For Immediate Release

October 30, 2007…Ames, Iowa. The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) is releasing a Special Publication and a CAST Commentary on avian influenza vaccination.

Avian Influenza Vaccines: Focusing on H5N1 High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI), with a Comprehensive Bibliography (Special Publication No. 26, 38 pp.)

Avian Influenza Vaccination: A Commentary Focusing on H5N1 High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (CAST Commentary QTA2007-3, 12 pp.)

Avian influenza (AI), a viral disease of poultry, has a complex epidemiology, and the correct use of efficacious poultry vaccines is a critical component of overall control and eradication. AI vaccine can be used in emergency, routine, or preventive programs, although vaccine alone will not completely eliminate AI. Speculation about potential problems of vaccine use must be balanced with the real problem of outbreaks in susceptible poultry.

Topics covered in the new CAST publications include:

• The Science of Avian Influenza Vaccination
  • Efficacy of AI Vaccines
  • Immunity to AI Vaccines
  • Vaccine Production and Administration
• The Art of Controlling Avian Influenza
  • Biosecurity
  • Poultry Sector Identification [Special Publication only]
  • Availability of AI Vaccines
• Concerns Surrounding AI Vaccination of Poultry
  • The Decision to Use AI Vaccination
  • Surveillance in the Vaccinated Population
• Analysis of Previous AI Vaccine Campaigns [Special Publication only]
  • Routine Vaccination in Endemic Areas
  • Emergency Vaccination during an Epidemic
  • Preventive or Prophylactic Vaccination when the Risk Is High

Written and reviewed by a CAST Task Force from Italy, Australia, the U.K., and the United States, these new CAST Publications provide a summary and education on the crucial issues surrounding
AI vaccination.

The full text of the more comprehensive CAST Special Publication No. 26 may be ordered by visiting the CAST website at www.cast-science.org or by contacting the CAST office at 515-292-2125 (hardcopy: $18.00, plus shipping; electronic download: $10.00). The full text of the CAST Commentary QTA2007-3—excerpted from the larger report—is available online without charge at www.cast-science.org. Both publications were made possible through a cooperative arrangement with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

CAST is an international consortium of 38 scientific and professional societies. It assembles, interprets, and communicates credible science-based information regionally, nationally, and internationally to legislators, regulators, policymakers, the media, the private sector, and the public.

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Contacts:

Dr. Karen Burns Grogan, Task Force Chair—Phone: 770-561-0026; E-mail: poultryvet@comcast.net

Dr. John M. Bonner, CAST EVP—Phone: 515-292-2125, ext. 25; E-mail: jbonner@cast-science.org