A PAPER on swine flu, co-authored by NUI Galway’s Prof Anthony Moran, has been nominated for a prestigious US science award.
The Center for Disease Control in the US said the paper featured the “swine flu” (H1N1) epidemic of 1976 in the US which has some similarity to the current AH1N1 outbreak. More than 40 million US citizens were given a swine flu vaccine in 1976. A very small percentage subsequently reported the development of a paralytic disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), which is a disorder of the peripheral nervous system that may lead to immobility due to paralysis. However, the link between the vaccine and this syndrome remains to be proven.
In a statement yesterday, Prof Moran of the School of Natural Sciences at NUI Galway, said, “Our paper dealt with a re-analysis of the 1976 vaccine and its potential to contribute to GBS development. Using more modern approaches retrospectively on these samples, we were able to show that important safety issues should be considered when producing such vaccines to avoid the development of GBS,” he said. “Thus, our findings will allow the development of even safer vaccines. This is of central relevance at the present time in producing a new flu vaccine for current usage.”
The paper is nominated in the Laboratory and Methods category in the 2009 Charles C Shepard Science Awards.