Flu vaccine goes on trial 'next month'

A model vaccine for treating the influenza A (H1N1) virus may be ready for use with humans and animals on a trial basis in August, a senior Thai Public Health Ministry official said Sunday.

Dr Vithit Attavijjakul, director of the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO), said his agency had received assistance from the World Health Organisation with both technology and experts to manufacture the model vaccine curing the deadly virus. The production process is expected to be complete in August and then the vaccine will be used on trials with both humans and animals.

Three sub-committees will be established to oversee trials for humans, vaccine registration and vaccine production promotion, he said.

Dr Vithit said the government had allocated 600 million baht to buy two million doses of vaccine from France’s Sanofi-Aventis and that the vaccine will arrive in Thailand in December - when the virus is expected to reach its peak.

The GPO is now producing about 20 million tablets of anti-viral drug Oseltamivir for reserve in August, said Dr Vithit. The agency now has four million tablets of the drug in stock.

Dr Paichit Varachit, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Public Health, said Thailand has now entered Phase 3 of the disease, which has already spread throughout the country. It means that the significance of laboratory tests with suspected patients has now dwindled.

What doctors will do now is to closely monitor patients demonstrating severe virus symptoms and are at risk, said Dr Paichit.

He said four million handbooks on the virus will initially be distributed to the public. The handbooks can be obtained from hospitals and 7-Eleven convenience stores

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/149516/flu-vaccine-trial-next-month

Six in 10 participants  -- 59% -- said they believe it is very likely that there will be widespread cases of swine flu with people getting very sick this fall or winter.

Survey results also suggest that widespread school closings and work absences -- a likely outcome if a serious outbreak does occur -- could be financially devastating to many American families, especially minority families.

Forty-three percent predicted that they would lose pay and have money problems due to such absences, and 26% said that the person staying home would likely lose a job or business.

The survey, conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, was done via phone June 22-28. There were 1,823 survey participants, all 18 or older.

http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20090717/most-americans-expect-serious-outbreak-swine-flu