Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 superbug found

What will be coming next? Seems like an endless stream of 'invincible' bugs is up against the human race...
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Doctors discover Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 superbug

SINGAPORE: A team of Singapore doctors has found a mutant H1N1 virus resistant to Tamiflu - the antiviral drug used to treat it.

The superbug was detected in a sample from a previously healthy 28-year-old female patient, at Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

The mutant strain developed within two days of exposure to the drug. Doctors said less than one per cent of flu is currently resistant.

But they added clinicians should consider resistance when patients who are seriously ill with flu fail to respond to treatment for H1N1.

That's because the strain can evolve almost overnight.

Researchers noted that anti-viral drugs should be given only when necessary as they have limited benefit in mild infections.

Tan Tock Seng Hospital senior consultant in laboratory medicine Timothy Barkham said: "As with all antimicrobial medicines, we should not give patients anti-viral drugs unless it is really necessary, in order to preserve them for patients who really need them".

He noted that antivirals are likely to be most effective in severe flu but are of limited benefit in mild infections.

The research was supported by three A*A*STAR institutes: the Experimental Therapeutics Centre (ETC), the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), and the Bioinformatics Institute (BII).

ETC developed the method used to chart the evolution of drug resistance in the influenza virus, while GIS provided the technology to sequence the viral genome and BII compared the mutant to previous resistant strains to confirm its novelty.

-CNA/wk


From ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:Doctors discover Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 superbug
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Take good care of your eyes...

With the advancement in science and technology, and the breakthroughs in medicine and in related fields, we still wonder, why are there so many sicknesses and illnesses that don't have cure, some ancient, and some, just discovered too?

It's the paradox of our times.

Read on...

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When eye drops won't help
By Tan Hui Leng, TODAY

SINGAPORE: You may suffer from inflamed, irritated eyes and be prescribed eye drops to sooth your woes. Such a condition used to be diagnosed as iritis. And while some are acute, erupting suddenly, many patients would have chronic inflammation of the eye for years.

A Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) study has discovered that a common virus may be causing the condition.

The centre's head of Ocular Inflammation and Immunology Service, Associate Professor Chee Soon Phaik, found that 41.7 per cent of patients who suffer from iritis are infected with the cytomegalovirus, which — up till recently — had been associated with HIV-patients who are prone to retinal infections.

"We used to just see infections in the retina until we saw a chronic infection in the cornea," said Assoc Prof Chee.

Many such patients also have iritis. But it was only in 2003 when the first iritis patient tested positive for cytomegalovirus that a worrying trend started to emerge.

Since then, Assoc Prof Chee has seen 70 cases of iritis patients testing positive for cytomegalovirus. Of these, 40 per cent — who are usually in their 20s and 30s — have acute iritis, which may develop into glaucoma. The rest — typically males over 57 years old — have chronic iritis.

While not debilitating, patients with the infection are normally prescribed steroid eye drops, which have been found to aggravate the situation, requiring a transplant later.

Treatment for ctomegalovirus is expensive, with non-subsidised antiviral drugs costing some S$200 per tablet. In three months, a patient can spend as much as S$11,000.

Still, the rate of relapse is 75 per cent.

SNEC's 70 patients are still undergoing treatment, and the centre is pioneering research on such infections and its treatment.

Currently, there have been a few case studies of cytomegalovirus of the eye worldwide and data suggests that Asians are more prone it. - TODAY/fa

Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com, Health - Sunday, 14-March-2010

When eye drops won't help

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The trouble with Tamiflu

Image via Wikipedia

Not the latest news, but not a week old yet, so it is still timely. For those who haven't read about this news, it is a priceless piece of info, so we don't just administer the medicine to our kids…
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Flu drug 'linked to side effects among children': Reports

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

Recent studies have led to growing concern about Tamiflu's side effects on children.

MORE than half of the children taking Tamiflu to combat H1N1 flu suffer side effects such as nausea, insomnia and nightmares, new research claims.

The anti-viral drug, which is being handed out to hundreds of thousands of Britons, can also produce stomach pains, vomiting and diarrhoea, research suggests.

