# 2007
What started a few months ago as a worrisome trend now has grown into a genuine concern. More and more often researchers are finding Tamiflu (oseltamivir) resistant seasonal flu viruses.
Scientists are at a loss to explain why these patterns of resistance are emerging now, as they do not seem to correspond to actually usage of the drug.
This report written by Maggie Fox, Health and Science and Health Editor for Reuters' News.
Follow the link to read the entire article. As always, Maggie does a splendid job with her flu reporting.
A Hat tip to Ironorehopper for posting this on Flutrackers.
Flu bugs growing resistance to drugs, studies find
19 May 2008 17:25:49 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) - Seasonal flu viruses are developing the ability to evade influenza drugs globally, but how and why this is happening is not clear, experts told a conference on Monday.
Europe is the worst-affected by strains of influenza that resist the effects of antiviral drugs, but the resistance is growing globally, they told a meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
"A significant proportion of resistant viruses were observed in Europe this winter," Dr. Bruno Lina of Claude Bernard University in Lyons, France, told the meeting.
The resistance also varies by strain, with a quarter of H1N1 flu viruses resistant in Europe and about 11 percent of H1N1 in the United States, but far fewer cases of H3N2 and influenza B viruses.
Their findings show that flu viruses -- already known to mutate speedily -- may be even more unpredictable than anyone thought.
Experts fear drugs may become quickly useless to fight an unusually severe flu season or the emergence of a new strain of flu that may cause a pandemic. They have been stressing the need to develop new flu drugs and also quicker and better ways to make vaccines.
