No Defense Against Flu Pandemic?

[yuuteya]

Flu virus resistant to Tamiflu in Vietnam found

An international group of scientists says it has found that a Vietnamese patient had died of bird flu after developing a virus that is resistant to the anti-viral medicine Tamiflu.

The group, including British and Vietnamese experts, says that after giving Tamiflu to eight Vietnamese patients infected with bird flu, a virus resistant to the medicine was detected in two of them.

The scientists say one of the two has died due to an increase in the Tamiflu-resistant virus in the body. The patient received sufficient doses of the drug from an early stage of the illness.

Tamiflu is being stockpiled around the world, to prepare for a possible pandemic if the bird flu virus H5N1 mutates to a strain that can transmit from human to human.

Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Tokyo's Institute of Medical Science says that efforts to stockpile Tamiflu should be continued.

The medicine is considered to be effective even if a virus capable of human-to-human transmissions emerges. But, he says, further studies should be made on Tamiflu-resistant virus strains, and the possibility of using drugs other than Tamiflu considered.

Doctor Hitoshi Oshitani of the World Health Organization says the resistant virus has been considered incapable of multiplying easily within the body. He says, however, that since a person died of such causes, treatment of bird flu infections has become more difficult than ever.

He says scientists should review the proper doses of Tamiflu and how long it should be administered in order to prevent the resistant-virus from spreading.

(Dec.22/NHK)

[AliBabaIncorporated]

I bet everyone in HK who illegally stockpiled Tamiflu by loading up on it at independent pharmacies is really pissed off now ... to which I say, you get what you deserve, assholes.

[yuuteya]

Originally Posted by AliBabaIncorporated

I bet everyone in HK who illegally stockpiled Tamiflu by loading up on it at independent pharmacies is really pissed off now ... to which I say, you get what you deserve, assholes.

interesting, was that alot of people who did that? or just a few?