Drug Suppresses Avian Flu Virus in Mice

An antiviral drug currently used against annual influenza strains has successfully suppressed the avian flu virus H5N1 in mice, a study found.

The study conducted at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Los Angeles was the first involving oseltamivir, a drug commercially sold as Tamiflu.

The H5N1 virus spreads from birds to humans and has killed dozens of people in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia since early 2004.

Public health experts fear the virus will develop the ability to spread from person to person and kill millions of people in a deadly worldwide flu pandemic.

Oseltamivir decreases the ability of influenza viruses to spread from infected cells to uninfected cells by inhibiting neuraminidase, an influenza protein required for the virus to exit infected cells, researchers told Xinhua, China’s government-run news agency.

But the 2004 H5N1 virus currently circulating in Vietnam reportedly is much more virulent than its 1997 predecessor.

The H5N1 avian flu viruses are in a process of rapid evolution, reported lead investigator Elena Govorkova. We were surprised at the tenacity of this new variant.

The research is detailed in the online Journal of Infectious Diseases.