Pharma Company Admits Vaccine Contaminated With Live Bird Flu Virus

[AikidoSoul]

The WHO is also investigating how the live bird flu virus, H5N1, got into flu vaccines intended for humans that were produced and shipped to consumers by vaccine manufacturer Baxter International.


Baxter admits flu product contained live bird flu virus

Updated Fri. Feb. 27 2009 2:56 PM ET

The Canadian Press

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090227/Bird_Flu_090227

TORONTO -- The company that released contaminated flu virus material from a plant in Austria confirmed Friday that the experimental product contained live H5N1 avian flu viruses.

And an official of the World Health Organization's European operation said the body is closely monitoring the investigation into the events that took place at Baxter International's research facility in Orth-Donau, Austria.
"At this juncture we are confident in saying that public health and occupational risk is minimal at present," medical officer Roberta Andraghetti said from Copenhagen, Denmark.

"But what remains unanswered are the circumstances surrounding the incident in the Baxter facility in Orth-Donau."

The contaminated product, a mix of H3N2 seasonal flu viruses and unlabelled H5N1 viruses, was supplied to an Austrian research company. The Austrian firm, Avir Green Hills Biotechnology, then sent portions of it to sub-contractors in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Germany.

The contamination incident, which is being investigated by the four European countries, came to light when the subcontractor in the Czech Republic inoculated ferrets with the product and they died. Ferrets shouldn't die from exposure to human H3N2 flu viruses.

Public health authorities concerned about what has been described as a "serious error" on Baxter's part have assumed the death of the ferrets meant the H5N1 virus in the product was live. But the company, Baxter International Inc., has been parsimonious about the amount of information it has released about the event.
On Friday, the company's director of global bioscience communications confirmed what scientists have suspected.

"It was live," Christopher Bona said in an email.

The contaminated product, which Baxter calls "experimental virus material," was made at the Orth-Donau research facility. Baxter makes its flu vaccine -- including a human H5N1 vaccine for which a licence is expected shortly -- at a facility in the Czech Republic.

People familiar with biosecurity rules are dismayed by evidence that human H3N2 and avian H5N1 viruses somehow co-mingled in the Orth-Donau facility. That is a dangerous practice that should not be allowed to happen, a number of experts insisted.

Accidental release of a mixture of live H5N1 and H3N2 viruses could have resulted in dire consequences.
While H5N1 doesn't easily infect people, H3N2 viruses do. If someone exposed to a mixture of the two had been simultaneously infected with both strains, he or she could have served as an incubator for a hybrid virus able to transmit easily to and among people.

SNIP

[CoffeeCat]

1. Holy crikey...

How in the world does something like this happen by accident?

This isn't a "oh no! You just got your chocolate in my peanut butter!".

This is live viruses and flues.

If this happened, someone wanted it to happen.

This is getting ridiculous.

[AikidoSoul]

2. It's horrendous to think what

will happen if those two viruses mutate in those already inoculated.

What is unclear in the article is the time frame of the original distributions of these live H5N1 avian flu viruses,the numbers of persons given the vaccines, and the locations.

This is potentially an extremely dangerous problem. I hope others on DU will recommend this post so we can alert people to watch for problems.

Also.. complicating this is the fact that Swine Flu is on the march. Without educating the populations and medical personnel about this "mistake" -- how can they be sure to test for the strains and report them to their health agencies?

[anigbrowl]

3. Of course it happens by accident

People are careless and make mistakes. That's why test procedures exist at multiple stages of the delivery pipeline. I see no grounds for assuming a conspiracy.

[AikidoSoul]

4. Then why weren't the live viruses found

if, as you say, "test procedures exist at multiple stages of the delivery pipeline"?

Why didn't this incredibly dangerous situation get past the supposed safety insurance protocols?

[anigbrowl]

5. They were, that's how we know about it to start with.

"The contamination incident, which is being investigated by the four European countries, came to light when the subcontractor in the Czech Republic inoculated ferrets with the product and they died. Ferrets shouldn't die from exposure to human H3N2 flu viruses."