Saturday, May 27, 2006
WHO puts Tamiflu maker on bird flu alert (Human to human transfer?)
The World Health Organization has for the first time asked the maker of the anti-bird flu drug Tamiflu to ready the global stockpile after human-to-human transmission was suspected in a family cluster in Indonesia, a WHO official said Saturday.
That prompted the Geneva-based global health organization to put Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG on alert, said Jules Pieters, director of WHO‘s rapid response and containment group in Geneva.
Pieters said 9,500 treatment doses along with protective gear were flown into Indonesia as a precaution Friday. It took about 72 hours to arrive. He described it as a procedure put in place in the event that any human to human transmission is suspected.
The WHO has stressed the virus has not mutated into a version easily passed between people or shown any sign of spreading outside the family — all blood relatives who had very close contact with each other.