Year of pandemic and tragedies

Health Correspondent Marie-Louise Connolly gives her prognosis on an extremely busy year for the health service.
It was the year when a pandemic hit and most of us survived to tell the tale.
The first news of swine flu flashed up on the news channels on Friday 24 April shortly after 4pm on a sunny afternoon.
The facts were sparse but the reality of what was happening in Mexico was shocking.
It was reported that there had been an ongoing epidemic since March, but it was only recognised as a highly contagious virus several weeks later when it began spreading between people and eventually across borders.
The Mexican government closed most of Mexico City's public and private facilities in an attempt to contain it, but it did spread globally and in June the World Health Organization stopped counting cases and declared a pandemic.
BBC Northern Ireland reported the first local swine flu case on Thursday 14 May.
Within days, the phrase "catch it, bin it, kill it" had become familiar as had the anti-virals, Tamiflu and the warning to "stay at home".
On 20 August, a woman with "underlying health problems" was the first to die from swine flu in Northern Ireland.
To date 13 others including adults and children have died and almost all of them had underlying health problems.
While the word pandemic is frightening, as most of us have experienced, its impact is less dramatic.
The Department of Health, very quickly and efficiently took control of the situation - the information provided at those initial press conferences was very much on a need to know basis.
The vaccination programme was rolled out on 21 October, with health service workers among the first to be vaccinated.
There were demands for children with underlying health problems to be vaccinated sooner, especially when two children from the same special needs school died with the virus.
At that stage, teachers in special schools were not to be included in the programme.
However, after a very public outcry from some school principals, a few days later and in a complete u-turn, the health minister, Michael McGimpsey, announced that staff at such schools would receive the vaccine.
The Department of Health received a lot of criticism for its "knee-jerk" reaction. However, within 48 hours, the policy was adopted by its Scottish counterpart.
For the sixth consecutive week there has been a decrease in the number of cases of swine flu, the number of admissions to hospital and those dying from the virus.
While this is all positive, many politicians and health professionals are questioning whether it was all a lot of hype with the government having to pick up a hefty bill to reassure the public.
In response to this criticism, the health minister said it's a case of damned if he did and damned if he didn't.
Speaking of bills, the minister is constantly crying poverty and at every opportunity putting out the begging bowl on behalf of his department.
There is no doubt, that Northern Ireland's health service is in dire need of a cash injection. But then again so are so many of the other departments. The Health Department is expected to make £700m in efficiency savings.
This will have an impact on attempts to improve services including mental health, any new builds, including a new mother and children's wing at the RVH and the postponement of services including the bowel cancer screening programme until April.
The minister has admitted that paying for swine flu has had an impact on other services.
And the future situation is not looking any brighter. With water charges not being introduced there is a massive shortfall in the executive's budget.
The Department of Health could be looking at having to make an additional £150m in savings.
One lasting image of the year will be Mr McGimpsey's face among the crowd attending a rally against health cuts.
Despite wearing a traditional "workman's cap", it didn't disguise the fact that in some ways he was demonstrating against himself.
Whether his presence will help cushion the blow when those cuts are made in a "I did lend my support to you at the time" type scenario, will all depend on his relationship with the health unions.
According to some members of the assembly's health committee this won't be a problem. The DUP's Iris Robinson has on many occasion alluded to their "cosy relationship" and that one is working on behalf of the other.
Strike warning
Unison's Patricia McKeown gave a sobering message to politicians at Stormont.
"This is the start of something and it will get bigger. But, if we are not listened to, and I say this very clearly on behalf of Unison, the next time we are here it will not be on our own time, it will be on strike," she said.
There have been many other challenges along the way. The regulatory Body the RQIA delivered a few blows of it's own on the cleanliness of hospitals.
All of the local acute hospitals failed in delivering a high standard of cleanliness. Ward F in the Royal Victoria Hospital had to be closed as it failed to reach the minimum compliance level.
On the issue of child protection services the year is ending on a particularly tragic note.
Following the inquest of the McElhill tragedy in Omagh, in which the father of five was found to have set fire to his home killing his partner and children, there came the death of Millie Martin.
Aged 15 months, Millie, who was from Enniskillen, was so badly beaten she died from her injuries.
Millie and her mother Rachel had been seen by a health visitor when Millie was a few months old but according to her mother was not known to social services.
The McElhill family, however, was known to social services and other statutory agencies including the police.
Henry Toner, who carried out a review into the Western Health Trust is to revisit some time in the new year to ensure his 63 recommendations are being properly implemented.
These tragedies, particularly that of little Millie Martin, will undoubtedly spill over into 2010.

H1N1 costly in more ways than one

Last month at Total Health Care Pharmacy in Bolton I picked up two prescriptions for the H1N1 antibiotic - Tamiflu. They charged $114 for my daughter’s medicine and $65 for mine. Unbeknown to me, it was free to the public. Apparently pharmacies can submit the costs directly to the Government of Ontario. If not for a friend's knowledge, I would still be out of pocket $180. Total Health Pharmacy has since refunded my money.
H1N1 flu was costly in more ways than one. Being a highly contagious virus, within two days it passed on to my oldest daughter. I ended up staying at home to care for them both and lost five days pay. My daughter also lost a week's wage as she would have returned to work on the Thursday but they did not want her to return too early and spread it through the office. It seems unknown for certain the length of time the virus remains contagious. 
Make sure you ask your pharmacist to give you the Tamiflu medicine that is covered by the government. There are a couple of ways to prepare it and not all compound versions are covered. Also, the capsules must be prescribed as two a day for five days because one a day for 10 days is considered preventative medicine and not free.
One more bit of advice... the children's suspension medicine has a taste worse than Buckley's so mix it with chocolate milk!

