Vaccine Against Dangerous New Bird Flu Months Away

(ENS) MANILA -- A vaccine to protect humans from the H5N1 avian flu virus that has spread through Asia's poultry stock is at least six or seven months away, according to a top World Health Organization official. The avian virus that has hit 10 Asian countries, killing 20 people and millions of birds, could mutate and jump the species barrier to spread among humans, presenting a serious global threat to human health, officials fear.

Dr. Shigeru Omi, director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region said last week in Manila, "We have never seen such a wide spread of a highly aggressive avian virus before." Research is already underway on the development of a human vaccine against the H5N1 strain.

"A vaccine to protect humans may become available, but this is some time away," Dr. Omi said, "Most best-case scenarios suggest at least six or seven months. Therefore, our immediate focus must be on prevention, containment and control of the H5N1 virus within poultry."

The spread of the "highly pathogenic" bird flu in Asia is "a threat to human health and a disaster for agricultural production," the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), and the World Health Organization said in a joint statement Tuesday.

The three organizations appealed to donors to address the global threat from avian flu and to provide funds and technical assistance to countries to help eliminate this threat.

"Farmers in affected areas urgently need to kill infected and exposed animals and require support to compensate for such losses," said Dr. Jacques Diouf, FAO director-general. "This will represent a huge cost, especially to struggling economies and small farmers. The international community has a stake in the success of these efforts and poorer nations will need help," Dr. Diouf said.

The focus of FAO, OIE and WHO activities is to avert a human and animal pandemic during what Dr. Diouf called "a brief window of opportunity before us to eliminate that threat."

"We have faced several emerging infectious diseases in the past," said, WHO Director-General Dr. Lee Jong-wook. "This time, we face something we can possibly control before it reaches global proportions if we work cooperatively and share needed resources. We must begin this hard, costly work now."

Dr. Omi said, "the scale of interventions required is potentially enormous and demands the full support of the international community."

Although it has not happened yet, the bird flu presents a risk of evolving into "an efficient and dangerous human pathogen," the three agencies warned.

To halt the spreading virus, they called for "tight and effective control" of animal movement in affected areas. Farm workers must wear protective clothing during the culling operations. In addition, vaccines need to be supplied. Farmers, especially backyard farmers, need to be supported for losses that will surely be significant.

Ten governments -- Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam have reported outbreaks in poultry flocks.

In other countries of the region, India has issued a bird flu alert to all state governments, although officials said no cases have been reported yet. "We've alerted the animal husbandry ministry and state governments especially those bordering Pakistan and Myanmar to keep a lookout for any cases," Health Ministry Secretary J.V.R. Prasada Rao said.

The disease is spreading most quickly in Thailand and Vietnam. Bangkok's Deputy Mayor Prapan Kittisin Tuesday declared four districts of Bangkok to be a "danger zone" after the virus was found in a fighting cock, chickens and ducks. Officials have stopped the movement of poultry within a 50 kilometer (30 mile) radius of the city.

Agriculture Minister Somsak Thepsutin said the disease has affected 25 of Thailand's 76 provinces. The said any farmers found hiding infected chickens to avoid culling operations will be punished. The police will arrest anyone caught dumping poultry carcasses into rivers and waterways and charge them with violating public hygiene laws.

Thailand is hosting an emergency meeting on the avian disease today in Bangkok with representatives of the United States, the European Union, international organizations and Asian governments affected by the virus, in attendance.

"Clearly we are very concerned," said Dr. Omi. "Cooperation between nations at all levels is key to conquering this public health threat, and we are beginning to see a strong regional and global response emerging."

Prototype viruses for vaccine production are being prepared by laboratories in the WHO Global Influenza Network that have the high security facilities needed to safely conduct work on a highly pathogenic virus such as H5N1, WHO explained. Prototype viruses are then supplied to manufacturers as the "seed stock" for vaccine production.

Laboratories in Hong Kong and Japan have isolated the virus from specimens obtained from two of the laboratory confirmed fatal cases in Vietnam. The virus is now being analyzed at the molecular level to obtain information about its origin and its relationship to viruses currently circulating in birds and possibly other animals.

Candidate vaccines were developed last year, by WHO network labs in London, Memphis for protection against the H5N1 virus strain which caused two cases and one death in Hong Kong last February.

If the virus isolated from the fatal cases in Vietnam proves sufficiently similar to the 2003 H5N1 strain in Hong Kong, the existing candidate vaccines could expedite the availability of a new vaccine. © 2004 Environment News Service and reprinted by special permission

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Albion Monitor February 2, 2004 (http://www.albionmonitor.net)

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