Posted on 03/02/2009 5:45:21 PM PST by DirtyHarryY2K
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Virtually all cases of the most common strain of flu circulating in the United States now resist the main drug used to treat it, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday.
CDC researchers said 98 percent of all flu samples from the H1N1 strain were resistant to Roche AG's Tamiflu, a pill that can both treat flu and prevent infection. Four patients infected with the resistant strain have died, including two children.
This year, H1N1 is the most common strain of flu in the United States, although the flu season is a mild one so far, and still below the levels considered an epidemic.
Few doctors even test patients for flu, and Tamiflu is not widely prescribed. But the news is sobering because the pill, known generically as oseltamivir, is one of the few weapons against influenza, which kills an estimated 36,000 people in the United States in an average year.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
kinda like socialism
I’d rather die with the flu.
I’ve got an immune system that doesn’t cost anything.
Drug resistance ping...
That 36,000 number is a bit misleading. How many of these patients had a terminal illness? It really isn’t the flu that is killing you its your comorbid condition.
What’s all the fuss about? The last three years I’ve taken the flue vaccine and all three years I’ve gotten the flu! I think I have gotten my moneys worth. ;-)
I take echinacea (an herbal extract) at the first inkling of any type of cold or flu. I rarely get sick, while people around me are hacking away and taking medications and going to the doctor.
I’ve been doing this for 12+ years with excellent results. I prefer the liquid concentrate (a few drops out of a dropper) with an ounce or so of juice, but will take capsules if I’m out of the liquid concentrate and they work well too.
I've got one too. It's a hard-working one, and I'm not going to go out of my way to make it work harder than it absolutely has to.
“I’ve got an immune system that doesn’t cost anything.
I’ve got one too. It’s a hard-working one, and I’m not going to go out of my way to make it work harder than it absolutely has to.”
Tell that to the voters in Pelosi’s district.
It's a blessing and a curse. Think cytokine storm.
they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. [Ebenezer Scrooge]
“It really isn’t the flu that is killing you its your comorbid condition.”
The 1918 flu killed by ctyokine storm, young adults were dropping like flies. The healthier the immune system, the more likely this would develope. H5N1 also kills this way.
hmmm...note to self - buy more 12 gauge...
I’ve never had tamiflu and I’ve never had a flu shot.
Why am I still alive?
In the flu pandemic that hit at the end of WWI and killed maybe 50 million people world wide, the ones who died most frequently according to my grandmother (now deceased) were the young adult age group.
Speculation the kids had more active immune systems and the oldsters had some crossover immunity from a previous pandemic.
Grandma told me that while my grandfather was sick with it the other minister in town buried his parishioners and when the minister fell ill with it, that grandfather buried the minister’s parishioners. She took in several young men traveling through town who fell ill and nursed them back. My grandfather saved my mother’s life (she was a baby) by picking her up by her heels while she was choking on the plegm and slapping her back to help drain the fluids out of her lungs.
They were in a pioneer town of Washington state at the time.
Probably because you were born with a good immune system. I was born with a defective immune system in regard to bacteria/mycoplasma, but okay fighting viruses.
The question is why am I alive, and the answer is antibiotics. Would have died in childhood if I had been born 5 years earlier.
But i get sick alot. At least one nasty sinus infection per year that really knocks me out.
Well, it’s normal to get colds, but why do you think you get sinus? Do you have allergies or a deviated septum or some predisposition?
How do you treat your sinus infections?
I’ve almost always had sinus problems. But they got much worse after an accident that broke bones in my face. 4 titanium plates hold my face together.
Amoxacillin
clindamycin
And other antibiotics. I only take them as a last resort since they don’t agree with my body very well.
Apparently it’s something that runs in my family. We get what they call “silent headaches” and “dry sinus infections”. A dry sinus infection is one that doesn’t have drainage. A silent headache is one that doesn’t ache. You don’t know you have it until you get dizzy and have problems seeing, and your neck gets stiff. A dry sinus infection generally is followed by a regular sinus infection. The longer it takes for the mucus to start flowing, the worse the infection. The worst ones can last a month before mucus starts flowing. The problem is they sneak up on you and you don’t realize you are sick until you almost pass out one day. You just think you are tired.
The story is that my father’s mother’s father had it and told all his children to pass on the word to their children that they will all be afflicted with it. It’s been pretty much impossible to get away from it. I was sinus problem free from about age 20 to about age 28, and that’s all. And I seem to have been one of the lucky ones.
Most of my relatives flush their sinuses at least once a week in the shower with special fluid. But they still get sick from time to time.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.