Avian Flu Remain Uncontained

Filed in archive Drugs, Vaccines and Therapeutics on July 21, 2005

Image:
AP Photo

Biopeer just summarized the avian fludeath toll early this week. Today, the three deaths in Indonesia have been confirmed to be as a result of the avian flu virus, H5N1. With China still refusing appeals from WHO to share local data, there are speculations as to the extent and gravity of outbreak. There are fears that migratory birds may spread the disease to South Asia, Australia and even to Europe. To date, there have been no reports of person-to-person transmission, but experts fear that H5N1 will eventually mutate to acquire this ability - and warn that when it does thousands of lives will be at risk across the world.

The fact that UK government wants to stockpile two million doses of vaccine against H5N1, raises the paranoia even a notch higher.

There's one sliver of hope, however: oseltamivir (sold commercially as Tamiflu) has been reported to dramatically boost the survival rate of H5N1-infected mice. Could this be finally put the threat of an avian flu pandemic to an end?