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Cases of Tamiflu-Resistant Flu Concern Experts
Posted 28 Dec 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 28 – World Health Organization researchers are reporting an apparent spike in Australia in the number of seasonal influenza cases resistant to Tamiflu, the most commonly used antiviral drug. The jump in such cases involving the pandemic 2009 A(H1N1) flu strain, also known as swine flu, took place during Australia's most recent winter: May through August of 2011. "In 2007/2008, a different A(H1N1) influenza virus developed Tamiflu-resistance," explained WHO research scientist Aeron C. Hurt, who reported the spike. "On that occasion, it was first detected in large numbers in Europe. However, within 12 months the virus had spread globally, such that virtually every A(H1N1) virus around the world was resistant to this drug," he explained. "This previous situation demonstrated the speed and potential for a Tamiflu-resistant virus to spread worldwide," Hurt added. "Our ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamiflu, Swine Influenza, Oseltamivir
Chinese Herbs Equal to Tamiflu in Reducing H1N1 Fever: Study
Posted 15 Aug 2011 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Aug. 15 – A traditional Chinese herbal treatment may reduce fever from H1N1 ("swine flu") influenza just as well as the prescription medication Tamiflu, a new study suggests. "For thousands of years, Chinese herbs have been used to treat influenza," study co-authors Dr. Chen Wang and Dr. Bin Cao, of Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University, in China, said in an email. "The pandemic influenza 2009 gave us the opportunity to evaluate a standard Chinese herb formula" designed to target the flu, they added. Cao and Wang, who specialize in infectious diseases and clinical microbiology, said the herbal recipe – known as maxingshigan-yinqiaosan (M-Y) – is easily accessible throughout China and much less expensive than Tamiflu (oseltamivir). However, finding the medicine in the United States is difficult, if not impossible, given that it contains the stimulant ephedra. ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamiflu, Swine Influenza
FDA Medwatch Alert: Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) for Oral Suspension: Label Change-New Concentration (6 mg/mL)
Posted 11 Jul 2011 by Drugs.com
Patients may potentially receive either concentration (6 mg/mL or 12 mg/mL) from their pharmacy during the next influenza season (2011-2012). ISSUE: Labeling changes are being made to Tamiflu oral suspension to reduce the possibility of prescribing and dosing confusion that can lead to medication errors. The changes to the product label include: A change in the concentration of Tamiflu from 12 mg/mL to 6 mg/mL. The lower concentration of Tamiflu is less likely to become frothy when shaken, which helps to ensure an accurate measurement. A change in the measurements of the oral dosing device from milligrams (mg = weight) to milliliters (mL = volume). A change in the dosing table for Tamiflu to include a column for the volume (mL) based on the new 6 mg/mL concentration. Revised container labels and carton packaging. Revised compounding instructions for pharmacies to prepare a 6 mg/mL ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamiflu
Tamiflu May Thwart Pneumonia in 'Swine Flu' Patients: Study
Posted 29 Sep 2010 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Sept. 28 – When taken shortly after the onset of symptoms, the antiviral drug Tamiflu seems to have protected otherwise healthy swine flu patients from contracting pneumonia during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, Chinese researchers say. Tamiflu may also have shortened the period that patients were contagious and reduced the duration of their fevers, the research team said. However, reporting in the Sept. 29 issue of bmj.com, the study authors stressed that their findings should be interpreted with caution given that the conclusions are based on an after-the-fact analysis and on a pool of patients not uniformly given chest X-rays at the time of illness. The study team, led by Dr. Weizhong Yang and Dr. Hongjie Yu from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing, note that in 2009 the fast-spreading influenza A (H1N1) virus killed more than 18,000 people in over 200 ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamiflu, Swine Influenza
Early Tamiflu Might Benefit Transplant Patients With H1N1 Flu
Posted 9 Jul 2010 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, July 8 – Early treatment with antiviral drugs appears to help prevent serious illness and death in organ transplant patients with H1N1 swine flu, researchers say. Because they take immune system-suppressing drugs in order to prevent rejection of their new organs, transplant recipients may be at increased risk for flu virus infection and related complications, the authors of the new study explained in a news release about the study, which was published online July 8 in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The study included 237 transplant recipients (154 adults, 83 children) in Canada, Europe and the United States who were infected with the pandemic H1N1 influenza strain A between April and December 2009. The patients had received their transplants a median of 3.6 years before being infected with H1N1 swine flu. The researchers said that 167 patients (71 percent) were admitted to ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamiflu, Swine Influenza
