Researchers may have key to vaccines for SARS, avian flu
genes of a common poultry virus may hold the key to giving humans immunity to
diseases such as avian influenza and severe acute respiratory syndrome
University of Maryland, College Park researchers have received a $4.1 million
dollar National Institutes of Health contract to continue research on a vaccine
that, in early NIH trials, successfully immunized monkeys against SARS and human
parainfluenza viruses. Their future research will include a vaccine for the avian
influenza H5N1 and other human viruses for which vaccines are currently not
The scientists, at the Virginia-Maryland Regional College
of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) in College Park, engineered a recombinant
Newcastle Disease virus (NDV), an avian paramyxovirus, to create a vaccine that
holds promise to protect humans against multiple diseases.
Newcastle Disease virus makes a very good vector for creating human vaccines,"
says Siba Samal, the research team leader and associate dean of the VMRCVM at
Maryland. "NDV replicates in species other than poultry, but not enough to cause
disease. Also, there are nine types of paramyxoviruses and NDV is Serotype 1, so
we can make similar vaccine vectors with other avian paramyxovirus types, which
can be used to protect against more than one disease."
University of Maryland Website for more information on the SARS and AI vaccine research.
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