tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Health experts have issued a warning to people with certain medical conditions and their carers after it emerged that a number of Scots are suffering from so-called super swine flu.
They have called for patients with compromised immune systems ? primarily cancer sufferers ? to ensure they are vaccinated against swine flu after nine people being treated in hospitals in Edinburgh and Glasgow were found to have a strain of the virus resistant to the anti-viral treatment Tamiflu.
All patients with the mutated form of the influenza A (H1N1) virus had previous immune system problems. The majority had been diagnosed with cancer, and had already received or were taking Tamiflu, according to a newly-published paper.
The report?s authors said it reinforced the importance of vaccination for such patients and their close contacts, including carers.
Dr Jim McMenamin, consultant epidemiologist at Health Protection Scotland, which highlighted the study in its weekly report, said the resistant strain had so far affected only a very small proportion of those who had contracted swine flu.
However, he warned: ?We cannot be complacent. The authors of the report have quite rightly said this is a good reason for people who are immuno-compromised and their carers need to be immunised.
?There is a very strong case for anyone who is in a risk group, if they haven?t already been vaccinated, to receive the vaccine.?
The paper, published online by Eurosurveillance, revealed a study conducted in November and December found nine cases of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu among 1,608 Scots infected.
Eight of the group had haematological malignancy, which includes leukaemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders, and had developed the H275Y strain, a Tamiflu-resistant mutated form of influenza A (H1N1).
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/health/super-swine-flu-warning-to-cancer-patients-1.1020701
They have called for patients with compromised immune systems ? primarily cancer sufferers ? to ensure they are vaccinated against swine flu after nine people being treated in hospitals in Edinburgh and Glasgow were found to have a strain of the virus resistant to the anti-viral treatment Tamiflu.
All patients with the mutated form of the influenza A (H1N1) virus had previous immune system problems. The majority had been diagnosed with cancer, and had already received or were taking Tamiflu, according to a newly-published paper.
The report?s authors said it reinforced the importance of vaccination for such patients and their close contacts, including carers.
Dr Jim McMenamin, consultant epidemiologist at Health Protection Scotland, which highlighted the study in its weekly report, said the resistant strain had so far affected only a very small proportion of those who had contracted swine flu.
However, he warned: ?We cannot be complacent. The authors of the report have quite rightly said this is a good reason for people who are immuno-compromised and their carers need to be immunised.
?There is a very strong case for anyone who is in a risk group, if they haven?t already been vaccinated, to receive the vaccine.?
The paper, published online by Eurosurveillance, revealed a study conducted in November and December found nine cases of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu among 1,608 Scots infected.
Eight of the group had haematological malignancy, which includes leukaemia, lymphoma and other blood disorders, and had developed the H275Y strain, a Tamiflu-resistant mutated form of influenza A (H1N1).
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/health/super-swine-flu-warning-to-cancer-patients-1.1020701