Hungary Receives Wild Version Of Influenza A, Vaccine Tests To Start

As of 6 May, 22 countries have officially reported 1516 cases of influenza A (H1N1) infection, according to the latest information by the World Health Organisation (WHO).



To date, there have been 18 new confirmed cases reported from EU and EFTA countries, among them 16 from Spain. There are 125 confirmed and 15 probable cases are reported in 12 EU and EFTA countries. 17 confirmed cases in these countries were infected through human-to-human transmission within the EU, but no sustained human-to-human transmission has been recorded so far in the European bloc.

According to the EU's Health and Consumer Directorate General, 1549 cases have been reported, 1527 of which are confirmed outside of EU and EFTA countries.

There is 1 confirmed case in Austria and 9 in Germany, of which 2 were sustained through human-to-human transmission.

A thermal camera system monitoring the body heat of passengers arriving from abroad has been installed at Budapest's Ferihegy International. Hungary has not reported any confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus, according to Székely. A total of 32,000 passengers were inspected by the cameras, finding elevated body temperatures at 186 of them. Their personal data have been registered. None of the members of a group arriving from Mexico on Tuesday showed symptoms of infection.

The Hungarian government has decided today to earmark further resources to purchase anti-viral products and contacted the company from which it will buy these products, Székely told a press conference. The cabinet has more than HUF 300 million to this end, he added, but could not say how much it has spent since the new influenza appeared.

Hungary received the wild version of influenza on Tuesday and is stored safely in terms of both biological and national security, Székely said. The new virus is stored at two locations, he added. In order to allow the production of a marketable vaccine, Hungary will need another version of the virus from the WHO, as well.

Hungarian biotech to pioneer in vaccine production

Hungarian biotechnology firm Omninvest could be among the first in the world to produce a vaccine against the H1N1 virus, but will not export any before the local market is covered, spokesman Zsolt Németh told Reuters on Tuesday.

Omninvest, one of the few independent companies in eastern Europe producing flu vaccines, expects to get a wild version of the virus from the United States shortly, spokesman Zsolt Nemeth told Reuters.

Omninvest Vaccine Manufacturing, Researching and Trading Ltd., founded in 1991, opened the only human virus and immunological product manufacturing and research centre in Hungary in 1995. The 2,000-sqm facility is situated in the vicinity of Budapest.

"We can begin producing the vaccine after the appropriate research and trial period, this will take about 8-12 weeks, but we hope to have (production) stated even sooner," Németh said.

That could be faster than preparations elsewhere around the world, including the United States, where officials said the H1N1 vaccine would be available by the autumn.

Omninvest says it can produce 500,000 vaccines a week. It has enough capacity to cover the country against the virus in about 10 to 12 weeks, but it plans no capacity expansion, the spokesman added.

Exports could begin around November at the earliest.

Only two drugs have been shown to have an effect on the virus, Tamiflu by Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding, and Relenza, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, the world's second-largest drug maker.

You find frequently asked questions about influenza a (H1N1) here , and updates about the spread of the epidemic at WHO's site here.

"There are currently more than a dozen vaccine manufacturers with licences to produce influenza vaccines. The vaccine strain will be available to each of them for vaccine production," the WHO said in a statement."

Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal