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Largest Medical Center in Southern China Signs Affiliation Agreement With Americas Center for H5N1 Detection, Prevention and Research

Posted on: Monday, 5 December 2005, 12:00 CST

The Americas Center, Houston, Texas, USA and Sun Yat-sen University Medical Center, Guangzhou, P.R. of China announced today the signing of a primary affiliation agreement. Under the affiliation agreement, the Americas Center and Sun Yat-sen University Medical Center will work to detect, prevent and treat the H5N1 virus and its variants. The H5N1 virus is commonly referred to as the avian or bird flu.

Sun Yat-sen University Medical Center is the largest medical center and provider in southern China. The Sun Yat-sen Medical Center is composed of a medical school, eight affiliated hospitals and two medical service clinics. Sun Yat-sen Medical Center and the Americas Center have been working together doing translational research and this new agreement increases and leverages the existing cooperation between the two entities.

"The H5N1 virus could mutate quickly to become a catastrophic pandemic," said Americas Center Director Kinn Moursund. "By working closely with the largest and most prestigious medical center in southern China, we can greatly accelerate detection and translational research." In a global pandemic scenario, the ability to quickly institute clinical trials on potential treatments or vaccines will be critical. So far the H5N1 virus has been difficult for humans to catch and almost impossible for one human to pass to another. However, if this strain becomes easily communicable, experts believe the results could be catastrophic.

"The world is now in the gravest possible danger of a pandemic," said Shigeru Omi, head of the World Health Organization's (WHO) western Pacific office, in February 2005. Experts at WHO and elsewhere believe that the world is now closer to another influenza pandemic than at any time since 1968, when the last of the previous century's three pandemics occurred. WHO uses a series of six phases of pandemic alert as a system for informing the world of the seriousness of the threat and of the need to launch progressively more intense preparedness activities. The designation of phases, including decisions on when to move from one phase to another, is made by the Director-General of WHO. Each phase of alert coincides with a series of recommended activities to be undertaken by WHO, the international community, governments, and industry. Changes from one phase to another are triggered by several factors, which include the epidemiological behavior of the disease and the characteristics of circulating viruses. As of November 2005, the world is in phase 3: a new influenza virus subtype is causing disease in humans, but is not yet spreading efficiently and sustainably among humans.

About the Americas Center

The Americas Center (http://www.americascenter.net) is primarily composed of individuals and institutions located within the Texas Medical Center (TMC), Houston, Texas. TMC is the largest medical center in the world. The Americas Center focuses on 1) global translational research involving multi-site, complex protocols, 2) technology life cycle management in biomedical engineering and information technology and 3) telehealth and telemedicine training, consultations, CME and collaborations between our global healthcare partners.

Source: Business Wire

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