Washington: The most effective way to combat an outbreak of bird flu in people would require a rapid and aggressive vaccination campaign as soon as the outbreak begins, even if the vaccine isn’t a perfect match, a US study concludes.
Flu viruses are constantly changing, and a vaccine aimed at a specific strain can't be developed until scientists identify the form infecting humans. That's why the annual human flu shots must be updated every year.
But even a bird flu vaccine that is poorly matched to the form that breaks out would be likely to provide some protection and could help slow the spread of the disease, according to a research team headed by Timothy C Germann of Los Alamos National Laboratory.
In addition to the vaccine campaign, the researchers said rapid use of several million doses of antiviral medicines such as Tamiflu could help stem an outbreak.
Their findings, developed by using computer models of how flu spread would be affected by vaccines, other medication and social steps such as closing schools and restricting travel, are published in this week's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in Asia has now spread to Europe and scientists are concerned that it could become a worldwide pandemic if the virus changes in ways that enable it to spread easily from person to person.
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