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Polio vaccine plays pranks on children

Posted by bangladesh

How many doses of polio vaccine does a child need? 10, 20 or even more?

Bangladeshi children have been afflicted with the wild polio virus even after taking as many as 23 doses of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), a government document reveals.

The 18 cases were found in 2006 – the latest being available – when the government said the virus came in from India, where it was endemic then. But it did not divulge details of those cases.

It was reported that the government had also said that the new cases were found after 2000 since special immunisation campaign was not conducted in the earlier year.

The document, a copy of which is available with bdnews24.com, showed that an eight and a half years old boy had been detected with the virus even though he received 23 doses of vaccine.

Two others got the virus despite being administered 12 doses of vaccines and at least one received 11 doses. The remainder of the 18 children received 10 doses each.

Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque told bdnews24.com that he had no idea as he was not in charge then. "I'll seek documents from EPI (Expanded Programme on Immunisation)," he said.

Child specialist National Professor M R Khan said a study was needed to find out the reason.

He, however, told bdnews24.com that they might get the virus because "either the vaccines were ineffective or the children were immune-compromised."

The EPI routinely immunises children in 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 14 weeks and in 9 months with 'trivalent' OPV, despite the fact that the strain-2 of the virus has been wiped off the world long before.

Moreover, National Immunisation Day is being observed since 1995 twice a year when all children below five years old get the vaccine.

EPI Programme Manager Dr Tajul Islam A. Bari said they had plans to investigate those cases. "But it did not happen." He could not say why, though.

Bari, however, said: "The live attenuated vaccine (OPV) that we use sometimes may not develop immunity among countries in developing children because of severe malnutrition."

Dr K Zaman, a Senior Scientist with the ICDDR, B, told bdnews24.com that the reason why so many were afflicted with the virus despite having many doses of vaccine needed to be investigated.

"OPV that is used in Bangladesh is a live attenuated viral vaccine and the vaccine virus can mutate and acquire neuro-virulence causing paralysis either due to vaccine-associated paralysis polio or due to circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses."

He said some developed countries use injectable form of polio vaccine.

The EPI programme manager, however, said they had to use the trivalent vaccines due to shortage of bivalent vaccines in the world.

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B'desh to help make bird flu vaccine

Posted by bangladesh

Good news...............................
Bangladesh will share a new strain of bird flu virus, identified as a possible pandemic threat, with US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) to develop 'seed virus,' key ingredient to make a vaccine in emergency.

"We will share the vaccine for scientific use," health secretary Muhammad Humayun Kabir told on Sunday as he confirmed about the sharing of the H9N2 strain of bird flu—A/Bangladesh/0994/2011 (H9N2).

The strain was found in humans in March and recently confirmed by US CDC after its sequencing.

The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has detected the virus, mild in nature, through its countrywide surveillance.

"But it has the potential to be a pandemic threat," IEDCR director Prof Mahmudur Rahman said, sounding the alarm, as the virus can reassort with H5N1—also 'widespread' in the country—with its changing strains.

"If clades 2.2; 3.2 of H5N1 and new H9N2 mutate, it can be devastating," he said, "but nothing can be predicted about virus."

The United Nations warned Bangladesh on Aug 29 of a possible major resurgence of bird flu as it observed a mutant strain of the H5N1 virus is spreading in Asia and elsewhere.


To keep the infection away


# Consume well-cooked poultry products

# Maintain personal hygiene – cough into the crook of elbow and wash hands with soap often

#Don't litter giblets and dead birds just anywhere




The IEDCR director suggested maintaining bio-security in poultry farms that livestock officials said cannot be ensured due to 'a large number of backyard poultry in Bangladesh.'

"But we are taking new strategies for backyard poultry," Dr Md Mehedi Hossain, senior scientific officer, Department of Livestock Services (DLS), said on Sunday at a seminar jointly organised by IEDCR and Unicef at IEDCR office.

