Vietnam is to use bird flu vaccines on people on a trial basis, after its vaccination on animals is successful, according to the country's national Hygiene and Epidemiology Institute on Friday.

The institute, which has used vaccines it developed on mice, chickens and monkeys on a pilot basis, has just found that the vaccines are effective on mice and chickens. The final result of the vaccination on monkeys will come out in the next 10 days, it said.

If the result is encouraging, the institute will test bird flu vaccines on volunteers, mainly the vaccines' developers, for two months. It started researching into vaccines against bird flu virus strain H5N1 in early 2004.

Vietnam has so far experienced three outbreaks of bird flu in people, killing 32 local people. In the first outbreak, lasting from Dec. 26, 2003 to March 10, 2004, a total of 23 people were infected with H5N1, of whom 16 died. In the second outbreak from July 19, 2004 to Aug. 26, 2004, four people contracted with the virus, and all of them died.

In the most recent outbreak starting from Dec. 16, 2004, Vietnam has detected 17 local people to contract H5N1, of whom 12 have died, and five have fully recovered. Bird flu, which has killed and led to the forced culling of more than 1.5 million fowls in its 35 cities and provinces since January, is cooling down. Nine localities have detected no new bird flu-affected spots in their territories for at least three weeks. At least two months after each locality declares its bird flu-free status (detecting no new affected spots in its territory for 21 days), it is allowed to restore its poultry flocks, Vietnam's Department of Animal Health said, noting that those who want to raise fowls must register and get approval from authorized veterinarian agencies.

Source: Xinhua