Russia Starts Mass Vaccination Of Poultry To Fight H5N1

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Main Category: Bird Flu / Avian Flu
Also Included In: Veterinary
Article Date: 10 Mar 2006 - 16:00 PDT

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Russian authorities have commenced the mass vaccination of the whole country's poultry stock. A massive undertaking in the world's largest country (by geographical size).

Southern Russia, where vaccination programmes got off the ground early, tens of millions of poultry have already been vaccinated.

According to sources in Russia, almost one million heads of poultry have died as a result of bird flu infection and measures to control its spread.

In Western Europe, the EU has allowed France and Holland to vaccinate their poultry livestock.

To Vaccinate or Not?

Many experts say that vaccinating birds does not stop the spread of the H5N1 virus. All it does is protect the bird that received the shot (jab), but that bird can still be a carrier of the virus and infect other birds - and possibly humans.

The greatest disadvantage with mass vaccination is that you then don't know how widespread the virus is in your country.

Another problem with vaccination is its price - it is very expensive (to carry out a national programme).

So far, it is still difficult for a human to catch bird flu from a bird. Hundreds of millions of birds have died of H5N1 infection since 2003 - but only about 95 humans have died. If the virus mutates (evolves) it could pick up the ability to spread from human-to-human. If it managed to do this, and hold on to its virulence (potency, ability to kill), we could be facing a serious global flu pandemic.

Another concern is how easily does a sick bird infect a cat. Until recently, experts were sure cats could not catch bird flu easily. However, there are now some doubts, and further research is being demanded.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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