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Tamiflu resistance on US-Mexico border - a misquote?
After reporting Tamiflu resistance to swine flu along the US-Mexico border, today a Dow Jones story states that Chief of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/World Health Organization (WHO) US-Mexico Border office, Maria Teresa Cerqueira’s comments in a press release earlier this week had been misquoted.
WHO spokesman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi stated in today’s story that Cerqueira who has a PhD in nutrition “had said that there are cases of the H1N1/A virus along the border and that WHO recommends surveying those cases in case a potential resistance occurs. But currently there are no cases of resistance along the border.”
The actual quote originally attributed to Cerqueira was: "We have found resistance to Tamifly on the border. We have observed some cases, few to be sure, in El Paso and close to McAllen, Texas."
This discrepancy points up the difficulty in getting accurate updates of the swine flu pandemic. Neither websites for WHO or PAHO have any posted statements pertaining to this issue.
As correctly reported here, there have been confirmed cases of Tamiflu resistance to swine flu in Denmark, Hong Kong (a US teen flying there from San Francisco), Japan and Canada (Quebec).
Health experts continue to warn against over-prescribing Tamiflu since that could lead to drug-resistance.
For more information: :WHO
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