It’s official: H5N1 Definitely in Romania

Tests confirm that the strain of bird flu in Romania is the H5N1 variety, the strain responsible for 60 deaths in Asia.

Officials have been waiting for the awful moment when H5N1 demonstrates an easy ability to jump from human-to-human, rather than how it jumps now, from bird-to-bird and occasionally, from dead bird-to-human. After reading this misleading headline, I thought H5N1 had made the transition but it appears to be just an irresponsibly-written headline.

Some good news from China, where “state television” reported to viewers that Chinese scientists had developed a better, less expensive bird flu vaccine.

The vaccine had the advantage of fighting another common bird disease, as well as the H5N1 influenza strain that has spread from Asia to Europe, state television reported. It identified this as avulavirus APMV-1, also known as Newcastle disease.

“What’s more, the new vaccine is safer, more convenient to use and cannot kill new born chicks,” it said, listing attributes that made it more attractive to farmers than a vaccine they were already using.

China has developed a new and better vaccine for use on birds against the avian influenza strain that scientists fear could cause a global pandemic. For example, the new vaccine could be applied by spraying.

“In addition, the cost of the new vaccine in mass production is only one fifth of that of the previous vaccine.”

China says it has a better vaccine for bird flu,” thestar.com (Malaysia) Oct. 15, 2005.

If true, this will save a lot of poultry farmers’ livelihoods, but where is the human vaccine?

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