We have heard some pretty alarming news today that around 13% of European flu viruses this winter are proving resitant to Tamiflu, the drug being stockpiled by governments the world over in case of a flu pandemic. This study flies in the face of studies done last year which showed little or no resitance to Tamiflu. The worst country affected was Norway where 12 out of 16 viruses of the H1N1 variety had the mutation which made it resistant to Tamiflu. This extraordinary figure did serve to skew the results for the rest of Europe which would have been 5% without Norway's contribution. Roche, the manufacturer of Tamiflu has stated that it would be unwise to draw any rash conclusions from this study and further work requires to be done.
The good news is that none of the viruses proved resistant to Relenza, which is another medication that we stock.