In The News

On this page we will post news items that have caught the editors' and/or authors' attention.

Flu Vaccine Set for 2006/2007 Season in Northern Hemisphere

Every Spring the prediction is made about which strains of human influenza will be circulating the following autumn and winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) forecast the strains from what cases they observe around the world. In the U.S. , the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) uses those forecasts to make its recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This decision must be made this far in advance to allow vaccine manufacturers adequate time to make the millions of doses required.

For the 2006/2007 season, the following strains will be used:

• an A/New Caledonia/20/99 (H1N1)-like virus;

• an A/Wisconsin/67/2005 (H3N2)-like virus (A/Wisconsin/67/2005 and A/Hiroshima/52/2005strains);

• a B/Malaysia/2506/2004-like virus (B/Malaysia/2506/2004 and B/Ohio/1/2005 strains)

This recommendation is based on the relative prevalence of influenza strains in current circulation as of February 2006 and the antigenic similarity of these strains to the current reference viruses. The reference viruses are maintained in strain collections for use in growing virus in vaccine production.

Feb 23 CDC news release on ACIP actions, including flu vaccine recommendation http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/media/pressrel/r060223.htm
WHO report on recommendation for 2006-07 vaccine http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/2007northreport.pdf
FDA recommendation on 2006-07 flu vaccine http://www.fda.gov/cber/flu/flu2006.htm

Budget Cuts Imperil Environmental Satellites

Budget cuts and poor management may be jeopardizing the future of America's fleet of environmental satellites—vital tools for forecasting hurricanes, protecting water supplies and predicting global warming. Richard A. Anthes, chair of a National Academy of Sciences committee that advises the federal government on developing and operating environmental satellites, said "The system of environmental satellites is at risk of collapse. Every year that goes by without the system being addressed is a problem."

NASA officials maintain that limiting budget funds are forcing them to cut all bu the most vital programs. The budget proposed for 2007 has only $2.2 billion for Earth and Sun observing satellites, compared with the $6.2 billion for operating the space shuttles and International Space Station and $4 billion for developing future missions to the Moon and Mars. NASA's Earth Observing System was originally set to send three generations of satellites into orbit at five-year intervals. Instead, budgetary constraints have allowed only one round of launches. In addition, the ground surface imaging Landsat series of satellites is potentially affected because NASA has no back-up plan should the seve-year-old Landsat 7 fail before its 2011 scheduled replacement date. Additionally, the Global Precipitation Measurement mission has been pushed back to 2012 the replacement of the current Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) which was not intended to last as long as that. Loss of TRMM satellites would hinder the ability of scientists to improve the accuracy of hurricane forecasts as well as prediction of the severity of droughts and flooding.

The Polar-Orbiting Operations Environmental Satellite System (POES) is in trouble due to both budgetary overages as well as budget cuts. The POES project, jointly developed by NASA, DoD, and NOAA, provides coverage that updates every six hours and is crucial to weather forecasting. This detailed coverage is used in the development of four- to six-day weather forecasts. The extent to which this project has gone over budget has forced a legally required review of its worth for continuation. If it survives this review, and hopefully sane heads with prevail, budget cuts will probably dictate delay of the next satellite launch until 2012.

NASA has also canceled out right several programs. These include the Hydros mission which was in the process of developing a satellite capable of measuring soil moisture and differentiating between frozen and unfrozen ground. The loss of Hydros means the loss of improved drought and flood forecasting as well as the loss of a tool for monitoring the melting of the Arctic permafrost. Another program expected to be canceled is the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCO) for which the spacecraft has already been built. NASA worries about the additional $60-100 million needed to launch and operate this craft. DSCO would have provided important insight into how clouds, snow cover, and dust affect the balance between the amount of energy the Earth absorbs from sunlight and the amount of heat energy it emits. This would have allowed scientists to understand and predict the warming of the Earth.

Atmospheric scientists warn that the loss of these satellites will have more than mere academic repercussions. Without adequate satellite coverage, the public will have less information about impending disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions.

Biotrends welcomes Press Releases from researchers and industry announcing their latest advances. Send information by email to: editors@biotrends.org