Vaccines tested for use against bird flu
Human testing on a two potential vaccines against the H5N1 strain of bird flu has begun in Germany and Belgium, according to GlaxoSmithKline PLC.
A total of 800 healthy volunteers in Germany and Belgium are being tested to evaluate the vaccines' safety and ability to boost a person's immune response against H5N1, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Health officials worry that the H5N1 bird flu strain could mutate into a strain that would pass easily among humans, causing a pandemic.
The serum being tested in Germany contains an adjuvant -- an agent that modifies the effect of other agents while having few if any direct effects when given by themselves -- that the researchers hope will help stretch the vaccine to a greater number of doses.
In Belgium, Glaxo is testing a vaccine with a newer type of adjuvant it hopes will help protect people against a broader range of H5N1 strains because no one knows which exact form of H5N1 could emerge as the strain that causes a pandemic.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International