Cases of Tamiflu resistance at the US-Mexico border
NOUVELOBS.COM | 04.08.2009 | 09: 48
Several patients have been shown to be resistant to the antiviral near the border. "It is not a surprise, there is nothing to worry about," says the Roche laboratory, which estimates the resistance rate at 0,5%.
Resistance to Tamiflu, the main antiviral used against influenza A (H1N1), has been observed near the border between the United States and Mexico, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Monday (August 3). “We have found cases of Tamiflu resistance at the border. We have observed a few cases, few of which we are sure, in El Paso and near McAllen, Texas,” said Dr. Maria Teresa Cerqueira, local office manager. of PAHO, during a conference on influenza A. The people concerned regularly cross the border and self-medicate, reports the doctor.
"Isolated" cases
"In the United States, Tamiflu can be obtained by prescription but it is over the counter in Mexico and Canada and taken with the first sneeze. And when it is really useful, it does not work anymore", noted Maria Teresa Cerqueira. She explained that a patient with a strain of the A (H1N1) virus resistant to Tamiflu was positively treated with Zanamivir, another antiviral, and another patient received no further treatment. These two patients survived, she said.
In July, a case of Tamiflu resistance had already been reported in Canada. This was the first case in North America, according to Dr. Guy Boivin, of the Laval University Hospital Center (CHUL) in Quebec City, who had discovered this resistant strain. Cases of antiviral resistance have also been observed in Denmark, Japan and Hong Kong.
The World Health Organization (WHO), however, considered these cases to be "isolated" and that it maintains its recommendation for Tamiflu and Relenza.
"There is nothing to worry about now"
Roche, a Tamiflu vendor, had indicated that it expected 0,5% resistance to its antiviral based on clinical trial results.
“This is no surprise,” says Roche's pharmaceutical division director William Burns: “In the case of seasonal flu, about 0,4% of organisms can be resistant. nothing to worry about at the moment ". "We are not seeing an increase in these cases of resistance," adds Roche CEO Severin Schwan.
"It is not excluded that in a community where people are treated with Tamiflu, there are a few cases of viruses which develop resistance and which spread", specifies Dr Thierry Buclin, assistant doctor in the service. clinical pharmacology and toxicology, at the Lausanne University Hospital. "The real question is rather: who should take Tamiflu?", Notes Dr Buclin. "What do you gain by treating Tamiflu, if you can treat yourself with paracetamol?", He asserts.
(Nouvelobs.com with AFP)
obs news source
