June 4:
Theralase Technology Effective in Virus Inactivation
Based on the latest research detailing RuvidarTM's success in the destruction of various viruses, the Company has gained consensus from the National Microbiology Laboratory to direct its research away from the Covid-19 virus vaccine to develop this technology for an avian influenza vaccine."
Nov. 09:
Saturday, November 9, 2024 3:37 PM
First presumptive positive case of H5 avian influenza detected in B.C.
An individual in British Columbia has tested presumptive positive for avian influenza (also known as bird flu) caused by the H5 influenza virus, the first detection of avian influenza due to the H5 virus in a person in B.C.
This is also the first detection of a presumed human case of H5 avian influenza acquired in Canada. The positive test for H5 was performed at the BC Centre for Disease Control’s Public-Health Laboratory.
Samples are being sent to the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg for confirmatory testing.
The individual is a teenager from the Fraser Health region who is receiving care at BC Children’s Hospital.
Nov. 11:
Is there a vaccine?
Currently, there is no vaccine for humans that would protect against this disease. "And the current flu vaccine does not protect against avian influenza," says Dr. Denis Archambault, a veterinarian and researcher in immunology and virology at the University of Quebec in Montreal.
But with climate change, migratory movements of birds change, and populations that were not in contact before become so, which favors the transmission of diseases.
And this virus has the particularity, like the coronavirus at the origin of COVID-19, of making mistakes when it replicates, which means that it can mutate quite quickly.
"Without being alarmist, we must stay on the lookout," says Dr. Denis Archambault. "It's only a matter of time before there is a human-to-human transmission," he believes.
"And if it develops the same virulence as what we had in the 1990s, we will get bored of COVID. The probability of it happening is very low, but it is not zero," adds Dr. Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt.