Vietnam decodes bird flu virus genes

Vietnamese scientists have successfully decoded genes of bird flu virus strain H5N1, paving the way for production of vaccines used among humans, local media reported Monday.

The Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute has decoded genes of 24 samples of the viruses which killed fowls and people in Vietnam's southern region in the 2004-2005 period, said Youth newspaper.

The decoding shows that there have been some changes in the genes. Based on the decoding, the institute in southern Ho Chi Minh City is facilitating the production of H5N1 vaccines to be used among humans.

In November, Vietnam's Nha Trang Institute of Vaccines and Biological Products in central Khanh Hoa province announced it has successfully turned out 5,000 doses of H5N1 vaccine for humans in labs, which have yielded good results after being tested on white mice, guinea-pigs and cockerels. The institute will produce another 5,000 doses of the vaccine in early 2007 for tests at international verification centers.

Vietnam has detected 93 bird flu patients, including 42 fatalities, in 32 localities since the disease started to hit the country in December 2003, the Vietnamese Health Ministry said on Dec. 25, noting that it has seen no new human cases of infections since mid-November 2005.

Since early December, bird flu has stricken six communes in four districts in the two southern provinces of Ca Mau and Bac Lieu, killing and leading to the forced culling of 1,141 chickens and 7,929 ducks, Vietnam Agriculture newspaper on Monday quoted the Department of Animal Health under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development as saying.

Source: Xinhua