Vietnam to test its own bird flu vaccine on humans, poultry
HANOI - Vietnam will test a homegrown bird flu vaccine on humans and poultry this summer after successful tests on mice and monkeys, state-controlled media reported Saturday.
The trials will be conducted in August on a group of 10 to 20 people to check the vaccine's effectiveness and safety, the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted Nguyen Thu Van, director of the Hanoi-based Vaccine and Biological Products No. 1 Company as saying.
The vaccine, which has been successfully tested on mice and monkeys, will later be given to 200 to 300 other people who are healthy and have close contact with poultry, she said.
The same vaccine also will be tested on poultry in June, Van said.
If the results are successful, the company hopes to mass produce the vaccine for humans and poultry early next year.
The trials are expected to be completed before January 2006.
Bird flu has killed 36 people in Vietnam, 12 in Thailand and four from Cambodia since it began ravaging poultry farms across Asia in late 2003.
Experts fear the virus could mutate to allow easy transmission among humans, creating a global pandemic killing millions of people.
So far, there have been no signs that the virus has altered its form.
The Associated Press - May 07, 2005.
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