ST. PETERSBURG, August 25 (RIA Novosti-Northwest, Olga Vtorova) - Vaccination against the influenza A virus may help preclude bird flu from spreading among people, a research expert said Thursday.
Oleg Kiselyov, director of the Influenza Research Institute, said, "The less we come down with the flu, the less possibility there is that the bird flu 'humanizes'," Kiselyov said. "Of course, there is the problem of cross-immunity but vaccination is necessary," the director said.
He said the World Health Organization (WHO) and Russia's Health and Social Development Ministry had decided to develop and test a vaccine against bird flu.
"This vaccine is a reserve one to be used in the case of a sudden change of the epidemiological situation," Kiselyov said. He said a program to test the bird flu vaccine would be considered in September.
