Indonesia has received permission from Swiss drug giant Roche to locally produce Tamiflu, the drug thought to be most effective in treating bird flu in humans.
Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari made the announcement Friday, in Jakarta. Indonesia is the second country to get the go-ahead to produce the anti-flu medicine, along with Vietnam.
Thursday, Indonesian agriculture officials said hundreds of chickens infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus died in Aceh province. And in Vietnam, public health officials said a 15-year-old boy from the northern port city of Haiphong tested positive for the same H5N1 strain. The findings have not yet been confirmed by the World Health Organization.
Elsewhere, China also reported a new outbreak of the deadly strain in poultry in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.
More than 60 people have died from bird flu in Asia since 2003.
