Cat Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 Egypt on high alert as bird flu virus becomes more resistant Jan 22 8:02 AM US/Eastern Egypt is on high alert after the H5N1 strain of the avian flu became more resistant to the Tamiflu antiviral drug predominantly used to combat the disease, the health minister has been quoted as saying. "The health ministry remains in a state of maximum alert and is reviewing its strategy in combating avian flu following the mutation of the H5N1 virus," Hatem al-Gabali told the top-selling state-owned Al-Ahram daily Monday. The World Health Organisation announced last week that a mutated strain of the virus with "reduced susceptibility" to Tamiflu had been discovered in two people infected with bird flu in northern Egypt. The two Egyptians were from the same household and died in late December. A total of 11 people have died of the highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza since the virus was first detected in Egypt almost a year ago, making it the world's worst hit non-Asian country. The Egyptian government has launched a broad awareness campaign in a bid to curb the occurrence of infections caused by domestic poultry rearings. But in recent weeks, none of the infected humans have survived despite being treated with Tamiflu, while the mortality rate hovered around 50 percent in the first half of 2006. The virus detected in the two patients in Egypt was resistant to Tamiflu but susceptible to other antiviral drugs, in a development which could prompt health services to treat patients with a cocktail of drugs. "The resort to Tamiflu continues, but additional medication now has to be given to complement the treatment," health ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shaheen told AFP. "These drugs are part of the Amantadine antivirals and are available commercially under various names," he explained. Tamiflu-resistant strains of the avian influenza virus were found in three unrelated patients in Vietnam in 2005 but did not spread. Health organisations fear the virus could mutate into a strain transmissible from humans to humans, prompting a pandemic. Egypt flu link Link to comment
Cat Posted March 29, 2007 Author Share Posted March 29, 2007 I've heard of 2 cases in Japan. Now there are more... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thursday, 29 Mar 2007 Kiwi girl hallucinates after taking Tamiflu A nine-year-old Kiwi girl suffered terrifying hallucinations after being given Tamiflu by a Tokyo hospital. New Zealand drug-safety agency MedSafe is investigating the safety of the bird-flu medicine after reports in Japan of over 20 youths aged 10 to 19 dying after becoming irrational when they used the drug. New Zealand has a stockpile of more than 1.5 million doses of Tamiflu, to be used if bird flu breaks out. Terrie Lloyd, chief executive of Japan Inc, said his nine-year-old daughter, Eva, suffered terrifying hallucinations last week after being given Tamiflu by a Tokyo hospital to treat her type B influenza. He mentioned concerns about effects of the drug, but was told by the nurse the alternative had sold out. "Type B influenza (is) a nasty variety that if untreated can progress to something worse quite quickly in children. "So it was either (Tamiflu) or a high fever and a very distressed child. We opted for the Tamiflu," he said. "Returning home, we gave our daughter the prescribed dose and she slept well. The next morning, while at work, I got an urgent call from my wife. She'd left our now much better and re-medicated daughter watching TV while taking the youngest to her yochien (kindergarten). "On returning 20 minutes later, she was shocked to find our daughter walking around the apartment in tears, crying that she was scared of all the people running through the apartment. "She'd been looking for a way to escape 'them'. Of course, the apartment was empty and she was hallucinating." Lloyd said he had taken Tamiflu the previous winter and found it to be "really, really potent", eliminating his flu symptoms within a few hours. A month ago, the Japanese Health Ministry ordered doctors not to dispense Tamiflu to those aged between 10 and 19. For younger children, it was deemed the risk posed by the flu was worse than the potential side effects. "Our daughter is nine and thus was under the radar. We think she is as equally capable of jumping off the front balcony of our apartment as any 10-year-old," Lloyd said. "The Health Ministry had better wake up real soon." In New Zealand, Medsafe interim manager Dr Stewart Jessamine said the problems highlighted in Japan could be due to fear associated with the flu rather than a side effect of the drug. Influenza expert Dr Lance Jennings said no causal link had been found between Tamiflu and neuro-psychiatric events. Lloyd said he suspected that view was based on research by Yokohama City University, which has been criticised for not looking at initial hallucinatory effects and other reasons. The concerns have led the Japanese Government to order a second study. http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/timaruherald/4007672a11.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It appears that if you think of giving Tamiflu to your children, you'd better be *very* careful to watch them CLOSELY! Link to comment
Jewlzm Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 guess I should be thinking twice about stocking tamiflu Link to comment
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