April 6, 2007

China company develops disinfectant against bird flu

China's Sunwin International Neutraceuticals has developed a hypericin-based veterinary disinfectant, which the company claims is 100 percent effective in killing the H5N1 bird flu virus following research tests on chicken embryos infected with the virus.

Scientists from Ha'erbing Veterinary Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Animal Influenza Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, and National Bird Flu Reference Laboratory conducted the independent research.

The test results showed that when the disinfectant was diluted at ratios of 1:5, 1:10, 1:25 and 1:50, it killed all H5N1 viruses in the infected embryos within 10 minutes. No observable harm was seen to healthy chicken embryos when the same dilution procedures were applied to them.

Laiwang Zhang, president and chairman of Sunwin International Neutraceuticals, expressed satisfaction with the results of the independent tests, commenting that the medicine might play a key role in curbing bird flu in China if approved by authorities.