Swine flu goes viral

Small beginnings
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Predictions of a pandemic had become so common – and so often came to nothing – that the reports in March 2009 of Mexicans falling ill from ‘swine flu’ first only merited a paragraph or two in the papers. But by today the World Health Organization has now declared a pandemic and the disease is truly global. What was at first treated with humour is now treated with nervousness as the first people in the UK die from the disease and, despite government assurances, parents pull their children out of school where there is even a rumour of swine flu.
Patient Zero
Monday, 3 August 2009
Who was the first person in the world to get swine flu? Experts are divided between a six-month-old child in Mexico and five-year-old Edgar Hernandez. But Edgar is the one who has caught the attention of the world media (well, babies are more difficult to interview) and Edgar even has a statue of himself. 
The statue is called Nino Cero – Little Boy Zero – and it stands in Edgar’s home town of La Gloria, Mexico. It may be doing some good. It’s starting to attract tourists to the small town, no doubt giving a welcome boost to the economy. But others are unhappy at their town becoming infamous as the place where swine flu started.
Mass of Separation
Thursday, 6 August 2009
I am grateful to Channel Four blogger, Dr Peter Stott, for bringing this to my attention. It is the Mass of Separation from the 13th Century and was a series of instructions to sufferers from leprosy. Strangely, the instructions are equally valid today for avoiding the spread of swine flu. Just shows how little our understanding of viruses has grown in 700 years!
MASS OF SEPARATION
“I forbid you to ever enter a church, a monastery, a fair, a mill, a market or an assembly of people.
“I forbid you to leave your house unless dressed in your recognisable garb and also shod.
“I forbid you to wash your hands or to launder anything or to drink at any stream or fountain, unless using your own barrel or dipper.
“I forbid you to touch anything you buy or barter for, until it becomes your own.
“I forbid you to enter any tavern; and if you wish for wine, whether you buy it or it is given to you, have it funnelled into your keg.
“I forbid you to share house with any woman but your wife. I command you, if accosted by anyone while travelling on a road, to set yourself down-wind of them before you answer.
“I forbid you to enter any narrow passage, lest a passerby bump into you.
“I forbid you, wherever you go, to touch the rim or the rope of a well without donning your gloves.
“I forbid you to touch any child or give them anything. I forbid you to drink or eat from any vessel but your own.”
It comes back
Friday, 7 August 2009
Should we be happy/relieved/cautious over the latest swine flu figures that show only 30,000 new cases were reported last week (compared with 110,000 the previous week)? I keep hearing the catchphrase from BBC4’s docudrama, The Forgotten Fallen, in my head: “It comes back”. Which is of course what Sir Liam Donaldson and others keep saying.
Welsh whisky
Saturday, 8 August 2009
There appears to be a story doing the rounds in foreign newspapers and websites that Welsh whisky is a miracle cure for swine flu. 
Now even the Welsh would admit that it takes a brave person to drink Welsh whisky and it may be responsible for many things but miracle cures ain’t one of them.
It seems this story got started when a Russian sports team was visiting Wales and they were advised to drink whisky as a way of avoiding getting swine flu. And from this small beginning the internet rumour began.
Where there’s muck...
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Swine flu may be pretty frightening but it’s not going to stop some people making a quick buck. 
How about swine flu T-shirts, the swine flu fridge magnet, or even the swine flu hat? All are available online.
Tamiflu humour
Friday, 21 August 2009
An old joke revamped for the swine flu era... Doctor: “Take this Tamiflu and your swine flu symptoms will be gone in a week. If you don’t take the Tamiflu your symptoms could take seven days to disappear.”
A cliché exposed
Saturday, 22 August 2009
My concerns over the trite phrase “underlying health problems” (UHPs) being trotted out every time someone dies from swine flu have been borne out. It has become almost a journalistic cliché – no-one simply dies of swine flu, they all have “underlying health problems”. My suspicion is that people in authority are using this as a way of reassuring the public that swine flu is not dangerous; people can relax – they weren’t ‘ordinary’ people who died from swine flu, they were deeply ill in the first place. Alarm bells rang in particular when a Northern Ireland soldier Lee Porter died from swine flu and it was said he had UHPs. The Belfast Newsletter interviewed his family who strenuously denied he had UHPs. It adds that Lee was: “Employed full time for the Northern Ireland Fire Service, he had been involved with the Territorial Army since the age of 18 and had also progressed to the rank of Company Sergeant in the Army Cadet Force.” So in fact he was incredibly fit – surely a more important news story that someone of his ilk can be brought down by swine flu than someone with UHPs?
Burying victims in the catacombs
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Someone posted on the comments section that Exeter council had drawn up a plan to put “all the bodies” from a swine flu epidemic into the catacombs below the city. It sounded so ridiculous I could only assume it was one of the Friend of a Friend stories. But it turns out to be absolutely true. 
It’s probably a bit over the top in the ‘worst case scenario’ stakes but where to store the bodies is a genuine issue if the pandemic is at the top end of the scale. And in cold caves is probably as pragmatic a place as any.
Lack of swine flu data is a scandal
Sunday, September 6 2009
It’s appalling that the details from official sources are so sparse that I am having to do this. It’s difficult to see what this secrecy achieves – except suspicion that the government is hiding the true situation. The public should be given as much information as possible. 
It’s difficult to pick out the worst offender but I’m going to have a go anyway: Newham University Hospital Trust. The good work of reporter Susan Smith on the Newham Recorder enabled the paper to discover that someone on their patch had died of swine flu. The Trust grudingly confirmed the fact but the most telling line in Susan’s story is “Newham University Hospital NHS Trust will not reveal the gender of the patient.” For goodness sake, why not? This nonsense – the lack of data – has got to stop.
One-fifth of flu deaths ‘healthy’
Thursday, 17 September
Last night’s Panorama didn’t reveal many new facts but it did confirm what I had been told earlier by the Health Protection Agency – that the majority (four-fifths) of swine flu victims have those so-called Underlying Health Problems. That leaves one-fifth who are perfectly healthy. It’s a worrying figure which recalls the ghost of the Spanish flu of 1918 which seemed to “like a good fight” (in the words of the recent docudrama on TV).
Black Death v Swine Flu
Saturday, 19 September
“The ‘hushing-up’ system is in sanitary matters about as dangerous as anything can well be” – The Lancet, 1870.
I’ve moaned on many an occasion about the lack of any helpful details on swine flu deaths. The website Straight Statistics shares my exasperation and points out: “When a British soldier dies in Afghanistan, we know within days the sex, age and region of residence of the fatality, together with the immediate cause of death. How different it is for swine flu.”
Actually, there’s a more stark example than the parallel with soldiers dying in Afghanistan: I can find out more details about people who died during a visit the Black Death to Cumbria in 1598 than I can about swine flu in 2009. For the Black Death I can tell you how many died, their names, where they lived, the precise date of their death, sex, occupation, partner’s name, social class and whether they were buried in the churchyard or out on the Fells. No ages are given but it would be easy to work these out by checking with the baptismal records. In contrast the information given to the public about swine flu deaths in modern Britain in 2009 is: the number of deaths and... er, well that’s it really.
The more bizarre headlines
Monday, 5 October 2009
Swine flu is not a laughing matter but here are some of the more bizarre swine flu headlines that have caught my eye...
No Swine Flu deaths in Botswana
Canadian Aboriginals get body bags after asking government for swine flu help
Is St Thérèse of Lisieux spreading swine flu?
Prisoners Got Drunk On Swine Flu Gel
Now they want to ban handshakes
Media spreading virus of fear.
The nature of the beast
Friday, 23 October 2009
I think Dr Ruth Hussey has put her finger on the nature of the swine flu beast in her latest bulletin. The North West Director for Public Health said: “It seems that although the total number of people catching the virus is going up slowly overall, the complications people are experiencing are severe.” 
In the early days of swine flu, we were expecting many people to be ill and many to be seriously affected or killed. But it seems rather than this strain of pandemic is affecting many – most not seriously at all – but others it is singling out for a particularly severe attack.
Why? What is it about those who are being worst affected? There seems no common denominator – you can be very healthy or have severe health problems; you can be young or you can be old; you can be male or female. But Dr Hussey’s observation perhaps gives a clue to how best the NHS can form a strategy to tackle swine flu in the next few weeks – a concentration on the large minority who are going to need very specialist treatment to get them through it.
The anti-vaccine militia
Sunday, 1 November 2009
The vaccine against swine flu has always had its opponents but since it’s not compulsory it’s never really had any raison d’etre. 
However, a group calling itself The People’s United Community have gone into Birmingham hospitals putting up posters and handing out leaflets attacking the vaccine. “Swine flu is not the biggest danger. It’s the vaccine.” say the posters.
Not surprisingly their campaign has incurred the wrath of health officials who point out that a) They’re wrong and b) 89 of the 137 deaths from swine flu so far might have been avoided if the vaccine had been available earlier in the UK. How many more deaths might therefore be caused by inaccurate information persuading people not to take the vaccine? Healthy debate is one thing. Irresponsible scare-mongering is another.
Strange goings-on in Ukraine
Tuesday, 3 November 2009
Type ‘swine flu Ukraine’ into Google news and you’ll see unfolding some extraordinary events. Nearly 70 people have died from swine flu according to the authorities (in the UK the total is 135 so I’m not sure why that’s worried them so much) but they’re closing schools, universities, banning public meetings and you can’t buy a face mask for love nor money. 
Some Western commentators are bemoaning that the Ukraine is asking the world for help but not giving any deatils about why these 70 people died or any background information (Good grief! They should try getting information about UK deaths – it makes the Ukraine look like a role model in openness!).
How bonkers is this?
Saturday, 7 November 2009
The latest swine flu death in Scotland is of an adult from the Ayrshire and Arran area. Authorities are not releasing the gender “for reasons of confidentiality”. Has this country gone completely bonkers?

Asthma Sufferers At High Risk For Future H1N1 Pandemics

Health experts predicted another round of H1N1 flu virus cases could hit next year and that people who suffer from asthma are at especially high risk, Channel 4 Action News’ Sally Wiggin reported Wednesday.
This was demonstrated in a study last spring of H1N1 flu patients admitted to Massachusetts hospitals, Wiggin said. The study looked at people who also had other chronic medical conditions and almost a third of those people had asthma.
Local allergy and asthma expert, Dr. Deborah Gentile, told Wiggin flu strains are a danger asthma sufferers face every year.
“Unfortunately, patients with asthma are always at risk for side effects of complications when they get the flu, including H1N1,” Gentile said.
The H1N1 flu can trigger an asthma attack, breathing problems, pneumonia, and severe breathing difficulties that require a ventilator, Wiggin reported.
Gentile said she saw dozens of patients like this during the most recent H1N1 epidemic. Many of whom, luckily, did not have to be admitted for hospital stays.
“We actually give our patients treatment plans,” Gentile said. “So if they start to get sick they know how to monitor their illness, exactly what steps to take to control their exacerbation, and when to contact us.”
Patients were advised to watch for H1N1 symptoms similar to other flues, like cough, fever, muscle aches, respiratory problems, and, in the case of the H1N1 flu, even nausea, Gentile told Wiggin.
“We would consider treating them with Tamiflu and consider if they needed an increase in their asthma medications,” Gentile said.
It was reported that children with asthma are at even higher risk for complications due to H1N1 flu than adults, Wiggin said.
Gentile also recommended that all asthma sufferers get the H1N1 vaccine, regardless of age.
“Go get one right now. There is no shortage at this point,” Gentile said. “Check with your pediatrician, your general practitioner, call the county health departments where you live. Find out where [the vaccines] are available. [The H1N1 flu] will come back.”
Asthma sufferers were also advised to get seasonal flu shots, Wiggin reported. Studies indicated seasonal flu can be just as dangerous for asthma patients as the H1N1 flu strain.

