Cuba creates first chemically synthesized vaccine in the world
Campaign News | Friday, 23 July 2004
Breakthrough will save thousands of lives
Havana, Jul 23 - Cuban scientists have produced the world?s first effective human chemically synthesized vaccine, intended to protect children from the type B Haemophilus influenza, according to the prestigious magazine "Science".
According to an article by researchers from the Center for Synthetic Antigens, attached to the University of Havana, obtaining the vaccine has proved that a synthetic polysaccharide capsular antigen can be produced on a large scale under good productive conditions.
The immunization rate of Quimi-Hib is as good as that of conventional vaccines obtained from bacteria, says the article in the latest issue of "Science".
According to the authors, the Hib kills more than 600,000 children every year in poor countries, due to meningitis or pneumonia.
http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={E07995A8-49B9-421C-911E-A4A06CB336C6}&language=EN
