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Indonesia develops human bird flu vaccine
January 9, 2009 on 3:33 pm | By | In bluefreesky.com | Indonesia develops human bird flu vaccineIndonesia develops bird flu vaccine, no word yet on when it will be available
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia has developed a vaccine that may protect people against a yet-to-emerge pandemic strain of bird flu, officials said Thursday, but there was no word on when it would be ready for mass production.
Several other countries are working to develop vaccines that could be used against a pandemic flu strain.
The vaccine was made using samples of the H5N1 virus taken from bird flu patients in Indonesia, which has recorded 63 human deaths so far - almost a third of all deaths worldwide, officials said.
"We have processed it into a vaccine. However, this is still at a laboratory level. It will be not be commercialized at this stage," said Bayu Krisnamurthi, head of the country's bird flu commission.
Health Ministry official Nyoman Kandun said after the vaccine is ready for human use, it will likely be administered to officials who are slaughtering or working with infected chickens.
If a pandemic bird flu strain emerges, experts say it could take six months before vaccines such as the one Indonesia is developing could be adjusted to provide full protection.
However, vaccines that defend against the existing H5N1 bird flu virus are expected to provide a lesser degree of immunity.
The H5N1 virus remains hard for humans to catch and is generally spread by chickens, but experts fear it could mutate into a form that passes easily among people, potentially igniting a pandemic
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_GEN_INDONESIA_BIRD_FLU_VACCINE_ASOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-02-01-07-28-46
01 Feb 2007 12:51:41 GMT
JAKARTA, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Indonesia has developed a bird flu vaccine for humans but it is still at an early experimental stage, the head of the country's national committee on avian influenza said on Thursday.
Many experts fear the H5N1 bird flu virus could eventually mutate into a form that would spread easily among humans and cause a pandemic that could possibly kill millions.
In its current form, where it is spread mainly by contact with fowl, it has killed 63 Indonesians, the most fatalities of any country in the world. Six of the deaths came in January.
"We have developed an inter-pandemic bird flu vaccine for humans using the H5N1 virus Indonesia strain, but it's still at the experimental level in the lab," bird flu commission chief Bayu Krisnamurthi told Reuters on Friday.
"It is not yet for commercial production. It still has a long way to go," he said, declining to elaborate.
Indonesia Planning Minister Paskah Suzetta had said on Wednesday that Indonesia would declare bird flu a national disaster following a fresh flare-up in the country to guarantee financial support from a special budget fund.
However, Krisnamurthi said on Thursday that Indonesia was already approaching the virus with the utmost seriousness.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK89639.htm
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