May 11, 2009

 

The Veterinary Services Department on Thursday (May 7) allowed the provisional registration of two AH1N1 flu virus vaccines for pigs.

 

Two companies, Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd from the US, and Laboratorios Hipra from Europe, are expected to bring in the vaccines for testing next week.

 

Department director-general Datuk Abd Aziz Jamaluddin said they would use the vaccines in a pilot project to prevent disease associated with AH1N1 flu virus subtypes H1N1 and H3N2.

 

Jamaluddin said the vaccines are for H1N1 and H3N2, adding that it is expected to be done in the last two weeks of this month, before deciding whether to vaccinate all the 1.7 million pigs in the country.

 

He said the department could only advise the government on the mass vaccination after ensuring the vaccines were safe for pigs and would avert the spread of the disease.

 

The trial results are expected to be known by the end of next month.

 

He said if the trial was successful, then mass vaccination should be done as it would protect the pigs and reduce the risk of AH1N1 flu virus mutating into a virulent strain.

 

He said all state veterinary department offices had activated their rapid action teams to check pig farms and take blood samples as well as nasal swabs to be sent to the Veterinary Research Institute to determine if they had the current AH1N1 virus strain.

 

He also said 22 of the tested farms showed the pigs had flu-like symptoms but virus found in the animals was not the current AH1N1 strain.