WHO sees little Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 flu spread
By Laura MacInnis and Stephanie Nebehay, ReutersJuly 7, 2009
Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 flu does not appear to be spreading
in a sustained or worrisome way, a World Health Organization
official says.
Photograph by: Bay Ismoyo, AFP/Getty Images
GENEVA (Reuters) - Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 flu does not appear
to be spreading in a sustained or worrisome way, a World Health
Organization official said on Tuesday.
"At this point we are not recommending any clinical changes to
the approach in treating patients," WHO Acting Assistant Director-General
Keiji Fukuda said, responding to the discovery of drug-resistant
H1N1 viruses in three people.
"Right now these examples of oseltamivir resistance remain sporadic
cases. We do not see any evidence of widespread movement of oseltamivir
resistant viruses," he told a briefing, using the generic name for
Tamiflu, an anti-viral tablet made by Roche and Gilead Sciences.
The three people whose H1N1 virus samples did not respond to Tamiflu
-- in Denmark, Japan and Hong Kong -- have recovered completely
from their infection, Fukuda said. He described the Tamiflu-resistant
viruses as mutations and not a reassortment or combination with
other influenza strains.
So far all discovered Tamiflu-resistant viruses have been sensitive
to treatment with the other anti-viral recommended by the WHO, the
inhaled drug Relenza made by GlaxoSmithKline under license from
Biota, according to Fukuda.
Relenza is known generically as zanamivir.
The WHO, a Geneva-based United Nations agency, raised its global
flu alert to the highest level on June 11, declaring the first influenza
pandemic since 1968 was underway.
While the H1N1 virus has caused mild flu symptoms in most people,
440 people have died from it and health experts are keeping close
watch in case it changes into a more serious form and stops being
treatable with existing drugs.
WHO Director-General Margaret Chan has said that patients with
mild symptoms may not need any medicines to recover, and that hospital
visits are not necessary unless those infected with flu have certain
warning signs.
These include long-lasting high fever in adults and a lack of alertness
in children. Pregnant women and people with health problems including
diabetes have also been identified as vulnerable to more severe
effects from the new flu strain.
Last month, Chan also said that the H1N1 virus was stable and there
were no signs yet it had mixed with other influenza viruses such
as the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain.
Signs of mutations in the H1N1 virus are also critically important
to vaccine makers who are trying to develop formulas to match the
strain that is now spreading around the world, most commonly known
as swine flu.
Leading flu vaccine makers include Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis, Baxter,
GlaxoSmithKline and Solvay.
(Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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