CDC Begins Work on Vaccine for China Flu

US researchers are developing a vaccine to block H7N9 flu that’s killed six in China. China reports that “No cases of human-to-human transmission have been confirmed, even though China’s disease control agency has traced hundreds of people who had contact with the 14 known cases,” report Donald G. McNeil Jr, Andrew Jacobs for the New York Times. Global cooperation to tackle the flu is underway, the Times reports: ““Because China has posted the genetic sequences of the virus on public databanks, it is possible to build the genes for the virus’s outer spikes in a laboratory and attach them to a viral ‘backbone’ that has already been proven to grow well in labs.” Thus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can develop the vaccine from synthetic DNA. Chinese researchers report good results on treatment with antiviral drugs. The flu has many unknowns, including how it’s spread, but joint monitoring and research could stop H7N9 in its tracks. – YaleGlobal

CDC Begins Work on Vaccine for China Flu

The globe attacks new bird flu: China posts the H7N9 genetic code online and US health officials proceed to build synthetic DNA for vaccine
Donald G. McNeil Jr, Andrew Jacobs
Monday, April 8, 2013
Donald G. McNeil Jr. reported from New York, and Andrew Jacobs from Beijing.
Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company