Swine flu will devastate Africa

Saturday, 09 May 2009

JOHANNESBURG – An American researcher last week said he hoped to have a vaccine for the new H1N1 flu in three weeks, as the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned the virus would have a bigger impact on Africa than it has had anywhere else should it break out on the continent. Purdue University professor Suresh Mittal said last Thursday that the vaccine for H1N1 flu or swine flu could be ready for testing in mice in two to three weeks and possibly production in a few months. "We would like to have a vaccine in two to three weeks to start testing in mice," said Mittal, a professor of comparative pathobiology in the School of Veterinary Medicine. Mittal and collaborators at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will use a method he developed for dealing with the H5N1 bird flu to accelerate work on the H1N1 swine flu. They will use a common cold virus to carry a gene of the H1N1 flu virus and stimulate cells to create both antibodies and cell-based protection that will guard against mutated forms of the flu virus. "The adenovirus is incapable of replicating and does not seem to cause disease in humans," Mittal said in a press release. "That makes it a suitable virus to work with for flu vaccines." The vaccine Mittal created for the bird flu worked on three different strains isolated over a seven-year period and was described in papers for the Journal of Infectious Diseases and the journal Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. "If things go well, and we achieve full scale production, it will be several months until the vaccine will be available," a spokesperson for the CDC cautioned. A number of different institutions, both private and public, are working on the development of a vaccine for swine flu. According to WHO, 2 371 cases of H1N1 flu have been reported by 24 countries. Forty-six people have died; 44 of them in Mexico and two in the United States. The WHO said H1N1 flu would have devastating impact on Africa should it breakout on the world’s poorest continent where surveillance systems are weaker and resources lacking. No cases have been confirmed in Africa, but doctors are investigating five potential cases -- one in Benin and four in the Seychelles, according to the world health watchdog. "If the epidemic hits Africa the impact may be more serious," WHO Africa director Luis Gomes Sambo told reporters at a meeting of African ministers for health in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. "The surveillance systems are weaker and the resources that are required are just not sufficient, so we are now in the process of preparation." African ministers discussed plans to combat any possible outbreak of H1N1 during the two-day health conference that ended last Friday at African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa. Sambo said WHO was distributing 1,000 doses of Tamiflu, the only drug that has been shown to be effective against the strain, to every African country to boost their capacity to respond to any emergency outbreak of swine flu. Sub-Saharan Africa is already grappling with epidemics such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. Sambo said poor health conditions on the continent could help H1N1 spread. "If we have this new type of influenza, it may compromise the already poor health conditions of people in Africa," said Sambo. "Particularly those that are most vulnerable, those with immune deficiencies from HIV or malnutrition." MDC-M suspends officials HARARE – The Arthur Mutambara faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has suspended six officials, including two Members of Parliament Abednico Bhebhe and Sijabuliso Mguni. The other four are Job Sikhala, Norman Mpofu, Alex Goosen and Gift Nyandoro. MDC spokesman Edwin Mushoriwa said last Friday that the six were suspended for misconduct, adding that they would be brought before party disciplinary committee in due course. “MDC advises that it has suspended the six members from the Party with immediate effect, pending their appearance before the national disciplinary committee on charges of misconduct,” said Mushoriwa. Bhebhe, the legislator for Nkayi South, caused a stir in the MDC-M after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the main formation of the MDC, nominated him as Minister of Water Development. Together with Sijabuliso Mguni, the legislator for Lupane, they stand accused by the MDC-M of voting for MDC-T legislator Love Moyo for the job of Speaker of Parliament instead of backing their party’s candidate, Paul Themba Nyathi. Sikhala has in recent weeks mounted a campaign against Mutambara, who he has accused of leaning too close to President Robert Mugabe.