June 20, 2005

Bird flu resistance to antibiotic stems from China

Scientists have traced the bird flu virus to a strain isolated from a goose in China's Guangdong province in 1996. China has reportedly been feeding poultry with the amantadine antibiotic for more than eight years in its fight against bird flu, explaining why scientists discovered late last year that the virus had grown resistant to the antibiotic. 

The bird flu virus has also grown resistant to amantadine in Vietnam and Thailand.

Despite limitations in treating a major outbreak, international health experts stressed that amantadine could have been vital in containing the spread of the virus in the early weeks of an epidemic.

The World Health Organisation said that it had long suspected China of using amantadine on poultry and would be asking the Chinese government about it soon.

Meanwhile, despite having no reported bird flu cases so far, neighbouring Myanmar has developed a national pandemic plan since early this year for controlling the disease under WHO guidelines. This includes alerting farmers to report any unusual increase in mortality rates among poultry.