Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Health

Bird flu outruns the vaccines

By Debora Mackenzie

1 November 2006

A NEW strain of H5N1 bird flu has emerged in China and is poised to start yet another global wave of infection. The human pandemic vaccines now being developed will not protect against it. Worse still, nearly three times as many Chinese poultry are infected with H5N1 now as last year, meaning there is a greater chance of human infections – despite China’s insistence that all poultry be vaccinated against it. In fact, vaccination may be to blame for the new strain.

“The human pandemic vaccine now being developed would not work against a virus descended from the new strain”

Yi…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with Âé¶¹´«Ã½ events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, today with our introductory offers

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop