Treatment Resistant Swine Flu ID’ed in U.S.
Drug resistance strikes again. U.S. health officials have detected Tamiflu-resistant cases of H1N1 along the U.S.-Mexico border. According to this AFP article, experts gathered in La Jolla, CA, at the Pan-American Health Organization office and warned that resistant strains were developing due to overuse of antivirals.
Healthcare providers of all walks are familiar with drug resistance, particularly antibiotic resistance in superbugs like Staphylococcus aureus, enterovirus and Clostridium difficile. The challenges these resistant bacteria and viruses have presented makes the knowledge that Tamiflu is being overused in H1N1 treatment all the more troubling.
Uncertainty remains regarding more severe outbreaks when the weather cools in a few months and we enter “traditional” influenza season. Let’s hope that practitioners exercise care in prescribing Tamiflu to avoid contributing to antiviral resistance, or we could be in for a troubling winter.