Originally published February 2 2006
Doctor responds to initial reports about Tamiflu-resistant strain of bird flu
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
ABC News features comments from Dr. Anne Moscona, who wrote an editorial commenting on a study of bird flu that has found strains resistant to Tamiflu.
It details the cases of two Vietnamese patients who both died from a form of avian flu that was apparently resistant to Tamiflu, casting some doubt over the potential effectiveness of the drug.
The deaths mean that public-health experts and individuals should consider broader strategies to combat the spread of avian flu, wrote Dr. Anne Moscona in an accompanying editorial.
"Improper use of personal stockpiles of oseltamivir [the medical name for Tamiflu] may promote resistance, thereby lessening the usefulness of our frontline defense against influenza, and should be strongly discouraged," wrote Moscona, a medical professor at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York who specializes in pediatrics, microbiology and immunology.
Tamiflu, which inhibits an enzyme necessary for the flu virus to spread internally, has been in such high demand here that its manufacturer, Roche, stopped shipping it to the United States in late October.
Another editorial in the same issue of the Journal urges family doctors not to write Tamiflu prescriptions for patients who demand it for the sole purpose of staving off avian flu.
Dr. David Reddy, influenza pandemic task force leader for Roche, said the case reports confirmed that Tamiflu is effective against the virus, because four of the eight treated patients experienced a drop in their viral levels in response to Tamiflu, and they survived.
Reddy also stressed the need for more study.
So far, 30 out of 138 avian flu patients are known to have been treated with Tamiflu, so doctors do not yet know the ideal dose and length of treatment.
A joint study by the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization is planned for early 2006 to investigate whether doubling the dose of Tamiflu and lengthening the course of treatment would increase survival rates.
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