|
Human test for bird flu vaccine
09/05/2005 07:55 - (SA)
Hanoi - A bird flu vaccine developed in Vietnam will be tested on humans next month amid fears that the disease could become a pandemic if it became easily transmittable between humans, a Vietnamese scientist said on Monday.
"The first tests on human will be conducted in either late June or early July," Nguyen Thu Van, a key member of the group developing the vaccine said, adding that the results of tests on monkeys in February were "very good".
"We expect to produce the human bird flu vaccine in early 2006," she said.
Several other countries are carrying out research on bird flu vaccine. The World Health Organisation said earlier this year it would make sure all laboratories shared their results to speed up chances of finding a vaccine.
The deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has killed 36 people in Vietnam since late 2003. Another 12 have succumbed to the virus in Thailand and four have died in Cambodia.
Must be combated in farmyards
Scientists have long warned that bird flu is deeply entrenched in poultry and must be combated in the farmyards.
Between 70 and 80% of the ducks in densely populated areas of the southern Mekong delta, have been found to be affected by the virus, according to the agriculture ministry.
Last week, authorities in the southern business capital, Ho Chi Minh City, received the green light to test 600 000 chickens with a vaccine produced by the French animal health company, Merial.
Animal health officials said if the results proved successful, poultry in other parts of the country would also be vaccinated.
World health experts have warned that the H5N1 virus could lead to a global pandemic if it mutated into a form that was easily transmitted between humans.
- AFP
|
News
