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Editor, Senior Moderator
Chulalongkorn University's leading influenza virologist yesterday announced that four people had been infected with oseltamivir resistant H1N1 flu virus since the pandemic hit the country in April 2009.
Dr Yong Poovorawan, who heads the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn Hospital's Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology, said his team had collected 1,100 samples from people who were infected with the H1N1 virus after the 2009 outbreak and found that four people in Bangkok had developed resistance to the antiviral drug oseltamivir.
He said there were no reports of oseltamivir resistance during the first wave of the pandemic from June to September 2009. But a patient reportedly developed resistance to the drug in the second wave of the flu pandemic from January to March this year.
The other three cases of oseltamivir resistance were reported in the third wave of the pandemic, during the past two months.
"The development of oseltamivir resistance in patients was caused by overuse of the drug," Yong told an annual seminar hosted by the Faculty of Medicine's paediatric division at Chulalongkorn University.
He said the rate of oseltamivir resistance was below the World Health Organisation's guideline. "Oseltamivir resistance in Thailand is not in a critical situation."
However, Yong said that if the government did not limit the use of oseltamivir, he believed resistance to the drug would be higher in the next pandemic. Oseltamivir slows the spread of the virus between cells in the human body.
It is likely that the 2009 H1N1 viruses will cause illness in Thailand this flu season, followed by typeA (H3N2) and type B. Yong said the 2009 H1N1 virus was now widespread in Bangkok, while the H3N2 strain was widespread in the South and typeB was found across the country.
The Public Health Ministry is calling on people to get vaccinated against three flu viruses - typeA (H3N2), typeB and 2009 typeA (H1N1), which spread across the country this year. The ministry has made the vaccination available for free at hospitals nationwide.
Yong slammed the failure of the Public Health Ministry to control the spread of the influenza virus. So far, about 59,412 people have been infected with the flu. Of this number about 11,152 people became infected by the 2009 flu virus and 74 succumbed to it.
In a bid to tackle the spread of influenza, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Japanese ChemoSeroTherapeutic Research Institute to transfer technology to produce an inactivated influenza vaccine at the industrial level to distribute within Thailand and other countries in the region.
The GPO is building a plant in Saraburi province to produce 2 million doses a year. The plant is expected to produce the first prototype of the vaccine next year and start producing at the industrial level next three year, GPO board chairman Dr Wichai Chokwiwat said. In the second phase of the nasal live attenuated flu vaccine trials, he said the result in 108 volunteers aged between 18 and 49 years showed that the vaccine is safe.
The GPO is waiting to conduct a test in two other groups of volunteers aged 1218 and 1849. The trial is expected to be finished next year.
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20100925-239059.html
Dr Yong Poovorawan, who heads the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn Hospital's Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology, said his team had collected 1,100 samples from people who were infected with the H1N1 virus after the 2009 outbreak and found that four people in Bangkok had developed resistance to the antiviral drug oseltamivir.
He said there were no reports of oseltamivir resistance during the first wave of the pandemic from June to September 2009. But a patient reportedly developed resistance to the drug in the second wave of the flu pandemic from January to March this year.
The other three cases of oseltamivir resistance were reported in the third wave of the pandemic, during the past two months.
"The development of oseltamivir resistance in patients was caused by overuse of the drug," Yong told an annual seminar hosted by the Faculty of Medicine's paediatric division at Chulalongkorn University.
He said the rate of oseltamivir resistance was below the World Health Organisation's guideline. "Oseltamivir resistance in Thailand is not in a critical situation."
However, Yong said that if the government did not limit the use of oseltamivir, he believed resistance to the drug would be higher in the next pandemic. Oseltamivir slows the spread of the virus between cells in the human body.
It is likely that the 2009 H1N1 viruses will cause illness in Thailand this flu season, followed by typeA (H3N2) and type B. Yong said the 2009 H1N1 virus was now widespread in Bangkok, while the H3N2 strain was widespread in the South and typeB was found across the country.
The Public Health Ministry is calling on people to get vaccinated against three flu viruses - typeA (H3N2), typeB and 2009 typeA (H1N1), which spread across the country this year. The ministry has made the vaccination available for free at hospitals nationwide.
Yong slammed the failure of the Public Health Ministry to control the spread of the influenza virus. So far, about 59,412 people have been infected with the flu. Of this number about 11,152 people became infected by the 2009 flu virus and 74 succumbed to it.
In a bid to tackle the spread of influenza, the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation (GPO) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Japanese ChemoSeroTherapeutic Research Institute to transfer technology to produce an inactivated influenza vaccine at the industrial level to distribute within Thailand and other countries in the region.
The GPO is building a plant in Saraburi province to produce 2 million doses a year. The plant is expected to produce the first prototype of the vaccine next year and start producing at the industrial level next three year, GPO board chairman Dr Wichai Chokwiwat said. In the second phase of the nasal live attenuated flu vaccine trials, he said the result in 108 volunteers aged between 18 and 49 years showed that the vaccine is safe.
The GPO is waiting to conduct a test in two other groups of volunteers aged 1218 and 1849. The trial is expected to be finished next year.
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20100925-239059.html