Washington: US scientists are in the early stages of developing a vaccine against the potentially deadly H1N1 flu virus, a top official at the US National Institutes of Health told members of Congress Wednesday.
Anthony Fauci, head of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, said that US scientists have isolated H1N1 virus, which has killed at least 44 – including at least two people in the United States.
"We have already started the multistep process to develop the vaccine," said Fauci, speaking to a House of Representatives panel on Global Health and Africa.
Fauci said that the first step is isolating the virus, which CDC scientists have done. The next step, currently underway, is developing 'seed viruses' that manufacturers can use to produce pilot vaccines to be tested on humans, Fauci said.
Fauci however cautioned that scientists are "only in the earliest stages" of understanding how the H1N1 virus emerged and what impact it may have.
"Viruses are unpredictable, and it is unwise to make predictions about how a virus might behave in the future," he warned.
US health officials on Tuesday confirmed the first death of a US citizen who had swine flu, and announced a spike in the number of confirmed cases, but assured there was no cause for alarm.
Indian scenario:
In India, samples of 20 suspected cases of swine flu were found to be negative while results of three persons are awaited, even as government today issued an advisory warning against indiscriminate use of the medicine Tamiflu, which is the only drug to cure the disease.
Authorities also said two persons who disembarked at Hyderabad airport have been referred to an identified health facility.
So far samples of 20 persons have been tested and found negative for Influenza H1N1. Samples of two persons from Hyderabad and one person who self reported from Jalandhar are under test, a statement from the Health Ministry said.
As of now, no case has been reported in India. The situation is being monitored, it said.
The Ministry of Health has also issued a press advisory informing public that retail sale of Oseltamivir phosphate (Tamiflu) is not permitted in India.
"Chemists are not authorized to sell it. Indiscriminate use of this drug by the public could result in the virus developing resistance to this only known treatment of the H1N1 influenza," the advisory said.
The government also said that it was maintaining adequate stockpiles of Tamiflu that shall be distributed free through the public health network in case of any confirmed cases of the disease.
Meanwhile, screening of passengers coming from affected countries is continuing in 21 international airports, including Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Varanasi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Srinagar, and Thiruvananthapuram.
A total of 39,315 passengers have been screened while around 5987 passengers were from affected countries.
165 doctors and 86 paramedics have been deployed to man 67 counters at the above airports.
World Health Organization has so far reported 1,516 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A/H1N1 infection with 30 deaths from twenty two countries.
There are 403 laboratory confirmed human cases in USA with one death. Mexico has reported 822 cases including 29 deaths.
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