UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

First human H1N1 vaccine trials begin

SYDNEY, July 22 (UPI) -- The first human trials of the H1N1 flu vaccines began Wednesday in Australia, where the flu season is under way.

About 500 people turned out for the trials, various media outlets reported.

Drug companies CSL and Vaxine began testing their products -- CSL on 240 healthy adult volunteers and Vaxine on 300, Nature.com reported.

CSL's Research and Development Director Andrew Cuthbertson told the Sydney Morning Herald said the vaccine should be proven by late September.

"As soon as I have confirmation that the vaccine is safe and effective, I will ensure it can be rolled out to the community," Australia's Health Minister Nicola Roxon said.

Cuthbertson said H1N1 flu virus, formerly called swine flu, hasn't mutated yet.

"So far at least it doesn't appear to have changed very much which I guess from the point of view of preparing a vaccine is a good thing," he said.

"The world will be watching to see the immunogenicity results of this first clinical trial," said Marie-Paule Kieny, director of the World Health Organization's initiative for vaccine research. "It is likely to be indicative of how the other vaccine candidates will perform."

ESA opens British research facility

OXFORD, England, July 22 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency officially opened its new research facility in Britain Wednesday.

The facility will focus on science and exploration, with an emphasis on robotics and climate change, the BBC reported.

The center is part of a group of high-tech businesses and academic institutions operating on the Harwell innovation campus near Oxford.

ESA officials said they anticipate the new unit will become its hub for "industrial intelligence," a venture seeking to pull new ideas from the private sector into the agency.

"We at ESA are looking at the Harwell site to see how we can work differently on the techno front with industry -- not just British industry, but European industry in general," David Southwood, ESA's chief scientist, told BBC News.

Healthy surroundings aid coral recovery

SAN DIEGO, July 22 (UPI) -- Bleached corals bounce back to normal growth rates faster when they have clean water and lots of sea life at their side, a U.S. university study indicated.

The study, lead by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California-San Diego, suggests that better overall ocean health means corals are better able to recover from bleaching events, the university said in a news release.

Bleaching events occur when rising sea temperatures force corals to spew out symbiotic algae. Bleaching is expected to become more frequent as climate change increases ocean temperatures, scientists said.

The study showed Mountainous star coral on reefs in Honduras and Belize was able to recover from a major bleaching event and grow normally within two to three years when the surrounding waters and reef were relatively healthy, scientists said. By contrast, corals living with excessive local impacts, such as pollution, couldn't fully recover after eight years.

"You can imagine that when you are recovering from a sickness, it will take a lot longer if you don't eat well or get enough rest," said Jessica Carilli, Scripps graduate student and lead author on the study. "Similarly, a coral organism that must be constantly trying to clean itself from excess sediment particles will have a more difficult time recovering after a stressful condition like bleaching."

The findings were published in Wednesday's edition of PLoS ONE.

Chimps with SIV show AIDS-like symptoms

CHICAGO, July 22 (UPI) -- Wild chimpanzees infected with Simian Immunodeficiency Viruses can contract AIDS-like symptoms and die, U.S. researchers said Wednesday.

SIV has many forms and was thought to be harmless to apes, researchers from the University of Illinois who participated in the global study said in a news release. SIV is the precursor virus for AIDS and HIV-1, which first entered human populations after transmission from chimpanzees.

"Chimpanzees and humans are very similar genetically, so perhaps we should not be surprised that these closely related viruses cause disease in both hosts," said Dr. Beatrice Hahn, a professor of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who led an international consortium.

Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo and University of Illinois researchers established a chimpanzee health-monitoring program at Gombe National Park in Tanzania, providing laboratories and expertise for post-mortem analyses of chimpanzees that died during the course of the study.

For the last nine years, the consortium has monitored SIV infections of the Gombe chimpanzees. Researchers said they found chimpanzees infected with SIV were 10 to16 times more likely to die in any year than those who remained uninfected.

"When I first looked at these samples I was taken aback," said U-I veterinary pathologist Karen Terio, a primary author on the paper. "Slides from one of the chimps showed extreme lymphatic tissue destruction, and looked just like a sample from a human patient who has died of AIDS."

U.S. flu clinical trials set to begin

BETHESDA, Md., July 22 (UPI) -- Preparations are under way to initiate clinical trials to test 2009 H1N1 flu vaccine candidates, U.S. heath officials said Wednesday.

Scientists in a network of medical research facilities across the United States are prepared to begin the trials to gather data about flu vaccines, including the two candidates for the H1N1 strain, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in a news release.

"With the emergence of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, we have undertaken a collaborative and efficient process of vaccine development that is proceeding in stepwise fashion," NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci said.

The first global human trials of H1N1 vaccines began Wednesday in Australia.

After the virus was isolated and characterized, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta generated and distributed a 2009 H1N1 seed virus to vaccine manufacturers to develop vaccine pilot lots for the clinical trials.

Studies will look at dosage levels for different age populations. A concurrent set of trials will examine the safety and immune response.

"These data will be factored into the decision about how and if to implement a 2009 H1N1 flu immunization program this fall," Fauci said.

Officials said the trials are being conducted in a tight time frame in the face of a possible resurgence of the H1N1 flu infections this fall. Results are expected to be available weeks after the trials begin.