July 6, 2006

Russia may have first peroral bird flu vaccine by year-end

Russia could have its first peroral vaccine against the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu by the end of this year, the head of an institute working on the vaccine said Wednesday (Jul 5).

The vaccine is to be delivered with food and water rather than intravenously, said Eduard Dzhavadov, the director of St. Petersburg's Veterinary Institute of Poultry Breeding

The Influenza Institute is working directly with the H5N1 virus. A strain from which scientists could use to base their vaccine on would be available in July, Dzhavadov said.

He said peroral vaccines took much less time to administer than those requiring an injection. This meant a large poultry farm could be immunised in as little as half an hour.

Russia carried out mass poultry vaccination campaign in March. More than a million birds have died of bird flu since February.