JARGON OF THE YEAR: Long-term economic value

It was the phrase that allowed the Government to pay more for the assets of zombie banks through the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) than they were worth – €54 billion instead of €47 billion, to be precise. It was such an apparently reasonable-sounding snippet of genius that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) felt the need to praise the Department of Finance for its “masterful” definition. IMF adviser Steven Seelig described “long-term economic value” as both “sufficiently specific” and “sufficiently vague” to allow “appropriate flexibility” for Nama: “I hope you can retain this language,” he mused in a private e-mail. Seelig has now joined the board of Nama, so we can only hope he didn’t spend Christmas trying to come up with more clever phrases that end up costing taxpayers money.
Runners-up: TOGIT (The Only Game in Town), used to describe Nama (aka consensus thinking); green shoots (of recovery fame); PIIGS (term used by London brokers to describe high-deficit states Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain).
APOLOGY OF THE YEAR: Tim Berners-Lee 
2009 was the year of the apology. Stars of reality TV shows, British MPs, homophobic Daily Mail columnists and wayward golfers gave multiple apologies when the first attempts weren’t judged sufficiently sincere. But while bankers fell over themselves to deliver a PR-scripted mea culpa to the television cameras, the most momentous apology of the year lay well outside the world of imploding collateralised debt obligations. Yes, Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the worldwide web, apologised for adding those irritating forward slashes to the beginning of internet addresses, confessing that they were an “unnecessary” part of URLs and had just wasted everyone’s time. “There you go, it seemed like a good idea at the time,” he said. A bit like Hotmail.
Runner-up : A special mention goes to Pat Farrell, Irish Banking Federation (IBF) chief executive, for the sheer quantity of apologies that he gave throughout 2009.
U-TURN OF THE YEAR: Marks & Spencer 
2009 featured so many Facebook “protests” that, by the end of the year, 160,000 people had joined something called An Arbitrary Number of People Demand That Some Sort of Action Be Taken – a Facebook protest against Facebook protests, if you will. Still, Planet Business thinks some lasting good was achieved when Facebook group Busts 4 Justice forced Marks & Spencer to do a U-turn on its policy of charging extra for bras with a cup size above DD. The clothing retailer originally defended its position by saying the charge – described by the Busts 4 Justice group as a “tit tax” – reflected the cost of producing larger bras. But it eventually backed down, taking out advertisements in the British press to say “we boobed” and introducing a one-price-fits-all policy on lingerie.
Runner-up : General Motors was revved up and ready to sell Opel and Vauxhall to Canadian supplier Magna before deciding it would keep its European business and axe 10,000 jobs instead.
VILLAIN OF THE YEAR: The public sector 
The public-sector worker may seem like a harmless creature, living a humble life of parking spaces, increments and flexi-time, but do not be deceived.
In 2009, we learned that a monster of such devastating wickedness had never existed before . . . There it went, nonchalantly fighting crime, unashamedly saving lives, blatantly giving our kids homework.
Sooner or later, it would have to be stopped, this indestructible nemesis of such frightful power that it had the ability to suck money from the kitty jar marked “national Anglo debt servicing payments” and bleed innocent bankers dry of their bonuses.
Runners-up : The real nominees are former Merrill Lynch head John Thain, who spent $1.22 million (€848,000) furnishing his suite of offices with antiques mere days after Bank of America rescued Merrill; and Chelsea magnate Roman Abramovich, who – in an open audition for a role in the next Bond film – bought a yacht containing a missile defence system.
HERO OF THE YEAR: Gary Geogh, AIB shareholder
The Irish Times doesn’t want to condone egg-throwing. However, in a field with few contenders, Keogh is the Planet Business hero of the year for his services to shareholder activism. After hurtling a brace of eggs at the board of AIB – scoring a direct hit on the suit of AIB chairman Dermot Gleeson – the pensioner declared that he felt “happier about the whole thing than I have done for months”, referring to his €18,000 loss on an AIB investment. “Always aim for the body,” he said, explaining that victims often move their heads before the eggy missile reaches its target. Of Gleeson’s double career as both banker and lawyer, he noted, “you couldn’t get a worse combination”.
Runner-up : Richard Branson, for making the dream of commercial space travel that bit closer to reality.
PRODUCT OF THE YEAR: Tamiflu 
There’s nothing like a pandemic to give a company a captive market, and for Roche AG, the pharma giant that owns the patent to an anti-viral drug called oseltamivir (brand name Tamiflu), the 2009 outbreak of H1N1 swine flu was like hitting the virus jackpot. Stockpiles of Roche’s Tamiflu (and GlaxoSmithKline’s Relenza drug) had to be released and replenished, leaving Roche on track to make €1.85 billion from Tamiflu by the end of 2009. It expects to sell 400 million Tamiflu units in 2010, which will be pleasant for us all. 
Runners-up : Raw garlic, as consumed by Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, according to David McWilliams; iPhones for their ubiquity (and the Paper Toss app).
ADVERTISEMENT OF THE YEAR : Galtee Irish Breakfast 
Any pretence in keeping ads linked to some semblance of reality was abandoned this year. Cheryl Cole was recruited by L’Oréal to be the face of its Elvive shampoo, despite the fact that what had actually got her hair’s “mojo” back was her expensive set of hair extensions. Ageing rocker Iggy Pop starred in ads for Axa subsidiary Swiftcover, which was later forced to admit it doesn’t give car insurance to musicians. But the winner is Breeo Foods, which had a complaint upheld against it for promoting a Galtee Irish Breakfast mail order product that, despite promising “the sizzle of Irish sausages”, did not contain Irish sausage meat. 
Runner-up : Amazingly straight-faced Carte Noire coffee ads with Dominic The Wire West.
INNOVATION OF THE YEAR: The "safe" bed 
Google, Apple, Facebook, whatever . . . There was one innovation that truly caught the mood early in 2009: the “safe” bed. Wouldn’t trust a senior bank executive to look after your life savings? Not even Halifax Bank of Scotland star Colm Meaney? Bed manufacturer Feather Black had the product for anyone brave enough to embrace the interest-free, insurance-free world of under-the-mattress cash storage – a bed that conceals a safe.

Tamiflu not effective for serious flu

Roche has claimed that its Tamiflu dramatically reduced hospital admissions as well as bronchitis and pneumonia. But a recent investigation by the British Medical Journal and UK’s TV Channel 4 has concluded that such claims are meritless
Public Citizen, a US-based non-profit consumer advocacy organisation, has called for an independent review of the raw data from clinical trials funded by Tamiflu’s maker, Roche Holding AG.
"Tamiflu is being erroneously peddled as a panacea to flu," said Dr Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. "In fact, no research exists to support this (claim) in healthy adults. At best, it can modestly reduce some minor flu systems in such people for a day."
Public Citizen claimed that the drug does not prevent serious complications from the flu and advised that it should not be used for routine control of the flu in healthy adults.
Switzerland-based Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, had claimed that its Tamiflu dramatically reduced hospitalisations as well as bronchitis and pneumonia. However, a recent investigation by the British Medical Journal and British TV Channel 4 concluded that such claims are unfounded.
In the wake of widespread media coverage of the H1N1, or swine flu virus, Tamiflu sales have skyrocketed. In October, 2.5 million prescriptions were filled in the US compared with just 35,000 prescriptions in October 2008. For the past 12 months, 6.8 million prescriptions were written, compared with 4.3 million in the previous 12 months, said consumeraffairs.com in a report.
In India too, Tamiflu was moderately effective for the treatment of H1N1 influenza or swine flu. “The tablets were not as effective as the company claimed it to be, but were moderately effective. The drug had side effects like diarrhoea, skin reactions and vomiting,” said Dr Mahesh Shetty, a physician based in Navi Mumbai.
According to Indian government data, from September onwards, when it permitted the retail sale of the H1N1 drug, Roche’s Tamiflu has sold 4,47,340 tablets while all generic drugs that include Hetero’s Fluvir, Natco’s Natflu and Cipla’s Anti-flu have sold around 44,725 tablets combined in the 50-odd shops in the national capital region.
Tamiflu is effective only if it is taken within 48 hours of getting infected. Once the lungs are damaged, the chances of survival are less. According to health officials, India’s swine flu toll has reached 880 so far.
“Not all cases of H1N1 were serious. There was so much noise about nothing in the media. In India, many people die everyday from a disease like diarrhoea rather than swine flu,” added Dr Shetty.
Tamiflu is mainly advised for the prevention of H1N1 virus and not as a treatment. People who showed symptoms of even fever were prescribed Tamiflu (oseltamivir), which means that patients who were not suffering from H1N1 ended up taking the drug, which caused side-effects.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over 11,500 people have died due to the H1N1 virus worldwide.

Tamiflu Doesn't Work on Flu Complications

Tamiflu, the anti-flu drug being snapped up in record amounts, does not prevent serious complications from the flu and should not be used for routine control of the flu in healthy adults, according to Public Citizen.
The group is calling for an independent review of raw data from clinical trials funded by Tamiflu's maker, Roche. The company has claimed that the drug dramatically reduced hospital admissions as well as bronchitis and pneumonia. But a recent investigation by the British Medical Journal and British TV Channel 4 concluded that such claims were meritless.
In the wake of widespread media coverage of the H1N1, or swine flu, virus, Tamiflu sales have skyrocketed. In October, 2.5 million prescriptions were filled in the U.S. compared with just 35,000 prescriptions in October 2008. For the past 12 months, 6.8 million prescriptions were written, compared with 4.3 million the previous 12 months.
"Tamiflu is being erroneously peddled as a panacea to flu," said Sidney Wolfe, M.D., director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. "In fact, no research exists to support this in healthy adults. At best, it can modestly reduce some minor flu systems in such people for a day."
FDA spokeswoman Patricia El-Hinnawy tells ConsumerAffairs.com that "controlled clinical trials conducted among outpatients with acute uncomplicated seasonal influenza reported a reduction of approximately 1 day in the duration of illness when antiviral treatment with oseltamivir (Tamiflu) was initiated within 48 hours of illness compared with placebo."
All of the clinical research conducted to determine the effectiveness of Tamiflu on healthy adults has been funded by the drug's manufacturer, Roche, Public Citizen said. The British investigation involved a review of all published studies examining the effects of Tamiflu in preventing serious complications of the flu in otherwise healthy adults.
The authors concluded that we "have no confidence in claims that [Tamiflu] reduces the risk of complications and hospital admission in people with influenza," and they wrote that it should not be used in routine control of seasonal influenza. There was also concern about underreporting of side effects of the drug.
El-Hinnawy responds that "a manufacturer conducts clinical trials according to FDA requirements, as part of the application for approval of a drug. The data from the trials are reviewed as part of the application 'package'." She adds that "if claims are being made by the company that are not substantiated by the data we reviewed, then the FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communications (DDMAC) would become involved,” but, “nothing at this point in time would lead us to require an independent review of the data.”/p> 
Although the data available were gathered before the H1N1 virus made its appearance, the results can probably be extrapolated to H1N1 because it is another variety of flu, Wolfe said.
El-Hinnawy notes that there are some observational studies in the published literature assessing potential benefits of Tamiflu in reducing complications, including deaths, among hospitalized patients with 2009 H1N1. But, she says, "There are limitations to these studies and therefore they are not generally included in product labeling."

Should I take Tamiflu?

Q. If I get the flu, should I take Tamiflu? Will it keep me from getting really sick?
A. Tamiflu, generic name oseltamivir, is an antiviral drug used to treat seasonal flu in people who have had symptoms for fewer than two days, and in people who have been exposed to influenza virus but have not yet shown symptoms.
Dr. Anita Barry, director of the Infectious Disease Bureau at the Boston Public Health Commission, says that the question of whether Tamiflu is effective does not have an easy answer. “If healthy people begin to take the medication within 48 hours of symptom onset, it tends to relieve their symptoms about a day sooner’’ than if they hadn’t taken the drug, she says, assuming they are infected with a strain of influenza that is susceptible to the drug. H1N1 swine flu has responded to treatment with Tamiflu, although isolated reports of resistance have emerged this season.
Barry adds that Tamiflu is routinely given to hospitalized patients with the flu, as there is some evidence they can benefit even after the 48-hour window. She says the data are less clear as to whether the drug can reduce health complications of flu.
Some governments stockpile Tamiflu to prepare for flu outbreaks, but a recent review in British Medical Journal questions this policy. The Cochrane Collaboration, an international group that produces reviews of medical literature, analyzed published clinical trials of Tamiflu and other drugs of its class, called neuraminidase inhibitors, and found that there is not enough information to conclude whether they prevent serious complications of flu such as pneumonia.
Dr. Martin S. Hirsch, an immunologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, says that though the Cochrane review grabbed headlines, it does not really contradict current medical practice. “Current recommendations are to use oseltamivir for those with suspected or confirmed influenza who fall into certain high-risk groups,’’ including people suffering from other illnesses, children under age 2, adults 65 or older, and pregnant women.

