The World Health Organisation placed Swiss drugmaker Roche on standby last week to airlift antiviral doses to Indonesia after seven members of a single family died from avian influenza, raising concern about possible human-to-human transmission of the virus.
WHO officials contacted Roche to prepare the company to dispatch supplies from an agency-held stockpile of more than 3 million Tamiflu treatments, which Roche stores on behalf of the WHO. It was the first time the company had been placed on alert, though spokesman Dick Thompson described the move as largely precautionary.
The alarm eased after investigators concluded the outbreak had not spread beyond the affected family, even among others known to have had contact with the victims. WHO determined it would not need to draw on the stockpile, but had not yet formally released Roche from standby as of Sunday. Agency guidelines require a wait of two incubation periods before a situation can be cleared.
About 30 people who came into contact with the family were asked to extend their isolation by two additional weeks. More than 120 people had died of bird flu globally since late 2003, most of them in Asia, and Indonesia had recorded more bird flu deaths in 2006 than any other country.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.