Japanese sewage could unlock clues to bird flu drug

Researchers are planning to sift through Japanese sewage to find the key to the future effectiveness of the bird flu drug Tamiflu.

Tamiflu is already used to treat common influenza sparking fears diseases may develop resistance to the drug.

Japan is one of the world's largest consumers of Tamiflu with an estimated 40 per cent of infections treated with the medicine.

The researchers from three universities in Sweden have received SEK 5.9 million (£479,000) to conduct the project, which will also look at drug-resistant strains of flu in the faeces of ducks living round the sewage treatment plants.

Scientists from Uppsala University, Umea University and Karolinska Institute in Sweden will team up with Kyoto University in Japan for the field research.

It is hoped to provide keys for the environmental, chemical and virological impacts of the drug.

Threat of a human pandemic from bird flu has been classed as "serious" by the World Health Organization.

According to the Telegraph, UK MPs have discussed the possibility of terrorists using the virus as a threat.

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