Doctor says bird flu drug is ‘useless’

December 4, 2005

The Sunday Times

December 04, 2005

Doctor says bird flu drug is `useless'

Jonathon Carr-Brown

A VIETNAMESE doctor who has treated dozens of victims of avian flu

claims the drug being stockpiled around the world to combat a pandemic

is " useless " against the virus.

Dr Nguyen Tuong Van runs the intensive care unit at the Centre for

Tropical Diseases in Hanoi and has treated 41 victims of H5N1. Van

followed World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and gave her

patients Tamiflu, but concluded it had no effect.

" We place no importance on using this drug on our patients, " she said.

" Tamiflu is really only meant for treating ordinary type A flu. It was

not designed to combat H5N1 . . . (Tamiflu) is useless. "

Her verdict casts doubt on the pandemic flu policy put in place by the

Irish government. Mary Harney, the minister for health, has ordered 1m

doses to " protect " a quarter of the population against the flu pandemic.

Van, who has also treated patients with Sars, the respiratory

condition linked to birds, said avian flu had a frightening effect on

its victims and the only way to keep patients alive was to " support "

all their vital organs, including the liver and kidneys, with modern

technology such as ventilators and dialysis machines.

Van would not criticise governments for stockpiling Tamiflu but said

doctors had to explain its limitations. Roche, the company that makes

Tamiflu, has sold stockpiles of the drug to 40 countries and insists

there is clear evidence it will protect against a future flu virus.

However, it stresses the drug must be given within 48 hours to be

effective.

" Laboratory studies show that Tamiflu is effective against all strains

of flu, " said Bill Hall, director of the National Virus Reference

Laboratory, who defended Ireland's stockpiling of Tamiflu and other

flu treatments. " The only limitation is when it is not administered

within the first 24 hours of onset of symptoms. "

The WHO admitted Tamiflu had not been widely successful in humans.

" However, we believe in many Asian countries it hasn't been used until

late in the illness, " a spokesman said.

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