ATLANTA, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Government researchers health officials said Wednesday they has developed a vaccine that protects mice from bird flu.
"This approach is a feasible vaccine strategy against existing and newly emerging viruses of highly pathogenic avian influenza to prepare against a potential pandemic," said researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This approach also provides a viable option for potential vaccine stockpiling for the influenza pandemic," they added.
Public health officials view the development of a vaccine against the bird flu strain known as H5N1 as an urgent priority, but current vaccine production methods are slow and inherently limited in quickly adapting to new flu strains.
The method the CDC researchers report in the Feb. 2 issue of The Lancet would circumvent some of the shortcomings of egg-based manufacturing.
CDC scientists together with researchers at Purdue University genetically engineered an adenovirus, or a type of cold virus, to produce a protein called haemugglutinin subtype 5, which is a component of the H5N1 flu strain.
Mice injected with the vaccine were protected from death and weight loss when challenged with H5N1 viruses isolated from infected humans in 2003 and 2004.
