Irish Tamiflu Soon To Be Out Of Date

The Department of Health in Ireland is worried that its defences against a possible bird flu pandemic may not be as safe as they previously thought. Concerns have been raised that the Tamiflu that was bought at a cost of €6 million and which only reached Ireland 28 weeks ago is only effective for 12 months. Officials from The Department of Health said that the Tamiflu, which has been earmarked for doctors and nurses on the frontline of an outbreak, would probably be out of date and therefore unusable in a years time.

The Department of Health did however note that other influenza antiviral medicines that the Irish government has also bought come with a much longer shelf life of 5 years meaning that they will not have to be changed until after the year 2010. The Irish government is still stockpiling other bird flu medicines so that the reliance on Tamiflu will not be absolute but this news that the Tamiflu will expire does raise some concerns about the strategy adopted by the government and whether Tamiflu is the correct drug to buy.

Tamiflu is the drug that is recommended by the World Health Organisation as the best anti viral to beat an attack of bird flu and it must be administered within 48 hours of getting the flu and therefore is a key part of any countries bird flu preparedness plans. The Irish government will continue to buy the Tamiflu drug so as to reach targets that the WHO is recommending that at all nations should have at least enough Tamiflu for 25% of its population.

When a pandemic breaks out the Tamiflu will be administered to all the people who are sick as well as the people working with the sick such as doctors, nurses and other hospital workers. The human death risk from bird flu is real with at least 150 deaths officially recorded by the WHO from the disease.