WHO: Save Tamiflu For Young, Old, Pregnant

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They " need " it.

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WHO: Save Tamiflu For Young, Old, Pregnant

Young, Old, Pregnant Need Antivirals, However

MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer

Posted: 3:33 am PDT August 21, 2009Updated: 5:22 am PDT August 21, 2009

LONDON -- Healthy people who catch swine flu do not need antivirals like

Tamiflu, but the young, the old and the pregnant surely do, the World Health

Organization declared Friday in new advice to doctors.

The U.N. health agency said people who are otherwise healthy with mild to

moderate cases of swine flu or regular flu don't need the popular drug, calling

the medical evidence for giving it to those people " low quality. "

But people thought to be at risk for complications from swine flu -- children

less than five years old, pregnant women, people over age 65 and those with

other health problems like heart disease, HIV or diabetes -- should definitely

get the drug, WHO said.

WHO also recommended that all patients, including children, who have severe or

worsening cases of swine flu, with breathing difficulties, chest pain or severe

weakness, should get Tamiflu immediately, perhaps in higher doses than now used.

The advice contradicts some current government policies, such as those in

England, whose health agency liberally hands out Tamiflu to healthy people with

swine flu. Since the British set up a national flu service in July to deal with

the surge of swine flu cases, Tamiflu has been available to anyone suspected of

having the disease, including healthy people.

At its summer peak, British authorities guessed there were about 110,000 new

cases of swine flu, also known as H1N1, every week. The number of new cases

dropped last week to about 11,000, but the fall/winter flu season has not yet

begun.

Boasting that Britain had the world's largest supply of Tamiflu, enough to cover

80 percent of its nearly 61 million people, Health Minister Andy Burnham

promised the drug would be available to anyone who needed it.

Britons who call the national flu line can get Tamiflu without ever seeing a

doctor -- it is given out by call center operators who have no medical training.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales decided not to participate in the swine flu

phone line.

On its swine flu Web site, the Department of Health says " the government has

decided to offer the antivirals Tamiflu or Relenza to everyone confirmed with

swine flu. "

To stop people fraudulently getting Tamiflu, the web site says " the government

is relying on the public to use the system responsibly. "

Some experts have criticized that approach, warning that blanketing the

population with Tamiflu increases the chances of resistant strains emerging.

Flu expert Hugh Pennington of the University of Aberdeen called the strategy " a

very big experiment " and said England's approach was out of step with the rest

of the world. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for instance,

says antivirals must be prescribed by a health care professional.

Pennington called for the national flu line to be dismantled because Tamiflu

should be used more sparingly.

" This approach increases the likelihood of a resistant strain and that is not a

risk worth running, " Pennington said.

Officials have already found widespread drug resistance in seasonal strains of

H1N1 flu and worry that might also crop up with swine flu. So far, only a

handful of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu strains have been found.

WHO said most patients infected with swine flu worldwide recover within a week

without any medical treatment. Still, about 40 percent of the severe swine flu

cases are occurring in previously healthy children and adults, usually under 50

years of age.

WHO has estimated that as many as 2 billion people could become infected over

the next two years with swine flu -- nearly one-third of the world's population.

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may

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