Swine Flu Evolves Into New Drug-Resistant Strain, Patient Recovers

By: Admin on 2009-06-30
Yahoo! News

As if  Swine flu, most commonly known as the H1N1 virus wasn’t creating enough trouble and scare for us all. Now, a new drug resistant strain has been discovered of this dangerously life-threatening virus. The new strain is completely invulnerable to the only known drug that can counter swine flu, Tamiflu. This new swine flu variant was observed in a Danish patient, who has now recovered.

Experts believe that, this new strain was created inside the patient himself, as he was previously taking Tamiflu dosages to prevent contracting swine flu. However, according to the U.S Center for Disease Control, this new strain has so far been found in only one patient. As the Danish citizen is now fully recovered, therefore, the chances of spreading of this new variant are virtually nil. CDC’s Bridges expressed his relief upon the recovery of the Danish patient, stating that, in case he had not taken Tamiflu in advance, it would have been a completely different scenario. If the patient had been infected by the new drug resistant strain, that could have been in circulation among the populace, then it would have created a very serious situation.

Since the onset of the swine flu, scientists have been immensely worried that the swine flu virus might fuse itself with variants of common seasonal flu and might mutate into an all new drug-resistant strain, that would be extremely hard to treat. However, a Switzerland based pharmaceutical firm has assured that, the newly discovered strain isn’t mutated in any form.

As of now the only known vaccines for the treatment of swine flu are Tamiflu and Relenza. The swine flu has so far claimed over 127 lives, with more than 3.000 patients in the hospitals and in the United States alone, the reported cases have risen to 28,000.

According to Terry Hurley (Spokesperson, Roche),

“It is possible to see occasional reports of resistance while a drug remains largely effective.”

As the Danish incident is an isolated case, therefore, CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) are still recommending Tamiflu and Relenza as the most effective treatment for swine flu.