Study: New treatment may combat drug-resistant flu

LONDON (AP) — A new and unlicensed treatment for swine flu could be used in patients who have Tamiflu-resistant viruses, doctors say.

In an article published today in the medical journal Lancet, British doctors describe how they used an intravenous form of the antiviral Relenza to treat a 22-year-old woman who had a severe case of swine flu.

Relenza is usually inhaled via the nose, and is not licensed to be given intravenously.

The woman had recently undergone chemotherapy for Hodgkin’s disease. After catching swine flu, her lungs filled with fluid and she was put on a ventilator to help her breathe. Despite days of being given Tamiflu, inhalable Relenza, and other medicines, the patient deteriorated.

So her doctors decided to try a different way of getting the drug into her body, since her lungs weren’t able to absorb the antivirals the usual way. After getting permission from her family and a hospital committee, they gave her an unlicensed, intravenous form of the antiviral zanamivir, or Relenza, provided by its maker, GlaxoSmithKline PLC. The patient recovered soon afterward, with no reported side effects.