Vaccines are slow and unreliable just when you need them, according to the November 22, 2009 Washington Post news article published online at the Google news site. The article, "Vaccine system remains antiquated," by Rob Stein, reported on the slowness and the shortage of H1N1 vaccine. Attention now is focused on the status of government efforts to develop state-of-the-art techniques to make flu and other vaccines. What methods are being developed by technology? Are they safe?
Several new technologies are showing promise, according to the article, "Vaccine system remains antiquated." Spurred by $487 million in federal funding, a sprawling new vaccine factory is opening in North Carolina Tuesday that will produce shots using dog cells instead of chicken eggs.
A Connecticut biotech company has also applied to sell a vaccine employing a radically different approach involving a genetically engineered virus infecting insect cells — a strategy a Rockville firm is testing to inoculate people against the swine flu in Mexico. Dozens of other high-tech approaches are also moving through the pipeline. Will all these new methods and technology be as safe or safer than vaccines grown in chicken eggs?
And why are so many companies waiting to get their new techniques into gear only if the H1N1 pandemic gets more severe or deadlier? Getting vaccines made with the new technology is still years away in case a newer, more deadly pathogen becomes unstoppable. The key is to make the immune response better without whipping it up so much into action that it your body attacks itself.
Consumers don’t want adjuvants in their vaccines that are designed to increase your immune response. Is there a danger your immune system will increase so much, it could turn on itself and become an autoimmune disease? That’s what consumers fear. According to the Washington Post article, Vaccine system remains antiquated, "The United States has decided against using adjuvants because the Food and Drug Administration has not fully reviewed them. Officials worried that a new product would make people even more nervous about the inoculation."
Basically, the world’s way of making vaccine is out of date, not reliable, and unpredictable. It takes up to nine months for viruses to grow in chicken eggs to be turned into flu vaccines. According to the Washington Post article, "The H1N1 seed virus initially grew inside the eggs at only about a third to a quarter of the expected rate, accounting for most of the lag in production."
So what can technology do to help consumers as vaccine technology lags behind the need? If you follow the money, you’ll see where millions of doses of flu vaccine have gone each year–destroyed because not enough people asked to be vaccinated. And it costs more money to make newer vaccines. Technology is lagging behind.
Can vaccines from dog cells be safer? What about worm cells? Protein Sciences of Meriden, Conn., has applied to the FDA for approval to sell a vaccine made by genetically engineering flu genes into a worm virus, which then infects cells from caterpillar ovaries to produce the necessary proteins to make vaccine.
Who else is making vaccines from other species of animals and insects? After Protein Sciences last spring won a five-year, $147 million contract from HHS to develop the vaccine, an FDA advisory panel Thursday voted that the vaccine appeared to be effective in adults but more studies were needed, including to make sure it worked in children and was safe. And there’s another firm working with a worm virus. Novavax of Rockville is testing a similar vaccine on 4,000 people in Mexico in the hopes of getting an H1N1 vaccine approved by Mexican regulators.
Would you like a flu shot made from E. coli bacteria that was genetically engineered? Well, VaxInnate of Cranbury, N.J., recently produced an experimental H1N1 vaccine using genetically engineered E.coli bacteria. How would you like a vaccination made directly from the flu virus?
Vical of San Diego just won a $1.25 million contract from the Navy to develop an H1N1 vaccine "that involves injecting DNA sequences from the virus directly into people," according to the Washington Post article, "Vaccine system remains antiquated."
How many years do you think it’s going to take before you have a choice of getting a flu shot your way? Since new technology is lagging behind, it’s going to be a few years before all these new technologies will be tested for safety. So what can you research about flu and vaccines in the meantime?
Do you wonder how many people will volunteer to be tested with the new technology? More important, what’s the safety record like, and how do you research any side effects of the new technology compared to the unpredictable, unreliable, old-fashioned way of making flu vaccines?
What is being done now in regard to what consumers are searching for online when they want answers? Latest news on which health sites had the most traffic in the last month reports that U.S. online searches on H1N1 and swine Flu increased 100 Percent between October and November 2009. Most of the H1N1 searches focused on the vaccine whereas swine flu searches focus on symptoms, according to the top sites receiving online traffic. Those top sites are the CDC.gov and Wikipedia.
According to a November 19, 2009 press release from Experian® Hitwise®, New York City, "U.S. Searches on H1N1 and Swine Flu Increased 100 Percent," the company announced today that U.S. searches on a portfolio of terms related to H1N1 and Swine Flu have increased 100 percent for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, 2009, compared with the previous four weeks.
Experian Hitwise is the leading online competitive intelligence service that reports it gives marketers a competitive advantage by providing daily insights on how 25 million Internet users around the world interact with more than 1 million Web sites. This external view helps companies grow and protect their businesses by identifying threats and opportunities as they develop. Experian Hitwise has more than 1,500 clients across numerous sectors, including financial services, media, travel and retail.
Online searches on the term "H1N1" increased 115 percent while searches on "swine flu" increased 18 percent for the same time period, according to data from Experian Hitwise. Searches continued to climb heading into November as Americans search for vaccine availability and learn more about the symptoms of the virus.
