Biology is so interesting

Human Transmission of Swine H1N1 in Southern California
Recombinomics Commentary 04:10
April 22, 2009

"This virus is different, very different from that circulating in pigs. That was a red flag," Finelli told WebMD and several other news organizations. "The other red flag is both cases appeared almost simultaneously, 100 miles apart.

The above comments leave little doubt that the H1N1 swine flu is being efficiently transmitted human to human in southern California. The unique constellation of swine genes has not been reported previously and the two cases do not have swine contacts. Moreover, family members had symptoms before and after the confirmed cases, indicating the H1N1 spread efficiently within each family.

State investigators: Dead Wellington polo horses had hemorrhaging lungs

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

With the necropsies on the 21 horses that died in Wellington on Sunday nearly complete, the Florida Department of Agriculture confirmed today that the horses suffered from hemorrhaging of the lungs.

"The thing that is consistent with all the horses is hemorrhaging and pulmonary edema," said Mark Fagan, spokesman for the agricultural department. "That's consistent through all the necropsies so far, and we certainly expect that with the remaining few necropsies."

WHO Concerned at new Swine Flu in US

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) voiced concern on Friday at a confirmed outbreak of swine flu in the United States and what it called more than 800 human "influenza-like" cases in Mexico, including about 60 deaths.

The United Nations agency said it had activated its Strategic Health Operations Center (SHOC) -- its command and control center for acute public health events -- but could not say whether it was considering issuing a travel advisory.

ARMY: 3 Vials of virus samples missing from Maryland facility

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Missing vials of a potentially dangerous virus have prompted an Army investigation into the disappearance from a lab in Maryland. The Army's Criminal Investigation Command agents have been visiting Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, to investigate the disappearance of the vials. Christopher Grey, spokesman for the command, said this latest investigation has found "no evidence of criminal activity."


Cryptogon:

According to CBS News, the people investigating the deaths of the horses in Florida are focusing on the possibility that a tainted batch of a vitamin supplement called Biodyl might be to blame. All of the horses that died received the supplement. The five horses that didn’t receive the Biodyl are fine.

Ok. Maybe that’s it.

But…

Would you believe that Fort Detrick is missing three vials of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis? The U.S. Army has launched an investigation into the disappearance of the vials from the lab.

Biodyl is made by a company called Merial, which is a joint venture between Merck and Aventis. Merial produces pharmaceutical products and vaccines for livestock, pets and wildlife.

Are the two incidents related? I have absolutely no idea.

Drug Company Merck had HIT LIST for doctors who criticized them

The international drug company Merck had a hit list of doctors who had to be "neutralized" or discredited because they had criticized the painkiller Vioxx, a now-withdrawn drug that the pharmaceutical giant produced.

Staff at the company emailed each other about the list of doctors. The email, which came out during a class-action suit against the drug company, included the words "neutralize," "neutralized" or "discredit" alongside some of the doctors' names.

The company is alleged to have used intimidation tactics against researchers, including dropping hints that the company would stop funding their institutions, and possibly even interfering with academic appointments.

"We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live," a Merck employee wrote, according to an email excerpt read to the court.