WHO says clusters of drug resistant H1N1 unlikely to signal change in virus
By Helen Branswell Medical Reporter (CP) – 4 days ago
Two clusters of Tamiflu resistance in H1N1 patients probably don’t signal a change in the virus’s susceptibility to this key drug, the World Health Organization’s top flu expert said Thursday.
Dr. Keiji Fukuda said more investigation is needed of the clusters, discovered recently in hospitals in Wales and in North Carolina.
But the cases are in severely immunocompromised patients, a population known to be at risk of developing drug resistance if they are given antivirals or antibiotics for illnesses they cannot shake. A number of isolated cases of Tamiflu resistance have been seen so far in immunocompromised people.
As long as there is no sign the viruses are moving from these patients to infect people with healthy immune systems, there’s no reason to think there’s been a change in the virus, Fukuda suggested.
“What it points out is there needs to be a lot of vigilance taken with those groups of patients, but it probably does not have big implications for the overall pattern of spread or the overall patterns of illness in the general community,” he said from Geneva during the WHO’s weekly briefing on the H1N1 pandemic.
Evidence is mounting from clinicians around the world that the antivirals to which the pandemic viruses are susceptible are an effective tool if used properly, he said.
