News About Influenza B Drug Resistance That Cannot Be Ignored
- Anne Moscona, MD;
- Jennifer McKimm-Breschkin, PhD
- Author Affiliations: Departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY (Dr Moscona); and Molecular and Health Technologies, Parkville, South Victoria, Australia (Dr McKimm-Breschkin).
- Corresponding Author: Anne Moscona, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 515 E 71st St, Sixth Floor, Box 309, New York, NY 10021 (anm2047{at}med.cornell.edu).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
During the last 2 years, the medical community has been tensely following the emergence of resistance to oseltamivir in strains of influenza A.1 The clinical relevance and transmissibility of these resistant variants has been unknown, and planning for epidemic and pandemic influenza thus far has ignored the issue due to lack of evidence that it will be of medical consequence. Neuraminidase inhibitors are presently the only reliable antiviral option for treatment of influenza infection: the usefulness of the adamantanes (amantadine and rimantidine) has been virtually eliminated by the development of resistance.2 Until now, little spontaneous resistance to neuraminidase inhibitors has been documented, and no spontaneously resistant influenza viruses were identified in the world prior to the introduction of the drugs. This may now be changing.
In this issue of JAMA, the report from Japan by Hatakeyama and colleagues3 documenting influenza B viruses with decreased sensitivity to …
