Posts tagged as:

vaccination

Vaccines and a Spoonful of Sugar

by Robbo on 22/02/2010

A good cold chain and some reliable electricity production, as well as reliable drug fridges are pretty important out bush. I’ve even written a few posts on the subject (listed at bottom of post). I even have a couple in draft form so watch out!

vaccinationI was very interested in this news article Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine keep cool. There is a lot of work being done on a couple of viruses, pox and adenovirus to be able to use them as a platform for a range of other vaccines including HIV-Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

Live vaccines need to be refrigerated. And of course the parts of the world where these diseases are most prevalent are the more remote and poorest areas without electricity.

By using a couple of sugars currently used as biological stabilisers, and slowly drying this virus-sugar mix they can vitrify (basically wrap it in “glass”) the product so it retains its stability without refrigeration at up to 45C for six months. You then take it to the remote location, reconstitute and start vaccinating. Now this has only been done in a lab but is exciting for the future.

Of course it will change the way we handle vaccines around the world, not just in the Third World. Out bush our temperatures during transport can get quite high. This graph is the temperature monitored by a data logger on it’s way from remote central Australia to Tasmania.

graph showing temperatures reached during transportation

It will also dramatically cut costs. The World Health Organisation estimates it costs 20% more than other drugs in cold chain transfers and storage (logistics).

Out where I am we might have a refrigeration mechanic out every few months. He may or may not have the right parts. If not, we wait a month until they arrive and then another few months until a refrigeration mechanic is out again. I try to minimise this delay by having a number of spares already out bush to be available when required.

But I’m in a first world country and can afford to do this.

Reference: R. Alcock, M. Cottingham, C. Rollier, J. Furze, S. D. De Costa, M. Hanlon, A. Spencer, J. Honeycutt, D. Wyllie, S. Gilbert, M. Bregu, A. V. S. Hill, Long-Term Thermostabilization of Live Poxviral and Adenoviral Vaccine Vectors at Supraphysiological Temperatures in Carbohydrate Glass. Sci. Transl. Med. 2, 18ra12 (2010).

Other Cold Chain Posts::
Cold Chain
Cold Chain 2
Data Loggers

Tagged as: cold chain, data loggers, drug, quality, refrigeration, stability, storage medication, vaccination, vaccines, vitrification

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Indigenous News Update – Health

by Robbo on 25/08/2009

  • Qld Govt endorses new framework that builds on Deadly Ears program to combat ear disease in Indigenous communities. http://bit.ly/sVDdR

  • Vaccinations for H1N1 to start in remote Australia within weeks http://bit.ly/1jnVK

  • Biripi Aboriginal Medical Service failing to meet patients needs. Almost dysfunctional? http://bit.ly/14pwss

  • Welfare workers take FORTY indigenous kids from shanty town homes near Lightening Ridge. http://bit.ly/9NpOP

The Indigenous News Updates are sourced from news and other articles from around the country that I have posted on Twitter.

If you like this post and what else you see on the blog please subscribe by RSS feed (the orange button) or by email. Visit my subscription page.

Tagged as: aboriginal, AMS, communities, ears, H1N1, health, Indigenous, vaccination

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Does Influenza Vaccination provide any protection against H1N1?

by Robbo on 08/08/2009

Over at Croakey, Crikey.com.au’s health blog there is an interesting article on why submissions to the Victorian government on why proposals for developing healthcare identifiers and related privacy legislation should be public. One of the case studies used in his argument is the need to track any potential adverse effects from influenza vaccination, particularly H1N1.

One of the crucial requirements he states is to determine “whether or not the current vaccine for seasonal influenza affords any protection against the new H1N1 variant”.

My gut feeling from what I have seen is there is little or no protection. This also seems to be the results from a study reported in Eurosurveillance:

Interim analysis of pandemic influenza (H1N1) 2009 in Australia: surveillance trends, age of infection and effectiveness of seasonal vaccination

There was no evidence of significant protection from seasonal vaccine against pandemic influenza virus infection in any age group.

It seems we will be up for a huge vaccination effort (possibly two vaccinations, one month apart) from some time after October.

There is more information on the just received Promed email listing available through the International Society of Infectious Diseases. Look for “PRO/AH/EDR> Influenza pandemic (H1N1) 2009 (25): Australia, UK, updates” (note: later check shows linkbroken). Some of the links in the Promed e-mail are worth a look:

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Tagged as: Crikey, Croakey, Eurosurveillance, H1N1, influenza, pandemic, swine flu, vaccination, vaccine, virus

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