German, U.S. scientists develop combo vaccine against bird flu - GERMANY - An efficient and cost-effective combo vaccine for limiting bird flu in poultry and preventing its spread to humans has been developed, German and U.S. scientists reported on Monday.

Genetically engineered from a weakened bird virus called Newcastle disease virus (NDV), the new vaccine can protect against not only the highly pathogenic H5 avian influenza, but also the Newcastle disease, said the researchers from German Federal Institute for Animal Health and the Intervet company based in the United States.

Their report was published in the May 22 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Newcastle disease, an economically important viral disease of poultry, is currently controlled by routine vaccination. The researchers said they produced this combo vaccine by inserting a bird flu gene into the NDV genome.

Through genetic engineering, the researchers led by Angela Roemer-Oberdoerfer inserted the hemagglutinin gene H5 of the highly pathogenic avian influenza strain H5N2 into the NDV viral genome.

Source: Xinhuanet - 23rd May 2006