By Dawn Tay

A NETWORK of infectious-disease specialists from public hospitals has been formed for the first time, to determine the best treatments for influenza and dengue in adults.

The Adult Infectious Disease Research network will comprise doctors of Tan Tock Seng Hospital's (TTSH) Communicable Disease Centre (CDC), and Changi General, Singapore General and National University hospitals.

The involvement of the major treatment centres here would help to ensure robust research results, said Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin, the CDC's clinical director.

The network will launch two clinical trials on the two conditions this month.

The flu study aims to determine whether a double dose of anti-viral drug Tamiflu is more effective for patients with severe symptoms than a standard dose.

Should the study show that a higher dosage is indeed useful, this might later become the standard of care for severely-ill patients, said Prof Leo.

It will study patients with seasonal flu and Influenza A (H1N1). Spanning two years, it aims to better prepare Singapore for future flu seasons.

A second H1N1 wave is expected to hit at the end of the year. In the past two weeks, Britain, Mexico and the United States have already seen a spike in the number of H1N1 patients.

The Health Ministry said there has been no increase in the number of flu infections here recently. Only three H1N1 patients are hospitalised in public hospitals here now, down from more than 100 in July.

But in anticipation of the second wave, it has bought a million doses of a H1N1 vaccine, to be delivered by year-end.

Almost all flu patients here now caught the new H1N1 strain, Prof Leo said.

She advises health-care workers and those at risk of severe flu or complications to get both the H1N1 and the yearly seasonal flu vaccines.

The dengue study will compare how adult dengue patients with a low platelet count fare with a platelet transfusion, and without the transfusion.

There is currently no standard benchmark on whether, and when, to give such transfusions; clinicians do so based on their own judgment, said Prof Leo.

Yesterday, she also presented the results of a study on more than 100 H1N1 patients at TTSH, which showed that patients experienced the same symptoms from H1N1 as they do with seasonal flu.

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