대만정부, H7N9 조류독감 백신 2달 내 제조 능력
H7N9 vaccine may be ready in two months: Taiwan official
Publication Date : 09-04-2013
http://www.asianewsnet.net/H7N9-vaccine-may-be-ready-in-two-months-Taiwan-off-45180.html
Taiwan has the ability to produce a vaccine specifically for the H7N9 influenza within two months if the government gains access to the virus strain, Deputy Health Department Director Lin Tzou-yien said yesterday.
Lin also announced that a H7N9 vaccine team has been assembled in order to prepare for any potential vaccine production effort.
“There are three ways for Taiwan to gain access to the H7N9 influenza virus,” Lin said, noting that it can come from the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or China.
“If the virus strain comes from China,” Lin said, “it will take two months to process before vaccine production begins.”
Lin said that if the virus strain comes from the United States or the WHO, the government will be able to produce the H7N9 influenza vaccine within six to eight weeks.
“The government has been working on contacting the United States in order to receive the H7N9 influenza vaccine strain between May and June so as to be able to produce influenza vaccines.
The WHO currently classifies the H7N9 outbreak in China as a level-three class epidemic, which states that there has been transmission between animals and limited transmission between animals and humans. Lin said that if the outbreak classification is raised to level four - transmission between humans - then vaccine manufacturing will commence.
If the Executive Yuan makes an emergency decree, Lin said, then the vaccine could be provided to medical personnel and people who handle birds and animals on a regular basis without a two-stage vaccine exam.
According to Lin, there are two manufacturers in Taiwan that are developing an H5N1 influenza vaccine - including Adimmue Corporation and Medigen Biotechnology Corp. However, the vaccine is still in the first stage of a clinical trial.
Four of seven suspicious cases ruled out
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chou Chih-hau said yesterday that four out of seven suspicious cases of H7N9 in Taiwan were ruled out following a period of quarantine.
“Three of the suspicious cases have been confirmed as H1N1 influenza while another case has been confirmed as H3N2 influenza,” Chou said.
“The other three cases are still being inspected.”
Taiwan has capability to check for H7N9: Chou
Chou said yesterday that Taiwan does have the ability to properly check for H7N9 influenza.
“Taiwan has not received any information from Chinese officials regarding how to inspect H7N9 as Chinese media have reported,” said Chou.
According to a Chinese media report, the Centers for Disease Control of China distributed H7N9 influenza testing kits to 409 influenza laboratories in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mongolia.
Chou said that the real-time PCR method developed by China’s Centers for Disease Control has been confirmed to effectively check for H7N9 influenza.
