Vaccinate now to avoid bird flu outbreak, warn experts

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Vaccinate now to avoid bird flu outbreak, warn experts

GERRY BRAIDENNovember 03 2008

People should be vaccinated against bird flu now to avoid the disastrous

effects of a sudden global pandemic with " urgent consideration " given to

priming potential victims with a preparatory jab, experts have warned.

It would involve an initial vaccination to build up the immune system

followed by a booster shot as soon as the first signs of a pandemic emerge,

the team of international researchers said.

People primed in advance would then be fully protected in a week, instead of

six.

Just weeks ago, UK academics said a vaccine currently being tested could

save lives in a future bird flu pandemic, with jabs given years earlier

priming the immune system to fight a variety of strains.

One leading specialist has suggested governments should consider

stockpiling vaccines in people's arms " .

A lethal strain of bird flu has been spreading around the globe for more

than four years, killing millions of birds and hundreds of humans. A

pandemic flu has been labelled the " gravest threat " to the UK by a recent

government document.

Fears of a pandemic have not so far materialised, even though the mortality

rate among humans is above 60%.

Experts point out that cross-infection to humans is still relatively rare

and usually occurs where people have been in close contact with infected

birds.

The biggest fear remains the risk of the deadly H5N1 bird-flu strain

combining with a human strain to produce a mutation, more dangerous and

difficult to combat - so far, every victim of the virus is thought to have

been in contact with infected birds.

Writing in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, the researchers say

there may be no warning before H5N1 explodes in the human population.

Current vaccination strategies require two jabs, six weeks apart but the

experts warn that may be too late to prevent widespread loss of life.

The experts wrote: " We simply cannot afford to ignore it as a major global

threat.

" The maximum benefit from using a pre-pandemic vaccine may be gained from

priming populations before there is evidence of a novel virus emerging and

spreading, when systematic supply, distribution and vaccination strategies

can be put in place. "

Bird flu claimed its first human victim, a three-year-old boy in Hong Kong,

in May 1997. Since then it has spread through Asia, the Middle East, Europe

and Africa.

As of January this year, the World Health Organisation had confirmed 348

cases of H5N1 in humans in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt,

Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey and

Vietnam, leading to 216 deaths.

Despite mass culls, exclusion zones and other measures to prevent its spread

the H5N1 virus has continued to travel.

In one week in February 2006, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria,

France, Slovenia, India, Iran and Egypt confirmed their first cases of H5N1

in wild birds.

In March 2006, a mute swan found dead in the harbour at Cellardyke, near

Anstruther in Fife, was confirmed as carrying avian flu.

There is not yet a definitive vaccine but antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu are

already available and being stockpiled by the UK and other countries.