A study found that almost one in five youngsters experience neuropsychiatric side effects, such as poor concentration, confusion, and sleeping problems.

Thousands of schoolchildren were given the drug as a preventive measure during the early stages of the H1N1 flu pandemic in Britain.

The findings are likely to lead to concern among parents that their children's performance at school has been jeopardised by taking the drug.

Only people with suspected or confirmed H1N1 flu are now being prescribed Tamiflu.

Two studies from experts at the Health Protection Agency (HPA) showed a "high proportion" of British schoolchildren reporting problems after taking Tamiflu.

Data was gathered from children at three schools in London and one in south-west England who were given Tamiflu earlier this year after classmates became infected.

One study, of 248 children aged 11 and 12 at a school in south-west England, which was closed after a pupil contracted the virus, found that more than half suffered side effects from taking Tamiflu.

The researchers said "likely side-effects were common" and the "burden of side effects needs to be considered" when deciding on giving Tamiflu to children prophylactically.

Another study of 103 schoolchildren found that 45 suffered side effects such as nausea, stomach pain, problems sleeping, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Almost one in five (18 per cent) reported a neuropsychiatric side effect, such as poor concentration, inability to think clearly, problems sleeping, feeling dazed or confused and nightmares.

The report concluded: "This may be of particular concern to exam-year students (and their parents)."

The studies were carried out in the early stages of the pandemic, when everyone sharing a classroom with a child who had developed the H1N1 flu was given the drug, even if they did not show any symptoms.

The findings were disclosed as it emerged that the Japanese authorities are advising doctors not to prescribe Tamiflu to youngsters between the ages of 10 and 19 over fears of neuropsychiatric side effects.

A statement from Roche, which manufactures Tamiflu, said the contribution of Tamiflu to neuropsychiatric effects "has not been established".

A spokeswoman for Britain's Department of Health said: "As is the case with many medicines, nausea is a known side effect of Tamiflu, in a small number of cases.

"Symptoms may lessen over the course of the treatment, and it may help to take Tamiflu either with or immediately after food, and drinking some of water may also lessen any feeling of nausea."

From TODAY, News – Weekend, 01-Aug-2009

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New Zealand reports 15 new cases of swine flu

Image via Wikipedia

06/15/2009 04:35 PM

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand reported 15 new cases of swine flu Monday, bringing the South Pacific island nation's total to 86.

For the first time, swine flu has been recorded in patients who had not traveled abroad or been in contact with someone who had, according to Health Minister Tony Ryall.

Containment measures taken to date had been successful in delaying the wider spread of the infection, he said, warning the case tally would rise further — after it spiked by 52 in the past three days.

Health officials were "working assiduously" to try to prevent the peak of the annual winter flu epidemic from coinciding with the peak in swine flu infections, he told reporters.

New Zealand authorities would continue to try to contain the "very contagious" outbreak, Ryall said.

Patients — and those in close contact with them — were being treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

The World Health Organization said 74 countries had reported nearly 30,000 cases of swine flu, including 145 deaths, as of June 12. – AP

From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.

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New Zealand records 14th swine flu case

06/07/2009 | 05:01 PM

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand confirmed its 14th case of swine flu Sunday. All of the country's cases so far have been contracted overseas.

The new case was a 46-year-old man who flew from North America a week ago and became ill two days later. He was placed in isolation and treated with the antiviral drug Tamiflu, said deputy director of public health, Dr. Fran McGrath.

New Zealand, the first Asia-Pacific nation with confirmed swine flu infections, so far has prevented the illness from spreading domestically.

"Our priority is to limit the spread of the virus by identifying people who are sick at the border and treating them," McGrath said in a statement.

Medical teams posted at international airports assess travelers, and isolation has been imposed on all those suspected of having swine flu.

McGrath has warned that the sudden rise of swine flu in neighboring Australia – which has reported over 1,000 cases – would make it hard to keep swine flu from spreading in New Zealand.

The World Health Organization says 69 countries have reported nearly 22,000 cases of swine flu, including at least 126 deaths. - AP


From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.

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