Is this drug legitimate:(v38 AMF-1)? It is touted by a Hong
Kong/California company to be active against bird flu. I have
researched it on the web already so will only pay for info from other
sources.

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Request for Question Clarification by librariankt-ga on 26 Sep 2005 16:39 PDT

Hi there -

I am wondering what you will consider "legitimate" - is it over the
counter?  is it approved for use in the US?  is it in development?

I've found some information on the study that just came out in August
that supposedly reinforces the company's claims that Vira 38 (brand
name) is effective against bird flu.  I have to tell you - there's
nothing in the paper about bird flu, it's about SARS, _and_ the
compounds they were testing are components of black tea.  All very
odd.

Also, there are several clinical trials ongoing for bird flu - one for
a vaccine - as well as standards of care from the US CDC regarding
symptom management (using standard antivirals that you would take for
the "regular" flu).

I'm happy to write up all that I've discovered from non-web sources
about Vira 38 (not much) as well as alternatives, if that would help
you.  Please let me know -

Librariankt

Hi, 

As far as I know, no medical journal has published such a drug, and
the WHO has listed bird flu among the respiratory diseases with no
know cure list. Hundreds of research labs are working on vaccines now,
but it's hard to treat zoonotic (animal bourne) viruses. I would be
very very very weary of anyone/site on the internet (or anywhere else
for that matter) claiming to have a cure to bird flu, until it is
legitimately published, trialled and approved by local and
international government drug administrations (eg FDA).

You should probably keep your eye on the news programs on TV, they
tend to have regular updates in the oceanic/aseatic regions of the
world on the subject.

Baz :)