Posted on 04/30/2009 10:55:17 AM PDT by TaraP
U.S. health officials say almost 100% of the type A H1N1 strain showed resistance to the leading antiviral drug. So far, the influenza season has been mild.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.latimes.com ...
who in Congress brought stock in Tamiflu last week?..then sold yesterday
*grins*
Hmmmm.
A virus that combines human, swine, and avian genes, and just happens to be immune to the #1 antiviral.
What are the odds?
Isn’t that the drug that our new health idiot(ess) selected by the Obamaloon stated would work?
Nah, couldn’t be. We all know that the cabinet of Loon-O-Tics are intellects.............
Is this the same strain that we are facing now? If so, uh oh. Tamiflu is what they are sending all over the country.
Why is there no Swine Flu cases in Russia, IRAN, China and Saudi Arabia? yet they do have a few cases in Israel?
But... but... the Magesterium knows best. Take it anyway.
Imagine, stockpiling an influenza vaccine, when you know the next influenza outbreak won’t be treatable with it.
Easy. Who has the more mobile populations?
Why was the probable index case a Pakistani visiting Mexico?
I see on the news that a member of obamas delegation to me he co has flu like symptoms...
And here I thought we were past the normal flu season.
That's what they are!
I just use garlic oil capsules.
Garlic in an herb/vinegar solution is what creative/crafty thieves used to pick over the dead for money/valuables in the plagues of the past.
Party on, Garth!
This pertains to SEASONAL flu, not the human-swine-avian h1n1 that is running around now.
Sounds like it’s geneticly modified and put together like a Frankenstein’s Monster. Wonder if the Rooskies are up to no good as always. Probably emboldened now that they know Barry wont do anything to protect America from her enemies.
Cool! If you wait long enough on that map, drop shadows appear behind all the ‘pins’ making it all look even more ominous.
CUE THE DRAMA
Read World War Z by Max Brooks.
Tamiflu=Phalanx.
So then why did they have Tamiflu available for a type of flu strain they did not know was going to come up? yet they did not have a antiviral drug for a flu strain that was going around?
60,000 die of flu/pneumonia in the US every year. why is this different? just because of the affected age-groups?
What about this story yesterday....
Tamiflu called best remedy for swine flu
DALLAS, April 29 (UPI) — The drug Tamiflu, made and marketed by Roche Holding AG of Switzerland, is the best treatment for the new strain of swine flu, a U.S. medical expert says.
Dr. James Luby, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said Tuesday that for certain patients who have come down the with disease, and for medical professionals who need to prevent contracting the virus, Tamiflu remains the gold standard, The Dallas Morning News reported.
“We don’t want the ordinary you or me to go out and start taking Tamiflu,” Luby said. “But if you got sick with a 101-degree temperature, and it’s within 48 hours of the onset of illness, you’d be a good candidate to receive it once you’ve had a spot-check for flu.”
Luby said another good candidate for Tamiflu would be a relative of an infected person living in the same house who is afflicted with diabetes. The Morning News said Tamiflu has also proven effective in preventing the swine flu among healthcare workers who take a full, five-day treatment course of the drug.
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