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Vietnam confirms 42nd bird-flu death
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-09 00:47
Vietnam, the country hit hardest by bird flu, reported
another death on Tuesday, and the Swiss maker of Tamiflu said it had stopped
selling the antiviral drug in China and was turning over supplies to the
government.
Boiled chickens are on sale at a market in
Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005. The country worst hit by bird flu,
Vietnam, Tuesday confirmed its 42nd human death from the virus as the
World Health Organization warned governments to be ready for when - not if
- a deadly pandemic arrives that could kill millions and cost the global
economy US$800 billion (euro677 billion) in a single year.
[AP] |
Tamiflu is one of few drugs believed to be effective against bird flu. In the
event of a possible human flu pandemic, "the government is in the best position
to handle rapid response and distribution," the Chinese arm of Roche Holding AG
said in a statement.
The company did not say how much Tamiflu it turned over or whether it would
be compensated.
Concerns that private suppliers might be hoarding Tamiflu have led Roche to
limit sales in other countries, including the United States, Switzerland,
Germany and Canada.
China has reported no human infections of the virulent H5N1 strain of the
virus, which has killed at least 63 people elsewhere in Asia. However, health
officials say a case is inevitable if China can't stop repeated outbreaks in
poultry.
Vietnam confirmed that a 35-year-old man who died on Oct. 29 had contracted
bird flu. The man was admitted to a Hanoi hospital four days after his family
bought a prepared chicken from a market near his house.
The case, the first in three months in Vietnam, raised the country's death
toll to 42, the highest of any nation.
Vietnam will launch large-scale drills in the second half
of November to test the country's pandemic readiness, said health ministry
spokesman Pham Tuan Hung. The drills will include treating p
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