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Hungary to Send Bird Flu Vaccines to Turkey

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 February 2006, 09:01 CST

Hungary to send bird flu vaccines to Turkey

ANKARA, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- Hungary will soon send vaccines against bird flu to Turkey, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday.

Eva Nagy, representative of Hungary's national epidemiology center and private company Omninvest, was quoted as saying that effective anti-bird flu vaccines would be sent to Turkey later this month.

"Initial human tests proved promising on the vaccine, which is applicable for the deadly H5N1 form of the virus," Nagy said.

Immunological tests showed that the vaccine was 99 percent effective against the bird flu, said the Hungarian representative.

"The vaccine was tested on around 100 volunteers including Hungary's health minister in late September. Blood tests revealed that the vaccine was effective against the disease and it did not have any side effects," she continued.

Nagy added that Hungary was ready to fully cooperate with Turkey, where four people were killed and over 20 infected by the deadly contagious disease.

Hungary has said that it could produce 500,000 vaccines a week in case of a possible bird flu outbreak.

The fatal H5N1 strain has killed over 80 people worldwide since its re-emergence in 2003.

Experts fear that the disease could mutate and start being spread from person to person, which might set off a human pandemic.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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