Vietnam confirms 42nd bird-flu death
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-09 00:47

Vietnam, the country hit hardest by bird flu, reported another death on Tuesday, and the Swiss maker of Tamiflu said it had stopped selling the antiviral drug in China and was turning over supplies to the government.

Boiled chickens are on sale at a market in Hanoi, Vietnam, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005. The country worst hit by bird flu, Vietnam, Tuesday confirmed its 42nd human death from the virus as the World Health Organization warned governments to be ready for when - not if - a deadly pandemic arrives that could kill millions and cost the global economy US$800 billion (euro677 billion) in a single year. [AP]

Tamiflu is one of few drugs believed to be effective against bird flu. In the event of a possible human flu pandemic, "the government is in the best position to handle rapid response and distribution," the Chinese arm of Roche Holding AG said in a statement.

The company did not say how much Tamiflu it turned over or whether it would be compensated.

Concerns that private suppliers might be hoarding Tamiflu have led Roche to limit sales in other countries, including the United States, Switzerland, Germany and Canada.

China has reported no human infections of the virulent H5N1 strain of the virus, which has killed at least 63 people elsewhere in Asia. However, health officials say a case is inevitable if China can't stop repeated outbreaks in poultry.

Vietnam confirmed that a 35-year-old man who died on Oct. 29 had contracted bird flu. The man was admitted to a Hanoi hospital four days after his family bought a prepared chicken from a market near his house.

The case, the first in three months in Vietnam, raised the country's death toll to 42, the highest of any nation.

Vietnam will launch large-scale drills in the second half of November to test the country's pandemic readiness, said health ministry spokesman Pham Tuan Hung. The drills will include treating p