Prophylactic Tamiflu: A bad idea?

Via Homeland Security Today.us: Prophylactic Use of Tamiflu Bad Idea, Leading Virologist Says. Excerpt:

The US government’s new proposal to use drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza as a prophylaxis to prevent infection by a pandemic strain of influenza is wrongheaded, says Dr. Graeme Laver, a former professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Laver, who played a key role in the development of both drugs, has been studying influenza viruses for nearly 40 years. He and Dr. Robert Webster (another world-renowned virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital) are credited with having first found the link between human flu and bird flu. In the 1960's, both received world acclaim when they developed a new and innovative generation of vaccines for flu viruses.

Laver told HSToday.us that “prophylaxis with Tamiflu in a pandemic is wrong. Early treatment is the only way to go.”

But the US government proposes to use Tamiflu and Relenza prophylactically to prevent infection, including giving guidelines to businesses that may want to buy the drugs in advance to treat or protect employees.