Swine flu 'shows drug resistance'

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Experts have reported the first case of swine flu that is resistant to tamiflu - the main drug being used to fight the pandemic.

Roche Holding AG confirmed a patient with H1N1 influenza in Denmark showed resistance to the antiviral drug.

David Reddy, company executive, said it was not unexpected given that common seasonal flu could do the same.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8124987.stm

[kestrel91316]

1. No one should be surprised in the least. Especially given the rampant

overuse/misuse of antivirals.

[OhioChick]

3. Exactly. n/t

[4lbs]

5. Bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics for similar reasons.

People coming to the doctor with a viral infection were being given antibiotics to placate them, even though antibiotics are useless against the flu and any other viral infection.

People also stop taking antibiotics for real bacterial infections after they start feeling better in 3 or 4 days, instead of continuing to take them for the full 10 days. That often allows the bacteria to come back in a resistant form. Then they see the doctor again, who has to prescribe a stronger antibiotic, which the idiot patient stops taking again after 4 days.

This vicious cycle results in superbug bacteria resistant to almost all antibiotics.

[kestrel91316]

7. Um, we microbiologists knew ALL ABOUT bacterial resistance to

antibiotics way back in the early seventies. Well, way before that, but the early 70's was when I studied it, and it was seriously old news then. From the 50's.

[OhioChick]

9. You're right...

Blame little Susie & Jimmy's parents for taking them to the doctor for the sniffles.....and for the physicians doing the prescribing.

[4lbs]

14. And the drug companies in general. They've conditioned people to expect a prescription when they

visit the doctor.

So, when a doctor doesn't prescribe something because it's not really necessary, the patient feels cheated.

[pipi_k]

18. And things are only likely to get worse as...

people decide to stop the antibiotics as soon as they feel better hoping to save money by reserving some of those pills in case they come down with the same thing in the future.

Some people stop taking the full dose because they're idiots...some stop because they're too poor to pay for the same Rx if they get sick again. Or if someone in the family comes down with the same thing or something similar...

In the end, it's just all around scary...

:scared:

[Junkdrawer]

2. Evolution still works I see...

Who'd a tunk it? :shrug:

[dipsydoodle]

6. Its a mootator

something to do with a cow and spud. Not sure what - I'm not a scientist.

[Junkdrawer]

12. LOL

:rofl:

[NYC Democrat]

4. Doesn't matter to me I already had the the disease.

[Jeroen]

10. Good for you n/t

[OhioChick]

11. Umm....What about if/when it mutates? n/t

[SkyDaddy7]

16. I know!!

I have seen so many people making fun of the situation or blaming the Obama administration and the world for the alerts issued...This could come back just as the H1N1 virus in 1918 did and stop the laughing and complaining real quick!

I hope like hell it does not! That would be all we need right now!

[MercutioATC]

15. Then you have some limited resistance.

You are NOT immune.

[stray cat]

8. Bad news for those with asthma or other high risk groups - they are especially vulnerable

and have no immunization protection. I think the fatality rate for at risk groups is estimated at 2% which is low unless you have the bad luck to fall in the 2% group - its nothing to laugh at.

[Javaman]

13. Shhhh, donald rumsfeld might be listening. nt

[lefty369]

17. help coming

They should have the vacination ready for us in the fall. Hopefully we will be ok till then.

[pipi_k]

19. Yeah, that's what I've heard, but what if it mutates into something

they didn't expect and the vaccine is useless?


I'm not a microbiologist so I wouldn't know, but it seems to me that nobody can ever know in advance how or to what extent some organism will mutate...

All that work will have been useless....

[TZ]

21. It would have to really mutate far away for the vaccine in production

to not work. Its possible for it to mutate so a vaccine will be less effective.
The only bad thing I heard is that its apparantly now infectious from human to swine...The infection route WAS at first the other way most likely. This does seem to signal a change of the virus.
However the mutation is more likely to occur to make it more virulent..(more dangerous, higher potential for lethality). The vaccine should still be effective then.
Vaccines are engineered to attack the part of the virus least likely to change/mutate.

