Australian researchers started working hard to develop a vaccine to counter the deadly disease swine influenza.
Director of World Health Organisation Influenza Centre in North Melbourne, Anne Kelso said her team was already growing the virus from samples taken from New Zealand students who were tested positive, ‘The Age’ newspaper reported.
To grow the virus, scientists break a small hole in an egg shell and inject the virus into the chick embryo growing inside. The virus is able to grow on the membrane inside the egg. It can grow up to really high concentrations, so each egg becomes a little virus factory
If the centre was successful in the process, it would share samples of the virus with other Australian and New Zealand laboratories and any manufacturing company that wants to produce a vaccine, the WHO director said.
Similarly, New Zealand’s Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) will do the testing at its national influenza center in Wellington from thursday this week.
Source: Press Trust of India, India