Compound found to safely counter deadly bird flu

MADISON — The specter of a drug-resistant form of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza is a nightmare to keep public health officials awake at night.

Now, however, a study published this week (Dec. 21) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests that a new compound, one on the threshold of final testing in humans, may be more potent and safer for treating "bird flu" than the antiviral drug best known by the trade name Tamiflu.

Known as T-705, the compound even works several days after infection, according to Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist and the senior author of the new PNAS study.

"H5N1 virus is so pathogenic even Tamiflu doesn't protect all the infected animals," explains Kawaoka, a professor of pathobiological sciences at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and a world authority on influenza. "This compound works much better, even three days after infection."

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