Asia - HCMC to import mass quantities of Merial bird flu vaccines

Ho Chi Minh City is to import and test 600,000 doses of bird flu vaccine from a US company on its poultry farms, said a source from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The livestock vaccine called Trovax AI - manufactured by US animal health giant Merial - has been accepted for limited use within HCMC by authorized veterinary or health departments, according to MARD. At the same time, MARD has recently authorized Vietnam Breeding Company and Japfa Comfeed Company to import 2 million more doses of another vaccine for testing on other farms, again under strict limitations, the ministry said. The Veterinary Department has assigned relevant agencies in Ho Chi Minh City and other localities where the vaccines will be tested to make plans to strictly supervise the trial procedures, and make reports on the test results. On a related note, Vietnam has recorded no new human cases of H5N1 bird flu virus during the period from April 16 – 28, according to Vietnam’s Animal Health Department. A total of 44 patients in 18 cities and provinces have contracted bird flu in Vietnam since the beginning of the second outbreak on December 16, 2004. Sixteen have succumbed to the disease and two others are under treatment at the National Institute for Clinical Research of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi and Uong Bi Hospital in the northern province Quang Ninh.