healthcare, USA Health Insurance | 1 Comment
In recent years, much of the debate and controversy surrounding stem cells has been about the ethics of stem cells and embryonic stem cells in particular. However, recent scientific advancements not just in the possible future applications of stem cells, but also in how to produce or create stem cells may render a large amount of ideologically based criticism irrelevant.
Just to be clear, the only way to get embryonic stem cells is to cultivate them from fertilized human eggs. However, the reason for the interest into them is that embryonic stem cells are what are known as pluripotent, which means they are capable of developing into almost any type of cell in the body. While research into stem cells has continued unhindered in many places around the world, other places such as the United States have previously placed limits on federal funding for research into embryonic stem cells.
During George W. Bush’s presidency federal monies were only permitted to be given to research into non-embryonic stem cells and generations of stem cells derived from embryos before August 9, 2001. Despite the fact U.S. legislators passed bills in support of broadening federal funding for embryonic stem cells on multiple occasions during Bush’s presidency, even going so far as to include ethical restraints and requirements on the source of the embryos, Bush vetoed them out of hand. However, President Obama removed certain restrictions on federal funding by executive order in March this year but left the drawing up of legal and ethical rules involved in who is eligible to receive money to the National Institute of Health.
Thankfully the previous administration’s intransigence on the subject seems to have done little to hinder serious progress in many areas. Recent news has witnessed the explosion in stem cell related scientific discoveries that could lead to impressive developments in treating serious diseases and illnesses. One recent study by the University of South Florida in conjunction with the James A. Hadley Hospital found that a human growth factor or hormone called the granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GCSF) can help improve memory and learning behavior in mice with Alzheimer’s. GCSF is a hormone that promotes white blood cells and blood stem cells in the body’s bone marrow and is usually administered to cancer patients who have gone through chemo or radiation therapy.
The study’s authors found that mice with Alzheimer’s that were given filgrastim (a commercially available GCSF compound) injections under the skin showed remarkably improved memory after 3 weeks of treatment. Beta amyloid, a protein that builds up in the brain and is considered to be one of the main causes of Alzheimer’s, was found to have been reduced by 36-42 % in mice with Alzheimer’s symptoms. This could lead to an effective therapy for patients with Alzheimer’s and the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation has already decided to fund a small clinical trial in the University of South Florida’s Byrd Alzheimer’s Center to test the safety and effectiveness on human Alzheimer’s patients.
In other mouse related science news, researchers at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School found that injections of stem cells can reverse neural birth defects. The test mice’s mothers were given heroin during pregnancy to induce defects in the brain, the test mice then received injections of transplanted neural stem cells from embryonic mice directly into the brain. The tests showed that even though most of the transplanted stem cells didn’t survive, they seemed to spur the brain to repair itself. By a function called the bystander or chaperone effect, the stem cells seem to not only produce replacement cells but also send out signals that induce other cells in the body to start repairing and maintaining organs. There are concerns, however, as the cells used were extracted from mice embryos they are sometimes considered a foreign object by the body’s immune system and may in some cases lead to tumors forming in the body.
But what if you didn’t need to use embryonic stem cells? If the need for a fertilized egg to make stem cells was removed, then moral complaints against stem cell research and treatment from vociferous anti-abortion factions have no legs to stand on. Enter the testicle. Kinarm Ko, Hans Schöler and a team at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster have been able to extract a certain type of cell from mice testes and turn them into pluripotent stem cells without the need to apply genes, viruses or reprogramming proteins to affect the change. They started with a type of cell called a germline stem cell which is not only rare in the testis (you will only find a few in the 10,000 or so cells in tissue of a mouse testis) but also rarely tends to reproduce itself. This germline stem cell tends to do only one thing in its natural environment, and that one job is to make lots and lots of sperm. In an unusual twist, the researchers found it was barely more than a simple trick to get these cells to reprogram themselves. Given a little space in a Petri dish, these germline stem cells will alter themselves to become pluripotent in as little as two weeks, after which they start reproducing very quickly. While further testing will be needed to determine whether this could be applied to humans, so far the germline cells extracted from the mice testis are capable of generating the same kinds of cells as embryonic stem cells and far surpass previous attempts to artificially reprogram a cell in both safety and the ease of producing them.
Breakthroughs like this and others such as the ability to reprogram DNA from adult skin cells to make induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS for short) allow us to understand stem cells’ roll in the body more thoroughly and could eventually lead us to a less ethically questionable ways to produce stem cells which may also be safer for us medicinally as well. Not only could this lead to a wide variety of treatments for debilitating illnesses like Alzheimer’s, brain damage, cancer and many more, but also the ability to treat these issues while maintaining a high level of ethical standards.
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