[northernlights]

23. not exactly

It's more likely that there will be a limited amount of vaccine ready in the fall.

Initial doses will go to first responders.

And I'm faily certain I read just last week that Obama said they'll target schoolchildren first, as well.

[Mojorabbit]

27. Unless you are in a needed profession such as

military, health care, firefighter, etc you can forget about a vaccination till the next wave is over and one with. There will only be limited amts of vaccine at first.

[tiptoe]

29. in the meantime: "H1N1 Flu and Vitamin D" (Boosting innate immunity & other prep) - John Cannell, MD

H1N1 Flu and Vitamin D - x   John Cannell, MD

 

[northernlights]

20. agribiz/factory farms have been a *major* factor in antibiotic resistance

As I recall, the single biggest overuser/abuser of antibiotics.

Also, all this stuff ultimately ends up in the environment, so has the potential to impact various plants'native ability to protect themselves, as well as the rest of us.

[TZ]

22. Actually the over use of anti bacterials by people

is a MUCH bigger problem than the use of animal antibiotics. Because its not that many viri/bacteria that humans share with cows/livestock.

[northernlights]

26. Well, I sold my Brock's a few months ago

as soon as I finished Microbiology, so I'm going from memory here. But as I recall, agribiz in the biggest offender.

It doesn't matter how many viruses people share with livestock, since antibiotics don't impact viruses.

As far as bacteria go, ever hear of salmonella or e. coli? Just 2 of the many bacteria that live in harmony with livestock and cause disease in humans.

Besides which, it doesn't matter whether or not we share bacteria with livestock, because bacteria swap resistance factors, as well as virulence factors, among themselves via their plasmids. That is a major evolutionary pathway for bacteria, beyond your standard hit-or-miss mutations.

[Baclava]

24. Horizontal gene transfer accelerating evolution

Fossil records indicate that single-celled life first appeared about 3.5 billion years ago. It then took about 2.5 billion more years for multi-cellular life to evolve. Then, in the space of only a billion years, plants, mammals, insects, birds and other species exploded across the Earth. Now, scientists from Rice University think they may be closer to understanding why the speed and complexity of evolution appears to increase with time.

The Rice researchers suggest that the speed of evolution has increased over time thanks to horizontal gene transfer, where bacteria and viruses exchange transposable chunks of DNA between species, thus making it possible for life forms to evolve faster than they would if they relied only on sexual selection or random genetic mutations.

Published in Physical Review Letters, the new model shows how HGT compliments the modular nature of genetic information, making it feasible to swap whole sets of genetic code - like the genes that allow bacteria to defeat antibiotics. "We have developed the first exact solution of a mathematical model of evolution that accounts for this cross-species genetic exchange," said Deem. "We know that the majority of the DNA in the genomes of some animal and plant species - including humans, mice, wheat and corn - came from HGT insertions. For example, we can trace the development of the adaptive immune system in humans and other jointed vertebrates to an HGT insertion about 400 million years ago. Life clearly evolved to store genetic information in a modular form, and to accept useful modules of genetic information from other species."



http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20070029220033data_trunc_sys.shtml

------------------------

Hug a tomato - We are born to mutate!

[Sigh Sister]

25. For those that are interested in following H1N1 news

I've found 2 good websites.

www.trancy.net - this is a news aggregator
www.flutrackers.com - this is a discussion board where MD's and other medical pros discuss the situation

I've become more alarmed about this flu as a man I know, who is in his 40's, healthy and fit, is in critical condition after contracting this flu. He was vacationing in Europe and started to feel sick at the end of his vacation. He got on the plane to fly home and by the time his plane landed, he was so sick they had to call an ambulance to take him immediately to the hospital. He's in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator. If you read articles posted at the two sites I mentioned, he is not the only young, healthy person that this has happened to.

[Mojorabbit]

28. My favorite

is fluwikie. Lots of health care professionals on there too. It has been around for a long time.
http://www.newfluwiki2.com/frontPage.do