January 12, 2007

Vietnam successfully produces anti-H5N1 vaccine for poultry

Vietnamese scientists from the Biotechnology Institute have succeeded in producing vaccines against the H5N1 strain of avian influenza for poultry.

According to the scientists' report, the vaccine can render immunisation against the dreaded virus.

The research lasted for one year with the participation of Dr. Le Thanh Hoa, the first Vietnamese researcher who decoded the H5N1 gene in 2004.

Researchers from the Ho Chi Minh City-based Pasteur Institute have succeeded in completely decoding the gene of the H5N1 virus, type A, in Vietnam paving the way for defining variations and transmission mechanism of the bird flu virus, according to Huy Nga, Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine under the Health Ministry.

The researchers, in collaboration with their colleagues from the Pasteur Institute in central coastal Nha Trang city, are carrying out more research to produce anti-H5N1 vaccine for humans.

According to Hoa, the vaccinations that have been used for domestic fowls since 2004 are considered effective, as the past years haven't seen any mutation of the virus neither in Vietnam nor in Asia.

However, experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the US-based Disease Control Centre warned that all types of vaccine against avian influenza (H5N1 type A), which have been tested worldwide, still have to be improved.