US: New Isolation Unit to be Used for Bird Flu Vaccine Trial

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a new isolation unit in rochester, to be announced today, will be a temporary home for people participating in bird flu vaccine trials conducted by university of rochester medical center.

instead of using hotel rooms, urmc is renting an unused sixth-floor unit at unity st. mary's campus, 89 genesee st., for the next four years. urmc has received a new $15.5 million, five-year grant for a series of bird flu vaccine trials that use live but weakened viruses, so participants must be isolated for days at a time.

i'd love to know why a vaccine for h7n3 is the subject of this experiment. can anyone enlighten me?

h7n3? good question. i would like to know why also. we do know that h7 influenzas can infect humans. a few years ago, h7n7 caused eye inflammation and flu-like symptoms in dozens of people in the netherlands. there was one fatality (a vet). it is highly transmissible & may have pandemic potential.

h5n1: us: new isolation unit to be used for bird flu vaccine trial

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They Are Looking for Volunteers

Unemployed or have lots of time off this summer? Adults ages 18 to 49 can earn about $4,000 for having an experimental vaccine for bird flu sprayed into their nose and being quarantined in Rochester for about 12 days this summer — twice.

Rochester is the only site in the country currently doing these studies, funded by more than $15.5 million from the National Institutes of Health, said Dr. John Treanor, lead investigator.

The vaccines are made with live but weakened viruses, which aren't expected to infect participants or to transmit flu to others, said Treanor, chief of URMC's infectious disease division.

The quarantine is done to be extra careful, he said. Study nurses will wear gowns, masks and eye protection.

Yes, eye wear for sure! Those H7 viruses are well known for causing conjunctivitis. Sounds interesting but I don't think I would care to receive a virus up the nose. I would rather be the nurse doing the study!

H5N1: US: Volunteers to be isolated in test of bird flu vaccine

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