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Unorthodox use of antiviral drug saved swine-flu victim's life
Paris (AFP) Sept 4, 2009 Enterprising doctors saved the life of a young cancer patient infected by swine flu by making unlicensed use of Relenza, an antiviral drug, The Lancet reports on Friday. The 22-year-old patient's immune system had been weakened by Hodgkin's disease and chemotherapy, damaging her defences against the A(H1N1) virus. She was admitted in July to London's University College Hospital suffering from shortness of breath and fluid buildup in both lungs. Neither Tamiflu, a pill that is the frontline treatment for swine flu, nor broad-spectrum antibiotics had any effect. By the third day, she was placed on an artificial respirator. Doctors administered Relenza, also known by its lab name as zanamivir, in its licensed form as a nebulised spray. But this remedy also failed and over the next two weeks she steadily worsened. With her life in the balance, the doctors gambled on giving her Relenza intravenously, using a batch specially provided by the drug's manufacturers, GlaxoSmithKline. They backed this with a high dose of corticosteroids to tackle lung inflammation. Her condition improved dramatically and within 48 hours she was taken off artificial respiration and transferred out of the hospital's intensive care unit and into a general ward. The unorthodox treatment had to be approved by the hospital's oversight committee and the patient's next of kin as it is not a recognised strategy for swine flu. Most of the deaths from swine flu have been related to severe respiratory failure, especially from people with an underlying medical condition. Physicians Michael Kidd and Mervyn Singer believe their patient's lungs were so impaired by the virus that she could not absorb Relenza in its spray form, so they took a final gamble on an intravenous drip. Further investigation will confirm whether the treatment can find a wider use beyond a single case report, they said.
US universities see early bouts of swine flu Some 1,640 new cases were reported at 165 universities across the country that participate in surveillance conducted by the American College Health Association. There has been only one hospitalization and no fatalities attributed to the virus among the more than two million students who attend the schools, according to ACHA. There are more than 18 million college and university students nationwide. But with more than 550 deaths attributed to swine flu across the United States since the virus emerged in April, and with 40 percent of global A(H1N1) fatalities being among young adults in good health, education authorities are trying to mitigate what ACHA has described as the "significant risk" of swine flu's spread in universities. "It is a lot of cases and it's actually only one week," ACHA president James Turner said, referring to the 1,640 new infections. "I wouldn't be surprised if we saw many more cases arrive on campuses and we see the outbreak accelerate," he told AFP. Despite the concerns, Turner said he has spoken with several colleagues at universities across the country and that they report "a very mild disease that for the most part is not leaving students seriously ill. "They feel miserable for three or four days but they don't seem to be getting complications, or pneumonia," he said. Many universities are taking no chances, however, and there have been several reports of sick students confining themselves to their dorm rooms and student bodies being made aware of the dangers of swine flu. "The concern from a public health standpoint is not so much the impact of the disease on otherwise healthy students, but the impact on those who are at risk of complication -- students with asthma, diabetes and heart disease." ACHA says the state of Washington in the US northwest has the highest rate of infection at the reporting schools, with 124.3 cases per 10,000 students, followed by southern states Georgia (80.9) and Mississippi (43.2) and the central state of Kansas (31.3). Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Potential key to AIDS vaccine discovered: studyChicago (AFP) Sept 3, 2009 US researchers have discovered two powerful new antibodies which could hold the key to achieving a viable AIDS vaccine, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. The antibodies are produced naturally by a minority of people infected with HIV and are able to neutralize a high percentage of the many types of the virus currently in circulation worldwide. Researchers in ... read more |
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