Bird Flu Vaccine Not Likely for 6 Months

Jan. 25, 2004
By DANIEL LOVERING
Associated Press Writer

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)--The bird flu virus spreading through Asia appears to have mutated and a more effective vaccine was not likely for more than six months, the World Health Organization said Sunday, as authorities worked to contain the disease.

Hundreds of Thai soldiers donning rubber gloves, boots, colorful shower caps and safety masks Sunday to help clear farms of chickens in Thailand's Suphanburi province--the area hardest hit by an outbreak of bird flu.

``It's not dangerous, but don't be neglectful,'' Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob said as he briefed soldiers lined up at the village hall. ``The safety masks may be uncomfortable because you're not used to them, but don't even think of taking them off.''

Some 450 troops were joined in the operation by 60 prisoners from the provincial jail. In Thailand, prisoners are sometimes called out to dig ditches, repair sewage works and perform other manual public service labor.

Vietnam, which reported its sixth death due to the avian influenza virus on Saturday, and Thailand are the only countries this year where the avian influenza virus has been passed onto humans.

But the virus has hit millions of chickens in four other countries as well, raising concerns it might mutate, link with regular influenza and foster the next human flu pandemic.

On Sunday, China banned all poultry from Thailand and Cambodia, two days after cases of bird flu were confirmed in both Southeast Asian nations.

No cases of bird flu have been reported in China. But the government has stepped up inspections at its border with Vietnam and has been checking all border regions for tainted chickens and other fowl in recent days, and all border markets in Yunnan province have been barred from selling chickens.

China is eager to show its resolve in proactively battling bird flu, particularly after last year's severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic brought the communist government under criticism for its initial guarded response.

The WHO, which said earlier it hoped a vaccine for the disease would be ready in four weeks, said on its Web site that it fears that its forecast that the virus would mutate had come true.

``I don't think we're looking at a workable vaccine within six months. That's too late for the influenza season in Asia but it would be available,'' regional WHO spokesman Peter Cordingley told The Associated Press in the Philippines.

``It could be available for next winter's flu season ... It's not promising this year,'' he added.

Humans infected with the disease are thought to have caught the disease from fowl. The WHO, however, fears bird flu is highly adaptable and might leap the species barrier. It says anyone exposed to the disease should be quarantined to avoid contact with sufferers of regular human influenza.

``Preliminary results indicate that these viruses are significantly different from other H5N1 (bird flu) strains isolated in Asia in the recent past, thus necessitating the development of a new prototype strain for use in vaccine manufacturing,'' the WHO said on its Web site.

Thai officials, following weeks of denial, acknowledged the virus' presence this week after poultry farmers claimed not enough was being done to stop the disease from spreading from nearby countries.

Asia is on a region-wide health alert, with governments slaughtering millions of chickens to contain outbreaks in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

The WHO confirmed two new cases of bird flu in southern Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, which previously had not reported any patients.

One of the cases--a 13-year-old-boy--died Jan. 22, while the virus has also sickened an 8-year-old girl, who was in critical condition. Five others died earlier in Vietnam while a 56-year-old Thai man believed to have avian flu died Friday.

Also in Thailand, two boys have been hospitalized as confirmed cases, and two other people are under surveillance.

In a weekly radio address, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra acknowledged Saturday that the onset of the virus in Thailand could devastate the country's chicken export sector--the world's fourth largest.

Thaksin faced allegations of a cover-up after he said the government suspected for ``a couple of weeks'' that the country was facing an outbreak of bird flu and had taken precautionary measures, but declined to tell the public to avoid causing panic.

Thailand shipped about 500,000 tons of chicken worth $1.3 billion in 2003. But the 15-nation European Union and Japan _ Thailand's biggest markets for poultry--and several other countries also have announced poultry bans.

Vietnam on Saturday reported the disease has been detected in 24 of its 64 provinces, with more than 3 million chickens dead or slaughtered to contain the flu's spread. More than 7 million chickens have been killed in Thailand since November.

But the operation has its own risks. The WHO has warned that workers involved in culling can be exposed.

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