Nih Trying a Live-Virus Bird-Flu Vaccine

Summary

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WASHINGTON -- In an isolation ward of a Baltimore hospital, up to 30 volunteers will participate in a bold experiment: a vaccine made with a live version of the most notorious bird flu will be sprayed into their noses.

First, scientists are dripping that vaccine into the tiny nostrils of mice. It doesn't appear harmful -- researchers have weakened and genetically altered the virus so that no one should get sick or spread germs -- and it protects the animals enough to try in people.

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Extract

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Nih Trying a Live-Virus Bird-Flu Vaccine

This is essentially FluMist for bird flu, and the hope is that, in the event of a flu pandemic, immunizing people through their noses could provide faster, more effective protection than the troublesome shots -- made with a killed virus -- the nation now is struggling to produce.

And if it works, this new vaccine frontier may not just protect against ...

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