January 15, 2007

Brazilian laboratory to get H5N1 bird flu strain for vaccine tests

Brazil's new maximum security laboratory, the Butanta Institute, will receive next week a live sample of a subtype of the deadly H5N1 virus found in Indonesia to test new vaccines, the local Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper reported Friday (Jan 12).

The material is being shipped from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, in the US. Some 10 countries will get the same viral sample to test new vaccines, with Brazil being the sole Latin America nation.

Brazil is home to thousands of migratory birds and is the world's leading chicken meat exporter.

The report said the goal is to produce 100,000 doses of a new vaccine by the end of 2008.

According to Isaias Raw, technology development director at the Institute, Brazil has until Feb 4 to produce a report showing how it would spend a potential US$2 million investment from the US government to produce potent animal vaccines against bird flu by 2008.