New antiviral drugs coming to fight influenza threats

With shortages in H1N1 swine flu vaccines causing widespread concern, and with an ongoing threat from the prospect of mutations in other influenza viruses, new antiviral drugs are on the horizon.

In the short period of time that the H1N1 swine flu pandemic has been in circulation, it has already offered some stark learning experiences for public health officials. Chief among the lessons learned is that we cannot rely on modern vaccination production to adequately protect large populations and entire civilizations. The H1N1 swine flu virus is considered a mild incarnation - and appears to be targeting its more severe illness to specific demographics in the young and the pregnant that have experienced critical hospitalization and death. Yet, as the pandemic continues to spread rapidly throughout vast populations in the northern hemisphere, the most at-risk populations remain unprotected by any vaccine. While President Obama's national emergency determination is not a cause for alarm in itself, vaccine shortages of this magnitude have become quite alarming. Had the H1N1 swine flu virus been a more severe animal, these shortages would have been significantly more visible and unacceptable. But H1N1 is not alone. There are other influenza varieties - such as H5N1 (bird flu), or even the seasonal H3N2 strain - that offer their own nasty threats. While scientists are studying the links between paleogenetics and viruses, as well as cancers and viruses, the H1N1 swine flu virus has acted a bit like a canary in a coal mine - offering us a lesson on the fact that we need a short-term solution. That interim solution may be coming in the form of new antiviral drugs. U.S. health authorities have approved the use of a new antiviral back-up drug to help fight the most severe cases of H1N1 swine flu. There are some strains of the H1N1 swine flu virus that have demonstrated resistance the popular antiviral, Tamiflu. This resistance helps showcase the short-term nature of any antiviral drug solution - however, unlike vaccines, antiviral drugs can be used against multiple strains of a given virus, as long as those strains are not yet resistant. In the short-term, the broad adoption of antiviral applications offers good promise in protecting wider populations from dangerous viral appearances. "In general, I think that the field is looking much more promising than it has in some years and obviously this is in part due to the threats of H5N1 (avian influenza) and pandemic H1N1 disease," Dr. Frederick Hayden of the University of Virginia and Britain's Wellcome Trust told ABC News. "It's good there are alternative drugs and approaches, including combinations, that are being developed." In the meantime, we can wash our hands and cover our coughs and hope that others do the same.