China starts human trials of bird flu vaccine
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-21 19:15

Development of the vaccine -- called Panflu -- started last year after bird flu outbreaks in Thailand and Vietnam and animal trials have already been completed.

Visitors look at doves at a park Thursday Dec. 8, 2005 in Shanghai, China. China has begun human trials of its homegrown bird flu vaccine with six volunteers receiving shots, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. [AP]

Experts say experimental vaccines for bird flu are unlikely to be a good match for an H5N1 strain that may eventually emerge in transmissible form among humans.

Using current technology it takes six months or more to make a new flu vaccine and there is no way to predict what a pandemic strain might look like.

Currently, Roche Pharmaceuticals' Tamiflu is one of four drugs known to work against influenza. It does not cure the virus but can reduce the severity of infection and in some cases prevent infection.

Doctors believe it may help control a pandemic of H5N1, although evidence suggests it may be less effective than it is against seasonal influenza.