Healthy people "don"t need Tamiflu"

       Healthy people who catch H1N1 flu do not need antivirals like Tamiflu, but the young, the old and the pregnant do, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday in new advice to doctors.
       The UN health agency said people who are otherwise healthy with mild to moderate cases of H1N1 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 the new flu strain - children under five years old, pregnant women, people over 65 and those with other health problems like heart disease,HIV or diabetes - should definitely get the drug, the WHO said.
       The WHO also recommended that all patients, including children, who have severe or worsening cases of H1N1 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 H1N1 flu.
       Since the British set up a national flu service last month to deal with the surge of cases, Tamiflu has been available to anyone suspected of having the H1N1 virus, including healthy people.
       During Britain's recent summer peak,authorities guessed there were about 110,000 new cases of H1N1 every week.The number of new cases dropped last week to about 11,000, but the autumn/winter flu season has not yet begun.
       Boasting that Britain had the world's largest supply of Tamiflu, enough to cover 80% 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 centre operators who have no medical training.Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales decided not to participate in the H1N1 flu phone line.
       On its H1N1 flu website, the Department of Health says "the government has decided to offer the antivirals Tamiflu or Relenza to everyone confirmed with swine [H1N1] flu".
       To stop people fraudulently getting Tamiflu, the website says "the government is relying on the public to use the system responsibly".
       Some experts have criticised that approach, warning that blanketing the population with Tamiflu increases the chances of resistant strains emerging.
       H1N1 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 US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for instance, says antivirals must be prescribed by a healthcare professional.
       Mr 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," he said.
       Officials have already found widespread drug resistance in seasonal strains of flu and worry that might also crop up with the new flu.
       So far, only a handful of Tamifluresistant viral strains have been found.
       The WHO said most patients infected with H1N1 flu worldwide recover within a week without any medical treatment.Still, about 40% of the severe H1N1 flu cases are occurring in previously healthy children and adults, usually under 50 years of age.
       The WHO has estimated that as many as 2 billion people could become infected over the next two years with H1N1 flu nearly a third of the world's population.
       Chilean turkeys contract virus
       Chile detected the H1N1 flu virus in turkeys, authorities said, the first time the virus has been found outside humans and pigs, but said there was no indication the disease had spread to other parts of the South American country.
       The country's farming and livestock agency SAG said on Thursday the flu outbreak had been controlled at the two farms 120km west of the capital Santiago and notified the World Organisation for Animal Health.
       "We call on the public to consume turkey products with confidence," a SAG statement said. It added that laboratory results ruled out the presence of H5N1,or bird flu virus.
       Chilean authorities said the farms near the port city of Valparaiso were placed under quarantine on Aug 13. The H1N1 virus has killed 128 people and infected 12,175 in Chile.