Tamiflu Given Out In Wales

The H2N7 bird flu virus in rare cases can jump from person to person...

The bird flu drug Tamiflu made by the drug company Roche is being given out to children and teachers at a Welsh school who came into contact with a child that possibly could have contracted the bird flu virus that recently broke out in the region. Before you panic and rush indoors and grab your own Tamiflu remember that the bird flu virus strain that was found in the chickens in North Wales was not the deadly H5N1 virus but a more passive one called H2N7.

The National Public Health Service of Wales said that they were just giving out the Tamiflu drug as a precaution and that people did not have to worry or panic about the situation. Reports from North Wales show that in all twelve people have caught the H2N7 bird flu virus and but none of them are seriously ill but are just suffering from mild flu. In all the National Public Health Service said that they had located just over 140 people who could have been in contact with the infected birds or who could have caught the disease from another person.

With the H2N7 bird flu virus in very rare cases the virus can jump from person to person but with the H5N1 bird flu virus there have been no cases of person to person virus transfers. In the event that the H5N1 bird flu virus should mutate into a form that can jump between humans the situation would be extremely serious as this virus often kills people who contract it.

Overall the bird flu virus has killed 186 people in Asia over the last four years and thus should not be reckoned with lightly. In the UK birds have in the past contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus but it has never been found in humans in the UK yet.