A DNA-based vaccine shows promise against avian flu
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 - 15:35
in Health & Medicine
(PhysOrg.com) -- Though it has fallen from the headlines, a global pandemic caused by bird flu still has the United States` Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on high alert. Yet, to date, the only vaccines that have proven even semi-effective are produced in chicken eggs, take five to six months to prepare and act against a single variant of the H5N1 virus, which mutates incredibly quickly. Now, new research by scientists in New York and Taiwan has led to a vaccine with the potential to stop most strains of H5N1 flu viruses in their tracks.