Tamiflu distribution to start

Persons prescribed Tamiflu can send a person who is over 18 to collect it, as the A(H1N1) strategy takes a new turn, in line with WHO and ECDC recommendations, and those displaying flu symptoms within certain categories, are to be administered Tamiflu without testing.
These include pregnant women, children under the age of five, people of all ages who seem to be developing complications and all people who are at greater risk of doing so, such as those who suffer from some chronic illness or those with a weak immune system.
All those persons who do not fall into these categories will be treated normally, and will not be given Tamiflu.
Tamiflu can be collected from the following places: Pharmacyon

Did a Flu Drug Manufacturer Withhold Evidence From Drug Trials?

Doctors have alleged that Roche, the manufacturer of Tamiflu, has made it impossible for scientists to assess how well the anti-flu drug stockpiled around the globe works by withholding the evidence the company has gained from trials.
A major review of what data there is in the public domain has found no evidence Tamiflu can prevent healthy people with flu from suffering complications such as pneumonia.
Tamiflu may shorten the bout of illness by a day or so, the investigators say, but it is impossible to know whether it prevents severe disease, because the published data is insufficient. Roche has failed to make some of the studies carried out on the drug publicly available.

Dr. Mercola's Comments:
This is not the first time that conscientious scientists have questioned the work of researchers and drug manufacturers who, for a variety of reasons, fail to provide solid clinical evidence that a drug or medical device they are promoting really works.
History is full of examples where “science” was fudged – that’s the nice word for manipulated, if not outright falsified – to facilitate a desired outcome. It’s called bias, something that can happen either subconsciously or intentionally, when a scientist sets out to prove a point (hypothesis).
Bias was the topic of a report in 2007 that analyzed in depth how and why bias happens, and what can be done to curb it. The main concern is that bias can distort results of clinical trials, making a drug or medical device appear to be more effective than it is.
“Unless (bias) is carefully controlled, treatments that actually have little or no therapeutic potential often seem to produce fairly substantial benefits,” the author of this study wrote.
A year ago, in August, Donald Light, a professor and sociologist at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey, voiced similar concerns at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. Asserting that drugmakers cherry pick clinical trial subjects to assure positive outcomes, Light quoted a Cochrane Center analysis that shows company sponsorship not only can create a conflict of interest when it comes to outcomes, but in itself is a major predictor of positive effects.
Why Did it Take So Long for Someone to Call Roche Out?
Tamiflu has been around for over ten years, and the claims about the drug's effectiveness in reducing hospitalizations have been a key factor in decisions by governments around the world to stockpile Tamiflu.
The drug, however, has a rocky reputation trailing it, including reports of Japanese children who suffered bizarre psychological side effects from it, in some instances leading to their deaths. Subsequently, Tokyo’s Ministry of Health instructed officials not to give Tamiflu to children ages 10 to 18, after receiving reports of 18 pediatric deaths connected with the drug.
When symptoms such as convulsions, delirium or delusions – but no reported deaths – happened to U.S. children, major media began reporting that the FDA was investigating the possible association between Tamiflu and neuropsychiatric effects.
Roche mentions the Japanese Tamiflu side effects on its website and in its package insert. But it also discounts the reports by saying, ”The contribution of TAMIFLU to these events has not been established.”
It’s no surprise that a drugmaker would try to contradict any findings that would negate or cast doubt on its products. But it’s outrageous that Roche and the FDA – as well as the World Health Organization – would continue to push Tamiflu, now that at least one major medical journal as well as a major magazine are questioning possible conflicts of interest between endorsers of Tamiflu, as well as its true effectiveness in combating flu symptoms.
In an article on December 10, 2009, The Atlantic repeats its earlier allegations that Tamiflu just isn’t what it’s been made out to be. The scientific evidence just isn’t there, The Atlantic tells its readers. Citing an investigation by the Cochrane Collaboration, The Atlantic reports that Cochrane researchers were repeatedly rebuffed by Roche scientists and officials when they tried to duplicate Tamiflu’s clinical data.
Ultimately, after multiple requests over several months, Cochrane determined that “ the evidence that Tamiflu reduces complications, hospitalizations, or deaths is weak at best, and if the drug does offer any benefit, it is slight indeed.”
When you consider that the U.S. FDA also told the British Medical Journal that its findings show that there is no difference between Tamiflu and a placebo, it makes me wonder why somebody hasn’t called Roche on the carpet about this sooner. Add in the fact that some whistleblowers admitted to ghost-writing some of Tamiflu’s published studies, and "outrageous" isn’t a sufficient adjective for what Roche has done.
The Ultimate in Recycling: Remake It for Kids
It’s an understatement to say that I am shocked at the façade that Roche has managed to keep up on Tamiflu all these years. But even more shocking is the latest news about this dangerous and questionable drug: The FDA has approved using expired Tamiflu capsules to make an oral liquid version of the drug for children!
The reason, according to media reports, is because liquid Tamiflu, ordinarily mixed in the factory just for children, has run short while Roche concentrated on making the adult version in pill form. To make up for the shortage – and possibly to help take care of Tamiflu pill leftovers from the bird flu hoax – the FDA implemented its shelf-life extension program.
The “new” children’s version will be concocted from old Tamiflu lots left over from the government’s own national stockpile.
How convenient! If you can’t get rid of it on a pandemic, just recycle it. Expiration dates be damned.
Public Health Emergency for Expired Antivirals
The government isn’t the only agency that will be using expired antivirals, however. On October 31,2009, on its News and Events website, the FDA outlined how companies, U.S. states and localities, and other organizations with Tamiflu and Relenza (GlaxoSmithKline’s version of Tamiflu) can recyle their flu antiviral leftovers. The recycling is possible for up to a year under an emergency declaration by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The site explains that during this public health emergency (which I would assume refers to the swine flu) the FDA has issued emergency use authorizations for these expired, or soon-to-be expired, drugs.
Eighteen lots of Tamiflu Capsules and three lots of Relenza Inhalation Powder have been authorized by FDA for use beyond their expiration dates under this directive, the site says.
But that’s not all. The emergency declaration not only allows the use of expired antivirals, but also waives the storage requirements for Tamiflu!
What are they thinking? Why would they do this? Why would expiration dates even be suggested on a drug, if they were not important? And storage? If the way you store a drug isn’t vitally important, why would they have storage requirements in the first place?
It is interesting how the drug companies conveniently manipulate expiration dates. Nearly ten years ago the Wall Street Journal (long before it was purchased by Murdoch) ran an excellent expose on drug expirations which is still valid today.
Seems when it is to their benefit they make the expirations nice and short so people will purchase them more frequently, but when they get stuck with the “expired” drugs they claim they are safe to use. How can they possibly have it both ways?
Why Doesn’t the FDA Follow Its Own Guidelines?
Unfortunately, it’s shenanigans like this that cast doubt on true science and researchers who work hard to show that their data is substantive. When the very agency that is supposed to protect you changes its rules to fit whatever game it’s playing at the moment, it’s hard to believe anything that the agency puts out.
And that can be alarming, because one day the FDA may come up with some important rulings, possibly during a real pandemic of epidemic proportions, that people won’t pay attention to, after fiascos like this.
The FDA has policies and procedures aimed at reducing conflicts of interest in drug trials and reviews. But it also provides a slew of waivers that can allow scientists – or ghostwriters – to get away with creating studies that contain significant bias.
Many arguments could be posed for why researchers would want the FDA to overlook bias in their work. The obvious one is greed. Less obvious is a subconscious “placebo-type” effect that simply leads the researchers into coming to conclusions they don’t really see.
This effect could be due to what’s known in the scientific world as “target-based discovery”. That’s when a researcher sets out with a target in mind – say, you want to find a drug component that can reduce flu symptoms – and then comes up with trials that point straight to the target.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be an intended consequence, meaning a dishonest attempt to deceive, but, like a placebo effect, what happens is that human nature tends to find what the brain is looking for.
The need for speed could be another factor in how bias comes into play. Sometimes public pressure for a cure can hurry up drug research and production – and increase the possibility of tainted trials.
But no matter what the reason, there’s no excuse for it.
There are Cost-Effective Ways to Control Bias
Perhaps Roche and the FDA should read that 2007 article on how bias can adversely affect clinical trials. In it, the author, Mark Lindner, shows how controlling bias actually can increase productivity and, ultimately produce more revenue than having to recall a failed drug.
Making sure that bias doesn’t happen from the start, in the preclinical trials, is one of the best ways to assure that an ineffective drug doesn’t expend time and money in the actual trials, Lindner says.
This is vitally important, because in clinical trials, the hopes, beliefs, and expectations (together referred to as the biases of the patients and investigators) can affect the results, usually to exaggerate the therapeutic effects of the treatment being evaluated, according to Lindner.
As far as Tamiflu goes, we don’t know what happened with the clinical trials of this drug. We can only guess if bias or conflicts of interest played a part in its creation. Was it pressure to quickly come up with a drug to combat flu? Or money? Or was it wanton placebo-effect expectations that brought this drug to market? We don’t know.
What we do know, however, is that there’s more evidence of Tamiflu being harmful, than evidence backing up its reputed effectiveness. In fact, proof of its benefits is nearly nonexistent.
The truth is, Tamiflu just isn’t as safe or effective as you’ve been led to believe. I’ve been telling my readers to avoid this dangerous drug for years, and finally the word is getting out.

