Universal flu vaccine and human Guinea Pigs!

Human trials of universal flu vaccine begin from PhysOrg.com

Clinical trials of a new vaccine that could protect against multiple types of flu are beginning at Oxford University. If successful, the ‘universal’ flu injection would transform the way we vaccinate against influenza and could offer immunity to a bird flu pandemic.

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The problem with the Influenza Virus (the Flu virus) is that it changes over time. Small changes lead to drift and normally cause epidemics while more substantial changes, also know as gene shift, may cause dreaded pandemics. The problem with the flu vaccine is that it targets special protein found at the surface of the virus and that shift and drift creates "new viruses" no longer recognized by our immune system. So there...you need a shot every year...AND YOU SHOULD GET IT!

The problem with yearly shots is that new vaccine production is mainly based on statistics and the probability to find such and such strain in any given year. This is normally based on the study of previous years. In a way, it can sometimes be a long shot. Having said that, even with the uncertainty these shots can prove to be useful.

Many people do not want to be inoculated with vaccines for various reasons including the fact that some vaccines contain Thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative, even if Thimerosal has been proven to be eliminated very quickly by the organism even in infants.

The bird flu that, so far, has killed close to 200 people worldwide reminds us that a pandemic is more a question of "when" than of "if" and the scientific community is trying its best to come up with a solution. The main problem in the production of a new vaccine against a probable bird flu pandemic is that we need the virus before we can produce a vaccine...in other words, we need the pandemic to start before we can inoculate people. The other problem is that vaccine production takes a lot of effort and the industrial capacity worldwide is limited. We would NOT have enough vaccines for everyone on the planet!

A new vaccine seems promising and would likely address many problems related to yearly vaccine production. A universal vaccine targeting ALL strains of influenza. WOW! That is a real need! On September 8th, human clinical trials started with a limited cohort of brave human Guinea pigs. This study, done at the Oxford university, could lead the way to a new and much needed vaccine. Read more HERE

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavocarrijo/12181990/

Health Canada and the FDA have to regulate chicken soup!

Chicken soup....YUM. Especially my wifes chicken soup...sublime and soothing after a day of ski. Some of you were told by your grandmothers...."chicken soup is good when you have a cold". This amazing meal has health virtues that have been published in very serious journals...CHEST for instance. A quick search on Pubmed with the keywords "chicken" and "soup" gave me 77 hits...hey...not bad at all!!! Some of those studies use qui sophisticated instruments, jusst look at this one:

Measurement of the radical scavenging activity of chicken jelly soup, a part of the medicated diet, 'Yakuzen', made from gelatin gel food 'Nikogori', using chemiluminescence and electron spin resonance methods.International journal of molecular medicine. 2006 18(1): 107-111

Another publication offers a list of conditiions treated with chicken soup or soup made with other fowl. As an example here is a table from an article published in CHEST: Fred Rosner, MD (1980)Therapeutic efficacy of chicken soup. Chest, 78(4): 672-674.


Furthermore, it seems that using certain parts of chicken or fowl can have adverse effects:



Now...what do you (as a serious scientist) think of this abstract???

"A case is reported in which a previously healthy individual, having received an inadequate course of chicken soup in treatment of mild pneumococcal pneumonia, experienced a severe relapse, refractory to all medical treatment and eventually requiring thoracotomy. The pharmacology of chicken soup is reviewed and the dangers of abrupt termination of therapy are stressed"

Caroline, NL et Schwartz, H. 1975. Chicken soup rebound and relapse of pneumonia: report of a case. Chest, 67 (2) 215-216.

Finally, for your own pleasure here is a study of "sipping soup through a straw" and its effects on nasal mucus velocity...that's a gem!

Saketkhoo et al. 1978. Effects of drinking hot water, cold water, and chicken soup on nasal mucus velocity and nasal airflow resistance. Chest, 74(4) 408-410

Here is my very last question....how am I suppose to pronounce the first authors name? Is it...SAK-ATCHOO???