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North Carolina Reports Cluster Of Tamiflu Resistant Virus

 

 

# 4056

 

 

From Mike Stobbe, medical writer for the AP, we get this news report about 4 people in North Carolina who have tested positive for a Tamiflu resistant strain of the H1N1 virus.

 

First the story  and then a few comments about reports of mutations and such.  

 

I’ve just printed a small excerpt, follow the link to read the full story.

 

 

Associated Press

Tamiflu-resistant swine flu cluster reported in NC

By MIKE STOBBE , 11.20.09, 03:43 PM EST

ATLANTA -- Four North Carolina patients at a single hospital tested positive for a type of swine flu that is resistant to Tamiflu, health officials said Friday. The cases reported at Duke University Medical Center over six weeks make up the biggest cluster seen so far in the U.S.

 

<SNIP>

 

The CDC has sent three disease investigators to North Carolina to help in the investigation there, said Dave Daigle, a CDC spokesman. CDC testing confirmed the Tamiflu-resistant cases.

 

All four cases at the hospital were very ill patients in an isolated cancer unit on the hospital's ninth floor, and it is believed they all caught the flu while at the hospital, said Dr. Daniel Sexton, professor of medicine and director of the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network.

(Continue . . . )

 

 

Today we’ve had a flurry of reports on Tamiflu resistant H1N1 strains and genetic mutations.

 

I’ve no doubt that there will be some websites, blogs, and tabloid news sources that will report these stories in breathless sky-is-falling fashion, looking to eek out the maximum mileage from these reports. 

 

That’s how a large part of the media – new, traditional, or otherwise – functions.  It’s all about driving traffic.

 

But after 4 years of blogging about emerging infectious diseases, I can assure you the sky very rarely really falls. 

 

These stories are, obviously, of scientific importance.   And they deserve to be reported, and discussed.


But right now there is very little evidence that any of these reports are any sort of `game changers’ for this pandemic, or that they currently constitute a broader public health threat.  

 

Could they be?

 

Yes, it’s possible.  And maybe that evidence will come later. But for now, these appear to be relatively isolated incidents.

 

Since seasonal H1N1 picked up nearly universal Tamiflu resistance in just over a year’s time, many scientists are watching reports of resistant samples warily. No one would be terribly surprised to see increasing levels of resistant swine flu viruses being detected.

 

The vast majority of H1N1 cases continue to  respond to the Tamiflu antiviral, and for those few that don’t, Relenza remains effective.

 

As we move deeper into fall and winter, these types of stories are likely to come at us fast and furiously from all different directions.  While some of them may portend important changes in the pandemic, many will not. 

 

Often, the only way you can tell one kind from the other is to give these stories some time to develop.   

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Resistance
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