6A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WORLD
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28. 2005
HEALTH
Ed Wrav/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
An Indonesian health official displays a box of Tamiflu donated by Tempo Scan Pacific-Tamiflu Manufacturer. Roche Holding AG said Thursday it was temporarily halting shipments to private suppliers in the United States.
Countries hoard drug for bird flu
BY BRADLEY S. KLAPPER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GENEVA — Pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG said Thursday that would it temporarily suspend shipments of the antiviral drug Tamiflu to private sector recipients in the United States. Roche aims to ensure that enough Tamiflu, which experts believe is most effective in treating bird flu, will be available for the influenza season.
U. S. companies and large organizations apparently have been hoarding the drug, spurred by fears that the virus could mutate into a strain transmittable among people.
Supplies have become tight because some 40 countries' governments and other organizations are scrambling to create Tamiflu stockpiles in case the H5N1 strain spreading from Asia to Europe mutates into a form that can pass easily to and among people, sparking a human flu pandemic. Experts say Tamiflu could soften the impact of a pandemic. It would be used to treat the sick and those with close contact with the sick in hopes of stopping the spread of the virus while scientists rush to make a vaccine.
The Swiss drug giant emphasized that the temporary suspension would not affect Washington's orders to build up a national stockpile of Tamilu-
"We have agreed orders with governments, and we will fulfill them," said Alexander Klauser, a Swiss-based Roche spokesman. "It is important that this is seen separately from the pandemic offered."
He said Roche's U.S. management proceeded with the suspension because of the increased global demand for Tamiflu. Roche officials in Switzerland, Germany and Canada already had disclosed that they were limiting distribution to pharmacies because they didn't
want individuals hoarding the drug.
"The priority is that there is enough Tamiflu for the people who need it at the start of the influenza season," said Klauser. "At the moment, there is no influenza currently circulating."
Klauser said the increased demand for Tamiflu would mean that "over the next few weeks, limited stocks would be available in most countries."
The World Health Organization recommends governments keep enough anti-viral drugs and regular human flu vaccines for at least 25 percent of their populations. Roche has donated 3 million treatments to WHO for a global stockpile in case of a flu pandemic.
The H5N1 strain of the disease has already been detected in birds in Romania, Russia and Turkey and Croatia, raising fears it could spread across Europe. The strain has killed at least 62 people in Asia since 2003.
Suicide bomb renews conflict
BY KARIN LAUB THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — Israel killed seven Palestinian in a missile strike Thursday against Islamic Jihad, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would not meet with the Palestinian leader until he cracks down on armed groups — a double-edged Israeli response to the latest suicide bombing.
Adel Hana/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sharon threatened a "broad and relentless" offensive against Palestinian militants, including mass arrests and air strikes, but security officials said Israel would stop short of a large-scale military operation.
Wednesday's bombing in an open-air market in the central Israeli town of Hadera killed five Israelis, the fourth suicide attack by Islamic Jihad since Abbas negotiated a truce deal with Palestinian groups in February.
Sharon's decision to shun Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was the clearest signal yet that efforts to revive peacemaking after Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip last month have run aground. Abbs has said he could not and would not confront militants, fearing civil war, but it's unlikely progress can be made unless the two leaders meet.
January.
In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lodged a new appeal Thursday with Abbas to prevent terror attacks on Israel and dismantle the groups that carry out. She balanced her request to Abbas with appeals to Israel to resume contacts with the Palestinians, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
The international community has been pressing for a quick Israeli-Palestinian agreement on new security arrangements for Gaza's borders, and a continued deadlock over such issues will prevent the economic recovery of impoverished Gaza. That, in turn, could hurt Abbas' chances in parliamentary elections in January.
Palestinian youths gather around the wreckage of a car hit in an Israeli missile strike that killed seven Palestinians in the Jebalia refugee camp, northern Gaza Strip. Thursday.
Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, condemned the bombing, but Israel said he must do much more.
"If the Palestinian Authority does not take serious and tangible action against terrorism, there will be no diplomatic progress and that would be a pity. In such a situation, I will not meet with Abu Mazen." Sharon said after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Jerusalem.
There had been repeated efforts in recent weeks to arrange a Sharon-Abbas meeting, but Israeli and Palestinian negotiators could not find enough common ground on issues — Gaza border arrangements, prisoner releases and an Israeli pullout from some West Bank towns — to hold a summit.
Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Sharon's demands for a crackdown "do not serve the peace process and we are ready for a meeting between Sharon and Abu Mazen without conditions."
In the Gaza refugee camp of Jebaliya, Israeli aircraft fired two missiles at a car carrying Islamic Jihad militants. Hospital officials said at least seven people were killed and 15 wounded, four of them critically.
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