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Southern Africa: Not enough drugs to handle a pandemic
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa, the country with the most resources in Africa, has two suspected cases of swine flu, but does not have adequate supplies of the antiviral drugs known to be effective in treating the rapidly spreading disease that has so far claimed more than 150 lives in Mexico, according to an expert.
"I know for a fact we haven't stockpiled. If you don't have a national stockpile, that's it - you're not going to get the drugs in time," said Ed Rybicki, a virologist who teaches at the University of Cape Town.
In the absence of a vaccine for swine flu, antiviral medicines such as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) have been used to treat the disease.
