Post by Josh on Mar 18, 2005 17:04:24 GMT -5
Medical officials said on Friday that tests of a bird flu vaccine on Vietnamese monkeys have been successful, and tests in humans could possibly be only a few months away.
Vietnam is the country hardest hit by an epidemic that has killed 47 people in Asia and wiped out many millions of poultry.
Researchers there injected a weakened H5N1 bird flu virus in 3 monkeys early last month and 3 weeks later found the monkeys had produced anti-bodies against avian influenza, and were healthy!
"Researchers have repeated the injections in the monkeys and we expect results in the next two weeks," Nguyen Tran Hien, director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, told Reuters.
Vietnam is the country hardest hit by an epidemic that has killed 47 people in Asia and wiped out many millions of poultry.
Researchers there injected a weakened H5N1 bird flu virus in 3 monkeys early last month and 3 weeks later found the monkeys had produced anti-bodies against avian influenza, and were healthy!
"Researchers have repeated the injections in the monkeys and we expect results in the next two weeks," Nguyen Tran Hien, director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, told Reuters.