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Bird flu resistant to anti-viral drug

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Thursday, December 22, 2005

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In an article in the December 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), researchers from Oxford University report that two recent avian flu fatalities in Vietnam were patients who had been treated with the anti-viral medication Tamiflu. There has been one other reported case of Tamiflu-resistance in Vietnam.

The NEJM report documents that during treatment of H5N1-infected patients with Tamiflu there can be selection for mutant virus variants that are Tamiflu-resistant. This is also been observed with other more common flu virus types. The chances of Tamiflu-resistance arising during H5N1 infections might be enhanced by two properties of H5N1; its ability to replicate rapidly and its ability to infect the gastrointestinal tract. In such cases, higher doses of Tamiflu and longer course of treatment may be needed. Combination treatment with other anti-viral drugs is a common strategy for dealing with viruses that become drug resistant.

Sources

  • Bird flu virus 'resisting drug' — BBC News Online, December 21, 2005
  • Lawrence K. Altman. 2 Who Died From Avian Flu in Vietnam Were Resistant to an Antiviral Drug — NY Times, December 22, 2005
  • Menno D. de Jong, M.D., Ph.D, et.al.. Oseltamivir Resistance during Treatment of Influenza A (H5N1) Infection — The New England Journal of Medicine, December 22, 2005


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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
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