Top search terms contained the key words "H1N1" and "swine flu." The top search term containing "H1N1" was ""H1N1" symptoms," receiving 15 percent of the search traffic.
Among the top 100 search variations on "H1N1," 30 included the term "vaccine" in them and 23 included the term "symptoms." The top paid search terms were "h1n1 symptoms," "H1N1 vaccine" and "H1N1" for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, 2009.
Paid search traffic on the term "H1N1 vaccine" increased 31 percent for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, compared with the previous four weeks. Paid search traffic on the term "H1N1" increased 4 percent for the same time period.
U.S. search terms containing "H1N1" and "swine flu" ranked at the top followed by the terms, H1N1 symptoms and swine flu symptoms. Third came H1N1 vaccine and symptoms of swine flu, followed by fourth, swine flu vaccine, fifth, swine flu symptoms, 2009, sixth, H1N1 virus, and swine flu vaccine side effects.
Seventh in place were H1N1 flu symptoms, and what are the symptoms of swine flu. Eighth appeared H1N1 vaccine side effects, with swine flu vaccine risks. The ninth in place was H1N1 incubation period followed by CDC swine flu. And in tenth place was what is swine flu, and symptoms of H1N1 virus.
The data is based on a four-week rolling period ending Oct. 31, 2009, and the source is Experian Hitwise. The top search term containing "swine flu" was "swine flu symptoms," receiving 20 percent of the search traffic on the term "swine flu". Among the top 100 search variations on "swine flu," 29 included the term "symptoms" in them and 9 included the term "vaccine."
The top paid search terms were "swine flu symptoms," "swine flu" and "symptoms of swine flu" for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, 2009. Paid search traffic on the term "swine flu symptoms" increased 7 percent for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, compared with the previous four weeks.
CDC.gov top Website receiving traffic from term "H1N1" and "swine flu" The CDC.gov site received the most visits from the term "H1N1" for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, 2009. Wikipedia was next, receiving 11.24 percent of visits, followed by Google News with 4.84 percent.
Among the top 10 websites, Flu.gov’s visits increased 70 percent, which was the largest month-over-month increase. Yahoo! News, Google News and Facebook all saw double-digit increases month over month.
Websites receiving traffic from search term "H1N1"
Rank
Websites
Domain
Oct. 31, 2009
Oct. 3, 2009
Percent change
1
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov
38.20%
38.12%
0%
2
Wikipedia
www.wikipedia.org
11.24%
14.25%
-21%
3
Google News
news.google.com
4.84%
3.19%
52%
4
Yahoo! News
news.yahoo.com
3.43%
2.07%
66%
5
CNN.com
www.cnn.com
2.64%
NA
NA
6
Facebook
www.facebook.com
2.55%
1.97%
30%
7
Flu.gov
www.flu.gov
1.66%
0.97%
70%
8
Reuters
www.reuters.com
1.51%
1.81%
-17%
9
MayoClinic.com
www.mayoclinic.com
1.41%
3.78%
-63%
10
Oust
www.oust.com
1.25%
1.48%
-16%
Note: Data is based on a four-week rolling period. Source: Experian Hitwise. The CDC.gov Website received the most visits from the term "swine flu" for the four weeks ending Oct. 31, 2009. Wikipedia was next, receiving 8.55 percent of visits, followed by Medicine Net with 8.03 percent. Among the top 10 Websites, Swineflu.gov’s visits increased 161 percent, which was the largest month-over-month increase. The CDC, Medicine Net and Yahoo! News websites all saw double-digit increases month over month.
Websites receiving traffic from search term "swine flu"
Rank
Websites
Domain
Oct. 31, 2009
Oct. 3, 2009
Percent change
1
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
www.cdc.gov
19.08%
17.10%
12%
2
Wikipedia
www.wikipedia.org
8.55%
8.86%
-3%
3
MedicineNet
www.medicinenet.com
8.03%
6.85%
17%
4
Yahoo! News
news.yahoo.com
4.44%
3.70%
20%
5
WebMD
www.webmd.com
4.38%
5.56%
-21%
6
Google News
news.google.com
3.40%
3.25%
5%
7
Facebook
www.facebook.com
2.75%
3.54%
-22%
8
www.swineflu.org
www.swineflu.org
2.73%
1.05%
161%
9
pandemicflu.gov
pandemicflu.gov
2.67%
3.34%
-20%
10
health.google.com
health.google.com
2.55%
NA
NA
Note: Data is based on a four-week rolling period. Source: Experian Hitwise. Experian Hitwise (FTS:EXPN), operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada and Brazil. More information about Experian Hitwise is available at the company’s website.
For up-to-date analysis of online trends, you can look at the Hitwise Research Blog and Hitwise Data Center. Experian is the leading global information services company, providing data and analytical tools to clients in more than 65 countries.
The company helps businesses to manage credit risk, prevent fraud, target marketing offers and automate decision making. Experian also helps individuals to check their credit report and credit score and protect against identity theft.
Experian plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Total revenue for the year ended March 31, 2009, was $3.9 billion. Experian employs approximately 15,000 people in 40 countries and has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with operational headquarters in Nottingham, UK; Costa Mesa, California; and São Paulo, Brazil.
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