Paris: Swine flu vaccines are still
effective despite reported cases of mutations in the A(H1N1)
virus, health experts in Europe and North America have said.
Bruno Lina, director of the national flu virus monitoring
centre for southern France, yesterday said the mutation of the
virus -- blamed for around 6,750 deaths so far worldwide --
came as no surprise.
"It was expected, it was announced, and it will happen
again," Lina told a news agency, adding: "That does not change anything
with regard to treatment and vaccines."
In the United States, Anne Schuchat of the Centres for
Disease Control (CDC) said the mutation would have no impact
on the effectiveness of the swine flu vaccine or the
anti-virals.
The experts` comments came a day after the World Health
Organisation announced that a mutation had been found in swine
flu virus samples taken following the first two deaths from
the pandemic in Norway.
However, the Geneva-based UN agency stressed that the
mutation did not appear to cause a more contagious or more
dangerous form of A(H1N1).
It also revealed that a similar mutation had been
observed in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Ukraine and the
United States as early as April.
Bureau Report