Vaccine warning over swine flu

It will take up to six months for a credible vaccine to be created for the recent outbreak of swine flu, experts have warned.

The H1N1 virus has killed more than 150 people in Mexico where it originated and has infected scores of people from North America to Europe.

As the World Health Organisation raises its pandemic alert level to phase four on a six-point scale, pharmaceutical companies face an anxious wait before the virus can be contained and made safe.

Dr Iain Stephenson, consultant in infectious diseases at the Leicester Royal Infirmary explained bird flu vaccines will not work because they are completely different strains of the virus.

“It is unlikely that there [will be] a widely available vaccine in the next six months, so, if you are simply relying on it, you run the risk that it will become a serious problem if it takes off.”

Dr Stephenson is launching new research showing the benefits of pre-pandemic vaccines.

His study is the first to advocate pre-pandemic vaccines and shows people given the H5N1 avian influenza vaccine eight years ago still have an immune memory to the virus.