Worldwide H1N1 Deaths Top 10,000

With the worst pandemic in over two decades, the H1N1 virus has taken over and has been linked to over 10,000 deaths worldwide. The virus is not only spreading throughout the United States but rather in countries all over the world. In the U.S., the CDC estimates that 1 in every 6 Americans have been infected by the H1N1 virus.
The World Health Organization(WHO) announced on Friday, December 18, 2009 that no less than 10,582 deaths have occurred as a result of the swine flu. These deaths reportedly span over 208 countries that have lab-confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus.
Despite the staggering number of deaths, the crusade against the H1N1 virus actually seems to be working well. According to a recent statement released by the WHO, swine flu activity has substantially declined in the United States and Canada with levels nearing the seasonal baseline.
Prescriptions written for the anti-viral flu drug Tamiflu have also significantly decreased, as have swine flu diagnoses in the United States over the past month.
The rate of infections have notably decreased throughout the U.S. The rate of infections in Europe have decreased as well, however 99% of all flu cases in the countries throughout Europe are confirmed cases of the swine flu.
Other countries experiencing diminishing flu activity include Japan, Taiwan and Mongolia, South America and the Caribbean, as well as parts of China.
Unfortunately some countries were not so lucky. Countries experiencing an increase in the rate and severity of cases include the countries scattered throughout Western, Central, and Southeast Asia.
The 10,582 deaths so far only include the deaths from April of 2009 to December 13, 2009. Several more death may have occurred since that time, and many more deaths are likely to happen thereafter. The WHO identifies that the number of deaths in a typical flu season are between 250,000 and 500,000.
Until a cure is found the best way to combat this worldwide pandemic is by washing hands frequently, employing other techniques for prevention, and vaccination. Keep yourself well-educated on the ever rampant H1N1 virus and employ as many prevention techniques as possible to keep yourself and your family happy and healthy this holiday season.

New antiviral effective against bird flu

A compound tested in mice has proved safer and more effective against H5N1 bird flu than the popular antiviral Tamiflu, scientists in Wisconsin said.
T-705 even works after several days of infection, said Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a virologist at the University of Wisconsin's School of Veterinary Medicine. 
"H5N1 virus is so pathogenic even Tamiflu doesn't protect all the infected animals," Kawaoka said. "This (antiviral) compound works much better, even three days after infection."
T-705 has been tested successfully against bird flu and H1N1 swine flu in mouse experiments and is being tested on humans in Japan against seasonal flu, Kawaoka said in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Some scientists believe bird flu, which is extremely difficult to treat, could spread worldwide, though so far cases have been isolated to Asia.
T-705 targets the viral molecule polymerase, an enzyme that enables the virus to copy its genetic material. By disabling polymerase, the virus can't create new virus particles needed to maintain the chain of infection, Kawaoka said in a release Tuesday.

Tamiflu still prudent for pandemic influenza

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is standing by its decision to stockpile and widely distribute neuraminidase inhibitors such as oral oseltamivir (Tamiflu) for use against the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza, despite an updated Cochrane review that questions their usefulness.
The review assessed 20 trials to see how well neuraminidase inhibitors prevented or reduced the symptoms of influenza, its transmission and complications in healthy adults (BMJ 2009;339:b5106). It also assessed the frequency of adverse events and concluded that while the drugs reduced the symptoms of influenza by about a day, they do not prevent infection or stop viral spread. The authors questioned the reliability of evidence that the drugs reduce the risk of complications in healthy adults and advised against prescribing them to treat seasonal influenza.
in an accompanying editorial, the British Medical Journal argued that as public health agencies had stockpiled oseltamivir on the basis of the manufacturer’s claims that oseltamivir reduced the risk of complication in healthy adults, it is imperative that Roche make available the data from eight unpublished trials.
But PHAC indicated that the controversy is immaterial to its recommendations. “The articles published in the BMJ do not change [the] Public Health Agency of Canada’s advice with respect to the use of antivirals with the H1N1 flu virus,” PHAC said in a written response to CMAJ inquiries. PHAC also noted that the World Health Organization has indicated it would not vary its advice about using antivirals.
The Cochrane review focused on seasonal influenza, not the pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus, the agency pointed out. It said antivirals are not recommended for treating healthy adults with mild illness, but continued to recommend them for those at risk of complications, including young children, pregnant women, people with chronic medical conditions and patients who are “very ill.”
Leading Canadian infectious disease experts backed PHAC’s decision to stockpile the drug and make it widely available. They also concurred on the reviewers’ call for more studies. 
Given that the drug is safe, cheap and has some impact on the severity and duration of symptoms, Dr. Allison McGeer believes it makes sense to use it.
“Faced with the same data and the same decision again, I think people should be stockpiling,” adds McGeer, director of infection control at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, Ontario.  
It’s difficult to get good data about reductions in complications in an outpatient population, which is where most people are taking oseltamivir, says McGeer, who also questioned Jefferson’s interpretation of the data about complications.
In the review, principal investigator Dr. Tom Jefferson and colleagues noted a reduction in complications that is not statistically significant in a meta-analysis, but is clinically significant, says McGeer. The data implies that if a patient is treated within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms, they are 55% less likely to have complications than if they were not treated. 
“When you’ve done studies that demonstrate a 55% reduction in complications, the message is not that they (the drugs) don’t work — the message is that we want more data,” she says.
The main problem for doctors treating influenza patients with the antivirals is that they are very effective if patients come for treatment in the first 6 to 12 hours, and generally effective up to 48 hours. But many people don’t come in for treatment that early, McGeer says. 
Dr. Fred Aoki, an infectious disease physician at the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre and an influenza researcher at the University of Manitoba, and McGeer, argued that the negative interpretation of the data was a function of under-powered studies, which took place during years where there was no severe influenza strain.
Aoki believes that once the data is analyzed from the most recent outbreak, it will show that treating with oseltamivir does reduce complications. “It’s my expectation that oseltamivir should work against this pandemic virus.”
The trick will be to get it into the hands of people more quickly than during the first 36-48 hours of their illness, he adds.
Stockpiling it was the right thing to do, Aoki says. “We have to take out this insurance policy against there being unpredictable catastrophic disease.” But he adds that emerging information about resistance to oseltamivir means that PHAC should consider replacing the stockpile of oseltamivir with zanamivir, an inhaled antiviral. 

Swine flu kills 9 in 48 hours

On Monday, seven people had succumbed to swine flu. On Tuesday, the H1N1 virus claimed two more lives as Kaushal Gupta, 69, died in Sterling Hospital in Ahmedabad while Ramlal Mavadia, 76, succumbed in GG Civil Hospital in Jamnagar. At least three more people died on Tuesday due to suspected swine flu but their test results are yet to be ascertained.
The high number of deaths has sent alarm bells ringing as Health officials urged private medical practitioners to follow renewed World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and administer Tamiflu to suspected swine flu patients in the initial days of symptoms to avoid complications. 
In Gujarat, it has been noticed that most patients who died in public hospitals were being treated for viral infections and pneumonia and brought for swine flu treatment when severe complications had set in. “It is important that private doctors take up the challenge of simple management of flu patients. Many patients are first treated for simple fever even pneumonia delaying H1N1 treatment which can prove fatal for patients. If doctors suspect that patient may have swine flu, they should start Tamiflu, said health secretary Rajesh Kishore who said swine flu was expected to worsen in winter. While a surge in swine flu was expected in winter season, public congregations like Unjha fair, the IIM festival and the forthcoming Kankaria Carnival are feared to expose more people to the virus. 
While the government had installed thermal scanners at Navratri and Ambaji festivity venues, it curiously will not be scanning lakhs of people who will throng Kankaria. “Six medical team with eight doctors will be put to monitor swine flu. The check-ups will be voluntary and not mandatory for visitors,” said AMC medical health officer Suhas Kulkarni. 
Meanwhile, infectious diseases specialist Dr Atul Patel said most doctors in other districts are not even aware that Tamiflu is now available in their region on prescription. “More awareness needs to be created. Also government might think of importing vaccines which will help stem the onslaught of swine flu,” said Dr Patel.

Tamiflu oral suspension supply update

Roche has notified healthcare professionals that they have begun shipping additional quantities of Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate) oral suspension. Production of Tamiflu oral suspension was prioritized and increased in response to a supply shortage in September 2009. Roche continues to make all forms of Tamiflu, and increasing quantities of the oral suspension will become available through the beginning of 2010.
In the event that the oral suspension is unavailable, pharmacists may compound a suspension from Tamiflu 75mg capsules (final concentration 15mg/mL) using either of two vehicles: Cherry Syrup (from Humco) or Ora-Sweet SF (sugar-free) (from Paddock), following the FDA-approved instructions found in the Tamiflu Prescribing Information. In response to the shortage, Humco and Paddock Labs have increased production of Cherry Syrup and Ora-Sweet SF, respectively. 
Tamiflu is available as a 12mg/mL oral suspension and as capsules in 30mg, 45mg, and 75mg dosage strengths.
For more information call (800) 526-6367 or visit Pharmacyon

New Japanese flu drug protects mice from avian flu

An experimental influenza drug can protect mice against H5N1 avian influenza better than the preferred drug Tamiflu, researchers reported on Monday.
The drug, called T-705 or favipiravir, is made by Fujifilm Holdings Corp (4901.T) unit Toyama Chemical Co. It works differently from Tamiflu and Relenza and seems to work at lower doses, the researchers reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tamiflu, Roche AG (ROG.VX) and Gilead Sciences Inc's (GILD.O) popular pill and Relenza, GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK.L) (GSK.N) and Biota Inc's (BTA.AX) inhaled flu drug, must be given with 48 hours to be fully effective.
"This compound works much better, even three days after infection," Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Tokyo and the University of Wisconsin said in a statement.
"Our results suggest that T-705 is safe and effective in combating H5N1 influenza viruses and is, thus, a promising candidate antiviral for the treatment of highly pathogenic H5N1 patients," Kawaoka and colleagues wrote.
Although it has not, like H1N1 swine flu, caused a pandemic, H5N1 avian influenza is still circulating. It has infected 447 people and killed 263 of them since 2003, and most experimental new flu drugs, such as T-705, were being tested against H5N1.
Flu experts still fear H5N1 could quickly change into a form that humans could easily pass from one to another and it is far more deadly than H1N1.

