Delaware: 14 anti-viral resistant flu case identified

[Ronan Kelly]

NEWS RELEASE: SIXTH ANTI-VIRAL RESISTANT FLU CASE IDENTIFIED
Delaware?s Division of Public Health (DPH) laboratory results confirm a sixth Delaware case of antiviral-resistant influenza for the 2010 ? 2011 flu season. A 55 year-old woman from Kent County was infected with an influenza strain found to be resistant to oseltamivir, the preferred treatment antiviral medication used to treat confirmed cases of influenza.

There is no reason to change treatment approaches at this time. There are four influenza antiviral medications approved for use in the United States: oseltamivir (brand name Tamiflu), zanamivir (brand name Relenza), amantadine (Symmetrel, generic) and rimantadine (Flumadine, generic).

Although it is late in the flu season, as always DPH recommends the following precautions for both the public and clinicians:
? Get vaccinated against the flu.

? Wash your hands frequently with soap and warm water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

? Cover your cough/sneeze with a tissue, or cough/sneeze into your inner elbow and not into your hands.

? If you are sick, stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever goes away. This means no fever for at least 24 hours after you have stopped taking any fever-reducing medication. Employers are encouraged to be flexible with their employees on the issue of staying home when ill.
Stay informed about the latest developments on the flu by visiting www.flu.delaware.gov

Delaware Health and Social Services is committed to improving the quality of the lives of Delaware?s citizens by promoting health and well-being, fostering self-sufficiency, and protecting vulnerable populations.

http://www.wgmd.com/?p=22447

[tetano]

Re: Sixth anti-viral resistant flu case identified

Delaware health: Antiviral-resistant flu found in 8 more people


A form of influenza that cannot be successfully treated with common medicines was identified in eight more people in Delaware, public health officials reported Tuesday.

Those new discoveries -- which included four new cases identified Tuesday afternoon -- bring the total number of antiviral-resistant flu cases during the 2010-2011 flu season in Delaware to 14. The state has never experienced that many cases of antiviral-resistant flu. But the latest figure should not be taken as a sign that the flu has become impervious to antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu, said Dr. Karyl Rattay, director of Delaware's Division of Public Health.

"We don't have enough information to say that at this point," she said.

A 45-year-old Sussex County woman died Feb. 24 from an antiviral-resistant form of the flu, the only one of the 14 cases in which the victim died.

Rattay could not say whether the woman would have survived a less-resistant form of the virus.

"We have no way of knowing if she would have lived otherwise," she said. "That person had a number of chronic underlying conditions."

The high number can more likely be attributed to stepped-up surveillance efforts by the public health division. So far this season, the division has collected specimens from 569 people who were sickened with the flu to test for antiviral resistance. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which runs tests to determine whether those cases are resistant, requested that Delaware increase its surveillance in March.

..

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20110511/HEALTH/105110339/Antiviral-resistant-flu-found-8-more-people?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|s