New Drug-Resistant Flu Strain Found in Japan

A new drug resistant strain of the flu has been found in Japan. The new strain, found in a patient who did not recover after treatment with Tamiflu, is the first drug resistant strain of type B influenza to be found. Type B, while less dangerous than type A, of which drug resistant strains already exist, is more common, and this new discovery is troubling to scientists.

Researchers and medical professionals say the new it was coming, but nonetheless, they find the news unsettling. Every time an antiviral drug is used for a while, a drug resistant strain will eventually emerge, forcing drug makers to come up with new drugs to stay ahead. "It's critical to have a pipeline of drugs you can have available when resistance develops," said one doctor, quoted in the Wall Street Journal. Japan has had a history of frequently using antiflu drugs, such as Tamiflu and Relenza, the drugs to which this strain is resistant. Although this new development does not come as a surprise, it is nonetheless troubling.

This development of drug resistance follows exactly the same pattern we see in antibiotics. Essentially, when the body is flooded with the drug, the bacteria, or in this case virus, are entirely wiped out. If one single bacterium or virus happened to have a random mutation rendering it impervious to the drug that wiped out all the others, it suddenly will have a great advantage. Although previously it wouldn't have amounted to anything, now, with all the others gone, it can reproduce unfettered by competition. The patient gets sick again, and spreads the pathogen around. If this happens several times, making the new strain resistant to multiple drugs, you have a real problem. Doctors and scientists are extremely worried about this happening to antibiotics, but have not given too much thought to flu drugs. There are not as many flu drugs in existence as there are antibiotics.

Tamiflu, one of the antiviral drugs that is no longer effective against the new strain, is one of the few that has been found to be effective against the deadly H5N1 bird flu, the virus believed to be the cause of the 1918 pandemic that claimed millions of lives. The US government stockpiles this drug against such an outbreak, and the fact that it may no longer be effective is troubling to say the least. The federal government also funds the development of new drugs. Now the pressure is on.

Sources:

http://www.time.com

http://www.wsj.com