AVIAN INFLUENZA: JAPAN WEEKLY REPORT AUGUST 03

UNCLAS TOKYO 004409 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AIAG AMBASSADOR LANGE DEPT FOR OES/IHA SINGER AND FENDRICK DEPT FOR EAP/J USDA PASS TO APHIS HHS PASS TO CDC HHS FOR OGHA STEIGER, BHAT AND ELVANDER DEPT PASS TO AID/GH/HIDN DENNIS CARROLL SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO KFLU KSTH ECON PREL SOCI JA SUBJECT: AVIAN INFLUENZA: JAPAN WEEKLY REPORT AUGUST 03 REF: A. 05 STATE 153802 ¶B. TOKYO 4205 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. There were no significant avian influenza (AI) developments in Japan during the period July 27 to August ¶03. No human or animal outbreaks of H5N1 avian influenza were reported in Japan during the above period. ¶2. In August, a research team of Hokkaido University and Shiga University Medical School will conduct a study to investigate infection mechanisms of avian influenza and to confirm the effectiveness of a vaccine against avian influenza. To develop the vaccine, researchers at Hokkaido University took the H5N1 virus from a wild duck and developed attenuated H5N1 subtype by a method of genetic reassortment. They incubated the virus in a chicken egg and took away infectious capability from the virus. The research team will infect ten crab-eating (cynomolgus) monkeys with high-virulent H5N1 virus that was isolated from people who died of avian influenza in Vietnam. Seven out of the ten monkeys were given the vaccine in spring this year (antibodies of the virus were confirmed in six of the monkeys). The research team expects to obtain results of the study within six months. Professor Kazumasa Ogasawara of Shiga University Medical School commented that the study using a monkey that has similar immune cells to human's would be useful for developing prevention measures for humans. SCHIEFFER