February 24, 2004

Thailand Says Bird Flu Vaccine Ready in Six Months

Thai researchers developing a H5N1 bird flu vaccine using DNA technology, expects the vaccine to be completed in six months, a Biotec executive said on Monday.

Separate research teams at Siriraj Hospital and Kasetsart University were now beginning a "vaccine design" based on a direct study of the virus' genetic carrier.

The technology will allow them to avoid confusion in indicating whether the virus detected in chickens resulted from vaccination or infection.

"That could be used by foreign countries as a claim to reject Thai chicken," Prasit Palittapongarnpim, acting deputy director of the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (Biotec) said during a seminar on the deadly virus.

An older method to make the vaccine, which Dr Prasit said could be started immediately by the Livestock Department, cannot differentiate vaccinated chickens from those naturally catching the virus.

The method, known as "inactivated approach", had already been conducted by scientists in China who killed the virus before injecting the vaccine into the chickens. The two teams have not sent their research proposals to Biotec for financial support.

The work to build a prototype vaccine would cost between 1-2 million baht, Dr Prasit said.

The genetic characteristic of the virus, decoded by Chulalongkorn University scientists, would also help facilitate their studies.

"But the vaccine [against avain flu virus] would be effective for around three years. Then we need to make a new one," he said.

The H5N1 is a virulent variant of 15 subtypes of influenza, whose unique structure allows it to mutate easily, compared with other kinds of virus such as the polio virus.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob told another meeting joined by the Food and Agriculture Organisation that he disagreed with using the vaccine to control bird flu virus, due to concerns that it could have a negative impact on human health and poultry exports.

"The European Commission and Japan, the country's largest poultry importers, state clearly that using bird flu vaccine is unacceptable.

"They will slap a total ban on Thai poultry if we use that vaccine when they are against it," he said.