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Effect Measure
Posted on: June 30, 2009 6:30 AM, by revere
Currently the only antiviral drugs effective against the swine flu (novel H1N1) virus are the two neuriminidase inhibitors, oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu) and zanamivir (trade name Relenza). Relenza is in active form at the outset and cannot be absorbed orally. It must be inhaled, leading to asthmatic reactions in some, ineffective dosage in those with breathing difficulties, and no drug at sites beyond the respiratory tract. Despite these drawbacks, it has so far produced little or no viral resistance. Tamiflu is absorbed orally and converted by the liver into the active form, so it gets to other organs and can be taken by people unable to inhale Relenza. But it has other problems. One is a tendency for the flu virus to become resistant to it. Until today, however, there have been no reports of Tamiflu resistance in swine flu isolates, although most flu experts were waiting for the other shoe to drop. Today may have been the day we heard it fall:
Scientists have established the first case of the new H1N1 influenza strain showing resistance to Tamiflu, the main antiviral flu drug, Danish officials and the manufacturer said on Monday.
It was expected that the strain would at some point show resistance to Tamiflu, Denmark's State Serum Institute said. The patient was now well and no further infection with the resistant virus had been detected.
"It does not constitute a risk to public health and does not cause changes to the recommendations for the use of oseltamivir (Tamiflu)," the institute said in a statement. (Reuters)
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2 comments:
I think, this report of swine flu is all media hype...the reason why they are hyping up the swine flu is to get more views and more watchers or readers to their news. its called sensationalism. (like it or not, news like this SELLS which means huge profits) same thing happened with the avian bird flu, sars a couple years back. but that did disappear just like this swine flu will once people stop freaking out over it
If there is one thing good about this, it plays right into the health care issues that U.S. President Obama wants.......so it is mostly Political.......the regular flu every year kills people in the u.s...and this one is no different than the one last year........they don't normally name the flu and call it a pandemic, like they are doing now...but the flu and thousands of people dying every year is as normal as apple pie.
let's just be careful by always washing our hands before and after eating....
I appreciate and respect your view fierytouch. Despite the media hype, everyone has to stay knowledgeable about this newest health concern as it affected many globally. Having said that, the better awareness, the better likelihood of dealing with the disease objectively.
Some people do not really care but once they are affected, they panic and do not know what to do next. We all want less morbidity and mortality rates or even none. Just by mere flu?
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