Thursday, December 22, 2005
Bird Flu claims two more
Oh, this is not good. Not unexpected but a very bad turn:
Technorati Tags: Bird Flu
- In a development health experts are calling alarming, two bird-flu patients in Vietnam died after developing resistance to Tamiflu, the key drug that governments are stockpiling in case of a large-scale outbreak.
The experts said the deaths were disturbing because the two girls had received early and aggressive treatment with Tamiflu and had gotten the recommended doses.
The new report suggests that the doses doctors now consider ideal may be too little.
<...>
Tamiflu and another drug, Relenza, are expected to be the front-line defense if that happens, but they must be taken soon after infection to be effective.
Tamiflu, made by Swiss-based Roche Holding AG, is the favored drug because it appears to be effective against all kinds of flu, including bird flu. GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza requires an inhaler and has not been widely tested in people with avian flu.
<...>
Roche is working with the World Health Organization and the National Institutes of Health to begin a human experiment next year that would test whether doubling the current recommended Tamiflu dose is more effective, said David Reddy, who heads Roche's influenza pandemic task force.
Technorati Tags: Bird Flu
![[ Registered ]](http://www.diarist.net/support/banners/dnbutt14.gif){kind=small}
![[ Registered ]](http://www.ehsany.com/blogshares5.gif){kind=small}
![[ Registered ]](http://feedster.net/i/addtomyfeedster4.gif)
