News Scan for Dec 17, 2014

News brief

Sprout-related Salmonella outbreak grows to 111 cases in 12 states

The Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak related to mung bean sprouts has grown by 24 cases since the CDC's last report on Dec 4, bringing the total to 111 cases in 12 states, according to yesterday's CDC update.

Maryland reported its first 5 cases as of Dec 15, and the outbreak has been largely confined to the northeastern United States. Affected states are Connecticut (8 cases), Maine (4), Maryland (5), Massachusetts (35), Montana (1), New Hampshire (6), New York (21), Ohio (3), Pennsylvania (17), Rhode Island (7), Vermont (3), and Virginia (1).

Investigators identified Brooklyn-based Wonton Foods Inc. as the likely source of the outbreak, and 48 people reported eating sprouts in the week prior to falling ill. In late November, the producer agreed to destroy remaining sprouts and sanitize the facility. Given their 12-day shelf life, it is unlikely that the contaminated sprouts are still available for purchase or consumption, the CDC said.

Salmonella cases related to this outbreak were reported from Sep 30 to Nov 22. People affected were from younger than 1 to 83 years old, and 19 people were hospitalized.

All Salmonella samples tested were susceptible to antibiotic treatment, the CDC said, also asking that people with compromised immune systems, pregnant women, children, and the elderly avoid eating raw sprouts.
Dec 16 CDC update

 

FDA approves device to remove some pathogens from donated plasma

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Intercept Blood System, a device that blood banks can use to remove some pathogens from plasma donations, according to an FDA press release yesterday.

Intercept uses a photochemical process involving ultraviolet light and the chemical amotosalen to inactivate pathogens. The device can be used on plasma obtained from whole blood and plasma obtained by apheresis.

Intercept's manufacturer, Cerus Corp., said that blood banks can use the process on site to inactivate viruses like HIV, hepatitis B and C, and West Nile virus. Other pathogens, such as human parvovirus B19 and some bacterial spores, however, remain active following the photochemical treatment.

The device is being tested in clinical trials in West Africa and at Emory University to inactivate potential pathogens such as HIV and malaria in plasma donations from Ebola survivors. The goal is to make antibody-containing plasma safe and available for Ebola patients, the New York Times reported.

Cerus also is seeking approval to treat platelets with Intercept and is evaluating its use in Puerto Rico, where platelet donation has suffered owing to mosquito-borne illnesses like chikungunya and dengue.

Concerns about the product's use in the United States range from the extra cost it would impose on nonprofit blood banks to the safety of introducing amotosalen into plasma and the potential for platelet damage, according to the Times. The FDA said that plasma is purified to remove the chemical and its byproducts following the inactivation of pathogens.

Cerus chief executive William M. Greenman acknowledged that use of Intercept on platelet donations results in a slight loss of platelets. He said that introducing Intercept in the United States would add $30 to the current $60 cost for obtaining a unit of plasma, and $50 to the current $500 cost for obtaining a unit of platelets, the Times reported.

FDA approval followed the device's evaluation in eight clinical trials involving 704 patients and the transfusion of Intercept-treated plasma in people who have acquired clotting disorders. Adverse events were similar to those experienced using plasma not treated with the device, the agency said.
Dec 16 FDA press release
Dec 16 New York Times article

 

Washington officials set meeting on avian flu

Washington state agriculture officials plan to hold a town hall meeting tomorrow in light of the discovery of two different highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses, H5N2 and H5N8, in wild birds.

Yesterday US officials reported finding an H5N2 virus in a wild pintail duck and an H5N8 virus in a captive gyrfalcon, both in northwestern Washington's Whatcom County, near the area of British Columbia hit recently by H5N2 outbreaks on poultry farms.

The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) announced yesterday it will hold a public meeting in Lynden, Wash., tomorrow to discuss avian flu and steps poultry owners can take to protect their birds. The meeting is set for 6 pm at the Lynden Rotary Club.

The Canadian outbreak prompted increased surveillance on the US side of the border, which led to detection of the two viruses in wild birds, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said yesterday.

In a statement today, the USDA said the gyrfalcon samples were collected after a local falconer reported illness in his birds. The northern pintail duck samples were collected by Washington wildlife officials after a waterfowl die-off at Wiser Lake, Washington, and testing was done by the US Geological Survey and the USDA.

The WSDA statement yesterday said the virus found in Washington is different from the one in the British Columbia outbreak. That contrasts with a USDA report released yesterday, which said the Washington H5N2 virus is similar to the Canadian one.

Neither virus strain has been found in US commercial poultry, and no human H5N8 or H5N2 infections have been reported anywhere, according to the USDA.

The United States has had at least one past outbreak of HPAI H5N2 in poultry, in Texas back in 2004. The outbreak forced the culling of 6,600 broiler chickens on a farm east of San Antonio but did not spread to other farms.
Dec 16 WSDA statement
Related Dec 16 CIDRAP News story
Feb 23, 2004, CIDRAP News story on H5N2 outbreak in Texas

 

Egypt reports another H5N1 death

A 20-year-old Egyptian woman has died of H5N1 avian flu, according to a report today by the Anadolu Agency (AA), Turkey's official press agency.

