Butantan vaccine is already in the experimental phase

2023-06-13 02:30:00

The Butantan Institute, in São Paulo, is already working on fundamental stages for the development of a vaccine against avian flu, caused by the H5N1 virus. Investing in immunization since January, the institute is already moving towards the pre-clinical phase of the vaccine.

“We started in January, at the Butantan Institute, to prepare some important stages of the production of a vaccine against avian flu to have it ready, in case we start to face a health crisis, as happened with Covid-19”, says Esper Kallás , professor at the Faculty of Medicine and director of the Butantan Institute, on the studies of two strains of H5N1 and one of H5N8.

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We started making experimental batches of the vaccine and are now doing pre-clinical tests. By the end of the year, we should start a clinical test to see if we can induce an immune response. This is what we should have routinely done for the various diseases out there, so as not to suffer the surprises that we experienced during the pandemic.

Esper Kallás, professor at the Faculty of Medicine and director of the Butantan Institute

What do you need to know:

• Since January, the risks of avian flu in the world have been indicated by the WHO (World Health Organization) in January — the same period that Butantan started studies on the strains;
• According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Brazil has already recorded 31 outbreaks of the disease, but so far, all of them in wild birds;
• The Institute’s race for the development of immunizer is justified due to the risk of a possible pandemic caused by the virus.

Transmission of H5N1 among birds

Transmission of the avian flu virus between countries occurs mainly by migratory birds. Kallas says the virus “circulates so easily because there are many species of birds that are migratory. They leave one continent and end up in another, and this allows the virus to hitch a ride. If you think about it, if you were a virus, you would want to wander around the world.”

“Some are harmless to the species, which only catch the virus and carry it around, but others are aggressive, called highly pathogenic”, adds the professor.

With information from USP Journal

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