H3N2 Resistant To Amantadine And Rimantadine

This this season's dominant strain of the flu has developed a resistants to two of the very few drugs that we have to help those suffering from the virus.

Doctors should stop prescribing two standard antiviral drugs to treat or prevent this season's influenza because the predominant strain has quickly become resistant to them, federal health officials said Saturday.

The standard drugs are amantadine and rimantadine.

Instead, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that doctors prescribe two newer antiviral drugs, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza), and said ample supplies were available. The agency also urged the public to get flu shots.
www.nytimes.com...

At the very bottom of the same story there is a paragragh that says one strain of H5N1 is also resistant to amantadine and rimantadine but still show a sensitivity to Tamiflu and Relenza.

With the speed of mutation of influenza I sure hope something new comes out of the drug companies soon because over half the reported cases of H5N1 in humans have resulted in death.

The CDC has the revised recommendation on their page at the link below:

www.cdc.gov...

CDC Recommends against the Use of Amantadine and Rimandatine for the Treatment or Prophylaxis of Influenza in the United States during the 2005–06 Influenza Season