WHO SWITCHES OUT SEASONAL FLU VIRUS STRAIN

WHO SWITCHES OUT SEASONAL FLU VIRUS STRAIN

Last Updated on Wednesday, 14 October 2009 14:09
Wednesday, 14 October 2009 13:31

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WHO has recommended the replacement of the current seasonal influenza vaccine strain with a virus that has components of the pandemic H1N1 virus, following a meeting of „experts“ from the Global Influenza Surveillance Network.

The decision by WHO to alter components of the H3N2 virus in this years seasonal flu vaccine to make it more similar to a H1N1 pandemic virus will fuel fears that WHO is manipulating the H1N1 virus to increase the likelihood of a pandemic emerging when people take the „swine flu“ vaccine soon after their seasonal flu shot.

A French scientist who works for WHO's Global Inflzenza Surveillance Network, Bruno Lina, carried out research this summer into making the "swine flu" more virulent.

In a report published in the French Lyonmag on July 16th, Professor Bruno Lina said he was leading a team at a laboratory located in the "Rockefeller House" in Lyon seeking to find a gene to make the swine flu more virulent.

" …What types of research are being carried out by laboratory against the influenza virus?"

"Bruno Lina: "We are seeking to understand the evolution of this virus. And among the scenarios that are
possible, there are those concerning the factor of virulence. Work we are therefore carrying out in P4 today relates to the
virus H1N 1, into which we are introducing a gene for virulence to see if the latter accepts it and if it becomes the same time more dangerous. At present, the virus has great difficulty to acquire the factor of virulence.»

Lyon Mag.com : Quels types de recherches sont menés au sein du laboratoire contre le virus de la Grippe A ?
Bruno Lina : On essaye d’imaginer l’évolution de ce virus. Et parmi les scénarii qui sont possibles, il y a le facteur de virulence. Les travaux que l’on mène donc aujourd’hui dans le P4 concernent le virus H1N 1, et dans lequel on introduit un gène de virulence pour voir si celui-ci l’accepte et s’il devient du même coup plus dangereux. Pour l’instant, le virus a beaucoup de mal à acquérir le facteur de virulence. Mais notre objectif est d’avoir un coup d’avance par rapport à ce qu’il pourrait se passer dans la nature et d’anticiper l’apparition d’une mutation traitée en laboratoire.

Professor Bruno Lina is the head of the WHO national reference lab in France housed in the Avenue Rockefeller in Lyon, according to Infomed. Direct links to WHO did not work.

Link

France - Lyon
Dr Martine Valette

Professor Bruno Lina
Centre National de Référence de la Grippe Région Sud
Laboratoire de Virologie
Domaine Rockefeller
8 Avenue Rockefeller
Lyon
France
Fax: +33 (4) 7801 4887

The P4 laboratory, for which Professor Lina also works, plays a key role in a system of surveillance of infectious diseases run by WHO, according to the laboratory's own website.

"Unique en Europe, le P4 joue un rôle clé dans le système de surveillance et d'alerte épidémiologique mondial coordonné par l'OMS."

The biosecurity laboratory in Lyon is part of the government-funded science network, INSERM, and appears to be working on viruses that can be used for biological warfare such as ebola.


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