CDC Report on Resistance to Flu Drugs Concerns Medical Prof
by Mary Rettig
January 31, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The chief of infectious diseases at the University of South Florida says a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control about two influenza drugs is somewhat disturbing.The CDC has recommended against use of two drugs -- Amantadine and Rimantadine -- for treatment of the flu for the remainder of the 2005-2006 flu season. The federal agency says a "high proportion" of type A flu viruses circulating around the nation are resistant to the medications. While reports of drug resistance are not unusual, Dr. John Greene notes those two drugs are not commonly prescribed to patients -- but they were given to poultry in Asia.
"The theory behind why we have so much resistance to Amantadine and Rimantadine this year is because in many of the countries in Asia and Southeast Asia, where a lot of these viruses originate, they have been feeding the poultry Amantadine to keep them from getting the flu," he says. "So you have a high exposure of a drug to the virus."
Greene, a professor of medicine, explains what happens as a result. "When you feed animals and you have a high exposure of a drug to the virus, the virus mutates and becomes resistant," he says. "So the practices of giving animals Amantadine and Rimantadine to prevent them from getting sick and dying may have caused the resistance that we're seeing here."
According to Dr. Greene, the speed of the virus' resistance to the two drugs could mean quicker resistance to Tamiflu and Relenza, anti-virals used against the "bird flu." And that resistance, he adds, could happen in either poultry or humans. He says doctors are being cautioned to be very judicious in their prescribing of Tamiflu and Relenza.
According to Associated Press, the World Health Organization has recommended that governments stockpile Tamiflu and Relenza for use in a possible outbreak of a flu pandemic.
Mary Rettig, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
