More on the Bird Flu
A couple of weeks ago, I noted a study that indicated how unprepared the US was for a potential Avian Flu pandemic. It appears that we're not the only ones not ready for such a pandemic.
A Washington Post article suggests that the very places that the epidemic could take off have little in the way of the medication and treatment supplies that would prevent the virus from spreading world wide.
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- As highly lethal avian influenza circulates among poultry in East Asia, posing the prospect of a worldwide human pandemic, most of the countries now affected have virtually no stocks of the medicine needed to treat the virus, according to officials in the region.
The problem is obvious. The countries that most need the medicine are developing countries that are also trying to grapple with AIDS, among other diseases without the money to do so effectively, and the medicine needed for the potential flu epidemic is expensive:
The one effective influenza drug, oseltamivir, marketed under the name Tamiflu, costs up to $40 per treatment, meaning bulk purchases are beyond the means of most developing countries, officials said.
While I certainly can understand the US stockpiling the drug as a precautionary measure to protect its citizens, I think we all should think seriously about making certain enough of the drugs are in the hands of the East Asians as well.
According to scientific models, health officials may be able to extinguish an epidemic if 80 percent of an infected community is given the drug within the first three to four weeks and the number of cases does not exceed about 250, Stohr said.
"Beyond that, global spread cannot be prevented," he added.
But the hopes of many health officials rest on the proposed establishment of another international stockpile with more than 1 million treatments to be donated by Roche, Stohr said. This supply, also earmarked for use in the early days of an outbreak, would be in place later this year and then increased further early next year, he said.
Roche has shown at least some willingness to work with international organizations and individual countries to provide the medicine, at this point in terms of reduced cost per dose for those countries unable to pay the full amount. In the meantime, wealthier countries should be working with WHO to try to work out an arrangement to ensure that the epidemic is halted at its inception and does not circulate throughout the world, even if it means that each of these nations have to increase their funding at WHO.
Hopefully there are people in this administration thinking along those lines. It only makes sense.
A Washington Post article suggests that the very places that the epidemic could take off have little in the way of the medication and treatment supplies that would prevent the virus from spreading world wide.
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- As highly lethal avian influenza circulates among poultry in East Asia, posing the prospect of a worldwide human pandemic, most of the countries now affected have virtually no stocks of the medicine needed to treat the virus, according to officials in the region.
The problem is obvious. The countries that most need the medicine are developing countries that are also trying to grapple with AIDS, among other diseases without the money to do so effectively, and the medicine needed for the potential flu epidemic is expensive:
The one effective influenza drug, oseltamivir, marketed under the name Tamiflu, costs up to $40 per treatment, meaning bulk purchases are beyond the means of most developing countries, officials said.
While I certainly can understand the US stockpiling the drug as a precautionary measure to protect its citizens, I think we all should think seriously about making certain enough of the drugs are in the hands of the East Asians as well.
According to scientific models, health officials may be able to extinguish an epidemic if 80 percent of an infected community is given the drug within the first three to four weeks and the number of cases does not exceed about 250, Stohr said.
"Beyond that, global spread cannot be prevented," he added.
But the hopes of many health officials rest on the proposed establishment of another international stockpile with more than 1 million treatments to be donated by Roche, Stohr said. This supply, also earmarked for use in the early days of an outbreak, would be in place later this year and then increased further early next year, he said.
Roche has shown at least some willingness to work with international organizations and individual countries to provide the medicine, at this point in terms of reduced cost per dose for those countries unable to pay the full amount. In the meantime, wealthier countries should be working with WHO to try to work out an arrangement to ensure that the epidemic is halted at its inception and does not circulate throughout the world, even if it means that each of these nations have to increase their funding at WHO.
Hopefully there are people in this administration thinking along those lines. It only makes sense.
posted by Diane at 4:53 AM
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