Baxter verspreidt experimenteel materiaal met H5n1

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Baxter’s H5N1 as global flu pandemic threat

There is no excuse. According to the scientific network PROMED, Baxter International Inc. in Austria "unintentionally contaminated samples with the bird flu virus that were used in laboratories in 3 neighbouring countries, raising concern about the potential spread of the deadly disease". Austria, Germany, Slowenia and the Czech Republic - these are the countries in which labs were hit with dangerous viruses. Not by bioterrorist commandos, but by Baxter. In other words: One of the major global pharmaceutical players seems to have lost control over a virus which is considered by many virologists to be one of the components leading some day to a new pandemic. Was it H5N1, or the even more risky H3N2? And what about the BSL3-Standards Baxter is operating when handling the viruses? What happened? And who failed? by Vlad Georgescu


These questions have to be answered not only by Baxter itself. It looks difficult to believe that viral and potentially lethal samples can cross the US border, pass the Atlantic, arrive the European Union and get into three countries without any or adequate control. While every tourist has to present his fingerprints and electronic registered passports entering the United States, institutions like the US Homeland Security should stay alert: Lacks in pharmaceutical companies may be the deadly door to future bioterrorist attacks.

The anthrax mailings from 2001 still are in mind of the FBI – Baxter shows that 8 years after that disaster there is no efficient control, at no level. To pronounce it this way is legitimated by the facts. H5N1 never should get on unknown travel routes with unwanted destinations. And H3N2 is no "sorry, it's an error" substance. It can be deadly for birds and humans, as virologists know.

The subprime crisis and the fate of many broken banks are an example for poor regulations. For the financial markets, for the entire economy this may have resulted in global recession. meanwhile, failure of control and regulations for labs operating with viruses like H5N1 will have another outcome: the risk of a new global pandemic, bioterrorist attacks or millions of deaths. This is the only message, and lesson, for President Barack Obama and his team: Get things in biohazard labs under control – at home.
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Baxter admits contaminated seasonal flu product contained live bird flu virus
Feb 27, 2009

The company that released contaminated flu virus material from a plant in Austria confirmed Friday that the experimental product contained live H5N1 avian flu viruses.

And an official of the World Health Organization's European operation said the body is closely monitoring the investigation into the events that took place at Baxter International's research facility in Orth-Donau, Austria.

"At this juncture we are confident in saying that public health and occupational risk is minimal at present," medical officer Roberta Andraghetti said from Copenhagen, Denmark.

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Bird flu mix-up could have spelled disaster
IT'S emerged that virulent H5N1 bird flu was sent out by accident from an Austrian lab last year and given to ferrets in the Czech Republic before anyone realised. As well as the risk of it escaping into the wild, the H5N1 got mixed with a human strain, which might have spawned a hybrid that could unleash a pandemic.

Last December, the Austrian branch of US vaccine company Baxter sent a batch of ordinary human H3N2 flu, altered so it couldn't replicate, to Avir Green Hills Biotechnology, also in Austria. In February, a lab in the Czech Republic working for Avir alerted Baxter that, unexpectedly, ferrets inoculated with the sample had died. It turned out the sample contained live H5N1, which Baxter uses to make vaccine. The two seem to have been mixed in error.

Markus Reinhard of Baxter says no one was infected because the H3N2 was handled at a high level of containment. But Ab Osterhaus of Erasmus University in the Netherlands says: "We need to go to great lengths to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen."
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De Baxter h5n1 zaak: De zogenoemde "vergissing" was voor sommigen geen verassing
Na het bericht over de "Baxter case" welke we afgelopen vrijdag op deze website plaatsten is er al weer een hoop gebeurt. En dus wordt tijd voor een update en analyse van de huidige gegevens en informatie.

Konden we vrijdag slechts in de Tsjechische, Duits of Engelse taal iets over deze zaak lezen, nu zijn daar vele talen bij gekomen. Het artikel en onderwerp is hu onder andere ook in het Russisch en Frans terug te lezen.
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Op woensdag 11 maart 2009 12:22 schreef The_End het volgende:

[..]

Uit die link van jou:
[..]

-Het is naar labs verschillende landen gestuurd. Nergens zie ik 18 staan?
-Het was materiaal voor expirimenten
-Nergens uit blijkt dat het expres was.

Als je niet hebt gelogen, dan kan je geen engels of ben je zwakzinnig.