Chinese scientist who led the team which produced China's first vaccine for human infections of bird flu has said his company is ready even if the virus mutates.

The vaccine now is specially against H5N1 bird flu. "But we are also capable of producing vaccines against other types of influenza if the virus develops into other forms," Yin Weidong, a leading expert for the vaccine project, was quoted by Thursday's China Daily as saying.

China's health authorities have confirmed on Wednesday the first two human cases of bird flu in the country, and enhanced effort to prevent and control the epidemic.

Yin, who is also the managing director of Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech Co Ltd., told the newspaper his company is awaiting official approval for testing on humans. His enterprise has set up all facilities for production, quality control and vaccine storage.

The original virus used for the research was obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO) laboratories, and it was proved that it can cause bird flu in chicken, rats and other animals.

Scientists also proved that the vaccine developed from the H5N1 virus could cause anit-bodies in rats and was effective in animal tests, Yin said.

It is based on his experience that Yin is confident of developing other vaccines against various types of bird flu, said the newspaper.

Experts are getting set for human testing, which might be carried out in some big hospitals in Beijing, but no volunteers have been recruited yet, said the newspaper.

Lin Jiangtao, the top doctor in respiratory diseases at Sino-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing, said that he was preparing for the test. Lin was the leading doctor in human tests of a vaccine against SARS, which was also developed and produced by Yin's enterprise.

Yin said although the bird flu vaccine cannot be used before it passes human tests, it might be injected among some high-risk groups such as doctors and poultry workers should a human pandemic break out, Yin said.

So far the only available medication which has been proven to be effective against bird flu is the anti-viral drug Tamiflu, produced by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG.

Source: Xinhua