DUSHANBE, February 20, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan is among the World Health Organization (WHO) member nations getting themselves equipped and prepared towards influenza A H1N1 threat.

According to the Ministry of Health (MoH), Tajikistan has received supplies of Tamiflu (the trade name of Oseltamivir) from the WHO stockpile for use in the treatment of influenza A H1N1 infection in the event of an outbreak.  A total of 50,000 adult treatment doses (75 mg capsules) of Tamiflu for a total amount of 575,000 U.S. dollars were delivered to Tajikistan.  Within the next few days, the doses will be distributed to all regions of the country, the source at a MoH said.

He added that another some 800,000 doses are expected to be delivered to the country in the near future.

We will recall that 19 swine-flu cases were registered in Tajikistan.  To-date, the antivirus lab at the republican center for sanitary and epidemiologic supervision has sent 400 samples for retest to the reference lab in London, the source noted.

Oseltamivir (INN) is an antiviral drug that slows the spread of influenza (flu) virus between cells in the body by stopping the virus from chemically cutting ties with its host cell—median time to symptom alleviation is reduced by 0.5–1 day . The drug is sold under the trade name Tamiflu and is taken orally in capsules or as a suspension. It has been used to treat and prevent Influenzavirus A and Influenzavirus B infection in over 50 million people since 1999.

Oseltamivir is a prodrug, a (relatively) inactive chemical which is converted into its active form by metabolic process after it is taken into the body