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Vaccination can prevent flu pandemic Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com November 28, 2005 Vaccinating chickens against avian flu can prevent a major outbreak of the disease by preventing birds from passing on the virus, according to research published by Dutch scientists on Monday. In an interview with Reuters, Dutch scientist said "Our conclusion is that vaccination of poultry can prevent a major outbreak of highly pathogenic avian flu viruses." However, while the vaccination reduces the infectiousness of chickens with avian flu and also the susceptibility of healthy chickens to the virus, researchers say it could take two weeks after vaccination before transmission to other birds was completely blocked. China has already announced plans to vaccinate billions of birds.
Last month the World Health Organization said a pandemic of human influenza is "inevitable", and the World Bank said the potential economic cost of such an event would top $800 billion. While the bank concedes that "there are great uncertainties about the timing, virulence, and general scope of a future human flu pandemic," it used figures from the 2003 SARS outbreak and WHO projections to conclude that a flu epidemic could cause at least $800 billion in economic damages over the course of a year. This report used information from Reuters.
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An observer looks out of a window above two cleaners during a drill for the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong in this November 19, 2004 file photo.
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