Cambodia only has bird flu medicine for 100 people

Cambodia’s Health Ministry has only enough of the antiviral drug Tamiflu to treat about 100 people should the country face a flu pandemic, an official said today.

Ly Sovann, chief of the ministry’s disease surveillance bureau, appealed for donors to speed up implementing their pledges to provide Tamiflu to Cambodia.

“We currently have just over 100 courses in stock in Phnom Penh,” he said. “We have given only one course to each province.”

Tamiflu, also known as Oseltamivir, is considered to be the most effective antiviral drug to treat flu infections, such as bird flu, but is in short supply worldwide.

Cambodia, with a population of 13.6 million, has registered four human cases of bird flu, all fatal, since the H5N1 virus swept into Asia in late 2003.

Cambodia’s eastern neighbour Vietnam accounts for 91 of the region’s 122 human cases, and 41 of its 62 fatalities, according to the World Health Organisation.

The shortage presents a real challenge for the impoverished Southeast Asian country, which has appealed for donors to help it prepare for future outbreaks of bird flu.

“According to donors’ pledges, the amount of new Tamiflu could be substantial, but they still remain on paper,” Ly Sovann said, urging donors “to speed up” supply of the flu drug to Cambodia.

Last month, the US offered Cambodia £1 million in aid for expertise and equipment as part of collaborative efforts against bird flu.

Megge Miller, an epidemiologist with the World Health Organisation, said her office in Cambodia holds 1,600 courses of Tamiflu, suitable for treating 1,600 people.

She said it is too early to know how many treatment courses might be needed “until the pandemic arrives.”

“It really depends on the individual country as part of their overall strategy for containing pandemic flu,” she said.

“At the moment, it (the stock) should be sufficient for avian flu … in the short term. But if the virus changes and becomes a pandemic virus, we have to look at the reality in Cambodia,” she said.

Authorities are concerned the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu could mutate into a form that can be easily passed between people.