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Updated: 2005-12-22 15:47

China starts human trials of bird flu vaccine

首批6名志愿者21日在北京中日友好医院接种了试验用"大流行流感疫苗"(即流感H5N1全病毒灭活疫苗)。经过为期半个小时的临床观察,志愿者没有出现全身及局部不良反应。 根据临床研究方案,这次临床研究共有120名志愿者参加,年龄在18至60岁,身体健康,均来自北京。

China starts human trials of bird flu vaccine
A vaccine against bird flu from Beijing-based pharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech is seen in this undated photo. (AFP)

China has begun human trials of itshomegrownbird flu vaccine with six volunteers receiving shots, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday.

A total of 120 people, aged from 18 to 60 and all from Beijing and in good health, had volunteered to take part in the trials, Xinhua said.

"After half an hour of clinical observation, the volunteers experienced no bad reaction of either the whole or part of the body," the agency said.

Though the trials will need nine months of tests, initial results are expected within the first three, it added.

The head of the company researching the vaccine, Sinovac Biotech, told Reuters last month that it was at least a year away from hitting the shelves.

Development of the vaccine -- called Panflu -- started last year after bird flu outbreaks in Thailand and Vietnam and animal trials have already been completed.

Experts say experimental vaccines for bird flu are unlikely to be a good match for an H5N1 strain that may eventually emerge in transmissible form among humans.

Using current technology it takes six months or more to make a new flu vaccine and there is no way to predict what a pandemic strain might look like.

Currently, Roche Pharmaceuticals' Tamiflu is one of four drugs known to work against influenza. It does not cure the virus but can reduce the severity of infection and in some cases prevent infection.

Doctors believe it may help control a pandemic of H5N1, although evidence suggests it may be less effective than it is against seasonal influenza.

(Agencies)

 

Vocabulary:
 

homegrown: raised or grown at home(国产的)

 

 
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