Tamiflu Still No.1 Bird Flu Drug

In Egypt a man and a woman who died recently from the bird flu virus were found to have contracted a type of the virus that is “moderately resistant” to the bird flu drug Tamiflu. The information was announced by the World Health Organisation but at the same time they have not made any changes to their recommendations that the Tamiflu drug is the most effective and useful drug to beat the H5N1 bird flu virus.

The two people who died were a girl of sixteen and her uncle who was 26 years old and they lived in the same house which is located about 50 miles from the capital of Egypt, Cairo.

Tamiflu that has the chemical and scientific name of Oseltamivir is still thought to be the no1 bird flu drug by the WHO and many other health organisations worldwide. Tamiflu is made by the drug company Roche in Switzerland, and also at other locations following the issuing of production licences by the manufacturer of the drug in order to speed up the production to meet the demand for the drug all over the world.

In the case of the recently Egyptian fatalities from bird flu the house in which the people lived was seen to have been containing sick duc ks that were the likely source of the bird flu virus. To get bird flu from a duck would require a lot of contact with the animal but in an enclosed area the virus can be transferred to humans from the birds.

All in all it now means that 10 people have died from bird flu in Egypt and 18 people have contracted the disease. Tamiflu is only very effective it is administered very early on after getting the bird flu virus and if you leave it too late it will have little or no effect.