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Doctor: Tamiflu useless against avian flu in her patients
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.”
Tamiflu wasn't designed to treat influenza B (H5N1, etc). It was meant to reduce the amount of viral shedding, and it does that. It seems to shorten the duration of symptoms, and, importantly, lowers the risk of secondary problems (e.g., pneumonia).
Her verdict casts doubt on the pandemic flu policy put in place by the British government. Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, has ordered 15m doses to “protect” a quarter of the population against the flu pandemic he believes “is only a matter of time”.

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 like ventilators and dialysis machines. Van would not criticise governments for stockpiling Tamiflu but said doctors had to explain its limitations.

Roche has sold stockpiles of Tamiflu 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.

The WHO admitted Tamiflu had not been “widely successful in human patients”. “However, we believe in many Asian countries it hasn’t been used until late in the illness,” a spokesman said.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “While there is some anecdotal evidence of the build-up of resistance to antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu, at present the experience is that these drugs do work.”
Posted by: lotp 2005-12-04
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=136565