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Royal Free staff receiving the swine flu vaccine: lead occupational health advisor Kareen Allan, Dr Ian Cropley and Dr Steve Shaw |
Flu bug ‘is too clever for scientists’
Professor reveals fears over controlling swine virus as vaccine is rolled out across the capital
THE swine flu virus may be “too clever” for scientists to keep under control, the capital’s leading swine flu specialist has warned.
Professor Mark Zuckerman, chief virologist working for the Health Protection Agency (HPA), told an audience at a free lunchtime lecture at the Wellcome Collection in Euston on Friday the bug was constantly “staying ahead of the game”.
He said: “It’s a battleground out there – and the first thing to remember is that viruses are cleverer than us.”
Professor Zuckerman revealed he was “worried” by reports from microbiologists in the Ukraine about an outbreak of a new super-strength strain of swine flu.
More than 500,000 people were infected in just six days. More than 100 healthy people were killed by a H1N1 virus with 10 times the mortality rate of normal swine flu.
Professor Zuckerman said: “I think we are all worried by what we have seen in the Ukraine. If that is true we need to be careful. Bird flu had very high death rates but is not transmitted easily. Swine flu is the opposite. If the two combined, it would be bad, bad news.”
He said specialists at the Health Protection Agency had so far identified eight segments of the virus in this country.
“Some segments are swine and some are human,” said Professor Zuckerman. “But the virus may be shifting or drifting.
“The big question is whether the change in atmosphere during winter is making swine flu more transmissible. If that is happening, it could become a problem. December time is going to be really important. Immunisation will help – but it might be a challenge to protect all people. It is hard to know, but I think we are well placed to cope with it. The Government has worked very well on this.”
Dr Zuckerman recounted a history of clinical work on viruses, dating back to studies of a tobacco plant virus in the 19th century, and explained how they are more complicated to treat than bacterial infections.
As a man fascinated by viral infections, Dr Zuckerman said he was massively excited when the World Health Organisation announced the pandemic on April 24.
He said: “That was a big day – it was one of those ‘Oh my God moments’.
“We went from taking 500-600 samples in our lab to 7,500 samples. Around 30 per cent of these samples were swine flu. That was really the start of the storm.
“During those initial tests, we found around 200 other viruses masquerading as swine flu, including the adenovirus, which affects the chest and eyes.”
The Department of Health launched its vaccination programme last week and London GPs have all received doses of the swine flu vaccine.
Anyone with serious health conditions, such as chronic lung, heart and kidney, liver or neurological disease, or diabetes, pregnant women and people living with “at-risk” parties should urgently approach their doctor for the jab.
Dr Zuckerman dismissed concerns that swine flu jabs had killed people in the 1970s explaining how that vaccination programme in America had been botched from the beginning.
He said the injection would cause the immune system to produce an antibody that builds up inside you produces an antibody that will stop the virus within 10-12 days.
Dr Zuckerman added: “The vaccine is grown in hen eggs – so it is not suitable for people who are allergic to eggs.”
• Further upcoming free lunchtime talks at the Wellcome Collection include philosopher AC Grayling on global warming and other key debate issues ranging from evolution to overpopulation. For more information contact www.wellcome collection.org or 020 7611 2222.
•Professor Elspeth Garman will talk about swine flu drug treatments in a lecture at a free lecture at Massey Theatre, University College London in Gower Place on November 20 at 6.30pm.
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