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Japanese Researchers Develop Nasal Spray Bird Flu Vaccine
The nasal spray could make it easier to vaccinate people in developing countries with limited medical resources, which have borne the brunt of avian influenza since an outbreak in 2003.
Researchers sprayed the vaccine into the noses of mice and monkeys and found it was effective against H5N1, the strain of bird flu that can be deadly for humans, as well as its subtypes.
"It's easier to handle for people in developing countries because you don't need needles," said Hideki Hasegawa, the researcher on the project at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases.
Unlike current vaccines, the nasal spray is also seen as effective in mutations of the H5N1 virus -- meaning it could protect against a potential global pandemic.
The spray counters potential mutations because its antibodies work differently.
The new method "stimulates mucous membranes instead of stimulating cells of the immune system, triggering secreting antibodies on the surface of the mucous membranes," Hasegawa said.
More than 200 people have died, around half of them Indonesia, and poultry flocks have been devastated since avian influenza broke out in 2003.
Human victims have mostly been people in close contact with sick birds. But the World Health Organisation warns that millions of people could die worldwide if the virus mutates into a form easily transmissible among humans.
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