First bird-flu vaccine ok’d for humans
A few posts ago, I reported on the bird (or Avian) flu hitting tourist states, or is expected to. To follow up on that, from this article on CNN.com, there is a vaccine that is the first to win Food and Drug Administration approval for use in protecting humans against the H5N1 influenza virus. It would be used if the strain mutated into a form that spread easily from person to person, sparking a pandemic.
The Sanofi Aventis SA vaccine already is being stockpiled for use in an outbreak of bird flu. It will not be commercially available. Approval came on the recommendation of FDA advisers, who in February said the vaccine would be better than nothing.
Since it began ravaging Asian poultry farms in late 2003, the H5N1 strain of bird flu has infected nearly 300 people worldwide, killing more than half of them.
The Sanofi vaccine is given in two 90-microgram doses given about a month apart. The two shots contain 12 times the 15-microgram dose contained in regular winter flu shots.
“You’d like to respond to a pandemic quicker than that and ideally you’d like a vaccine where you had one dose and would need less antigen. Those types of vaccines are under study and development,” Norman Baylor, director of the FDA’s vaccine office, told reporters, adding later: “At this point, this is where we are.”
At least we know that the health organizations of the world are acting instead of reacting to a pandemic.
bird flu vaccine, pandemic, H5N1 influenza virus, FDA
bird flu vaccine, pandemic, H5N1 influenza virus, FDA
June 20th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
[...] [ chickens.jpg] A few posts ago, I reported on the bird (or Avian) flu hitting tourist states, or is expected to. To follow up on that, from this article on CNN.com, there is a vaccine that is the first to win Food and Drug Administration approval for use in protecting humans against the H5N1 influenza virus. First bird-flu vaccine ok’d for humans [...]
November 20th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
[...] See First bird-flu vaccine ok’d for humans [...]