Using Aspergillus Niger to enhance vaccine for Avian flu

[Guest guest]

Sophy Beta-Glucan Shown to Enhance Efficacy of Vaccines Against

Avian Flu, Other Viruses

News (press release)

Friday November 17, 8:21 am ET

http://biz./prnews/061117/lnf007.html?.v=4

TOKYO, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Agawa-gun, Kochi Prefecture-based

Sophy Inc. held a press conference today in Tokyo to announce the

results of a joint research project on the prevention of infection

with avian flu and other viruses by teams in Vietnam and Sri Lanka

in cooperation with the Kochi Medical School at Kochi University.

The H5N1 avian flu virus has been carried by migratory birds to all

parts of the world except the Americas and Oceania. Over the past

three years it has spread from poultry to humans, infecting 256

people in 10 countries and causing 152 deaths -- a mortality rate of

59%. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the virus

could eventually evolve to where it can spread from human to human

and cause a pandemic. Countries around the globe are working to

develop contingency plans and to supply vaccinations. Further, in

developing countries many households depend on poultry for their

livelihoods, so preventing viral infection is an economic issue.

At the conference, Director Thanh Hoa Le of the Immunology

Department, Institute of Biotechnology, Hanoi, Vietnam, presented a

report titled " Sophy Beta-Glucan's Adjuvant Effect on the Avian Flu

Vaccine. " His team found that when Sophy Beta-Glucan(1) was added to

the drinking water of chickens and mice that were vaccinated for

H5N1, the subjects showed nearly twice the post-vaccination immune

response of those in control groups.

Professor Rajapakse Jayanthe, a veterinarian at Sri Lanka's

University of Peradeniya, delivered a presentation titled " Sophy

Beta-Glucan's Improved Immunity and Lower Mortality Rates for

Poultry. " He reported that broiler chicks raised on water

supplemented with Sophy Beta-Glucan and vaccinated for the Gambaro

(2) virus showed higher antibody counts than those in control

groups. His group also found that the 42-day mortality rate for the

Sophy Beta-Glucan chicks was 0.7%, far lower than the 3.1% for the

control groups, and that their mean weight was 1.96kg to the 1.77kg

of the control groups.

Professor Jayanthe commented: " Most farmers use antibiotics

supplementation ... but it may result in the development of

bacterial resistance to antibiotics while residues of antibiotics

may be hazardous to human health. However 1% Sophy Beta-Glucan

showed an increased immunity and protection of the birds against

common pathogens. "

(1) Beta-Glucan is a glucan produced by the Aspergillus niger

fungus when

it reproduces. The first Beta-Glucan to be approved as a

natural food

additive by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare

was

Aureobasidium culture solution in 1996.

(2) Gambaro (Infectious Bursal Disease) is an acute infectious

disease

that destroys chickens' immunity and opens the way for

numerous other

opportunistic infections. Outbreaks of Gambaro, known

colloquially as

" chicken AIDS, " have caused huge economic losses for the egg-

producing

and poultry industries in Southeast Asia.

Contact:

NORIHITO ATARI

Press Relations

Phone: +81-3-5565-8966

Fax: +81-3-3546-2017

E-mail: n-atari@...

URL: http://www.sophy-inc.co.jp/