Bird flu antibodies discovered
Updated on 29 May 2007
Scientists may have found a new way to combat the deadly H5 N1 strain of the bird flu virus.
Antibodies taken from the blood of bird flu survivors in Vietnam have successfully been used to prevent full-blown development of the disease in mice.
In less than a month bird flu has spread to nine cities and provinces in Vietnam. There's evidence that the disease has once again jumped the species barrier as a man near Hanoi was infected with the H5 N1 strain.
The latest outbreak came on a poultry farm - where the ducks had been injected with an existing vaccine. Vietnam has vaccinated 120 million birds but it's a policy that's proving increasingly ineffective.
So this new development seems to provide cause for optimism which has so far been absent from the bird flu saga.
At the same time, tests are expected to confirm the spread of the mild H7 N2 strain of bird flu in north Wales, where some primary school children and staff have been offered the anti-flu drug Tamiflu.
