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Press Release

USDA AWARDS CONTRACT TO FORT DODGE ANIMAL HEALTH TO ESTABLISH AN AVIAN INFLUENZA VACCINE ANTIGEN BANK FOR POULTRY

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25, 2004-The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Center for Veterinary Biologics, has awarded a five-year contract to Fort Dodge Animal Health to develop an avian influenza (AI) vaccine antigen bank for poultry that will house enough antigen to produce 40 million doses of AI vaccine.

The vaccine will be manufactured and stored at Fort Dodge Animal Health facilities located in Charles City, Iowa. The facilities will house enough frozen antigen to produce up to 10 million doses of vaccine for each of the following AI subtypes: H5N2, H5N9, H7N2 and H7N3. In the event of a high pathogenicity AI (HPAI) outbreak, the frozen antigen would be used to prepare the vaccine for possible use in poultry in order to manage the disease.

The AI vaccine antigen bank is scheduled to be completely stocked by January 2005.

"The AI vaccine antigen bank will be a great asset in helping APHIS work to keep highly pathogenic avian influenza from becoming established in the U.S. poultry population," said APHIS Administrator W. Ron DeHaven.

Under APHIS guidelines, H5 and H7 AI vaccines are allowed to be used as tools for combating any potential outbreak of HPAI in the United States but only under APHIS supervision or control as part of an official animal disease control program.

HPAI is an extremely infectious and fatal form of avian influenza that, once established, can spread rapidly from flock to flock. An outbreak in the United States could potentially cost the poultry industry millions of dollars in losses. From 1983-84 an HPAI outbreak in the Northeastern United States cost nearly $65 million, and the destruction of 17 million birds.

In Gonzales County, Texas, a flock of 7,000 broiler chickens were destroyed Feb. 21, 2004, after the H5N2 strain of HPAI was confirmed in several birds from the flock-the first case in the United States in 20 years.

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