June 7, 2007

 

Indonesia secures 70 million doses of bird flu vaccines

 

 

Indonesia has acquired 70 million doses of vaccines, enough to inject 290 million chickens, an official said on Wednesday (Jun 7).

 

78 people have died from bird flu in the Asian country, since 2003, the highest in the world. Meanwhile 31 out of the 33 provinces have reported bird flu incidents.

 

The stocks will be used to launch at least three vaccination drives," said Zoelkarnain Hasan, spokesman for the avian influenza affairs with the Agriculture Ministry.

 

He added that just one or two vaccinations would not be enough to get rid of the disease among chickens and prevent the spread to humans.

 

He said it might even take up to four vaccinations within a 4-month period to eliminate the virus.

 

Meanwhile, there were fears that the virus may have mutated to a more contagious form that might pose a threat to humans, Bayu Krisnamurthi, the head of the country's commission on bird flu control said.

 

A microbiologist at the bird flu commission said the suspicions were based on preliminary findings of molecular genetic tests conducted at laboratories in Indonesia.

 

Virus samples from poultry cases have increasingly shown a similarity in their amino acid structure to virus samples extracted from humans, a researcher said. The mutations meant it would be easier for the virus to attach to human receptors, lining the human throat and lungs.

 

At present, the H5N1 virus would easily attach to receptors in poultry Humans have a different type of receptor site, making it harder for people to become infected.

 

Wayan said he had noticed gradual changes in the virus sample he receives every month.

 

Experts said changes such as these demonstrated how important it was for Jakarta to share virus samples.

 

A lack of medical facilities and late intervention were blamed for a recent surge in deaths in Indonesia because new cases have mostly occurred in remote areas.

 

Indonesia last month resumed sharing samples with the WHO after a five-month hiatus. Indonesia and other developing countries had wanted assurances from vaccine companies the vaccines produced through the bird flu samples provided would not be priced out of their reach.