Tamiflu maker told to ready global stockpile

Kubu Simbelang/Tehran: The World Health Organisation for the first time asked the maker of the anti-bird flu drug Tamiflu to ready the global stockpile after human-to-human transmission was suspected in a family cluster in Indonesia, while three more bird flu deaths were confirmed in the country, officials said yesterday.

"We have no intention of shipping that stockpile," cautioned Dick Thompson, WHO spokesman. "We see this as a practice run."

The WHO in Jakarta received word from the Indonesian Health Ministry on Monday about a human cluster in Kubu Simbelang village in north Sumatra.

That led to the organisation, headquartered in Geneva, putting Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG on alert, said Jules Pieters, director of WHO's rapid response and containment group in Geneva.

"We were quite keen to inform Roche quite timely," Pieters said. "We knew Thursday would be a holiday in Europe and wanted to make sure Roche warehouses would be open."

Pieters stressed the move was part of standard operating procedure when WHO has "reasonable doubt" about a situation that could involve human-to-human transmission.

He said Roche would remain on alert for approximately the next two weeks, or twice the incubation period of the last reported case. Roche spokesman Baschi Duerr said the stockpile, which consists of 3 million treatment courses, is ready to be shipped wherever it is needed at any time.

"We are in very close contact with WHO, even today, and our readiness is geared to be able to deliver," Duerr said.

Shipment

Pieters said a precautionary 9,500 treatment doses of Tamiflu along with protective gear was flown into Indonesia on Friday. It took about 72 hours to arrive.

Meanwhile, yesterday, Nyoman Kandun, a director general at Indonesia's health ministry, said a WHO laboratory in Hong Kong has confirmed five more cases of human bird flu, three of which were fatal.

All five had earlier tested positive for the H5N1 virus in a local laboratory. Bird flu has now infected 48 people in Indonesia, 36 of whom died.

Indonesia's number of human bird flu cases has jumped rapidly this year as public awareness remains low and government commitment has not equalled that of other countries.

Vietnam, the country hardest-hit by the disease, has been hailed for controlling the virus through strong political will and mass poultry vaccination campaigns. No human cases have been reported there since November.

No Iran death

Meanwhile, Iran's Health Ministry said yesterday the country had no human cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, dismissing statements by a medical official and lawmaker that early tests showed a third person had died of it.

A senior medical official said preliminary tests in the northwestern city of Kermanshah showed a 30-year-old man died on Wednesday morning from H5N1 bird flu.

He said this would be the third death after a 41-year-old man and his 26-year-old sister were also shown by preliminary tests to have died of bird flu in Kermanshah, which lies some 100 km from the Iraqi border.