In response to a recent spate of bird flu across the country, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has begun developing vaccines to protect both commercial and backyard flocks. The agency should be ready to begin testing on chickens within two months to determine how well a vaccine can prevent the disease.
Not much progress has been previously reported on the creation of a bird flu vaccine, but the most recent formulation is designed to address the H5N2 and H5N8 strains that have made their way into commercial operations and backyard flocks across eight states since December 2014.
Major poultry importers have decided to limit orders from the U.S., exercising caution as a result of the growing number of bird flu cases. The biggest poultry producers in the world, like Sanderson Farms and Tyson Foods, have opted to increase biosecurity at their farms.
While a testing schedule has been tentatively set in place, there is no word on whether the government will actually distribute bird flu vaccines. As the USDA works toward a vaccine, culling infected flocks and testing birds around infected areas will continue to keep transmission levels down.
T.J. Myers, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's surveillance, preparedness and response services associate deputy director, said developing a bird flu vaccine is more of a countermeasure in case containment strategies stop working.
Wild birds are responsible for spreading new strains of the virus, so there's no way to predict where a new bird flu case will pop up. Launching a nationwide vaccination program isn't however practical, either.
Zoetis Inc., the largest animal-health company in the world, has been in contact with the USDA since the appearance of the bird flu cases, probably to market a vaccine that has already been approved for use outside of the country.
The U.S. Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory was also working on a vaccine against new bird flu strains, but testing proved their formulation ineffective.
There is little risk of humans being infected with the bird flu, but there's still a possibility, so the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is gearing up to handle human cases of infection as needed.
Influenza A antiviral medications like rimantadine and amantadine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are not effective against H5N1, the highly pathogenic avian influenza strain that caused bird flu cases in Asia. To treat against H5N1, the World Health Organization prefers the use of oseltamivir, although zanamivir may also be administered.
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