Now it is Relenza and Symmetrel.

The Japan health ministry revealed that 16 cases, two of them leading to death, have been linked to the use of two more anti-flu drugs – Zanamivir (sold as Relenza) and Amantadine (sold as Symmetrel).

A Japanese panel looking into the causal relationship between Tamiflu and abnormal behavior found the disturbing incidents in influenza patients taking either Relenza or Symmetrel.

[Source: asahi.com]

Tags: tamiflu, relenza, symmetrel, anti-flu drugs, abnormal behavior

Post from: Blisstree

More flu drugs linked to abnormal behavior

In 2004, a 17-year old high school student dashed out of his home ran onto an expressway where he was hit by a truck and killed.

In 2005, a 14-year old junior high student jumped to his death from an apartment.

Three factors are common between the two teenage deaths: influenza, Tamiflu, Japan.

Tamiflu, the influenza drug, hit the limelight a few months back when reports surfaced of teenagers hurting or killing themselves after taking the drug. It’s particularly rampant in Japan, where 186 suspicious Tamiflu cases have so far been reported by the health ministry. Earlier this year, the Japanese health ministry said that after consulting with numerous experts, it came to a conclusion that there was a “negative” link between Tamiflu and abnormal behavior. However, when pressed for full disclosure of the documents, the ministry admitted no such written report existed. Smells very suspicious, doesn’t it.

Chugai Pharmaceutical, the importer and distributor of Tamiflu in Japan, filed reports that entertained the possibility of a causal link between Tamiflu and abnormal behavior, including the opinions of two doctors directly involved in well-known Tamiflu cases in 2004 and 2005 mentioned above.

The student “showed the abnormal behavior about two hours after taking (Tamiflu) so that the causal links with it cannot be denied,” the doctor was quoted in the opinion.

Since then, Japanese health ministry seemed to have changed its opinion and issued a warning on Tamiflu labels about the possibility of bizarre behavior in children. Last March 20, Japan prohibited prescribing the drug to young people between 10 and 20 years old.

The USA, Taiwan and South Korea all issued warnings in recent months to watch for signs of bizarre behavior from teenagers and children taking the drug. In fact, South Korea followed Japan and banned prescription of the drug to teenagers as well.

In the Tamiflu website, Roche denies any known contribution of the drug to the bizarre behavior: The reports were primarily among children. The relative contribution of the drug to these events is not known.

Outside of the case reports, there have been no scientific or epidemiologic studies to date that establish the causality of Tamiflu to psychiatric behavior. But when it comes to our health and those of our children, “guilty until proven innocent” is the way to go. Until definitive proof says there is no link, precaution is our protection.

[news source: Japan Times]

This post is in participation of the Science and Health Channel Theme “Mental Health”.

Tags: influenza, Tamiflu, abnormal behavior, health, mental health

Post from: Blisstree

Link between Tamiflu and abnormal behavior – still confusing?

Well, the UK Telegraph reported that pseudoephedrine and ephedrine are apparently finding their way into illicit drug factories. So, Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (similar to US FDA, I pressume) is looking into a “consulation process” to find if medicines containing pseudoephedrine need restriction, such as decreasing the pack size and making such medicines available only on prescription.

Expectedly, the Great Britain trade association for all over-the-counter medicines is against the restriction. At least 80 products contain pseudoephedrine and will likely be affected, including popular brands like Nurofen Cold and Flu tablets, Sudafed Elixir, Lemsip Max Flu Lemon, Nirolex Chesty Syrup and Actified Syrup among others.

“Pseudoephedrine has been used safely for treating colds and sinus problems in Britain for more than 40 years and we urge the Government not to take disproportionate measures to control pseudoephedrine that would affect legitimate usage and consumer needs,” she said.

As a chronic sinus sufferer and self-classified “legitimate” user, I admit it’s not that easy to get Sudafed these days. I mean, I have to request it directly from the pharmacist, present my ID and pay. Hmm. Even if it were a prescription, an added labor will be to present my doctor’s Rx and wait for maybe, 30 minutes before I get relief from my congestion. Ahem.

I say, “aye” for restrictions. I am not about to share MY Sudafed to a meth lab, excuse me.

[source: UK telegraph]

Tags: pseudoephedrine, sudafed, crystal meth, illicit drug, sinus congestion, US law

Post from: Blisstree

Flu drugs, a crystal meth problem in Britain

And now… healthcare clinic.

