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| CNN's Carol Lin speaks with Richard Branson about the Global Health Summit (October 31) |
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LONDON (CNN) -
Virgin Atlantic Airways announced Wednesday it has ordered a stockpile of the antiviral drug Tamiflu "as a purely precautionary measure" in the event of a human outbreak of bird flu.
"Virgin Atlantic is closely monitoring the spread of avian flu and is in regular contact with the (British) and U.S. governments," the company said. "At this stage, there is no need to change any advice to passengers traveling with Virgin Atlantic, or to alter any of the airline's procedures."
The airline said was ordering the Tamiflu "as a responsible employer and air carrier" and was also "evaluating a range of other systems and measures."
In addition to serving trans-Atlantic routes between the United States and Britain, the airline also serves cities in several Asian countries where outbreaks of bird flu have been reported in poultry, including China, Malaysia and Japan.
However, Virgin does not serve any of the four countries currently reporting outbreaks of bird flu in humans -- Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand -- though the airline does fly to Hong Kong, where human outbreaks were reported in 1997 and 2003.
Virgin would not confirm how many units of Tamiflu it bought. However, Time magazine's Web site reported that Virgin had purchased 10,000 units of the drug, citing as its source Richard Branson, the chairman of Virgin Group, the airline's parent company.
Roche Group, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, is the world's sole producer of Tamiflu, and supplies are already back-ordered.
According to the World Health Organization, at current production rates, it would take a decade to make enough of the drug to treat just 20 percent of the world's population.
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How are U.S. airlines preparing for a potential bird flu outbreak? Click here.
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