FDA Warns About Fraudulent Tamiflu
Posted 18 Jun 2010 by Drugs.com
Fraudulent product is dangerous to patients allergic to penicillin ROCKVILLE, Md., June 17, 2010--The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today warned consumers about a potentially harmful product represented as “Generic Tamiflu” sold over the Internet. FDA tests revealed that the fraudulent product does not contain Tamiflu’s active ingredient, oseltamivir, but cloxacillin, an ingredient in the same class of antibiotics as penicillin. The agency reminds patients who are allergic to or may have experienced adverse reactions from penicillin products that they are at risk of experiencing similar reactions from cloxacillin. This includes a sudden, potentially life-threatening reaction called anaphylaxis, with symptoms that include difficulty breathing, chest tightness, swelling of the throat or tongue, hives, dizziness, loss of consciousness, or a rapid or weak pulse. To date, the FDA is not a ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamiflu, Oseltamivir
Taking Flu Drugs While Pregnant Appears to Be Safe: Study
Posted 1 May 2010 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, April 30 – The influenza drugs Tamiflu, Relenza and Flumadine appear to be safe for pregnant women and their babies, U.S. researchers say. The investigators analyzed the medical records of 239 pregnant women who had been diagnosed with the flu and were treated with one of the three drugs. Among these patients, rates of preterm birth, gestational diabetes, premature membrane rupture, fever during labor or prolonged hospital stay were no different than those of pregnant women without the flu. There was also no difference between the two groups for rates of preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy-related condition marked by the sudden onset of high blood pressure, leakage of the protein albumin into the urine, and swelling of the hands, feet and face. In addition, the women's babies had no significant differences in birth weight, need for intensive care, seizures, jaundice, stillbirths ... Read more
Preventive Steps Helped Summer Campers Avoid Swine Flu
Posted 1 Feb 2010 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, Feb. 1 – An Alabama summer camp managed to contain the spread of swine flu by giving preventive Tamiflu to kids at risk and encouraging the use of sanitizers for hands and surfaces, a new report says. Children are especially vulnerable to swine flu, also known as H1N1. The disease struck three boys who attended a two-week boys' camp in July 2009. They were given medication and sent home, according to the report. For 10 days, campers and counselors who lived in adjoining cabins took a drug called oseltamivir (Tamiflu) with an eye toward preventing infection. "Alcohol-based hand sanitizer was provided at each of the daily activities, in the boys' cabins and in the dining hall, and counselors were educated by the medical staff on the spread of influenza and its prevention through good hand hygiene," the authors wrote. "All cabins, bathrooms and community sports equipment were ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamiflu, Swine Influenza
Review Questions Tamiflu's Effectiveness
Posted 9 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Dec. 8 – No evidence exists that the widely used influenza drug Tamiflu prevents pneumonia or other complications in otherwise healthy patients who come down with the flu, a new review contends. Claims about the effectiveness of the antiviral drug against flu-related complications have influenced governments worldwide to stockpile Tamiflu (oseltamivir) as part of their preparations for a global pandemic, the review authors said. "Governments around the world have spent billions of [dollars] on a drug that the scientific community now finds itself unable to judge," said Dr. Fiona Godlee, editor-in-chief of the British Medical Journal, which published the article online Wednesday. The review was done by BMJ and Channel 4 News in Great Britain. The authors of the new review, which updates a review published in 2006, analyzed 20 published clinical trials of Tamiflu that examined ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamiflu
Tamiflu-resistant Swine Flu Cluster Reported in US
Posted 1 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com
From Associated Press (November 20, 2009) ATLANTA_Four North Carolina patients at a single hospital tested positive for a type of swine flu that is resistant to the medication 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. Tamiflu _ made by Switzerland's Roche Group _ is one of two flu medicines that help against swine flu, and health officials have been closely watching for signs that the virus is mutating, making the drugs ineffective. More than 50 resistant cases have been reported in the world since April, including 21 in the U.S. Almost all in the U.S. were isolated, said officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The BBC reported another cluster of five Tamiflu-resistant cases this week in Wales, in the United Kingdom. The CDC has sent ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamiflu, Swine Influenza
