Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Is the Swine Flu Drug Resistant?

When the Conflicker virus was due to strike thousands of computers, my computer geek friends were excited, waiting to see what would happen. My economy/business major friends are still excited over the state of the economy and spend hours theorizing how it will play out.
Me, being the medical sciences nerd, found my excitement in the swine flu. Sure, it's not as deadly or dangerous as SARS, or as annoying and painful as Lyme Disease, but the arrival of any new virus or disease excites my inner medical geek.

The latest development in the swine flu frenzy comes from Denmark, where doctors report that the flu is now showing resistance to the antiviral medication Tamiflu (oseltamivir). To date, the virus has only displayed resistance in one patient.

Actually, this really isn't unexpected. Drug resistant strains of various flus have occured before. The real exciting part is whether this is a one time thing confined to a few, isolated cases, or if it will develop into a new, drug resistant strain.

Learn more @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8124987.stm

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