Vaccine useless against new flu
Source: Agencies |
August 31, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
VIROLOGISTS warned yesterday there was no effective vaccine against a mutant strain of H5N1 bird flu now spreading in China and Vietnam, and called for closer monitoring of the disease in poultry and wild birds.
The call came after the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations earlier warned of a possible resurgence of bird flu and said a mutant H5N1 strain was spreading.
While scientists are uncertain whether this new strain is more virulent in humans, they said it was different enough from its predecessor to escape the vaccine that tackles the parent strain.
Malik Peiris, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong, said: "The current vaccine does not confer full protection against the (new variant)."
However, he said: "That is not unusual. H5 viruses keep changing and we have to change the vaccine strain."
H5N1 kills as many as 60 percent of the people it infects. It has resurfaced in recent months, most notably in Cambodia where it has killed eight people this year.
Peiris said: "Cases in Cambodia always have high mortality because they are detected late. It does not necessarily indicate that this particular virus strain is more virulent to humans."
The call came after the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations earlier warned of a possible resurgence of bird flu and said a mutant H5N1 strain was spreading.
While scientists are uncertain whether this new strain is more virulent in humans, they said it was different enough from its predecessor to escape the vaccine that tackles the parent strain.
Malik Peiris, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong, said: "The current vaccine does not confer full protection against the (new variant)."
However, he said: "That is not unusual. H5 viruses keep changing and we have to change the vaccine strain."
H5N1 kills as many as 60 percent of the people it infects. It has resurfaced in recent months, most notably in Cambodia where it has killed eight people this year.
Peiris said: "Cases in Cambodia always have high mortality because they are detected late. It does not necessarily indicate that this particular virus strain is more virulent to humans."
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