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BANGKOK: -- Thailand will begin influenza A(H1N1) flu vaccine human trials in early September after the first batch of vaccine is expected to be successfully produced mid-August, the director of the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) said on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Public Health on Wednesday confirmed 16 new flu fatalities in the week up to Sunday, bringing the country's death toll to 81.
GPO Director Dr Vithit Atthavejjakul said animal trials of the A(H1N1) vaccine is now being conducted in the Netherlands and it will take about six to seven days to complete.
After the animal trials are complete, he said, the first lot of influenza A(H1N1) vaccine will be successfully produced on August 16 and the vaccine testing on human will be conducted in early September.
Dr Vithit said that the GPO will produce 300,000 tablets of the anti-flu drug Oseltamivir for children next week.
The dosage of the antiviral pills will be reduced to 30 milligrammes and 45 milligrammes, he said, adding that the production of liquid Oseltamivir is expected to take a few more months.
Dr Vithit said the children’s drug will be distributed to hospitals nationwide next week and the dosage of pills will be prescribed by doctors calculating from the weight of child patients.
Meanwhile, Dr Veerasak Kiatpadungkul, deputy director of Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital in the northeast, said that the hospital is keeping close surveillance on a 32-year-old mother 26 weeks pregnant who has contracted the virus.
The mother is in critical condition as she has high fever, suffering severe asthma symptoms and needs a respirator.
Dr Veerasak said that the hospital earlier transferred an 18-year-old mother six months pregnant to a hospital in Bangkok as she suffered lung infection and respiratory system failure.
Last Friday, a 26-year-old mother in Ratchaburi province who prematurely delivered a baby daughter after her lung became severely infected with the A (H1N1) virus succumbed after being treated one week at the hospital. Her daughter became Thailand’s first case of prenatal virus infection.
-- TNA 2009-08-05
