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The New England Journal of Medicine recently found that four patients died in spite of being treated with Tamiflu. Of the four, two had developed resistance to the drug and the other two might have been treated late. The report suggests the ideal doses may not be sufficient since inadequate or low doses of anti-viral drugs are known to promote resistance by allowing viruses to mutate and resurge. However, the World Health Organization continues to back Tamiflu as the only escape from a bird flu pandemic, claiming that the cases were no cause for alarm.

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