Swine flu easing in Southern Hemisphere

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-04 17:41

VACCINE SUCCESS

In Zurich, Novartis AG reported that a single dose of its Celtura H1N1 vaccine, boosted with an immune-stimulating compound called an adjuvant, produced desired effects in 80 out of 100 volunteers.

The World Health Organization said if this was borne out in larger studies, it might help stretch a limited vaccine supply.

In Beijing, China's Sinovac Biotech said it had received approval from China's State Food and Drug Administration for its vaccine, which Sinovac says needs only one 15 microgram dose to be effective.

Frieden said he would like to examine the data from both trials. Most studies so far have suggested that because many people lack any immunity to the new virus, they will need two doses to be fully protected from infection.

He noted that the five vaccines approved for the U.S. market do not use adjuvants and that trials in people are still going on to see which dose would work best.

"The good news is that so far, everything that we've seen, both in this country and abroad, shows that the virus has not changed to become more deadly. That means that although it may affect lots of people, most people will not be severely ill," Frieden told reporters in a telephone briefing.

The U.S. Institute of Medicine released a report recommending the use of special masks called N95 respirators for healthcare workers treating people with suspected H1N1 flu, but also saying much more research is needed into how flu spreads.

A N95 respirator covers the nose and mouth tightly, filtering out tiny particles that can carry viruses and bacteria. Research suggests that surgical masks, commonly worn in Mexico during the height of the pandemic, do little to protect the wearer.

And a survey commissioned by the U.S. Meat Export Federation showed that nearly two-thirds of consumers in China, the world's largest pork producer and consumer, stopped eating pork in the early stages of the pandemic.

The survey of 1,200 Chinese consumers also showed that more than one in five Chinese consumers still wrongly believe that eating pork can result in catching the flu virus.

U.S. pork exports to China for June, the latest month available, totaled 1.861 million pounds, down from 3.161 million pounds in May and down sharply from 69.623 million in June 2008, when exports to China soared ahead of the summer Olympics.

Previous 1 2 Next Page