I just read about a strain of H1N1 flu that’s resistant to Tamiflu. Four of these cases have been reported at Duke Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. I wondered if it has possibly infected people in the transplant clinic? A friend had her SCT at Duke one year when the flu was rampant in the transplant clinic. She said that a few of the patients became quite ill. She had the flu herself. She recovered and had a second stem cell transplant.
“All four of the North Carolina patients were hospitalized and were very ill with underlying severely compromised immune systems and multiple other complex medical conditions, according to researchers from the Duke University Medical Center. Three of the four died. No details have been released about how the patients caught the resistant virus or whether there was any contact among them.”
Maugh II, T.H. (2009, November 20). Swine flu seems to be trailing off — for now, at least. Retrieved from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/11/swine-flu-seems-to-be-tailing-offfor-now-at-elast.html
These resistant strains are popping up all over the world, as are strains resistant to other anti-viral drugs, such as amantadine.
As for Tamiflu, my GP told me recently that saying “boo!” to the H1N1 virus is more effective than Tamiflu. He couldn’t have a lower opinion of it. He, by the way, is one of the many MDs who have chosen not to have the H1N1 vaccine.
Well, if I end up getting this flu (one of my students came to work with a high fever the other day…aaagh!), I have a bunch of “weapons” in my anti-flu arsenal, which, in addition to curcumin of course, also include increasing my intake of vit D and taking teaspoonfuls of Sambucol, black elderberry extract (based on the Sambucol-H1N1 studies). So far, though, I have managed to dodge this virus…as you have, too.
Keep dodging! :-)