Japan: Vaccine may be linked to bird flu cases

October 8, 2005

Vaccine may be linked to bird flu cases

The weak strain of avian influenza recently detected at more than a

dozen farms in Ibaraki Prefecture may have been brought about by

artificial contamination, including by the use of vaccines, a farm

ministry panel said Friday.

The use of vaccines to prevent bird flu is currently banned by law,

and the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said it would

probe the matter further.

According to panel head Hiroshi Kida, a professor at Hokkaido

University, the genetic makeup of the virus found at the Ibaraki farms

was strikingly similar to that of a bird flu virus found in Guatemala

and Mexico, too far for a migrating bird to carry into Japan. It is

also different from other Central American strains of the virus

previously found in other parts of Asia.

This led the panel to suspect that a vaccine developed using the

Central American virus was brought into Japan and used on some birds,

infecting the animals around them, he said.

The ministry has a stock of vaccines to be used in the event of a

massive bird flu outbreak, but has banned its general use because

vaccinated birds will develop the antibody and be indistinguishable

from animals that have really come down with the disease.

The Japan Times: Sept. 3, 2005

Recommended Posts