TamiFlu Shortage in Prime Risk Group Occurs Only 4 Weeks After School Starts

Children congregating in schools and universities appear to be the highest risk group for PF11 infection.  School has been in session for approximately 4 weeks.  Very little cold weather has occurred in the United States at this time.

Roche announced today that a shortage exists in their production of TamiFlu for children (liquid form).  The company advised pharmacists to grind the adult pill-based drug and adjust the dosage for children. 

Health officials say that priority will be given to those hospitalised.  If TamiFlu is effective only if used within 48 hours of symptoms and more than half of some populations do not present with the official case definition of fever, then few who are hospitalised will be within that 48 hour window.  Hospitalisation will primarily occur after significant viral replication time has passed (>48 hours) and the patient presents with incapacitating signals.  This prioritisation appears to be misguided given the Facts.

• TamiFlu resistance is geographically widespread in PF11 as demonstrated in the sequence databases.
• PF11 has not yet begun to peak. 
• Public health officials expect cold weather combined with the school gatherings to spur the case count substantially.

These three material impacts on the pandemic combined with the early shortage of the primary mediation measure espoused by public health officials leaves the public with very few, publicly-messaged, viable options.

Please review our research section discussing proposed mediation measures for further information.

For additional background on the clinical and epidemiological observational facts concerning Pandemic Influenza H1N1, please refer to the Table of Contents for PF11 Trends & Issues, Mid-Term.

Please visit GeneWurx.com for insight into the latest published studies.