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Tamiflu works against avian flu H5N1 strain
01 Nov 2004





Researchers at Queen Mary Hospital, London, have revealed that Roche's Tamiflu, an anti flu drug, works against the bird flu virus H5N1 strain (the most lethal one). They say the drug is effective against avian and human forms of the virus.

In a study the researchers said that Tamiflu (oseltamivir) is effective against the strain that is now hitting Vietnam and Thailand.

Tamiflu is a neuraminidase inhibitor, it blocks the action of the viral enzymes.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has mentioned Tamiflu as the drug for tackling bird flu if ever a human pandemic breaks out.

Tamiflu has been used effectively in other strains of bird flu. In the Netherlands, in 2003, when 1,000 people were infected with the H7N7 strain, the drug proved to be very effective.

Tamiflu is currently used in Europe, USA and Japan for type A and B influenzas. It now seems that it is also effective against the bird (avian) flu virus H5N1 strain.

The WHO and many health experts around the world have warned of the risk of a massive outbreak of human to human bird flu. The WHO says Tamiflu could be the drug of choice for this pandemic (if it ever happens).

Pandemics hit the planet every 27 years. The last one hit about 36 years ago.


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Scientists Develop Fast Diagnostic Test for Bird Flu (http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=7024436)


Reuters.com
Wed Dec 8, 2004

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Scientists in Hong Kong and China said Wednesday they have developed a test to detect bird flu infections in humans within hours, which could give health officials an important tool for controlling the killer virus.

Scientists from China's Shantou University and Xiamen University and the University of Hong Kong said in a joint statement their new rapid diagnostic kits can confirm H5N1 infections within two hours.

Previous tests used to take three to five days and sometimes more than a week.

"These techniques are convenient, rapid, and are easy for non-specialists to use. The kits could be used directly on the outbreak site," the scientists said.

H5N1 bird flu first broke out in humans in Hong Kong in 1997, infecting 18 people and killing six of them. Studies in Hong Kong and mainland China suggest that H5N1 virus is endemic in poultry in this region.

Among the countries worst hit by bird flu this year are Thailand, where the virus has killed at least 12 people, and Vietnam, where 20 have died.

A World Health Organization expert warned last month that the H5N1 virus is most likely to cause the next human flu pandemic. Experts fear a repetition of the 1918-1919 flu pandemic thought to have killed more than 20 million people.

Three of four flu pandemics in the last century originated from southern China.

The new diagnostic kits can detect the virus or antibodies for the virus in nasal or throat secretions and serum.

"It is critical to control the disease at the very beginning of an outbreak. The rapid diagnostic kits make the early diagnosis possible and efficient," the scientists said.

So far, the H5N1 virus has infected humans in close touch with infected birds but managed to move from person to person only after close and prolonged contact. But health experts fear it could mutate into a form which would sweep through the human population with no immunity.

WHO spokesman Peter Cordingly told Reuters from Manila that the U.N. body had not been involved in the latest project, and that he could make no immediate comment on the new test.