China invents vaccines for bird flu virus
26/5/2005 8:18
Chinese scientists yesterday announced that two newly developed vaccines
are fully capable of stopping the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird
flu virus to fowl, water birds, mammals or humans.
They also said they are
willing to provide technical support in epidemic prevention to other countries
and regions and contribute to the breeding industry and public health security
worldwide.
Chen Hualan, director of the China National Bird Flu Reference
Laboratory, based in Harbin, capital of northeastern Heilongjiang Province, said
the two new vaccines developed by her lab had proved to be a success: having
passed a state-level appraisal, plus a permit granted by the Ministry of
Agriculture for sale on the market.
"Experiments show the efficiency rate of
the newly developed vaccines in preventing infection by the H5N1 virus is 100
percent," said Chen.
In the meantime, China has developed three new
technologies with which it takes less than 10 hours to confirm a bird flu
epidemic, compared to 72 hours in the past, with more time being gained for
prevention measures or for taking action.
Dr Bernard Vallat, director general
of World Organization for Animal Health, said China leads the world in research
on bird flu and technologies for prevention.
The two new vaccines have been
sent to Gangcha County, where dead migratory birds, confirmed as felled by the
deadly H5N1 virus, were found on May 4, in a bid to prevent the deadly avian
disease from spreading further.
The Ministry of Agriculture also made an
announcement about the incident last Saturday. It is the first reported bird flu
case on the Chinese mainland since last year when China wiped out the primarily
avian-borne epidemic disease.
Sources said some of the dead migratory birds
discovered in Gangcha, northwestern Qinghai Province, migrated from Southeast
Asia. Migration is said to be an important mode for spreading the bird flu
virus, and China is on the route of migratory birds in Asia.
There is a
higher risk for waterfowl to be infected with the deadly bird flu virus after
mingling with migratory birds already carrying the killer disease. The bird flu
virus can easily spread to domestic fowl and even humans via the water birds
infected with the H5N1 virus.
There were no reports in the world of vaccines
being tested on water birds before China began its research. The latest
experimental results show that the newly developed vaccines are equally
effective in water fowl, and ducks and
geese.
(Xinhua)
Xinhua
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