By Michelle Fay Cortez and Jason Gale
Feb. 24 [2009] (Bloomberg) -- Baxter International Inc. in Austria unintentionally contaminated samples with the bird flu virus that were used in laboratories in three neighboring countries, raising concern about the potential spread of the deadly disease.
The contamination was discovered when ferrets at a laboratory in the Czech Republic died after being inoculated with vaccine made from the samples early this month. The material came from Deerfield, Illinois-based Baxter, which reported the incident to the Austrian Ministry of Health, Sigrid Rosenberger, a ministry spokeswoman, said today in a telephone interview.
“This was infected with a bird flu virus,” Rosenberger said. “There were some people from the company who handled it.”
The material was intended for use in laboratories, and none of the lab workers have fallen ill. The incident is drawing scrutiny over the safety of research using the H5N1 bird flu strain that’s killed more than three-fifths of the people known to have caught the bug worldwide. Some scientists say the 1977 Russian flu, the most recent global outbreak, began when a virus escaped from a laboratory.
The virus material was supposed to contain a seasonal flu virus and was contaminated after “human error,” said Christopher Bona, a spokesman for Baxter, in a telephone interview.
Read the rest of the article at Bloomberg...
Baxter wants to work on a vaccine for the current "swine-avian-human" flu virus...
Ill-based Baxter working on swine flu vaccine
The Associated Press - April 25, 2009, 10:20PM ET
DEERFIELD, Ill.
Specialty drug maker Baxter International Inc. will work with the World Health Organization to develop a vaccine that could stem an outbreak of a deadly swine flu strain in Mexico.
Baxter spokesman Christopher Bona said Saturday that the Deerfield, Ill.-based company has asked the WHO for a sample of the flu strain.
He says Baxter has patented technology that allows the company to develop vaccines in a half the time it usually takes -- about 13 weeks instead of 26.
There have been 20 confirmed deaths in Mexico of the swine flu, with nonfatal cases also confirmed in Kansas and California.
Humans don't have a natural immunity to swine flu strain that emerged in Mexico in March. Officials have warned the outbreak could become a global epidemic.
Source: BusinessWeek
A vaccine made by these guys is what you want in your arm, right?
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