Treatment

There currently is no commercially available vaccine to protect humans against H5N1 virus that is being seen in Asia, Europe, and Africa. A vaccine specific to the virus strain causing the pandemic cannot be produced until a new pandemic influenza virus emerges and is identified.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is addressing the problem in a number of ways. These include:

• the development of pre-pandemic vaccines based on current lethal strains of H5N1 (The Food and Drug Administration has approved a vaccine based on an early strain of the H5N1 virus that is not commercially available, but is being added to the Strategic National Stockpile.)
• collaboration with industry to increase the Nation's vaccine production capacity
• seeking ways to expand or extend the existing supply
• doing research in the development of new types of influenza vaccines.

Studies done in laboratories suggest that some of the prescription medicines approved in the United States for human influenza viruses should work in treating avian influenza infection in humans. However, influenza viruses can become resistant to these drugs, so these medications may not always work. Additional studies are needed to demonstrate the effectiveness of these medicines.

The H5N1 virus that has caused human illness and death in Asia is resistant to amantadine and rimantadine, two antiviral medications commonly used for influenza. Two other antiviral medications, oseltamavir and zanamavir, would probably work to treat influenza caused by H5N1 virus, but additional studies still need to be done to demonstrate their effectiveness.