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Russia Has Vaccines Against H5n1 Flu in Birds, Not Humans - Expert

Posted on: Tuesday, 7 March 2006, 21:02 CST

MOSCOW. March 7 (Interfax) - Russia has so far developed two vaccines to protect poultry from H5N1 bird flu.

Director of the Virusological Research Institute Dmitri Lvov told a Tuesday news conference at the Interfax central office that his institute has developed one of the vaccines, and veterinarians in Vladimir, the other.

"This veterinary vaccine will be truly effective and the vaccination of poultry can begin any day," he said.

Lvov admitted that there is no similar vaccine for humans. "A human vaccine cannot be developed before there is a pandemic because we don't know which strain will cause the disease in humans," he said.

In his opinion, a vaccine for humans may be developed no less than six months after the beginning of a pandemic of bird flu. However, scientists have already discovered that bird flu is sensitive to existing anti-viral medicines, such as remantadin, he said.

Lvov pointed out that the bird flu virus survives well in water. "Any closed body of water soiled by infected birds from the Arctic Ocean to the southern outskirts of Russia has become a time bomb. The virus perfectly survived the cold winter as it can live in very cold water for months," he said.

Lvov also singled out the ability of the virus to multiply in the body, adding that infected birds are literally filled with viruses that spread to all the tissues and organs. "The virus is capable of blocking the protective systems of the body, including the generation of interferon," he said.

Source: Daily News Bulletin; Moscow - English

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