Indonesia eyes bird flu vaccine cooperation with Egypt

[Theresa42]

This is a press release from the Egyptian government's bird flu website, machine-translated from Arabic:

An Indonesian-Egyptian committee for fighting the bird flu
March 18, 2007

Mrs. Fayza Aboualnga the Minister of International Co-operation discussed with Mr. Ibourizal Capri the coordinating minister for welfare the Indonesian people and all of the World Food Program actors in Egypt and Indonesia that visits Egypt now the benefit from the experiences and the cooperation in many fields as the exchange of debts, fighting the bird flu and the reform of the support policy and the financing inclined to the producers juniors, the import of cotton and the Egyptian rice and the investment in the mining sector in Egypt besides the coordination of attitude is regarding the conditions's improvement of an Al Aqradia that the international financing corporations offer to the countries with average income and from them Egypt and Indonesia.

And within the framework of the efforts that each of Egypt and Indonesia exerts for fighting the bird flu virus the agreement on the establishment of a subcommittee took place from the experts from both countries it results from the sixth round to the joint committee between Egypt and Indonesia whose holding is scheduled in the period from 2 to 4 April 2007 in Jakarta for the cooperation and the coordination of efforts for fighting the virus spread where the Indonesian minister reported that its countries have reached anti-virus the production of a human serum has been recorded expressing the readiness of Indonesia for the cooperation with Egypt in this regard. [Google trans.: ...as reported Indonesian Minister said that his country had reached production of a human vaccine against H5N1 has been registered and expressed Indonesia's readiness to cooperate with Egypt in this regard.]

And the Minister of International Co-operation has presented the Egyptian experience in the debts exchange field for the development, since the Egyptian program is considered in this field an innovated cooperation experience and effective in financing the development specially that it includes the reduction of the external debts burden and the establishment of development projects in the different fields with the priority to Egypt.

http://birdflu.sis.gov.eg/ahtml/aflu05136.htm

[Theresa42]

Re: Egypt-Indonesian vaccine cooperation/deal in the works?

Hat-tip, pugmom!

Indonesia to assist Egypt in bird flu fight
By Abdel-Rahman Hussein
First Published: March 18, 2007

CAIRO: Indonesia will share its newly developed avian flu vaccine with Egypt if the countermeasure proves effective, Aburizal Bakrie, Coordinating Minister for People?s Welfare in Indonesia, told The Daily Star Egypt.

He said Indonesia has developed a human vaccine to be released by September 2007.

?Our vaccine will be based on the Indonesian strain [of bird flu],? Bakrie said. "We have the patent, and if it is successful we will share it with Egypt.?

He added ?we should tackle avian flu on both fronts; the birds and people. And we should prepare for a pandemic.?

Bakrie headed an Indonesian delegation which visited Egypt by invitation from the WFP (United Nations World Food Program) to discuss and observe numerous matters of development.

The delegation met with senior Egyptian officials including Ali El-Meselhi, Minister of Social Solidarity; Fayza Aboulnaga, Minister of International Cooperation; Amin Abaza, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation and Ambassador Moushira Khattab, Secretary General of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood.

In an impromptu meeting with the press, Bakrie, who also chairs the National Council of Avian Flu in Indonesia, discussed the challenges both Indonesia and Egypt face in attempting to quell the outbreak of avian flu.

He told The Daily Star Egypt: "The most important thing is to separate the people from the birds which is a problem, because you?re changing the structure of the industry itself."

He explained that the government needed to be firm in applying countermeasures against the spread of bird flu.

"This is the most difficult thing; you should be tough in culling for instance," he stressed.

On Thursday, local press reported that an Egyptian girl had contracted the potentially deadly bird flu strain, bringing to 25 the number of people to be diagnosed with the disease since it appeared in the country last year.

Ten-year-old Amira Abdel Latif Nayal from the southern city of Aswan was admitted to a hospital there on Tuesday, suffering from fever and muscle pain, health ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shine told the Middle East News Agency (Mena).

Nayal tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, Mena said, but gave no details on how the girl contracted the virus.

Out of the 25 Egyptians who contracted bird flu since last February, 13 have died. Most of the infected have been women or girls, who normally tend to look after chickens and turkeys kept in the backyards of Egyptian homes.

Since the outbreak of bird flu last year, Egypt has been one of the worst-affected countries outside Asia, where the disease originated. It lies on a main route for migratory birds, which are believed to have brought disease from Asia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that mutations were found in two fatalities in Egypt. In those cases, the virus had mutated to a form that could be resistant to the drug Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir, most often medication of choice for treating human bird flu cases.

With additional reports by Reuters

http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6221

[Theresa42]

Indonesia eyes bird flu vaccine cooperation with Egypt

Indonesia eyes bird flu vaccine cooperation with Egypt
03 Apr 2007 07:50:40 GMT
Source: Reuters

JAKARTA, April 3 (Reuters) - Indonesia is looking to work with Egypt to produce a human bird flu vaccine, its trade minister said on Tuesday.

Indonesia is the hardest-hit country for human fatalities with 71 victims of the H5N1 virus strain confirmed so far. Egypt has recorded 32 human cases, 13 of them fatal, the highest figures for any country outside Asia.

"Indonesia and Egypt have bird flu cases. But Egypt has more advanced pharmaceutical experience and has produced a variety of vaccines. Thus, the possibility for cooperation is wide open," minister Mari Pangestu told a news conference after a meeting with an Egyptian trade delegation.

"Hopefully, the cooperation can produce a vaccine that is suitable for Indonesia."

The Egyptian delegation led by International Cooperation Minister Fayza Aboulnaga is in Jakarta for three days of talks.

Pangestu gave no details of the plan, but said cooperation in producing a human bird flu vaccine would be part of economic talks between the two countries.

At the moment, there is no vaccine commercially available against H5N1 but several companies are working to develop one.

In February, Indonesia signed a preliminary agreement with a unit of pharmaceutical firm Baxter International under which the Health Ministry's research and development institute would supply the American firm with H5N1 specimens while Baxter would provide technology to help develop a vaccine.

Avian flu still affects mainly wild birds and poultry, but experts fear that if the H5N1 strain mutated into a form easily transmitted from person to person, it could sweep the world, killing millions.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/JAK219848.htm