Swine Flu Vaccine

Scientists successfully adapt bird flu vaccine for swine flu, says WHO

INTERNATIONAL. Scientists have used bird flu virus samples from Egypt to develop a new basis for a vaccine against the toxic H5N1 strain that continues to circulate, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

Avian influenza kills about half the people it infects, but unlike the quickly circulating swine flu H1N1 flu virus, it has not been shown to pass easily between humans to date.

In a statement, the WHO said the seed virus was developed at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta "thanks to the Ministry of Health and Population of Egypt for providing virus specimens."

"This recombinant vaccine virus is available for distribution," it said.

"Institutions, companies and others interested in pandemic vaccine development who wish to receive these candidate vaccine viruses should contact either the WHO Global Influenza Programme, or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Vaccine makers including Novartis have already been working on immunizations against the H5N1 bird flu strain, which experts fear could trigger a deadly pandemic if it mutates and starts spreading easily between people.

Avian influenza has been regularly causing disease in birds, with 250 outbreaks in February alone in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal and Vietnam, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

It has killed 261 people out of 424 infected since 2003, according to the WHO. By contrast, the recently-discovered swine flu H1N1 strain that has also put the world on pandemic alert has infected more than 13,000 people but killed just 95, according to officially confirmed figures from the WHO.

Scientists need fresh samples of the H5N1 virus as it continues to spread, as it has been doing in Egypt, so that any vaccines made against the flu strain match its latest form.

"The Global Influenza Programme has been closely monitoring the antigenic and genetic evolution of the circulating viruses, especially human virus isolates," the WHO said.

"Countries are encouraged to share with WHO their specimens and/or isolates, both from humans and animals, for their inclusion in the WHO H5N1 vaccine virus development and selection process, in addition to other activities of public health significance."

Source: BI-ME and Reuters , Author: BI-ME staff
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 5:53 pm

Prathap G

 

This is Prathapan Gopalan or Prathap G. in short, wearing a black turban.

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India Election Results 2009

Congress Party tastes victory in India

NEW DELHI, May 16, 2009 (UPI) - The Congress Party and its allies appeared to have won a decisive victory in the Indian elections, officials said Saturday.

 

Congress seemed likely to have more than 200 seats in the Lok Sabha or parliament once all the votes are counted, The Hindu reported. With its allies in the United Progressive Alliance, the party would have more than half of the 543 parliamentary seats.

The victory makes Manmohan Singh the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to lead his party to victory after a five-year term, the newspaper said. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, appearing at a news conference with Singh, made it clear that he would remain in office.

"The people of India have spoken, and spoken with great clarity," Singh said, appearing at a news conference with Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi, widow of Nehru's grandson, said that Singh would decide whether to name her son, Rahul Gandhi, to the Cabinet.

Before the vote counting began, there were predictions of a close race between Congress and the Hindu nationalist BJP party. The outcome denied any chance to help form a government to the Third Front, a left-wing alliance including the Communists and some regional parties with Congress.

The Congress Party's allies, Trinamool Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, also were successful in the national elections, PTI said.

UPA's rival, the National Democratic Alliance, had garnered 166 seats to date, thanks mainly to the Bharatiya Janata Party taking 50 seats and leading in 67 more.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley has admitted defeat in the Indian elections, following Third Front leaders in accepting the victory by the Congress Party and its alliance, the BBC reported.

"We accept this verdict," Jaitley said. "Something certainly did go wrong. ... Our performance was not up to expectation."

India’s Congress-led alliance won a commanding election victory with a projected 250 seats against 160 for the main opposition bloc headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Indian election victory for 2 Gandhis

Rahul and Varun Gandhi, cousins from India's most prominent political family and now on opposite sides, were both winners in Saturday's vote count.

 

Varun Gandhi, a member of the Hindu Nationalist BJP, hung on to his parliamentary seat in Uttar Pradesh, The Times of London reported. Gandhi, arrested during the campaign following the release of an anti-Muslim speech, had a convincing majority.

But Rahul Gandhi saw his party, Congress, win more than 200 seats, leading the United Progressive Alliance to a majority. He is now being tipped as a likely prime minister in two or three years like his father, Rajiv Gandhi, his grandmother, Indira Gandhi, and his great-grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru.

 

Sonia Gandhi, Rahul's mother and the Congress president, appeared at a news conference Saturday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. She made it clear that Singh will lead the new government.

Political commentators immediately began speculating that Singh, 76, will step down in favor of Rahul Gandhi before he completes his second term.

Members of Congress carried banners with pictures of Rahul and his sister, Priyanka, as they celebrated the party's victory.

Shashi Tharoor creates history

Shashi Tharoor has created history by winning the Lok Sabha seat from the Kerala capital, Thiruvanathapuram, by an unprecedented margin.

 

Tharoor, a former UN undersecretary general, won the seat in his southern home state of Kerala by a margin of more than 95,000 votes, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

The 53-year-old was India’s official candidate to succeed former UN secretary general Kofi Annan in 2006, but finished second behind eventual winner Ban Ki-Moon.

Tharoor had campaigned for the top UN position with a pledge to speed up the deployment of peacekeepers to conflict areas as part of institutional reforms, and to bridge a growing divide between developing and rich countries.

An award-winning author who has penned 11 books, Tharoor said if elected to parliament he would turn his home state into a centre of excellence in higher education.

Prathap's property vandalized

 

Click here to view the movie

It's Prathap's property at Omalloor through which the Gramapanchanyat, Krishi or some local authorities had digged a one metre deep canal to allow water to flow, and left the work unfinished, especially at the opening part of the canal on the east, meaning no water enters into the canal. It was a futile exercise by the authorities.

This was done in November, 2008, and when approched the authoriies concerned, they did not know what we were talking about, and said they are not going to do any finishing work.

India Elections

What’s the fun electing the same old genre over and over again, which is a collosal waste of time.

The young generation of India ought to enter into active politics and change the very fabric of the Indian electoral system, a system that would eradicate poverty from the face of India, a system that would eliminate corruption and corrupt politicians from India, a system that would make India a global power.

Major shift in Bahrain's labour law

Bahrain’s Ministry of Labour is set to enact a law giving expatriate workers similar freedoms to Bahraini nationals when it comes to switching jobs, including unemployment benefits.

 

The Labour Minister, HE Dr Majeed Al Alawi, said the law will come into affect under a ministerial decree exactly three months from today.

“It represents a major shift in labour policy for this region,” he told Construction Week.

“It will virtually break the sponsorship system and allow free movement of expatriate workers between jobs.”

The law was originally approved in 2006 as part of a major overhaul of Bahrain’s labour market, which included the formation of the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA).

Al Alawi, who is also chairman of the LMRA, said officials have had extensive discussions with industry leaders over the past six months and have finally agreed on terms acceptable to both parties.

“There is strong opposition from employers, but we think it is good for the market,” he said.

“It will end the black market for free visas and workers will have the option to go to employers where they will be treated and paid better.

“It will have big implications for all expatriate workers, including those in the construction sector.”

Under the new law expatriate workers will be allowed to freely move to another job by giving three months notice and adhering to the terms of their contract.

If a contract ends, then employees will be given one month to find a new job, during which time they will be paid unemployment benefits, said Al Alawi - By Benjamin Millington , April 30th, 2009.

Comments from Prathap G., Sharjah - I am of the view that the United Arab Emirates, and all other GCC countries should have the same labour law.



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