Swine Flu Preparedness – Meet the Flu Fighters

Once the H1N1 influenza outbreaks begin – and Maryland health officials have no doubt that they will – this series of nondescript scientific laboratories, located past security guards instructed not to let anyone in without an official escort, will certainly be humming.

Here, inside the state office complex on Preston Street in Baltimore, dozens if not hundreds of polyester swabs will arrive each week, containing what doctors believe is evidence of swine flu’s resurgence. Lab workers will then determine whether it is the flu – H1N1 or seasonal, or something else entirely – and whether the virus seems to be gaining strength. One of the most important roles these labs may play in the H1N1 pandemic will be determining whether this new flu has developed resistance to the antiviral medications stockpiled to make the sick well again.

Maryland is one of a dozen states that will be testing samples of the swine flu virus for hints that it has mutated. As summer turns into fall, what most worries flu experts is that the only tool to fight the H1N1 virus will no longer be available to at least slow the march of the disease that could affect as many as half of Americans.

“That information is very valuable,” said Dr. Robert A Myers, deputy director of the state public health laboratory. “We’re trying to get this information in quickly.”

Last week, in its first week of drug resistance testing, none of the 20 samples examined at the Maryland lab had become resistant to Tamiflu or the other antiviral medications. A handful of tests around the world have revealed a virus that is resistant to these drugs, but so far they have been isolated cases and do not appear to have spread.

via Read Full Article.