RediClinic LLC has recently opened nine convenient healthcare clinics in leased space in Richmond, Virginia, to offer in-store consumers easy access to routine healthcare services.

The clinics are staffed by certified nurse practitioners who work with local physicians to diagnose, treat and prescribe medications for common conditions such as earaches, strep throat and upper respiratory infections, in addition to preventive services, screening tests, vaccinations and physical exams.

When I checked the RediClinic website, there are already Walmart clinics in Northwest Arkansas and Tulsa Oklahoma.

I guess that’s one more reason to shop at Walmart.

[source: cnnmoney;image]

Tags: Walmart Supercenter, RediClinic, infectious disease, virus, illness, medicine, health

Post from: Blisstree

Rediclinic at Walmart Supercenters

To everyone’s surprise, treating the viral infections also dramatically improved her energy levels.

“I was amazed by the results,” says Professor Jose Montoya, who runs the infectious diseases clinic at Stanford. “Donna was sent to me because high levels of another virus (Epstein Barr) had been detected in her system. “I’d hoped it might help a bit, but I didn’t expect the results to be anything like as dramatic. It was pure serendipity.”

While it’s well known that some patients with CFS have signs of various viral infections, this is the first time that treating one of the viruses has been shown to be so effective.

Valganciclovir is licensed to treat HHV-6 infections of the eye, which can affect transplant or cancer patients with severely weakened immune systems. Prof. Montoya, who has treated hundreds of immuno-compromised patients with the drug, cautioned to monitor carefully because it can results in serious side effects.

HHV-6 is not the same as the herpes virus responsible for cold sores. Most commonly, it causes roseola infantum in children, who get a fever and a rash.

Know more about chronic fatigue syndrome, here.

[source: dailymail; image]

Tags: human herpes virus, HHV-6, Donna Burden Flowers, valganciclovir, anti-viral drug, chronic fatigue syndrome, ME

Post from: Blisstree

Anti-viral drug found effective for CFS/ME sufferers

Researchers of liver disease are disclosing that Hepatitis C patients can be completely cured of the viral-borne disease (HCV). A study conducted on 997 patients who were able to achieve complte response to treatment showed that only 8 came down with the disease again.

“I tell my patients who achieve a sustained virologic response to go home and get on with their lives. I tell them that there is less than a 0.5 percent chance that the disease will ever return,” said Mark Swain, professor of medicine at the University of Calgary in Canada, who presented results of an international trial at the opening session of the 42nd European Association for the Study of the Liver in Barcelona, Spain.

This finding offers much needed hope to chronic hepatitis C sufferers and HIV patients who are at risk for the disease. An estimated 300,000 Americans are infected with both HIV and hepatitis C. Hepatitis is a liver disease caused by the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) that can result in cirrhosis, liver failure and death. Chronic infection is known to occur in 55-85% of infected persons, and chronic liver disease in 70% of chronically infected persons. HCV is spread through sharing needles or “works” when “shooting” drugs, through needlesticks or sharps exposures on the job, or from an infected mother to her baby during birth.

[Sources: Science Daily; CDC; whyfiles]

Tags: Hepatitis C, cure, treatment, HIV, viral disease, virus

Post from: Blisstree

“We can cure Hepatitis C”

For decades, scientists thought that over-reactive immune system in some infants is associated with severe respiratory infections. That cytotoxic killer T cells and an exaggerated Th2 responses are to blame.

Recent studies show this is not true at all.

On the contrary, severe RSV infections in the lower respiratory tract actually are associated with an inadequate immune reaction, such as naturally found in infants.

A research consortium led by Robert Welliver, Sr. of the State University of New York at Buffalo examined autopsies of infants who suffered fatal RSV infections, and they saw no evidence that T cells had been activated. In fact, the cytokines found in the lungs of infected infants were mostly those made by other types of cells of the lung, such as macrophages or epithelial cells.

What does this finding imply for RSV interventions and treatment?

UTMB professor Roberto Garofalo, a senior author on the paper, states, “we all agree that killing the virus with anti-viral drugs, which we still don’t have, is important. But it looks like we also need to find a way to control unwanted inflammation and boost the disease-fighting T-cell response.”

