Vietnam selected for modified Tamiflu therapy pilot program

Vietnam, together with Thailand and Indonesia, was chosen for pilot implementation of an adjusted anti- bird flu therapy using Tamiflu medicines, Vietnam News Agency reported Thursday.

The program, an initiative of the World Health Organization ( WHO) and the U.S. Health Institute, calls for doubling the daily dose of Tamiflu for those people infected with bird flu virus strain H5N1, from 150 mg to 300 mg per day per patient, according to a three-day symposium entitled "Avian Influenza Clinical Trial for Southeast Asian Countries" which ended here on Thursday.

The adjustment was made based upon experimental results showing that a double dose is enough to prevent H5N1 from replicating in animals'bodies and that a 150-mg Tamiflu dose barely helps reduce the density of the deadly virus in human bodies.

Based on results of the modified Tamiflu therapy pilot program, the WHO will make new recommendations to countries on bird flu treatment using Tamiflu to minimize the disease's fatality rate which now stands at more than 50 percent, the agency said.

Five of the 11 medical institutions chosen for the pilot therapy are in Vietnam. They will be provided with medication and equipment necessary for executing the trial therapy.

A total of 177 cases of human infection of bird flu, including 98 fatalities, have been confirmed in seven countries, namely Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Iraq, Thailand, Cambodia and Turkey, since 2003, according to a statement of the WHO posted on its website. Vietnam has been the hardest-hit country with 42 deaths from bird flu so far.

Source: Xinhua