British boost for bird flu research
AFP
May 22, 2006

Fears of a deadly bird flu pandemic have prompted Britain's Medical Research Council (MRC) to boost its funding for studies into the virus, the body said.

The MRC has set aside more than six times the usual amount to assess the danger of the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus and to tackle a potential bird flu outbreak.

An extra 10 million pounds (14.7 million euros, 18.8 million dollars) has been allocated on top of the 1.6 million pounds normally set aside to look at the source, spread and potential cure for virus.

Avian influenza has infected millions of birds worldwide and killed at least 123 people, mostly in Asia, in recent years.
Ten research grants have already been awarded to "academically excellent and urgently needed" studies, said Professor Deborah Smith, the chair of the awards panel.

These include projects to understand how the flu virus targets human and bird cells; how H5N1 affects the immune system by studying patients in Vietnam; and research to improve the quality of new vaccine against the H5N1 strain.

Further grants are to be allocated.

"In the coming months, we will work with our partners to look again for gaps in research and consider how best to close them," Smith said.

"Once they've been identified, we'll invest in more research later this year and next in our effort to combat the threat from H5N1 on all fronts."

Calls for extra funding followed an MRC experts' mission to southeast Asia to discover more about the spread of bird flu.
The British government has also been under pressure to offset a possible future health crisis after the discovery in April of a dead swan on the Scottish coast. The bird had the H5N1 strain.

The MRC has set aside an additional 3.5 million pounds for flu research later in the year and a further five million pounds will be invested in 2007/08.