Virtually all the dominant strain of flu in the United States this season is resistant to the leading antiviral drug Tamiflu, and scientists and health officials are trying to figure out why. The problem is not yet a public health crisis because this has been a below-average flu season so far, and because the Tamiflu-resistant strain, one of three circulating, is still susceptible to other drugs. But infectious disease specialists are worried nonetheless.Last winter, about 11 percent of the throat swabs from patients with the most common type of flu that were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for genetic typing showed a Tamiflu-resistant strain. This season, 99 percent do."It's quite shocking," said Dr. Kent A. Sepkowitz, director of infection control at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. "We've never lost an antimicrobial this fast. It blew me away.
Virtually all the dominant strain of flu in the United States this season is resistant to the leading antiviral drug Tamiflu, and scientists and health officials are trying to figure out why.
The problem is not yet a public health crisis because this has been a below-average flu season so far, and because the Tamiflu-resistant strain, one of three circulating, is still susceptible to other drugs. But infectious disease specialists are worried nonetheless.
Last winter, about 11 percent of the throat swabs from patients with the most common type of flu that were sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for genetic typing showed a Tamiflu-resistant strain. This season, 99 percent do.
"It's quite shocking," said Dr. Kent A. Sepkowitz, director of infection control at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. "We've never lost an antimicrobial this fast. It blew me away.
Tamiflu was also supposed to be the 1st line of defense in the event of an outbreak of avian flu. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
There's been massive over-use of Tamiflu for the last few years, propelled by patients who see it as a miracle recovery drug - notably they tend have not utilised the vaccines for the strain that were provide.
Such widespread misuse was bound to lead to the quick development of a resistant strain.
What's not to like? Most economists teach a theoretical framework that has been shown to be fundamentally useless. -- James K. Galbraith
I posted this item as much because it appealed to my dark and twisted sense of... somethingorother ... as for its news value. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
