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Europe gets ready to combat a flu pandemic: Avian flu
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At the end of December 2005, the European Union called on projects supporting scientific research to prepare for the battle against an influenza pandemic, with a budget of 20 million euros. The EU had already invested 22 million euros in several research projects which are now generating results. Avian influenza is at our doorsteps, and Europe has co-financed projects which allow scientists to detect and recognise the infamous H5N1 virus as well as understand how it is transmitted between species and evaluate the effectiveness of the appropriate vaccines. This video report includes two eight-minute reports. Among the winter influenza images, there will be 3D graphic animations of the influenza virus and of the different levels of intervention of European projects on the virus or on infected cells. This report also includes images of European virology laboratories, influenza patients, general pharmaceutical images and images of industrial vaccine production. The subject of avian influenza will include images of surveillance mechanisms for migratory birds, laboratory tests, virus cultures in chicken eggs and general laboratory images. People interviewed for the reports: Dr. Ilaria CAPUA Head Virology Laboratory Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venizie, IT Project DIVA Giovanni Cattoli Head of Research & Development Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venizie, IT Project AVIFLU Dr. Guus KOCH CIDC-Lelystad, NL Project AVIFLU Pr. Kristien VAN REETH Lab. Of Virology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ghent, BE Project ESNIP Prof. Albert OSTERHAUS Director of the National Influenza Centre, Head of the Department of Virology Erasmus University Rotterdam, NL Project NOVAFLU
Influenza is the name of a virus, or rather a family of viruses, which frightens people
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because they know it can kill.
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But what exactly do we mean when we talk of avian flu, avian plague, or avian virus?
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Avian means concerning birds.
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We're therefore talking about a virus present in birds.
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In order to understand the intense scientific research which Europe is supporting to combat
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this virus, we first of all have to understand what exactly a virus is.
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A virus is an envelope containing a coded message which speaks the same language as
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all living animal or human cells.
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It's the genetic code.
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So when the virus enters a living cell and delivers its message, not only does the cell
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understand it, but it also executes the order.
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In some cases, this genetic deviation can be fatal.
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This is precisely the case with the influenza virus whose envelope is spiked with two types
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of sharp point, proteins.
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In orange, hemagglutinin H, and in blue, neuraminidase N, hence the famous reference H5N1.
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It causes death of 80 to 100 percent of the birds it infects, and it is also capable of
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infecting humans and of killing 50 percent of the humans it infects.
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There are 16 different forms of H and 9 of N.
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And it was the most dangerous combination, H5N1, the most pathogenic form, which started
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to propagate itself amongst birds in Asia in 1999.
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In Asia, what has happened is that this virus has found an ideal situation with very many
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different species that it is capable of infecting, and it has done his best to spill over into
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different species.
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So we have seen infection in different bird species, which are in fact quite distinct
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from another, like chickens, like wild birds, like ducks, like geese.
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We have seen infections spilling over into pigs, and we have seen infections spilling
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over into humans.
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Because influenza can easily spread from one species to another.
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This manipulation clearly shows how virulent viruses are.
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A sample suspected of containing the H5N1 virus is injected into a living egg.
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This is what happens.
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In the absence of the virus, the embryo survives.
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We can even see how it moves with the help of this special lamp.
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However, if the virus is present, in just a few hours the egg dies.
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But at the same time, it produces a quantity of analyzable and identifiable virus.
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Detecting and recognizing the H5N1 virus, understanding the way it's transmitted between
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species and judging the efficacy of appropriate vaccines, is the objective of the Aviflu project
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financed by the European Union.
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It's a joint research project with five members from Italy, the Netherlands, France, Denmark
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and the UK.
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One of the main goals is to evaluate the efficacy of these vaccines.
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In order to evaluate the efficacy and the level of protection from clinical disease
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in birds, and also to evaluate the virus shed by vaccinated birds, because we want to know
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if vaccinated birds are still carriers of the virus.
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What we showed is that we only needed to vaccinate the birds once.
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After 14 days after vaccination, they were protected, they didn't show any disease anymore,
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and the virus didn't spread.
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But seven days after vaccination, they became infected, didn't show any disease, but still
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spread the virus to other birds.
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This is why researchers at the Zooprophylactic Institute in Venice have developed the DIVA
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process which allows scientists to differentiate between animals which have been vaccinated
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and infected, and animals which have simply been infected.
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A vaccine, that is a virus rendered harmless, is injected which presents H5 on its surface
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and not N1 but N9.
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As a result, this mouse will be protected against H5N1 because it will have developed
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antibodies against H5, but it will produce antibodies against N9, proof that it's been
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vaccinated.
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As well as the diagnostic aspect and vaccination of the animal population, a whole area of
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European research is dedicated to veterinary surveillance.
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The European Union's NOVAFLU project has allowed six member states to establish a real network
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to monitor wild birds in collaboration with ornithologists and bird watchers, because
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we know that migration routes are a potential way for the virus to reach Europe.
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These are the polders in the Netherlands, and using tame geese and large nets, these
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men are capturing wild geese from Siberia.
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The sampling effort is massive in order to have at any moment a very clear picture of
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the level of penetration of the virus, as well as the type of virus entering.
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But that's not all.
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When we had the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the Netherlands in 2003,
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when we had to kill more than 30 million chickens in this country, and where 89 people became
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infected, developed disease, and even one person died, right at the beginning of the
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outbreak, we could tell within a day, on the basis of what we had been doing, within a
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day, that this was an H7N7 virus, that was the first thing, and also that the virus came
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in principle from wild birds, because the ancestors of the virus, we had identified
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them in the years before in wild mallards, in wild ducks.
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Infecting animal populations must also be monitored.
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This is why a consortium of seven European countries, plus Hong Kong and the United States,
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has developed the SNIP project, to monitor influenza in pigs.
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There is concern that avian influenza viruses will transmit to swine, and then from swine
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to humans.
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It is possible that avian influenza viruses infect swine, this is well known, but usually
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it exists without consequences.
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Without consequences, but surveillance remains essential, because as the pig is genetically
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very close to man, it could provide a favourable environment for the avian virus to recombine
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with the human form.
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That's a long way off, but researchers know that three subtypes of the influenza virus,
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which are harmless to humans, are present in pig populations in Belgium, Germany, the
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Netherlands, Italy, France and Spain.
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Three subtypes, which the pig gets rid of very quickly, but which can cause it suffering.
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Many of those infections are without any disease, but the virus can cause severe respiratory
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problems, breathing difficulties, dyspnoea, coughing, fever and loss of weight.
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This is why it can be economically important for swine production, and why some swine farmers
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prefer to vaccinate against swine influenza.
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The European Union has invested and will continue to invest a lot of money in research in order
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to be able to respond immediately to the order of the day.
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Be ready.
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Ready with rapid diagnostic techniques, with a clear understanding of how the virus propagates,
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with the development of a vaccine and the monitoring of the health of vaccinated animals.
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And add to that the global monitoring of both wild animals and domestic ones.
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Learn more at www.isglobal.org
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- Idioma/s:
- Niveles educativos:
- ▼ Mostrar / ocultar niveles
- Nivel Intermedio
- Autor/es:
- The European Union
- Subido por:
- EducaMadrid
- Licencia:
- Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
- Visualizaciones:
- 479
- Fecha:
- 23 de julio de 2007 - 10:35
- Visibilidad:
- Público
- Enlace Relacionado:
- European Commission
- Duración:
- 07′ 51″
- Relación de aspecto:
- 4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
- Resolución:
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- Tamaño:
- 40.55 MBytes
