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GENEVA: The World Health Organisation on Friday recommended that pregnant women should have immediate treatment with Tamiflu when they show symptoms of H1N1 flu because they appear to be more vulnerable.
"WHO is recommending that in the countries where there is a wide spread of A(H1N1) pandemic flu that pregnant women ... should be provided with adequate care and treatment immediately," said WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi.
"Antiviral drug is recommended for treatment of pregnant women," she told journalists.
The WHO said in a briefing note that treatment with the antiretroviral drug oseltamivir - branded as Tamiflu commercially - should be administered as soon as possible after symptoms appeared.
"As the benefits of oseltamivir are greatest when administered within 48 hours after symptom onset, clinicians should initiate treatment immediately and not wait for the results of laboratory tests," it added.
The advice was based on studies among pregnant women in the United States and reports from several countries indicating that pregnant women were "more at risk of A(H1N1) infection," said Bhatiasevi.
Experts from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found in a study published on Wednesday that pregnant women could be at increased risk from H1N1 flu compared with the general public.
They said pregnant women should be given priority for the future vaccine against H1N1 flu and, if infected, be given antiviral drugs.
The two antiviral drugs used against H1N1 flu are Relenza or Tamiflu.
The WHO said the findings were borne out by evidence from previous flu pandemics.
"While pregnant women are also at increased risk during epidemics of seasonal influenza, the risk takes on added importance in the current pandemic, which continues to affect a younger age group than that seen during seasonal epidemics," it added.
Attitudes towards treatment and prevention of pregnant women, even for seasonal influenza, often differ between countries.
Switzerland's regulatory agency for medicines, Swissmedic, this week recommended doctors to evaluate antiviral treatment for women who are pregnant or breastfeeding on a case-by-case basis, since the symptoms of H1N1 flu were "relatively benign" so far.
Based on tests with animals and "limited experience available so far with pregant women," Swissmedic said "in some cases the interest of using Relenza and Tamiflu with pregnant or lactating women may outweigh the risks linked to this treatment."
The UN health agency said Friday that monitoring worldwide had detected "no evidence of change in the ability of the virus to spread or to cause severe illness" and that the majority of infections worldwide brought mild symptoms. - AFP/de
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