May 18, 2007

Canada adds 5 million doses of poultry vaccine to its stockpile

Canada's Food Inspection Agency has bought 5 million doses of poultry vaccine to add to the 5 million it bought last year, making a stockpile of 10 million doses of bird flu vaccine for its poultry flock.

The poultry vaccines, bought for US$468,300 from Fort Dodge Laboratories Inc. in Fort Dodge, Iowa, were to work against H5 and H7 avian influenza viruses.

The H5 and H7 strains have the capacity to become highly pathogenic as they circulate through poultry flocks.

Dr. Jim Clark, the national manager of the agency's avian influenza working group, said although Canada would prefer to cull birds during outbreaks, vaccination would serve as insurance against the disease.

Clark said the poultry vaccine would be expected to have a shelf-life of about two or three years and added that the H5N3 vaccine the agency has purchased has been shown to be effective against the virulent Asian H5N1.

The agency is also working on a bird flu monitoring programme for wild birds as an early warning system.

Canada aims to sample 16,000 wild birds for bird flu this year, compared to 27,000 in the US.

Despite increased surveillance over the past couple of years, no evidence of the Asian H5N1 strain has been found in North America.

Studies have shown there are distinct families of viruses between the Asian continents and the Americas, with little if any mingling.