Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
What the Russian papers say
Moscow doctors testing bird-flu vaccine on humans
Doctors have started testing the first Russian bird flu vaccine on humans, in the hope of finding out by August whether it can counteract the lethal H5N1 strain. But virologists say such tests are pointless, because it is still unclear which strain of the virus will start killing large numbers of humans.
Science and Production Association Mikrogen, a state-owned enterprise that produces bacterial preparations, developed this vaccine in conjunction with a flu research institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, based on the H5N1 strain from Vietnam that is recommended for use in vaccines by the World Health Organization. The new vaccine was first tested on rats, and prevented bird flu in 95% of cases. Mikrogen director Anton Katlinsky said he was cautiously optimistic about the new vaccine after the rat tests.
Pyotr Deryabin, deputy head of research at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Ivanovsky Virology Institute, said it was pointless to test the new vaccine on humans.
"Such tests would make sense if there was an ongoing epidemic of a specific virus strain, but no one can yet say for sure whether the H5N1 strain will be the one to cause a pandemic," Deryabin told the paper. He said it normally takes at least three to four years to launch clinical tests of any new medication.
But Mikrogen representatives said that streamlined production of an H5N1 vaccine would make it easy to create a vaccine against a pandemic virus.
"If necessary, it would take us about 45 days to produce the first batch of the new anti-viral vaccine," said Katlinsky. Production could start as soon as a mutation of the virus began to pass from human to human.
WHO officials have denied reports of possible human-to-human transmission between members of an Indonesian family, while experts have said they could not accurately predict the rate at which bird flu might spread globally in the next month and a half.
Doctors still have no plans to vaccinate the entire Russian population.
"There is no need for this, because we are not involved in the vaccine business. The trade and sanitation inspectorate will choose specific territories for vaccination in case of possible human-to-human transmission," said Oleg Kiselyov, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Influenza Institute.
Izvestia
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060531/48896628.html
Moscow doctors testing bird-flu vaccine on humans
Doctors have started testing the first Russian bird flu vaccine on humans, in the hope of finding out by August whether it can counteract the lethal H5N1 strain. But virologists say such tests are pointless, because it is still unclear which strain of the virus will start killing large numbers of humans.
Science and Production Association Mikrogen, a state-owned enterprise that produces bacterial preparations, developed this vaccine in conjunction with a flu research institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, based on the H5N1 strain from Vietnam that is recommended for use in vaccines by the World Health Organization. The new vaccine was first tested on rats, and prevented bird flu in 95% of cases. Mikrogen director Anton Katlinsky said he was cautiously optimistic about the new vaccine after the rat tests.
Pyotr Deryabin, deputy head of research at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Ivanovsky Virology Institute, said it was pointless to test the new vaccine on humans.
"Such tests would make sense if there was an ongoing epidemic of a specific virus strain, but no one can yet say for sure whether the H5N1 strain will be the one to cause a pandemic," Deryabin told the paper. He said it normally takes at least three to four years to launch clinical tests of any new medication.
But Mikrogen representatives said that streamlined production of an H5N1 vaccine would make it easy to create a vaccine against a pandemic virus.
"If necessary, it would take us about 45 days to produce the first batch of the new anti-viral vaccine," said Katlinsky. Production could start as soon as a mutation of the virus began to pass from human to human.
WHO officials have denied reports of possible human-to-human transmission between members of an Indonesian family, while experts have said they could not accurately predict the rate at which bird flu might spread globally in the next month and a half.
Doctors still have no plans to vaccinate the entire Russian population.
"There is no need for this, because we are not involved in the vaccine business. The trade and sanitation inspectorate will choose specific territories for vaccination in case of possible human-to-human transmission," said Oleg Kiselyov, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Influenza Institute.
Izvestia
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060531/48896628.html
