 |
||
Bird flu vaccine passes first human
tests
|
||
|
LONDON: An experimental vaccine which could protect against bird flu and save millions of lives has passed its first clinical tests. A trial involving 300 volunteers showed the vaccine for the H5N1 strain of the virus can trigger a safe immune response in people. Although there is no evidence yet that H5N1 can spread from person-to |
-person, a reliable vaccine will be a vital weapon if the virus mutates into a pandemic form, Bird flu can currently pass between domestic and wild birds. The virus has so far killed 115 people believed to have caught it from poultry, and is highly virulent, with a fatality rate of up to 70 per cent. |
French scientists from the pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur are developing the vaccine based on a modified strain of the virus. Dr Melanie Saville and colleagues found the vaccine was able to produce neutralizing antibodies in the volunteers. --- DM.
|
|
|
||