[source: UTMB Newsroom; The Journal of Infectious Diseases 2007;195:1126-1136; editorial commentary at JID]

Post from: Blisstree

In the case of RSV, ‘children are not little adults’

Nanomaterials

These uber-minute particles may be an answer to treating some of the most difficult viral diseases to invade man – HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, herpes simplex, influenza and Asian bird flu.

Nanoviricidies Inc, a company that specializes in developing targeted anti-viral therapies, has just signed with Walter Reed Army Institute in creating a drug to treat dengue fever.

Dengue fever is a flu-like illness that causes high fever, rash, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, and often-severe muscle and joint pain. Nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite are common. It can last up to 10 days, but complete recovery can take as long as a month.

In some cases, dengue progresses to a hemorrhagic fever that is fatal 5 percent of the time in children and young adults. Being mostquito-borne, it is more common in the tropics but invades the US with about a 100 cases per year from travelers returning from overseas.

[source; image]

Tags: nanotechnology, dengue, nanoviricides, flu, virus, medicine, health

Post from: Blisstree

Is Nanotechnology the future of drug therapy?

Daniels has what the World Health O. dubbed as XDR-TB, or extremely drug resistant tuberculosis , which is virtually untreatable using current anti-TB drugs. Daniels was considered “uncooperative and a danger to the public” and was ordered locked up because he did not take precautions to avoid infecting others or even to wear a mask in public. Although currently rare in the US, XDR-TB broke out in Africa last year with an alarmingly high mortality rate. XDR-TB is transmitted the same as other forms of tuberculosis – by aerosol droplets expelled by an infection person with a cough, sneeze, kiss, spit, or sharing of utensils.

Now, though TB is a bacterial infection (and technically not a “concern” of this blog), INFLUENZA has the potential of becoming drug-resistant** as well.

In the face of increasing use (and misuse) of flu drugs, the potential of developing drug-resistant flu viruses, the problem of containing H5N1 across much of Asia, and likened to the days when the world dealt with smallpox and leprosy, once again we face the the issue of dealing with infected persons with untreatable symptoms.

Putting people and whole villages quarantined have been in practice and found highly effective. But as H5N1 spreads to less isolated cities and across nations, it is getting much harder to control the transmission of flu viruses.

Now, I have no answers to the issues/questions below, but I pose them because I myself am looking for more concrete solutions to the global health threat of a drug-resistant influenza/bird flu/pandemic flu/ virus.

1. Should uncooperative contagious persons (as Daniels was charged) be locked up?

2. What needs to be done about infected persons wishing to travel? Do airlines or cruise ships have the right to refuse a sick person from boarding? Should there be an international law to govern the travel of contagious persons sick with life-threatening diseases?

3. How long should a quarantine (or shelter-in-place) last? A survey last year posed that Americans will only stay home 7 days at the most in the event of a flu pandemic. The need to work is the top reason for not staying home. Will this number of days be enough?

4. What kind of regulations should there be in place to prevent the overuse of drugs that may cause resistance?

Certainly, there are more questions than the above, but if you have answers or ideas or more questions, feel free to fill the comment and begin a discussion.

**The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported last year that 92% of influenza A (H3N2) viruses isolated from patients demonstrated an amino acid change that confers resistance to adamantanes. Two of eight type A flu viruses were in fact resistant. Canadian authorities report the same mutations in isolates recently tested. These findings prompted the CDC to recommend against the use of amantadanes for flu treatment last season. In addition, a small study of Japanese children treated with oseltamivir also reported a high frequency of resistant viruses. However, no transmission of neuraminidase inhibitor-resistant viruses in humans has been documented to date.

[Source: MSNBC; image]

Tags: drug-resistance, XDR-TB, tuberculosis, influenza, bird flu, pandemic, oseltamivir, adamantanes, world health, virus, viral disease, viral illness

Post from: Blisstree

Drug-resistant TB patient quarantined for life… and what this means for bird flu

“What’s important about Phase I/II data is that the results show that Baxter’s vaccine works against many strains of the H5N1 avian flu virus without any additives [adjuvant] to boost effectiveness,” said Baxter spokesman Chris Bona. “Additives can add additional cost and they are believed to cause side effects” such as headache and fever, he added.

Baxter has developed a cell-based technology for producing flu vaccines, allowing for larger quantities with a quicker process.

[source: Chicago Tribune]

Tags: baxter, bird flu, vaccines, influenza, virus, clinical trial

Post from: Blisstree

Baxter bird flu vaccine effective in humans