Seasonal colds, coughs, and fever are quite common around the world. Influenza virus infection causes these types of health problems due to changes in the weather. This problem also gets cured in a few days through normal medicines.
According to recent media reports, scientists have detected two such samples of influenza virus which are considered drug-resistant. This means these forms of the virus are resistant to the most commonly used antiviral flu drug around the world. The virus can also escape from these drugs and can easily increase the infection.
According to the report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a team of scientists has detected two such human cases of flu on which antiviral flu drugs have no effect. Investigation of the samples has found that two major mutations have been observed in the influenza virus, due to which these strains of the virus can not only escape medicines but may also increase the risk of infection. So can cases of serious illness and death increase due to flu infection?
Two new mutations in the influenza virus
According to the CDC report, two mutations called I223V and S247N have been observed in the influenza-A virus (H1N1). So far, a total of 101 samples containing dual mutants of the H1N1 virus have been identified from 15 countries around the world. The first sample was collected from Canada in May 2023. The latest samples were collected in Europe during January and February 2024. The Netherlands has reported the highest number of 30 samples of flu virus with dual mutations.
CDC report raises concern
According to a report in the CDC's journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, the flu virus keeps mutating like other viruses, although the mutations so far were not resistant to antiviral drugs. In a report published in The Lancet Microbe journal earlier this year, scientists have identified two such mutations in the flu virus on which the drugs are not having any effect.
Some studies say that people suffering from drug-resistant viruses may be at risk of hospitalization and even death in severe cases of infection.
The danger of the virus is resistant to drugs
It is worth noting that people with weak immunity and some people also have a risk of taking a serious form of the disease due to flu-like infection. In such a situation, antiviral drugs are given which help in reducing the severity of the flu and the duration of the symptoms. However, when viruses become resistant to these drugs, these drugs also become ineffective in case of infection. In this situation, the risk of infection increases, and the disease taking a serious form may be high.
Deaths due to flu
The CDC reports that by October 2023, an estimated 35 million cases of flu were reported in the US. Of these, 3.90 lakh people required hospitalization and 24,000 people died. In the last flu season, 76% of the samples tested by public health laboratories in the US were of type influenza A, while the rest were of type influenza B.
(PC: ISTOCK)
