Hungarian Bird Flu Vaccine Proves Effective in Humans

Hungarian bird flu vaccine proves effective in humans

BUDAPEST, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) — Hungary’s bird flu vaccine currently on trial has proved effective, Jeno Racz, the country’s health minister, said on Friday.

“Now we can confirm unequivocally that the vaccine is effective,”Racz said, adding that an antibody was found in the blood of the vaccinated people, including himself and two other senior health officials.

The vaccine was effective against the H5N1 variant of the virus responsible for the disease that could spread from animals to humans.

But it is not yet clear if the vaccine will be useful in the case of a pandemic of bird flu communicated between humans, said Ferenc Zimonyi, the organization director of Omninvest Ltd., the company that developed the vaccine.

Zimonyi said the vaccine was made using a completely novel technology, involving the application of the full inactivated flu virus, rather than certain components. And the vaccine also has a special agent designed to increase its efficiency.

Rights to the vaccine are jointly shared by the government and vaccine maker Omninvest Ltd., a local newspaper quoted government spokesman Andras Batiz as saying Friday.

Countries that have shown interest in the vaccine include Indonesia, the Philippines, Russia, Ukraine, Mongolia, the United States, Britain and Germany, Batiz said.

Human testing of the new drug started in late September on more than 100 volunteers working in the health-care sector.