‘Frightening’ report casts doubt on bird flu drug

A “FRIGHTENING” report has cast fresh doubts over the drug used to combat bird flu, after two people died after failing to respond to the treatment.

A study of 13 Vietnamese patients infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu found two developed a rapid resistance to the anti-viral drug Tamiflu.

The report published in the New England Journal of Medicine comes as the World Health Organisation confirmed a 39-year-old man and an eight-year-old boy died earlier this month of bird flu in Indonesia.