Almost 100% Of Dominant A H1N1 Strain Showing Resistance To Tamiflu - LA Times

[hatrack]

A milder than usual U.S. flu season is masking a growing concern about widespread resistance to the antiviral drug Tamiflu and what that means for the nation's preparedness in case of a dangerous pandemic flu.

Tamiflu, the most commonly used influenza antiviral and the mainstay of the federal government's emergency drug stockpile, no longer works for the dominant flu strain circulating in much of the country, government officials said Tuesday. Of samples tested since October, almost 100% of the strain -- known as type A H1N1 -- showed resistance to Tamiflu.

In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines to physicians in December. Doctors were told to substitute an alternative antiviral, Relenza, for Tamiflu, or to combine Tamiflu with an older antiviral, rimantadine, if the H1N1 virus was the main strain circulating in their communities.

Each flu season, several types of flu viruses circulate, and various ones can dominate in different regions and times. Only the H1N1 virus is showing signs of Tamiflu resistance, CDC officials said, speaking at an influenza conference in Washington. Other flu viruses currently circulating are not Tamiflu-resistant. Each year, the three most prominent flu strains -- two type A's and one type B -- are chosen for the creation of the flu vaccine. Unlike last year, both of the A viruses matched this year's vaccine, although the B did not, officials said.

EDIT

http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-sci-flu4-2009feb04,0,5270483.story

[peace13]

1. Isn't Tamiflu one of Rummies products?

He's probably behind a new more expensive drug for next year.

[NNadir]

5. So let me get this straight...

Rumsfeld's activities at Gilead implicitly mean that all of the science that is involved in neuroamidase inhibition is worthless?

It follows, perforce, that Tamiflu is not a treatment for flu and that if you were in danger of dying from flu, or your children, or your neighbors or members of the community at large were also in danger of dying from it, you would oppose treatment with Tamiflu on the grounds that Rummy, as most of us here understand it, is a war criminal who made a metaphorical killing on in shares in Gilead?

There is a concept known as http://www.fallacyfiles.org/guiltbya.html">guilt by association, to wit: Hitler was a vegetarian, therefore vegetarianism is wrong.

It is known as bad thinking. There are way too many similar examples here.

[peace13]

7. Thanks for the lecture.

As someone who has had allergic reactions to vaccines I do tend to hold pharma with a bit of skepticism. I know here at DU we must be gung ho for all big medicine inventions or risk being labeled as a vegetarian nazi. If you are a scientist or doctor I do apologize if I have offended you. Per Rummy, soldiers are fungible. I'm not sure how he feels about the people that line up for his antidotes. Gotta run, off to get vaccinated.

[phantom power]

2. Charlie Darwin says Hi!

:hi:

[Viking12]

3. God did it!

He created the resistant strain to punish you liberal heathens and your debaucherous ways. Well, sure, it still needs to evolve, err I mean change, into a form transmittable from human-to-human but that won't just happen. God just created a prototype, you know for practice.

[Ian David]

4. If you're not vaccinated, volunteer at a nursing home in a Republican voting district.

And don't forget-- washing your hands is bad for you.

[NNadir]

6. In general all treatments of retroviral diseases are especially prone to resistence.

This is because retoviruses go through many generations in a single day. These viruses can participate in billions of reproductions in a single day.

Moreover because of the mechanism of their reproduction, reverse transcription of RNA into DNA, there are many opportunities for biochemical error, and many opportunities for mutations.

This was most notable in the case of HIV proteases, where many mutants were resistant to them within a few years of their commercialization. There are Nelfinavir, Saquinavir, Indinavir...mutants all well known, mapped and characterized.

In the case of CCR5 fusion inhibitors, resistant mutants became known during clinical trials.

The same business is on the horizon for slower evolving antibiotics, now becoming a serious problem around the world, notably in the case of tuberculosis and hospital borne infections.