WHO: Save Tamiflu for the young, old and pregnant

LONDON: Healthy people who catch H1N1 flu do not need antivirals like Tamiflu, but the young, the old and the pregnant surely do, the World Health Organization declared on Friday in new advice to doctors.

The UN health agency said people who are otherwise healthy with mild to moderate cases of H1N1 flu or regular flu don't need the popular drug, calling the medical evidence for giving it to those people "low quality".

But people thought to be at risk for complications from H1N1 flu - children less than five years old, pregnant women, people over age 65 and those with other health problems like heart disease, HIV or diabetes - should definitely get the drug, WHO said.