CELL-CULTURE AS A SUBSTRATE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF INFLUENZA VACCINES - MEMORANDUM FROM A WHO MEETING

Influenza has been a significant public health problem worldwide, with three pandemics during the past century. Immunization is the most eff ective measure to control an influenza pandemic. Since rapid productio n of large amounts of influenza vaccine depends on the availability of fertile hens' eggs to grow the viruses, there is an urgent need for t he development of alternative cell culture systems, which would allow rapid scale-up of production in the event of a pandemic. This WHO meet ing discussed the results of studies from several laboratories on the cultivation of influenza viruses in stable cell lines, and made recomm endations for further work.