First Human Trials of Swine Flu Vaccine Begin in Australia

[depakid]

Source: Bloomberg

Nurse Luiza Duszynski flicks her syringe, squeezes a few drops of clear liquid from the needle and pushes it into Tara Seaton’s arm. With that, she became one of the world’s first recipients of a vaccine for swine flu. Seaton is among the 240 healthy adult volunteers in Australia who CSL Ltd. began injecting today with its experimental vaccine against H1N1, the new virus strain that sparked the first influenza pandemic in 41 years.

“It was fine, I didn’t even feel it,” Seaton, a 28-year- old post-office assistant, said from the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where she received the shot.

CSL is testing the vaccine over the next seven weeks as it prepares to fill orders from Australia, the U.S. and Singapore. The World Health Organization and Melbourne-based CSL’s larger rivals such as Sanofi-Aventis SA will be watching the test to help determine whether one or two shots are needed to protect people and how many doses can be produced. “The fundamental data that we and others around the world are interested in are the immune response to the first and second dose,” Andrew Cuthbertson, CSL’s chief scientific officer, told reporters in Adelaide. The test results will also show the effects of different doses, he said.

Volunteers are required to keep a diary for six months and record any signs and symptoms, including nausea, increased temperature and swelling around the injection area, Seaton said. Swine flu has killed more than 700 people globally and sickened so many the WHO has stopped issuing a daily tally.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aadm7_AYSmKo

[LeftishBrit]

1. Hope it turns out safe and effective!

[DeadEyeDyck]

2. seems like the last swine flu vaccine

was more deadly than the flu

[Korsa]

3. Was it really?

I didn't really ever notice hearing about it. o.o;;

But I do know that to make a vaccine, you have to use a little of the strain of disease that you are trying to vaccinate people against right in the vaccine. Which is why some people ARE prone to getting ill with the disease they're vaccinated against after they get vaccinated.

My grandpa used to get a flu shot from the VA every year, his doctor insisted. Just the regular human flu, of course. And he would always get the flu a day or two after getting the shot. And that's what was explained to him. After he had the flu and got over it, though, he wouldn't get it again that flu season. So I guess along with the downs, came the ups?

I hope that this swine flu vaccine isn't that way, though. Is what happened with my grandpa and his normal flu shot the same as what happened to make the last swine flu vaccine more deadly at the flu?

[Korsa]

4. Was it really?

I didn't really ever notice hearing about it. o.o;;

But I do know that to make a vaccine, you have to use a little of the strain of disease that you are trying to vaccinate people against right in the vaccine. Which is why some people ARE prone to getting ill with the disease they're vaccinated against after they get vaccinated.

My grandpa used to get a flu shot from the VA every year, his doctor insisted. Just the regular human flu, of course. And he would always get the flu a day or two after getting the shot. And that's what was explained to him. After he had the flu and got over it, though, he wouldn't get it again that flu season. So I guess along with the downs, came the ups?

I hope that this swine flu vaccine isn't that way, though. Is what happened with my grandpa and his normal flu shot the same as what happened to make the last swine flu vaccine more deadly at the flu?

[Posteritatis]

5. 500 GBS cases out of more than 40 million vaccinations? What a dreadful toll! (nt)

[kimmerspixelated]

6. Yes, it has been documented , and happened in 1976.

No thanks, I'll pass, and pump up my immune system!