"H5N1 virus is so pathogenic even Tamiflu doesn't protect all the infected animals," Kawaoka said.
The virus also could combine with with resistant strains of seasonal influenza virus to become both resistant to drugs and also more easily transmitted.
"Therefore, there is a need for unique and effective antivirals to combat H5N1 influenza viruses," he said.
SWINE FLU TOO
Experts also fear that H1N1 swine flu could become widely resistant to Tamiflu, as its seasonal strain has.
The government-funded study, available here, used mice infected with a highly pathogenic version of H5N1.
The drug also stopped the overreaction of the immune system that many researchers believe sometimes kills flu patients.
Kawaoka is sometimes paid to speak for drug companies, but this study was funded by the Japanese and U.S. governments.
Other experimental flu drugs in the pipeline include peramivir, made by Biocryst Pharmaceuticals Inc (BCRX.O) and licensed to Shionogi & Co Ltd (4507.T). It is licensed for emergency use in the United States for extremely ill patients who must be treated intravenously.

Fox Valley briefs

McHenry County makes flu treatment available
The McHenry County Department of Health is making the flu medicines Tamiflu and Relenza available to primary care physicians and pharmacies as treatment of H1N1 symptoms in high-risk people. The department received two shipments of the antivirals as part of the Centers for Disease and Prevention Control's Strategic National Stockpile. The medicines are free to those who are not able to afford them otherwise. The CDC remains cautious of a third wave of H1N1 in the spring, coupled with seasonal flu. Those exhibiting H1N1 symptoms should check with their health care provider for antiviral availability. For more flu tips, visit mcdh.info or call the department's H1N1 hotline at (815) 334-2800. 
Flu vaccine at the library
The Dundee Township Library will offer vaccines for H1N1, seasonal flu and pneumonia from noon to 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 28. The shots will be administered on a first-come, first-served basis. The H1N1 shots are $15, while the seasonal flu shot is $25 and the pneumonia vaccine is $45. Cash or check payments are accepted. Medicare is not. The H1N1 vaccine is an injectable shot containing a dead virus. The nasal spray will not be available. Children through 10 years of age should get two doses of the vaccine about a month apart. If your child has already received one dose a minimum of 30 days ago (injection or nasal spray), he or she they can receive a second dose at the library. Children 11 or older and adults need only one dose. For details, call the library at (847) 428-3661 or visit online at dundeelibrary.info. The Dundee Township Library is at 555 Barrington Ave., East Dundee. 
Carpentersville needs volunteers
The Village of Carpentersville is looking for candidates to serve on the village's newly adopted Business Development Commission. The seven-member commission will be appointed on the basis of experience and background. Not all members will be required to be village residents. However, at least four members must be electors and residents of the village for at least one year. One resident will be a consumer and registered to vote. The commission will function in an advisory capacity and will meet at least monthly. 

Compound Found to Safely Counter Deadly Bird Flu

The specter of a drug-resistant form of the deadly H5N1 avian influenza is a nightmare to keep public health officials awake at night. Now, however, a study published the week of Dec. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) suggests that a new compound, one on the threshold of final testing in humans, may be more potent and safer for treating "bird flu" than the antiviral drug best known by the trade name Tamiflu.
Known as T-705, the compound even works several days after infection, according to Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist and the senior author of the new PNAS study.
"H5N1 virus is so pathogenic even Tamiflu doesn't protect all the infected animals," explains Kawaoka, a professor of pathobiological sciences at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and a world authority on influenza. "This compound works much better, even three days after infection."
The Wisconsin research was conducted in mice and demonstrated that the compound was effective and safe against H5N1 virus, the highly pathogenic bird flu virus, which some scientists fear could spark a global epidemic of deadly influenza. The compound is also effective against seasonal flu and more worrisome varieties such as the H1N1 virus, and has already been tested against circulating seasonal influenza in humans in Japan where it is on the brink of Phase III clinical trials in people.
The prospect of a new front-line drug for influenza, in particular highly pathogenic strains such as H5N1 virus, is important as there are few drugs capable of checking the shifty influenza virus. The new study showing the efficacy and safety of T-705 assumes more importance as instances of Tamiflu-resistant strains of H5N1 virus have recently been reported, raising concerns about the ability of current antiviral drugs to blunt a pandemic of deadly avian flu.
Antiviral drugs are viewed as a readily available first line of defense against pandemic flu and are especially important for protecting health workers and others during an outbreak of disease. Vaccines, which utilize inactivated or weakened viruses to confer immunity, are the primary line of defense for influenza, but require months to formulate and mass-produce.
Aside from its safety and basic efficacy, another key trait of the T-705 compound is the fact that it is effective even after an infection is acquired. Bird flu, notes Kawaoka, is almost always diagnosed in the hospital after symptoms of the disease manifest themselves: "This compound has a chance to save people who have gone into the disease course," he says.
T-705 targets a critical viral molecule, polymerase, an enzyme that enables the virus to copy its genetic material, RNA. By disabling polymerase, the virus is unable to make new virus particles and maintain the chain of infection. Tamiflu, which remains an effective drug for blocking influenza virus, targets and regulates the enzyme neuraminidase, a protein found on the surface of the flu virus particle and that is essential for spreading the virus throughout the respiratory system.
"The activity of this agent is considerably higher than Tamiflu," says Kawaoka, adding, "the compound is very specific to viral polymerase. It doesn't affect host polymerase, which is important for safety and reducing side effects."
The new Wisconsin study was funded through the Program of Founding Research Centers for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases; the Japan Science and Technology Agency; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan; and by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Swine flu patients urged not to collect medicines themselves

The health authorities are urging people sick with swine flu to stay at home rather than going themselves to pick up the antivirals from government pharmacies or health centres.
Instead, they should send a relative to pick up their medication so as not to infect other people with the influenza that is causing a global pandemic.
From today, private family doctors will be able to prescribe the antiviral Tamiflu to vulnerable people with flu-like symptoms and those who start showing complications. The antivirals can be picked up from government pharmacies or health centres when the pharmacies are closed and also from the pharmacy at the Gozo Hospital.
This arrangement has raised concerns that people with influenza could transmit the virus to other patients queuing to pick up their medicines or even to the pharmacists dispensing the medicines.
Answering questions by The Times, a spokesman for the Community Care Parliamentary Secretariat said people who were sick should "strictly" stay at home and let their relatives pick up antivirals for them.
"Any other person queuing for other medicines can be a carrier. Asymptomatic patients are running around in the community without them being aware.
"Hence, the risks from relatives picking up medicines is not bigger than that of any other person running around in the community," the spokesman said.
The authorities said they did not intend to install Perspex barriers to protect pharmacists and there would not be a separate waiting area for people who need to pick up antivirals.
Tamiflu will be given to pregnant women, children under five years of age and those with chronic diseases of the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys or diabetes.
Healthy people who are showing signs of complications will also be given the drugs.
Tamiflu may be collected from the Birkirkara, Paola, Mosta, Cospicua, Floriana, Qormi, Luqa and Gżira government phar-macies, Mount Carmel and Karen Grech hospitals, the Rabat, Cospicua, Qormi, Paola, Mosta, Floriana and Gżira health centres and from the General Hospital in Gozo.

Seoul to ship Tamiflu aid to Kaesong

South Korea will send a stockpile of Tamiflu and other anti-viral drugs to North Korea later this week to help control an outbreak of the A(H1N1) virus there, the Unification Ministry said yesterday.
North Korea has accepted South Korea’s offer to provide anti-viral drugs for 500,000 people after acknowledging nine domestic cases of type-A influenza last week. 
“On Friday, our government will deliver the aid to Kaesong via the road” that crosses the western side of the inter-Korean border, ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said at a briefing. Kaesong is a North Korean town just north of the border that houses an inter-Korean industrial complex and is connected to Pyongyang by an expressway. 
The aid comprises Tamiflu doses for 400,000 people and Relenza, another anti-viral drug, for 100,000, the ministry said. 
The medication and its delivery in refrigerated trucks will cost about 18 billion won ($15 million). 
Doctors will accompany the trucks to oversee the delivery and give advice to North Koreans on how to use the medication.

Roche CEO sees group outpacing market in '09-paper

Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX) will have grown considerably faster than the market this year, the group's head was quoted as saying in an interview with Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung.
"2009 will be a very good year. Even without Tamiflu, we will significantly outpace the market. Thanks to the quality of our pipeline we will also be able to build up our market position in the long term," CEO Severin Schwan said.
Roche has 10 new investigational agents in late stage development, Schwan said.
Roche, the world's biggest maker of cancer drugs, posted a forecast-beating 10 percent rise in third-quarter sales in October, helped by demand for antiviral drug Tamiflu due to the H1N1 swine flu pandemic.[ID:nLD628052]
Tamiflu sales are likely to be above 2.7 billion Swiss francs ($2.59 billion) this year and Schwan said the group would likely see significant sales next year, but it was difficult to be more precise as it was not yet clear how swine flu and seasonal flu would develop.

