November 13, 2006

Philippines to give away old bird-flu medicine

The Philippine Department of Health will donate old Tamiflu medicines for avian-flu patients to Indonesia or Cambodia but expects another supply replenishment should the flu breaks out here.

In a press conference on Avian Influenza Awareness sponsored by the department and the World Health Organisation, Health Undersecretary Ethelyn Nieto said donating Tamiflu to bird-flu affected neighbouring countries is the best option to maximize its use before they expire in November 2007.

Nieto was quick to explain that if the Philippines needed Tamiflu in the future, the supply will be replenished.

At the briefing, Dr. Jean Marc Olive, the WHO representative to the Philippines, presented a global update on the avian influenza. As of October 2006, 55 people have died in Indonesia from influenza A (H5N1), and 42 in Vietnam. 

Other countries where H5N1 cases have been confirmed are Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Thailand and Turkey.

A new and extremely severe influenza virus, the H5N1 strain, first infected humans in Hong Kong in 1997, with 18 cases reported, including six deaths.

Since mid-2003, this virus has caused the largest and most severe outbreaks in poultry on record. Health experts around the world have been monitoring H5N1 strain for almost eight years now.

Since the start of the outbreak, the Philippines has remained free from the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and does not have any reported case of avian influenza due to H5N1 both in birds and in humans.

However, the government remains vigilant, because the virus continues to pose a threat not only to humans but to economic security as well.