Researchers use lab-grown monkey cells to develop bird flu vaccine.
Reuters (6/12, Fox) reports that a team of Baxter International researchers led by Hartmut J. Ehrlich, M.D., has developed Celvapan, a “new-style bird flu vaccine,” which is “made using” African green “monkey cells instead of chicken eggs,” according to a research published in the June 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The use of “cells in a lab dish” is an important element in creating the vaccine, “because the right type of chicken eggs are difficult to obtain.” Furthermore, “H5N1 kills chickens rapidly.” The process also “could cut production time roughly in half, to as little as 12 weeks,” Comment: First you have to be sure you have the outbreak, then define the type & subtypes, then after production is started the product has to be tested, then it has to be distributed, all of which will extend the 12 weeks to at least 24 weeks, by which time the ‘pandemic’ will have saturated the population. Then: Genome Of 150 Different Avian Influenza Viruses Released (June 11, 2008) — The complete genetic coding sequences of 150 different avian influenza viruses have been released. The information improves scientific understanding of avian influenza, a virus that mainly infects birds but that can also infect humans.