Tamiflu, Relenza offered to docs

The McHenry County Department of Health has made available its recent shipment of Tamiflu and Relenza to interested primary care physicians and pharmacies.
Antivirals are intended for treating H1N1 symptoms in high risk individuals as prescribed by a physician. As part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Strategic National Stockpile, two shipments of antivirals have been received in McHenry County since April for use by health departments, local hospitals and health care providers. Antivirals from the national stockpile are free to individuals who are unable to afford them.
“To reduce the impact that influenza has on families, it is important that treatment be readily available,” said Patrick J. McNulty, McHenry County Public Health administrator. “Antivirals, when used in appropriate situations, have proven to reduce the severity of H1N1 symptoms, and to return individuals to their regular routines.”
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control remain wary of a possible third wave of H1N1 in the spring, coupled with seasonal flu, McHenry County health officials said in a news release.
Influenza is a contagious and unpredictable illness and can lead to serious infection, especially to anyone with underlying medical conditions. It is important to reduce risk of contracting the flu and spreading it to others. Health officials encourage residents to become vaccinated and follow the three Cs: cover your cough, clean your hands, and contain your germs by staying home if you’re sick.
Individuals exhibiting H1N1 symptoms should check with their health care provider for antiviral availability. 

Tamiflu May Have Been Falsely Marketed

Two months ago, we pointed out in our story on flu in The Atlantic that the antiviral drug Tamiflu might not be as effective or safe as many patients, doctors, and governments think. The drug has been widely prescribed since the first cases of H1N1 flu surfaced last spring, and the U.S. government has spent more than $1.5 billion stockpiling it since 2005 as part of the nation’s pandemic preparedness plan.
Now it looks as if our concerns were correct, and the nation may have put more than a billion dollars into the medical equivalent of a mirage. This week, the British medical journal BMJ published a multi-part investigation that confirms that the scientific evidence just isn’t there to show that Tamiflu prevents serious complications, hospitalization, or death in people that have the flu. The BMJ goes further to suggest that Roche, the Swiss company that manufactures and markets Tamiflu, may have misled governments and physicians. In its defense, Roche stated that the company “has never concealed (or had the intention to conceal) any pertinent data.”

Call me crazy: Pregnant and panicked about swine flu

I've just gotten on the elevator, and I have a problem. The buttons are staring at me, all dark, waiting to be pushed. I look at the 5, knowing that's where I need to go, but I hesitate. Who knows how many germy fingers have touched it this morning?
After staring at the panel for a few seconds, I poke the 5 with my elbow, happy nobody else is around to see my awkward, swine-flu-avoiding move. 
I have not always been a neurotic germaphobe. 
Even after I learned I was pregnant with my second child, I would share bottles of water with friends, gladly open doors and shake strangers' hands without a care. I thought it was healthy for my toddler to get a few colds to help boost her immune system. But since the swine flu outbreak, I've gone a bit off the rails. 
I now push doors open with my hip, scurry into restaurants on other patrons' heels so they have to hold the door for me, and always -- always -- have hand sanitizer within reach. 
My germ fixation began when I started reading reports about children and pregnant women being disproportionately at risk of dying or becoming horribly ill from the H1N1 virus. About 10,000 Americans have died from it, including 1,140 children, since April. A lot of those people were healthy before they got it -- and that's the key difference between the swine flu and the flu from seasons past. 
We've been told that pregnant women are 10 times as likely as other flu victims to be hospitalized if we get H1N1. Doctors now recommend the antiviral drug Tamiflu for us at the first signs of flu, even though it has not been tested on fetuses. 
I was terrified. 
I feared that pregnancy hormones might have put me in mommy overdrive, so I consulted my obstetrician, asking her how important it was for me to get the swine flu and seasonal flu shots. She told me a patient of hers years back died from the seasonal flu, and her husband's grandparents died in Spain from the 1918 flu, a strain similar to the one now circulating. That was all I needed to hear.All this is to explain why if someone coughs within earshot of me, I shoot them a dirty look. I keep my daughter away from kiddie museums and other places I deem possible flu incubators. I sacrifice trees, wasting paper towels in public bathrooms to cover faucets as I turn them on and off. I feel ridiculous doing these strange dances. But I am terrified my daughter or I will get sick and end up in the hospital, or worse. I used to make fun of my germaphobe friends. Now I e-mail them every day so we can talk swine flu developments and the latest newspaper article about the most recent death toll. I don't blame the media for my Code Orange panic. I think the reporting has been responsible and informative. A good friend of mine wrote a column in this newspaper telling everyone to chill. The message was lost on me. That same friend threw a Halloween party where 5-year-olds bobbed for apples as their parents held their hair out of the water -- something she jokingly called "swine stew." I was aghast -- though I have to say, I don't think any of those kids got sick. Still, I'm not taking chances. I'd rather live in this anxiety-ridden world I've created for myself for a few more months than risk getting that dreaded flu. So if you see me doing strange rituals, please understand it's only temporary. Oh, and could you hold that door?

Significant drop in demand for Tamiflu

PARK House Antiviral Collection Point (ACP) in Burton Road, Carlton, has closed.
This is because there has been a significant reduction in the number of people requiring Tamiflu for the treatment of swine flu.
The decision will be reviewed in the New Year.
Ashfield Health Village ACP remains open from 1pm until 6pm, Monday to Friday, and midday to 3pm on Saturday and Sunday.
On bank holidays over the Christmas period, it will be open 10am to midday.
The ACP at the Co-operative Pharmacy at Balderton Care Centre remains open 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
The ACP at Co-operative Pharmacy, Stapleford Care Centre, also remains open 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.
The situation will be monitored and NHS Notts County will maintain a flexible approach should demand increase or continue to decline.
Dr Chris Kenny, director of Public Health for NHS Notts County said: "After reviewing the number of flu friends passing through the ACPs this week, and in view of the general slowdown in demand, we have decided to stand down the ACP."

Tamiflu Given For Swine Flu Linked to Stevens Johnson Syndrome

With all of the publicity and concern surrounding the swine flu, many people have taken solace in the fact that a treatment of limited benefit exists. This medicine is called Tamiflu, and although it can often speed up recovery for those suffering from H1N1, a recent report from England reveals that it can also cause Stevens Johnson syndrome, a potentially fatal reaction that affects one’s skin.
Samantha Millard, 18 years old and from Bicester in Oxfordshire, took the medicine after consulting a staff that had received no medical training. She quickly developed rashes all over her body, and is currently undergoing treatment at Chelsea and Westminster hospital. Possible results of the Stevens Johnson syndrome or SJS are blindness, loss of skin, and an inability to eat due to blisters in one’s mouth. SJS has also been commonly linked to Dilantin and it generic equivalent phenytoin.
Although the causes of Stevens Johnson syndrome vary by medication and the manner in which it is taken, medical officials in England and representatives from the Department of Health are looking into the incident and Tamiflu connection. They currently maintain that Tamiflu is still a favorable strategy for fighting the swine flu and encourage sufferers to take it as soon as possible.
Most importantly, stay in close contact with your doctor if you develop flu-like symptoms, and keep him or her updated on any side effects that any prescribed medicine has caused. At the first sign of a rash or other intended effect, please ontact your doctor immediately to ensure the best course for you and your recovery.

Tamiflu anti-viral drug revealed as complete hoax; Roche studies based on scientific fraud

