Tamiflu effective against H5N1 avian virus

Researchers from the Queen Mary Hospital in London have said the Roche's neuraminidase inhibitor Tamiflu (oseltamivir) is effective against avian and human forms of the virus, which has so far killed 32 people this year.

These are the first "data to show oseltamivir to be effective against this highly pathogenic strain, which is currently circulating in Vietnam and Thailand," the researchers reported.

The World Health Organisation has already identified Tamiflu as its drug of choice to protect against bird flu and in the case of a human flu pandemic. It was previously proven effective in managing an outbreak of the H7N7 avian strain in the Netherlands in 2003, which infected around 1000 people, the researchers said.

The latest study, to be presented at the 44th annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC) in Washington DC this week, noted that a total of 44 cases of human infection had been detected since the start of the year.