Swine Flu Watch: First Tamiflu-resistant case; Advising against swine flu parties
>>Drug-resistant swine flu seen in Danish patient
For the first time, a case of swine flu has proven resistant to Tamiflu — the leading pharmaceutical weapon against the new virus, international health officials said Monday.
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It appears the strain developed in a patient who was taking the drug to prevent illness, and it has not spread to others. That’s a much better scenario than if the patient had not been taking Tamiflu and picked up a drug-resistant strain already spreading through the public, said Bridges, associate director for science in the CDC’s influenza division.
Full Article: here.
>>Mexican swine flu victims were young, some healthy
Swine flu patients in Mexico were young and many were healthy before developing severe infections, doctors reported on Monday.
The first detailed studies of the outbreak of a new strain of H1N1 influenza show the epidemic in Mexico resembled the early stages of other pandemics, and showed there is no way yet to predict who will become severely ill from the virus.
Full Article: here.
>>Swine flu parties ‘a bad idea’
Throwing “swine flu parties” in an attempt to get immunity against the virus while it is a fairly mild form is not a good idea, doctors say.
Reports have emerged of people intentionally mixing with friends who have flu.
Their reasoning is that it is best to be infected before the winter when the virus could become more deadly.
But public health expert Dr Richard Jarvis said such behaviour could undermine the fight against swine flu.
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But he added that if people actively sought to get flu, health services may not be able to act in the same way as they are doing now.
The approach to date – although it is changing in the areas such as Birmingham and London which have the largest outbreaks – has been based on containment.
Full Article: here.
Tags: h1n1, news round-up, swine flu
June 30th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
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