Local health authorities recommend
physicians suspend use of ineffective drug
By Vivian Moreau
Medical health officer Dr. Paul
Martiquet is recommending local physicians quit prescribing anti-viral drug
Amantadine to combat the flu after 100 per cent of samples sent for analysis
proved resistant to the drug.
Martiquet’s recommendations come on
the heels of a similar recommendation issued last week by the Public Health
Agency of Canada.
“The results represent a significant
increase in resistance compared to previous years,” the national agency states
on its website “and are consistent with the level of antiviral resistance
recently reported by the Centers for Disease Control and
Preventionin the United
States.”
“Amantadine used to be our mainstay
during flu season,” Martiquet said, “and it is now a concern that viruses are
proving to be resistant to it. But the more you use something the more chance
you give them to become resistant.”
Martiquet is recommending a second
drug, Oseltamivir (Tamiflu), be prescribed instead.
The medical health officer for the
Sea to Sky area, Martiquet said all 42 samples provided by B.C. physicians from
flu-afflicted patients proved to be resistant to Amantadine. Testing conducted
by the CDC indicates Oseltamivir remains effective against the H3N2 virus, the
agency said.
Whistler-area physicians are in the
process of being notified about the recommendation, Martiquet said.