Experts Keep Wary Eye on Tamiflu-Resistant Swine Flu
Posted 8 Jul 2009 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, July 8 – Health experts say they can't predict at this point how widely a new strain of swine flu resistant to the drug Tamiflu will spread, or how dangerous it might become. "This is not unexpected, but it's very unpredictable whether this will end up spreading," said Dr. John J. Treanor, professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. "There is certainly a potential for the novel H1 viruses to develop resistance to oseltamivir [Tamiflu] and for those resistant viruses to become widespread," he added. "Everyone recognizes that. That is the Achilles' heel of antiviral therapy and it's completely possible that we will see this with the novel H1N1." "This is expected to a certain extent," agreed Dr. Manjusha Gaglani, associate professor of pediatrics at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and a ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamiflu
Pregnant Women Should Take Flu Drugs Promptly
Posted 13 May 2009 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, May 13 – U.S. health officials said Tuesday that they're seeing some complications among pregnant women as the swine flu continues to spread across the country, and that this high-risk group needs to take antivirals as soon as infection is suspected. "Pregnant women are at higher risk of complications of influenza, whether it's the seasonal influenza or pandemics of the past. We are also seeing some severe complications in women with this year's novel H1N1 virus," Dr. Anne Schuchat, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's interim deputy director for science and public health program, said during an afternoon teleconference. The CDC is investigating 20 cases of pregnant women with the swine flu, several of whom experienced complications, Schuchat said. Complications can include pneumonia, dehydration and premature birth. "It is very important that doctors who ... Read more
Related support groups: Influenza, Tamiflu, Influenza A, Relenza
Concerted Effort Needed to Fight Drug-Resistant Flu Strain
Posted 3 Mar 2009 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, March 3 – The global medical community needs to find new solutions to combat the growing resistance to a major flu-fighting drug, an infectious disease expert warns. "The startling news about oseltamivir [Tamiflu] resistance should unite the global medical and scientific communities in an effort to cope with this rapidly evolving pathogen," wrote Dr. Anne Moscona, author of a perspective piece in the March 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, and a professor of pediatrics and microbiology and immunology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City. "For years, we have seen warning signals that highly oseltamivir-resistant influenza viruses could emerge and spread, disabling our defenses against this pathogen. Now the alarm has been sounded, and it is time to act," she added. The good news is that there are other drugs that work against the flu ... Read more
Resistance to Tamiflu Growing
Posted 2 Mar 2009 by Drugs.com
MONDAY, March 2 – A troubling increase in resistance to the antiviral drug Tamiflu is linked mostly to influenza A strains that are circulating this season, a new government report shows. Almost 100 percent of the influenza A (H1N1) strain is now resistant to the drug, up from 12 percent during last year's flu season, said report author Dr. Alicia Fry, a medical epidemiologist with the influenza division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last year was the first time Tamiflu resistance was seen anywhere in the world; H1N1 is the most common type of flu circulating in the United States. "This makes using antiviral drugs very tricky for flu," said Dr. John Treanor, director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Rochester Medical Center. "It is more complicated." But, always, Fry emphasized, "Our message is to get vaccinated with the influenza ... Read more
Related support groups: Tamiflu
Common Flu Strain Resistant to Popular Antiviral Drug
Posted 8 Jan 2009 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, Jan. 8 – The most common strain of flu this season is resistant to the popular antiviral drug Tamiflu, but government health officials said Thursday there is no reason to panic. The fact that the flu season so far has been slow, and that other drugs work well against this particular flu virus, has health officials adopting a watchful attitude for now. While the cause of the mutation that made the virus resistant to Tamiflu (oseltamivir) isn't known, experts suspect it was caused by the wide use of Tamiflu in other countries to treat upper respiratory infections. There were reports last year from Europe and other countries that a certain type of flu – H1N1 – was resistant to oseltamivir, according to Dr. Joseph Bresee, chief of flu prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This year, the CDC was on the lookout for flu resistance to Tamiflu in the ... Read more
Related support groups: Influenza, Tamiflu, Influenza Prophylaxis
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Influenza, Swine Influenza, Influenza Prophylaxis, Avian Influenza