Swine flu woman saved by Relenza drip
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/04/swine-flu-woman-saved-relenza Doctors saved the life of a 22-year-old woman critically ill with <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/swine-flu>swine fluby experimentally giving her a high dose of an antiviral drug directly into her bloodstream, they report today. Relenza is licensed for use only through an inhaler, but attempts to treat the woman with the oral drug Tamiflu and Relenza in the usual way had little effect. In the case study, published online by the Lancet medical journal, Dr Michael Kidd and Dr Mervyn Singer from University College London Hospitals call for studies to find out whether Relenza given intravenously could save more lives. The patient, whose immune system had been compromised by chemotherapy to treat Hodgkin's disease, was taken into intensive care on 8 July. Tamiflu and antimicrobials failed to help her, and she was put on a ventilator. Eight days of Relenza through a nebuliser did not work so doctors were given permission by her relatives and the hospital to put the drug in an intravenous drip. They also gave her a corticosteroid to reduce lung inflammation. Within 48 hours she had improved, with no drug-related side-effects. Just over three weeks after her arrival in intensive care, she was discharged. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/nhs>NHS guidance has lowered the estimate of the number of swine <http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/flu>fludeaths in the UK, putting the range from 3,000 deaths to a "worst-case scenario" of 19,000, down from 65,000 in July. There have been 70 deaths so far Experimental drug helps save critical swine flu victim GRANT McARTHUR http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25950004-5006301,00.html GIVEN virtually no hope of survival, Ivan Luong has stunned doctors after recovering from swine flu with the help of a world-first experimental drug. As the 20-year-old left intensive care last night following a marathon 38 days - including 31 on breathing machines - a team from <http://www.austin.org.au/Page.aspx?ID=38>Melbourne's The Austin hospital were still coming to terms with how they had saved the chronic asthmatic. After arriving at the hospital on July 10, Mr Luong's lungs became so full of mucus they were almost solid, going from about 200g to more than 1kg and having no chance of passing oxygen into his blood. Efforts to sustain him on traditional ventilators literally blew Mr Luong's lungs apart - causing air to fill his chest cavity and place pressure on his heart as well as dangerous pockets of air under his skin. As his condition worsened an examination of the student's stomach revealed it had shut down, meaning the Tamiflu needed to fight off swine flu could not be digested. With an intravenous drip the only way of getting medication into Mr Luong, the team decided to try a liquid form of flu drug<http://www.gsk.com.au/products_prescription-medicines_detail.aspx?view=133>Relenza - a highly experimental formula not registered anywhere in the world, which had to be flown in from the U.S. where it had been produced for clinical trials unrelated to swine flu. A relieved Mr Luong was yesterday coming to terms with enormous effort made to save his life. "All I can remember is getting needles about 40 days ago," he said. "I have strong parents that love me and have prayed for me." In Adelaide yesterday, a Hove man, 37, suffering from swine flu with no underlying medical conditions died, becoming the 11th death in South Australia. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [email protected] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
