Researchers working for the Sanofi Pasteur Institute in France claim a vaccine is being developed which could be effective against bird flu. Trials have shown good results of the drug, but some observers are still showing caution towards the announcement. Scientists say the virus has six separate versions, all using an inactive strain of H5N1 and that the vaccine could produce enough neutralizing antibodies in humans to completely destroy the virus in an infected individual. The drug was tested on 300 volunteers so far and according to published results, each of the six versions was efficient in raising the immunity level in the volunteers. Adjuvants are also used to boost the effect of the inactive virus which triggers the body into producing neutralizing agents.
However, experts warn until a pandemic strain occurs, the vaccine cannot be guaranteed to work against a general type of the virus. The H5N1 virus is highly feared because it is like to mutate before sparkling a pandemic and becoming very difficult to contain. An entire new strain will need several months of research to produce an accurate vaccine.
