Bulgaria asks EU for more anti-flu drugs

(SOFIA) - Bulgaria has asked its fellow EU members for additional supplies of anti-viral drugs in the face of a looming nationwide swine flu epidemic, health minister Bozhidar Nanev said Thursday.

Nanev told parliament that Bulgaria had asked the European Commission for help in securing additional supplies from other countries and had also requested 200,000 extra doses from drug makers.

Bulgaria with its population of 7.6 million is bracing for a nationwide (A)H1N1 influenza epidemic, with more than 100,000 people already infected with the potentially deadly virus.

Five (A)H1N1-related deaths have already been reported in the country and five more people are in hospital in a serious condition.

At least 13 regions across the country have already called an (A)H1N1 epidemic, according to health ministry data.

Dozens of schools and kindergartens in other regions have closed as increasing numbers of children fell ill or preferred to stay away to avoid infection.

There were complaints that chemists had run out of anti-viral drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza, as well as protective masks.

Nanev said there are currently around 80,000 doses of anti-viral drugs in chemists across the country.

The health ministry has an additional 10,000 doses, he said, and the government was making every effort to get additional doses shortly, he said.