Russia produces avian flu vaccine for humans

The Russian Ministry of Health said it is ready to produce 60 million doses of bird flu vaccine for humans in September.

Mr. Mikhail Zurabov - Russian Minister of Health (Photo: chiffonews)

According to Russian Health Minister Mikhail Zurabov, testing of this type of vaccine was conducted on 200 volunteers in Moscow and 156 people in St. Petersburg. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city.

"The entire results of this vaccine test will be presented to the Ministry of Health on September 10 , " he said. Initial trials have shown positive results, with no side effects.

So far bird flu has killed at least 132 people worldwide and there is no sign of stopping. Scientists fear the virus could easily spread from person to person and become a global epidemic. The World Bank (WB) warns, if that happens, it could take 70 million lives and cost the global economy $ 2 trillion.

Mikhail Zurabov said pharmaceutical companies such as Sanofi-Aventis SA, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, MedImmune Inc. and Vical Inc. is racing to produce medicines to treat bird flu in case the disease occurs.

Russia has planned to strengthen the fight against bird flu by spending $ 40 million to upgrade research facilities in the country and central Asia. At the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, the country also proposed to build an avian influenza prevention center for central Asia and the region between Europe and Asia.

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