The woman was a student in Asyut city in Asyut governorate in central Egypt along the Nile River. She was hospitalized in critical condition 3 days ago after developing severe pneumonia, according to medical sources in Asyut. Her death was confirmed by Amr Qandil, head of preventive medicine with Egypt's health ministry.

The woman's death is the country's ninth this year caused by H5N1, and most media reports say Egypt has now confirmed 18 H5N1 cases this year. The H5N1 death toll since 2006 is 72, the AA story said.
Dec 17 AA story

 

WHO confirms 11 recent Saudi MERS cases, 4 deaths

The World Health Organization (WHO) today confirmed 11 MERS-CoV cases, including 4 deaths, reported by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) from Nov 20 to Dec 7.

The patients are from all over the country, with 4 in Taif, 2 in Al-Kharj city, and 1 each in Riyadh, Buraidah, Najran, Rafha, and Sakakah. Only two are women, while eight are Saudi nationals. Their ages range from 28 to 79 years, with a median of 52.

One patient, a 40-year-old man from Taif, is a health worker, though his facility has not treated a confirmed case of MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus), the WHO said. Three patients reported exposure to other MERS patients before they contracted the virus. Five patients had pre-existing disease.

Three patients reported recent animal exposure, one to sheep, one to camels and sheep, and one—a 28-year-old man in Najran—to unspecified animals, though the report said, "He lives in an area with heavy presence of camels, although he has no history of contact with them." In addition, one patient, a 70-year-old woman in critical condition, had no history of contact with camels, "but her household contacts had frequent contact with animals."

Among the 8 surviving patients, 3 are currently in critical condition and 5 in stable condition, the WHO said, adding that contact tracing is ongoing for these cases.

In related news, the MOH reported no new MERS-CoV cases today, but it said a 28-year-old man in Najran has recovered from the disease. This appears to be the 28-year-old expatriate mentioned in today's WHO report, which lists the man in critical condition in an intensive care unit. The Saudi MERS count stands at 821 cases, including 355 deaths.
Dec 17 WHO statement
Dec 17 MOH update

Biosecurity Scan for Dec 17, 2014

News brief

Risk-benefit analysis is next step toward policy on GOF research

In the wake of this week's symposium on gain-of-function (GOF) virologic research, the next step is for a federal advisory panel to develop plans for a risk-benefit analysis of such studies, says a spokeswoman for the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

The Obama administration recently suspended funding for GOF research on influenza and two other viruses to allow time to develop a federal policy. To launch the policy development effort, the 2-day symposium earlier this week aired scientific and technical questions related to GOF research. It was hosted by the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine.

The term "GOF" generally refers to experiments that involve enhancing the pathogenicity, transmissibility, or host range of a pathogenic microbe, in the interest of better understanding disease pathways and developing vaccines and drugs.

NAS spokeswoman Jennifer Walsh said a summary of the symposium will be provided to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) in January and will also be made available to the public via the National Academies Press Web site.

The summary should help the NSABB as it works with a contractor to develop a "risk/benefit analysis structure" on GOF research, Walsh told CIDRAP News. After the NSABB publishes the analysis structure, the NAS will hold a second conference to allow for public comments on it, she added.

The estimated timing for the second meeting is July 2015, but it will depend on when the draft plan is released, Walsh said. She also noted that a video recording of this week's symposium should be available online next week.
Dec 12 CIDRAP News item on GOF symposium
Oct 17 CIDRAP News item on funding pause

 

Government search turns up more misplaced lab pathogens

The months-long sweep of government labs in the wake of the summertime discovery of security breaches involving anthrax, smallpox, and other disease pathogens has turned up yet more previously unaccounted-for pathogens, including ricin and a deadly form of avian flu virus, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

The sweep was ordered after lab workers were potentially exposed to Bacillus anthracis—which causes anthrax—at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lab in June, followed in July by the discovery of smallpox vials on the campus of the National Institutes of Health and a CDC breach involving highly pathogenic avian flu viruses. The search has involved nearly a dozen federal agencies, 4,000 labs, and more than 40 million samples, the Post noted. The latest findings were released yesterday.

On Sep 5 officials said the search at that point had turned up other misplaced microbes, including those that cause plague, tularemia, melioidosis, botulism, and a certain foodborne disease, as well as ricin. In late August officials had asked federally funded labs to suspend all work for about 24 hours to conduct microbe inventories.

The pathogens discovered in recent weeks included vials of virulent avian flu virus at US Department of Agriculture labs in Iowa and Georgia and samples of botulinum toxin at a CDC lab. The Post story did not specify the strain of avian flu, but it said those samples and the botulinum toxin were destroyed.

It added that other microbe samples were transferred to labs authorized to house them. Officials said all samples of dangerous pathogens were safely stored and there was no evidence to suggest anyone was exposed to them.
Dec 16 Washington Post story
Sep 5 CIDRAP News scan on previous lab discoveries

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