MOSCOW, October 26 (RIA Novosti, Alexei Preslyak, Yekaterina Yefimova) - Volunteers for trials of a bird flu vaccine will get about 200 euros each, Director of Russia's Influenza Research Institute Oleg Kiselyov said Wednesday.
"Each volunteer will receive no more than 200 euros for the trials," he told RIA Novosti. "An ideal volunteer for us is a 25-year-old man."
"Twenty volunteers will participate in the trials, which will be conducted in November-December 2005," he said. "If the results are successful, we will be able to start selling the vaccine as early as March 2006."
Speaking about the spread of the bird flu, Kiselyov said even birds that dwell in cities, such as sparrows and ravens, could transmit the virus. The expert said it was necessary "to take every precaution to avoid contact with city birds."
Earlier, Director of the Institute of Virology Dmitry Lvov called on medical institutions to prepare for a possible bird flu pandemic. He said Russia must immediately start developing vaccines against bird flu on the basis of obtained strains of the virus.
