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H1N1 Plateau and Mutations

Norway and Britain may have some troubling news regarding the Swine Flu.  The Swine Flu Pandemic may be reaching a H1N1 plateau or peak according to some global health officials but mutations are becoming an more and more concerning.

A National Emergency of the Swine flu may be improving, at least for now. There are “early signs of a peak in disease activity in some areas of the northern hemisphere,” the WHO said in a statement.

Obviously, the Swine flu is far from over. A peak may be seen in America and in Western Europe. The wave of infections seems to be increasing in Eastern Europe and Asia. Over 6,700 deaths worldwide have been recorded as a direct result of the Swine Flu.

Though, it has been argued, cases may increase in January and several peaks could be seen in the typical single flu season whether Human Flu or H1N1.

Vaccines

Many countries have received some H1N1 vaccinations. World production continues to move forward. This might help prevent a H1N1 Plateau. Some other countries report problems in Vaccine Production.

The United States and several other countries are far behind where they would like to be.

Currently 44 million doses have been shipped so far. This is far less than 1/3 of the amount expected. At risk patients haven’t always been the first to receive the vaccines.

Disclosure about where doses have gone hasn’t been as forth coming as originally expected. Though safety was a concern as was effectiveness and many argue that if the only thing we got right was that it works – the rest may fall into place.

Others argue that the problems stem from manufactures and distribution, both of which has taken some heat. Dosing, its argued, should have been more closely monitored to ensure those who most needed the vaccine received it first.

Drug-Resistant Swine Flu

Person to Person spread of this strain may be occurring in Great Britain.

5 possible persons in Wales were found to be resistant to the antiviral drug Tami-flu from companies Roche AG and Gilead Sciences Inc

These patients did have success with a different antiviral from other companies GlaxoSmithKline and Biota Inc’s Relenza.

A topic of importance is that each of these patients did have serious immune problems that may have given the strain an opportunity to develop resistance.

Another outbreak is being investigated in Norway where a strain of H1N1 may have mutated causing symptoms that were worse than expected and rather severe.

Recently the Norwegian Institute of Public Health reported that the virus may be able to go deeper into the respiratory system as a result, the symptoms were more serious.

The virus mutation was found on autopsy of two individuals that had died from the Swine flu.

Norway has seen a larger number of deaths per population when compared to other European countries.