According to IEDCR, the government would share the virus under standard procedure of virus sharing coordinated by the World Health Organization.

"We will get access to affordable vaccines derived from them and other technical support in exchange (for the new strain of virus)," Prof Rahman said.

"They (US CDC) approached us in the first week of September for government permission to use the virus. They already have the virus with them as we have sent it for confirmation."

He said the virus is also circulating in some countries, but in Bangladesh it is different.

The DLS scientist said they would prepare a guideline for backyard poultry.

"We will sensitise backyard farmers about how to dispose of debris and faeces," Dr Hossain said and added that people litter chickens' giblets and dead chickens just anywhere that can spread the virus.

"Crows eat those carcasses and can get the virus and die. Those dead crows can again pass the virus to poultry birds in the same way," Dr Hossain explained.

The livestock department has culled over 2.4 million chickens across the country after the first outbreak in Mar 22, 2007.

Some 524 outbreaks have been recorded so far.

"We observe that we cannot control the virus until we make people aware, we motivate them," said Dr Musaddique Hossain, a director of the DLS.

The IEDCR advised people consume well-cooked poultry products and maintain personal hygiene - cough into the crook of elbow and wash hands with soap often - to keep bird flu infection away.

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EXCLUSIVE B'desh to help make bird flu vaccine

Posted by methun

very very hot news
Bangladesh will share a new strain of bird flu virus, identified as a possible pandemic threat, with US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) to develop 'seed virus,' key ingredient to make a vaccine in emergency.

"We will share the vaccine for scientific use," health secretary Muhammad Humayun Kabir told  as he confirmed about the sharing of the H9N2 strain of bird flu—A/Bangladesh/0994/2011 (H9N2).

The strain was found in humans in March and recently confirmed by US CDC after its sequencing.

The Institute of Epidemiology Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) has detected the virus, mild in nature, through its countrywide surveillance.

"But it has the potential to be a pandemic threat," IEDCR director Prof Mahmudur Rahman said, sounding the alarm, as the virus can reassort with H5N1—also 'widespread' in the country—with its changing strains.

"If clades 2.2; 3.2 of H5N1 and new H9N2 mutate, it can be devastating," he said, "but nothing can be predicted about virus."

The United Nations warned Bangladesh on Aug 29 of a possible major resurgence of bird flu as it observed a mutant strain of the H5N1 virus is spreading in Asia and elsewhere.

The IEDCR director suggested maintaining bio-security in poultry farms that livestock officials said cannot be ensured due to 'a large number of backyard poultry in Bangladesh.'

"But we are taking new strategies for backyard poultry," Dr Md Mehedi Hossain, senior scientific officer, Department of Livestock Services (DLS), said on Sunday at a seminar jointly organised by IEDCR and Unicef at IEDCR office.

According to IEDCR, the government would share the virus under standard procedure of virus sharing coordinated by the World Health Organization.

"We will get access to affordable vaccines derived from them and other technical support in exchange (for the new strain of virus)," Prof Rahman said.

"They (US CDC) approached us in the first week of September for government permission to use the virus. They already have the virus with them as we have sent it for confirmation."

He said the virus is also circulating in some countries, but in Bangladesh it is different.

The DLS scientist said they would prepare a guideline for backyard poultry.

"We will sensitise backyard farmers about how to dispose of debris and faeces," Dr Hossain said and added that people litter chickens' giblets and dead chickens just anywhere that can spread the virus.

"Crows eat those carcasses and can get the virus and die. Those dead crows can again pass the virus to poultry birds in the same way," Dr Hossain explained.

The livestock department has culled over 2.4 million chickens across the country after the first outbreak in Mar 22, 2007.

Some 524 outbreaks have been recorded so far.

"We observe that we cannot control the virus until we make people aware, we motivate them," said Dr Musaddique Hossain, a director of the DLS.

The IEDCR advised people consume well-cooked poultry products and maintain personal hygiene - cough into the crook of elbow and wash hands with soap often - to keep bird flu infection away.

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