Documents reveal leaks and spills at national virus lab <http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Documents+reveal+leaks+spills+nation\ al+virus/2619532/story.html> --250 internal incidents were reported in Winnipeg lab between 2005 and 2009 27 Feb 2010 New documents reveal Canada's National Microbiology Lab isn't immune to leaks, spills and failures in restricted areas where lethal organisms are housed. The incidents range in severity and include benign finger cuts, potential exposures to chemicals and viruses such as avian influenza, and equipment failures in Level 3 and 4 containment labs. One 2006 incident resulted in a person exposed to a "negligible" amount of a Level 4 pathogen. Security breaches at the federal lab made headlines last year after no one noticed 22 vials of biological material went missing from the high-security facility for four months. A former vaccine researcher was arrested by FBI special agents after U.S. Customs discovered the vials stuffed in a glove in the trunk of his car at the Manitoba-North Dakota border crossing. Some of the vials included genes from the deadly Ebola virus.
Inovio Biomedical given OK for H5N1 flu vaccine trials <http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/03/inovio-biomedical-given-\ ok-h5n1-flu-vaccine-trials/> 03 Mar 2010 Inovio Biomedical said it got the go-ahead to begin human trials of a 'preventive' vaccine for H5N1 avian flu in Korea. The San Diego company said it will conduct the 30-patient, three-dose trial together with its Korean affiliate VGX International. The company, which said it plans a parallel study in the United States to begin later this year, is working toward a "universal" vaccine that would work against a broad set of influenza subtypes. 'Something happened in 2008, when drug resistance took hold.' Pandemic flu virus may become resistant to Tamiflu <http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report_pandemic-flu-virus-may-become-res\ istant-to-tamiflu_1354245> 02 Mar 2010 A new study, conducted by researchers at the Ohio State University, analysing the behaviour of seasonal H1N1 suggests that pandemic flu may become resistant to Tamiflu, the main drug used against it. OSU scientists traced the evolutionary history of the seasonal H1N1 influenza virus, which first infected humans during the 1918 pandemic... Gradually, the H1N1 strain of seasonal influenza surviving around the world has developed mutations that have caused it to become resistant to oseltamivir-based agents.