When it comes to selling chemicals that claim to treat H1N1 swine flu, the pharmaceutical industry's options are limited to two: Vaccines and anti-virals. The most popular anti-viral, by far, is Tamiflu, a drug that's actually derived from a Traditional Chinese Medicine herb called star anise.
But Tamiflu is no herb. It's a potentially fatal concentration of isolated chemical components that have essentially been bio-pirated from Chinese medicine. And when you isolate and concentrate specific chemicals in these herbs, you lose the value (and safety) of full-spectrum herbal medicine.
That didn't stop Tamiflu's maker, Roche, from trying to find a multi-billion-dollar market for its drug. In order to tap into that market, however, Roche needed to drum up some evidence that Tamiflu was both safe and effective.
Roche engages in science fraud
Roche claims there are ten studies providing Tamiflu is both safe and effective. According to the company, Tamiflu has all sorts of benefits, including a 61% reduction in hospital admissions by people who catch the flu and then get put on Tamiflu.
The problem with these claims is that they aren't true. They were simply invented by Roche.
A groundbreaking article recently published in the British Medical Journal accuses Roche of misleading governments and physicians over the benefits of Tamiflu. Out of the ten studies cited by Roche, it turns out, only two were ever published in science journals. And where is the original data from those two studies? Lost.
The data has disappeared. Files were discarded. The researcher of one study says he never even saw the data. Roche took care of all that, he explains.
So the Cochrane Collaboration, tasked with reviewing the data behind Tamiflu, decided to investigate. After repeated requests to Roche for the original study data, they remained stonewalled. The only complete data set they received was from an unpublished study of 1,447 adults which showed that Tamiflu was no better than placebo. Data from the studies that claimed Tamiflu was effective was apparently lost forever.
As The Atlantic reports, that's when former employees of Adis International (essentially a Big Pharma P.R. company) shocked the medical world by announcing they had been hired to ghost-write the studies for Roche. 
It gets even better: These researchers were told what to write by Roche!
As one of these ghostwriters told the British Medical Journal:
"The Tamiflu accounts had a list of key messages that you had to get in. It was run by the [Roche] marketing department and you were answerable to them. In the introduction ...I had to say what a big problem influenza is. I'd also have to come to the conclusion that Tamiflu was the answer."
In other words, the Roche marketing department ran the science and told researchers what conclusions to draw from the clinical trials. Researchers hired to conduct the science were controlled by the marketing puppeteers. No matter what they found in the science, they had already been directed to reach to conclusion that "Tamiflu was the answer." 
Now, I don't know about you, but where I come from, we call this "science fraud." And as numerous NaturalNews investigations have revealed, this appears to be the status quo in the pharmaceutical industry.
Virtually none of the "science" conducted by drug companies can be trusted at all because it really isn't science in the first place. It's just propaganda being dressed up to look like science.
Sadly, even the CDC has been fooled by this clinical trial con. As stated by author Shannon Brownlee in The Atlantic:
"...the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appears to be operating in some alternative universe, where valid science no longer matters to public policy. The agency's flu recommendations are in lockstep with Roche's claims that the drug can be life-saving -- despite the FDA's findings and despite the lack of studies to prove such a claim. What's more, neither the CDC nor the FDA has demanded the types of scientific studies that could definitively determine whether or not the company's claims are true: that Tamiflu reduces the risk of serious complications and saves lives. Nancy Cox, who heads the CDC's flu program, told us earlier this year she opposes a placebo-controlled study (in which one half of patients would be given Tamiflu and the other half would be given placebo), because the drug's benefits are already proven."
Did you catch that last line? The CDC isn't interested in testing Tamiflu because "the drug's benefits are already proven." Except they aren't. But this is how the pharmaceutical industry operates:
Step 1) Fabricate evidence that your drug works.
Step 2) Use that fraudulent evidence to get your drug approved.
Step 3) Use fear to create consumer demand for your drug (and encourage governments to stockpile it).
Step 4) Avoid any actual scientific testing by claiming the drug has already been proven to work (and cite your original fraudulent studies to back you up).
This is the recipe the CDC is following right now with Tamiflu. It's a recipe of scientific stupidity and circular logic, of course, but that seems to be strangely common in the medical community these days.
Even the FDA says Tamiflu doesn't work
The FDA, remarkably, hasn't entirely given in to the Tamiflu hoax. They required Roche to print the following disclaimer on Tamiflu lables -- a disclaimer that openly admits the drug has never been proven to work:
"Tamiflu has not been proven to have a positive impact on the potential consequences (such as hospitalizations, mortality, or economic impact) of seasonal, avian, or pandemic influenza."
Even further, an FDA spokesperson told the British Medical Journal, "The clinical trials... failed to demonstrate any significant difference in rates of hospitalization, complications, or mortality in patients receiving either Tamiflu or placebo."
It's the same message over and over again, like a broken record: Tamiflu doesn't work. And the "science" that says Tamiflu does work was all apparently fabricated from the start.
The Tamiflu stockpiling scandal
Junk science, though, is good enough for the U.S. government. Based on little more than fabricated evidence and Big Pharma propaganda, the U.S. government has spent $1.5 billion stockpiling Tamiflu. This turned out to be a great deal for Roche, but a poor investment for U.S. citizens who ended up spending huge dollars for a medicine that doesn't work.
As is stated in the Atlantic:
"Governments, public health agencies, and international bodies such as the World Health Organization, have all based their decisions to recommend and stockpile Tamiflu on studies that had seemed independent, but had in fact been funded by the company and were authored almost entirely by Roche employees or paid academic consultants."
Even if Tamiflu did work, there are Tamiflu-resistant strains of H1N1 are now circulating .
The upshot of all this is that governments around the world are flushing billions of dollars down the drain stockpiling a drug that doesn't work -- a drug promoted via propaganda and scientific fraud.
This isn't the first time your government has wasted taxpayer dollars, of course (it seems to be what the U.S. government does best), but this example is especially concerning given that this was all done with the excuse that natural remedies are useless and only vaccines and Tamiflu can protect you from a viral pandemic.
But as it turns out, vaccines and Tamiflu are useless and only natural remedies really work. That's why so many informed people around the world have been stocking up on vitamin D, garlic, anti-viral tinctures and superfoods to protect themselves from a potential pandemic that most world governments remain clueless to prevent.
I find it fascinating that the governments of the world are stockpiling medicines that DON'T work, while the natural health people of the world are stockpiling natural remedies that DO work. If a real pandemic ever strikes our world, there's no question who the survivors will be (hint: it won't be the clueless chaps standing in line waiting for their Tamiflu pills...).
Which remedies really do work to boost immune function and protect the body from infectious disease? I've actually published a special report revealing my top five recommended remedies:
In addition to the remedies mentioned in that report, I also recommend high-dose vitamin D as well as the Viral Defense product from www.PlantCures.com
I have no financial ties to any of the companies whose products are recommended here, by the way. Unlike the pharmaceutical industry, I don't operate purely for profit. My job is to get valuable information out to the People -- information that can help save lives and reduce suffering. This is the job the FDA and CDC should be doing but have long since abandoned in their betrayal of the American people.

H1N1 vaccine coming available to all; TamiFlu at pharmacies

In addition to the H1N1 vaccine being open to all individuals starting Monday, Dec. 14, the Ohio Department of Health also is opening distribution of anti-viral drugs to help people who come down with the flu recover.
The department announced Wednesday, Dec. 9, a public-private partnership with four retail pharmacies to ensure the availability of antiviral medications.
Giant Eagle, Kroger, Meijer and Walgreens pharmacies will be the recipients of medications from the state's supply. The drugs will be administered to the pharmacies as needed if shortages arise. The chain stores then will send the medications to stores with low supplies.
"We're really grateful that these four retailers have stepped us to help us make sure that Ohioans who need antivirals for H1N1 and influenza have antivirals available for them," said Kristopher Weiss, spokesman for the department of health.
Almost 1.5 million courses of prescription antivirals are available through the state and others are available from federal outlets if necessary. Weiss said the majority of the doses are TamiFlu, with a few Relenza also in stock.
"Your doctor would prescribe them to you if you were very sick," Weiss said. "If you're a high-risk individual with a chronic illness ... you should call your doctor right away and talk about if antiviral medication might be good for you."
The antivirals reduce the length of the illness and the severity, Weiss said.
The retailers will pay for the drugs to be shipped to them; however, the pharmacies cannot charge the patient more than $3.75 for the drug, Weiss said.
"These are government assets that aren't being sold," he said.
Weiss said the department has yet to ship any supplies out and isn't sure if shortages will come about.
"There have been some spotty shortages reported around the country," Weiss said. "This was a step we wanted to take proactively in the event we experience a similar thing here in Ohio."
The Ohio Department of Health also was the authority that named Dec. 14 as the date for vaccines to be open to all people statewide.
With clinics open to all people, "That means every vaccine provider in Central Ohio that has a vaccine should make it available to all of our residents," said Jose Rodriguez, communications director for Columbus Public Health.
Columbus Public Health will continue to offer walk-in H1N1 vaccine clinics, but many other providers, such as doctors and pharmacies, will have vaccines as well.
"We encourage folks to get it wherever it is most comfortable for them," Rodriguez said. He recommended people check with their private health care providers before turning to other clinics.
"This is a great time to get vaccinated -- right before the holidays, right before people" start gathering together, he said. "This is not the time to let our guard down."
Rodriguez recommended college students who will return home for the holidays get their vaccine while at home.
"If you didn't get it done at school, this is a great time to get it done," he said.
"Parents of children under the age of 9 that got (their child) a first shot need to go back," Rodriguez said. "A child is not fully immunized until he or she gets the second dose."
Rodriguez said it does not matter where a parent takes a child for the second dose. The child does not have to return to the same vaccine provider that gave the first shot.

Fixing Fatal Tamiflu Resistance in Pandemic H1N1

The recent report of H274Y cases doubling in the Netherlands in the past week, including 4 of 11 fatalities, has raised concerns that Tamiflu resistance has not only jumped to an evolutionarily fit pandemic H1N1 , but a lethal sub-clade. Similar numbers were reported in the United States where 10 new cases of resistance were described and four were fatal.
The report this week out of Vietnam left little doubt that H274Y was being efficiently transmitted to previously healthy young adults when seven students were infected during a train ride. Six were among ten students in one car, while a seventh was in another car, suggesting at least two independent transmission events. However, these patients recovered, even though the treatment with Tamiflu had little value since they were Tamiflu resistant prior to treatment. Sequences from these patients have not been released, so the relationship of this cluster to reports of sporadic cases is unclear.
However, sequences from the first Tamiflu resistant case without exposure to Tamiflu have been released and the HA sequence had a receptor binding domain change, D225E. Linkage between H274Y resistance and receptor binding domain changes was of concern because the fixing of H274Y in seasonal flu was linked to receptor binding domain changes. The key change in the fixing of H274Y was A193T, which emerged near the end of the 2007/2008 season and become dominant in the summer of 2008 in the southern hemisphere. This gave rise to an increase in H274Y to almost 100% of seasonal H1N1, with additional changes involving various combinations of polymorphisms at positions 187, 189, and 196,
The linkage between receptor binding domain changes and fixing of anti-viral resistance was also seen in S31N in seasonal H3N2. That change was linked to a change at position 193 (S193F),, as well as a change at position 225 (D225N).
Thus, when the H274Y in pandemic H1N1 was found in an isolate that had D225E, there was concern that the receptor binding domain could facilitate the spread of H274Y via a fit H1N1. These concerns were increased by a recent sequence from Tennessee which had H274Y and D225E.
However, two additional changes at position 225 were reported in pandemic H1N1 (D225G and D225N) and these changes were associated with fatal lung cases in Sao Paulo. The concerns were increased when sequences from Ukraine were released, which identified D225G in four of four fatal cases. Recently released sequences have added to the concern when the two new sequences, which were likely from fatal cases, had D225N. Both of these changes were found in a fatal case from Utah.
Concern that H274Y was pairing up with D225N was increased in a report fromFrance which cited two fatal cases with D225N and one of the two had H274Y. An expansion of this pairing could have dire consequences, because of the recent linkage between severe ad fatal cases with D225N, since Tamiflu remains as a first line defense against more severe cases of H1N1.
These concerns could be more appropriately addressed with the release sequences from the recent cases, including those that were fatal.
The fixing of H274Y In seasonal fu was linked to the jumping of H274Y and key polymorphisms from one genetic background to another via recombination. In pandemic H1N1, both H274Y and D225G have been found on multiple genetic backgrounds raising concerns that H274Y will soon be fixed in pandemic H1N1 and this fixing may be linked to receptor binding domain changes associated with severe and lethal infections.