UAE stockpiling Tamiflu

[Sally Furniss]

GCC committees to meet to discuss bird flu

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2007-03/04/content_819101.htm

Health committees of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will meet soon to discuss the latest developments of bird flu with emphasis on fresh cases reported in Kuwait, local newspaper Khaleej Times reported on March 4.

The meeting would discuss ways of enforcing the strategy adopted by the GCC secretariat-general to respond to the outbreak of bird flu, Minister of Environment and Water of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mohammed Saeed Al Kindi said.

The UAE government has banned any import of live birds from Kuwait, Al Kindi said, adding that UAE companies doing business with Kuwaiti suppliers of frozen chickens were also informed to stop imports.

Inbound frozen chicken and bird shipments were being subjected to inspection and tests for 15 days before they were released to ensure they were not infected with bird flu or any other diseases, he said.

Kuwait on Friday announced to detect five new cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, raising the total number of the cases to 46.

Founded in 1981, the GCC, which groups Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, has been striving to achieve wide- ranging cooperation among its member states in face of internal and international challenges.

[sharon sanders]

UAE stockpiles Tamiflu

Isn't a strain circulating in Egypt tamilfu resistant?



UAE stockpiles Tamiflu tablets to cope with bird flu

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has stockpiled over one million tablets of Tamiflu, the best known drug to treat bird flu among humans, in a bid to combat possible outbreak of the disease in the country, the Khaleej Times reported on Monday.
"The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with other health authorities in the country, have managed to store more than one million pills of the drug to avert looming hazards bird flu virus poses," Ali Shukur, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, was quoted as saying.
In addition, the ministry is working to provide hospitals and medical institutions with adequate precautionary items such as masks and gloves to ensure safety of people working at these facilities, Shukur said.
"We have set a plan about proper methods that should be adopted in isolating patients in case of discovering incidents. Ways of protecting residents of the area and the nearby areas where the virus might be detected has also been studied," he added.
The ministry has also formed a team to follow up closely any developments concerning outbreak of the flu in neighboring countries and evaluate impact they might have on the UAE, he said.
At least 46 cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu have been detected in Kuwait since Feb. 25, which has raised concerns over the contagious disease in the Gulf region.
Source: Xinhua

http://english.people.com.cn/200703/05/print20070305_354394.html

[scottmcpherson]

Re: UAE stockpiling Tamiflu

The population of the United Arab Emirates is 2,602,713 (July 2006 est.) according to the CIA Website.

This means the UAE is stockpiling enough Tamiflu to support 38% of its population with a standard dose. While the rest of the world is trying to reach 25%, and the British are debating whether to continue buying to exceed their already-stockpiled 25%, and the US is haggling over whether to even buy the stuff, the UAE has settled on a figure of almost 40%.

Or, if you want to look at it another way, they are laying in enough Tamiflu to use as a preventive for their critical infrastructure workers and health care employees, which leaves plenty to treat infected citizens at the 25% rate.

Would that we could reach that plateau.