Health
Firm gets grant for avian flu vaccine
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Oct. 18, 2004
Taking the potential threat of avian flu very seriously, the Dept. of Health and Human Services awarded a $13 million contract to Aventis Pasteur Inc. to manufacture and store 2 million doses of avian influenza vaccine.
The vaccine will match the H5N1 influenza virus that has killed 29 people in Thailand and Vietnam this year, said HHS. If a pandemic of avian influenza of the same strain should occur in humans, the vaccine would be used to protect laboratory workers, public health personnel and, if necessary, the general public.
HHS also awarded a contract to Chiron Corp. to produce an investigational vaccine based on the H9N2 strain of avian influenza virus that has also infected humans. Both strains have the potential to trigger a modern-day pandemic.
Meanwhile, public health authorities were closely monitoring developments in Thailand where there was a suspected case of human-to-human transmission of the virus. Such a transmission, as opposed to bird-to-human, is thought to be the first step necessary to spark a flu pandemic.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/10/18/hlbf1018.htm.
