Avian Influenza: international conference to discuss vaccination

International scientific and veterinary experts will meet in Verona from 20-22 March 2007, to discuss the use of vaccination as a tool to control avian influenza. Around 400 participants will attend the conference, which is organised by the International Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSVe) and the European Commission, Up to now, vaccination has not been widely used in the EU as a control measure against avian flu, due to a number of difficulties linked to its use (see MEMO/06/92).

However, in certain situations, the strategic use of vaccination as part of an overall control strategy can greatly help to minimise infection rates. It can also reduce the level to which the virus is shed and spread.

Moreover, the availability of better vaccines to control avian influenza could offer a preferable alternative to the mass culling of birds in an outbreak, which raises ethical concerns. So far, the worldwide spread of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus has required about 300 million of poultry around the world to be a killed and destroyed - a practice which may not be sustainable in many developing countries.

Therefore, given the current global avian flu situation, more and more countries are now considering using vaccination as part of their control strategy. Indeed the EU is financially supporting vaccination programmes in third countries, as well as several research programmes.

The conference will provide an opportunity for participants to share experiences and scientific information on the development and use of avian influenza vaccines and to review current methods of their application. Regulatory and trade aspects linked to the vaccination of birds will also be considered, and the conference will look at the possibility of developing global guidelines on avian influenza vaccination.

For more information, see: http://www.avianfluvaccine2007.org

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• Vaccine against avian influenza shows promise in clinical trials  (11/9/2007)
• Avian Influenza: UK measures endorsed; EU Member States urged to tighten protection measures  (6/2/2007)
• Avian Influenza: H5N1 virus confirmed in UK (3/2/2007)
• Avian Influenza : Hungarian measures endorsed (26/1/2007)
• Experts meet to discuss avian influenza and wild birds  (1/12/2006)