Letter Re: Suggestions for the Acute Management of a H5N1 Pandemic, by Spencer Feldman

Hi,
I read with concern the post yesterday (Friday 7th April) about Avian influenza. The post while appearing to be well referenced, in fact misrepresents what many of the trials and studies referred to actually state. The general implication is that there is a vast body of scientific research supporting the authors position. This is not the case at all, the articles do not say this and the authors spin on what some say misrepresents them. The majority are very early in-vitro or animal model studies which do not translate at all in terms of efficacy in humans. Most biomedical scientists would agree that only about 1:500-1000 of these very early trials will go on to a meaningful application in human medicine – it is plain wrong and intellectually dishonest to use them as the author has done here. Cheers. – Dr. BCE from New Zealand