New bird flu vaccine approved in Australia

Australia has approved a new bird flu vaccine to be used in the instance of a pandemic in the country.

The country's health minister, Nicola Roxon, said that the Panvax drug, which is manufactured by local company CSL, has been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, Australia's drug regulator.

Reuters reports that Panvax has been developed with government support and was assessed in three clinical studies.

Mary Sontrop, general manager of CSL, told the news agency: "There wouldn't be any benefit to people having the vaccine now if a pandemic hasn't been declared."

She added that the company had various virus strains which were ready for production.

"Our pandemic vaccine is based on the same process as our seasonal influenza vaccine so really, in essence, it is a matter of just changing the strains," concluded Ms Sontrop.

The World Health Organisation recently confirmed the first case of human bird flu infection in Bangladesh. A 16-month-old male from the Dhaka region had been exposed to contaminated poultry near his family home.