The vaccine, under development on the Baltic Sea island of Riems where Germany studies the deadliest animal diseases, solves the main problem with existing vaccines by including a genetic marker to distinguish the vaccine virus from the virus in the wild.
Using existing vaccines, it is almost impossible to map the spread of the disease, since a vaccinated bird and an infected bird give the same test result. Healthy, vaccinated poultry have to be slaughtered and burned too if the H5 virus reaches a farm.
Thomas Mettenleiter, head of the Friedrich Loeffler Institute on Riems, said the prototype vaccine, which has a marking system built into it, had been successfully tested, but faces a long path to approval and manufacture.
The institute is to meet with vaccine makers next week to review whether more research is needed.
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