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Bird flu vaccine only works at high dose, study finds CBC News \|\| April 03, 2006 [KDR: This is nice and convenient. All we need to do is spend more money on a phantom threat.] Related - Canadian Bird Flu Pandemic Looming ? An experimental bird flu vaccine appears to work – but only at a dosage 12 times higher than a typical flu shot, researchers said Wednesday. The vaccine produced a useful immune response in about half of the volunteers who received two doses of 90 micrograms each, according to the researchers led by Dr. John Treanor of the University of Rochester in New York. The standard shot against a seasonal influenza strain is 15 micrograms and only one shot is typically needed. The bird flu vaccine was produced by the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis using an H5N1 strain that killed a Vietnamese man in 2004. Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com The researchers tested it on 450 volunteers, using dosages of 7.5, 15, 45 and 90 micrograms. "Only the 90-microgram dose was associated with antibody responses," they write in the study, published in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The H5N1 strain of bird flu has infected 186 people in eight countries, mostly in Asia, and killed 105, according to the World Health Organization. The disease is difficult to catch and doesn't pass from person to person. Some scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form that can spread more easily, leading to a pandemic. U.S. stockpile could only vaccinate 4 million, study predicts The study also said that, because of the higher dosages needed, the current U.S. stockpile of H5N1 virus would protect about four million people out of the country's population of nearly 296 million. A spokesman for the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funded the study, called the findings promising. But Dr. Anthony Fauci said they also show that researchers have a long way to go to produce a vaccine that would be useful in a possible bird flu pandemic. More than 30 clinical trials of H5N1 vaccines are underway, many looking for ways to lower the required dosage by adding other drugs that boost immune response. About KDR \| \| Home \| \| Weekly Features Archive	Weekly Weekly Features Archive
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Bird flu vaccine only works at high dose, study finds

CBC News || April 03, 2006

[KDR: This is nice and convenient. All we need to do is spend more money on a phantom threat.]

Related - Canadian Bird Flu Pandemic Looming ?

An experimental bird flu vaccine appears to work – but only at a dosage 12 times higher than a typical flu shot, researchers said Wednesday.

The vaccine produced a useful immune response in about half of the volunteers who received two doses of 90 micrograms each, according to the researchers led by Dr. John Treanor of the University of Rochester in New York.

The standard shot against a seasonal influenza strain is 15 micrograms and only one shot is typically needed.

The bird flu vaccine was produced by the pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis using an H5N1 strain that killed a Vietnamese man in 2004.

Article Posted at www.KnowledgeDrivenRevolution.com

The researchers tested it on 450 volunteers, using dosages of 7.5, 15, 45 and 90 micrograms.

"Only the 90-microgram dose was associated with antibody responses," they write in the study, published in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has infected 186 people in eight countries, mostly in Asia, and killed 105, according to the World Health Organization. The disease is difficult to catch and doesn't pass from person to person.

Some scientists fear the virus could mutate into a form that can spread more easily, leading to a pandemic.

U.S. stockpile could only vaccinate 4 million, study predicts

The study also said that, because of the higher dosages needed, the current U.S. stockpile of H5N1 virus would protect about four million people out of the country's population of nearly 296 million.

A spokesman for the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funded the study, called the findings promising.

But Dr. Anthony Fauci said they also show that researchers have a long way to go to produce a vaccine that would be useful in a possible bird flu pandemic.

More than 30 clinical trials of H5N1 vaccines are underway, many looking for ways to lower the required dosage by adding other drugs that boost immune response.

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