HIV and ID Observations

December 15th, 2019

Should Oseltamivir Become an Over-the-Counter Drug?

News broke last week that oseltamivir — most commonly known by its clever (expired) brand name, Tamiflu — may be heading to pharmacies soon as an over-the-counter (OTC) drug, available without a prescription. After hearing this, I immediately thought of several reasons both supporting and opposing this change — an ideal question for a poll! Oseltamivir (brand […]

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October 28th, 2018

New Flu Drug Offers Convenience, Fast Activity, and a Novel Mechanism — at a Price

Last week, the FDA approved a new drug for treatment of influenza, baloxavir marboxil (Xofluza). The drug is indicated for treatment of symptomatic influenza in patients 12 years of age or older. As with existing treatments, it should be started within 48 hours of symptom onset. In a comparative clinical trial in otherwise healthy outpatients, baloxavir and oseltamivir […]

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June 8th, 2009

H1N1: A Tale of Two Practices

As an adult ID/HIV doctor, I must say the clinical impact of H1N1 thus far has been underwhelming, notable more for the calls about prophylaxis or suspected cases than the real thing. (Last week, one patient with fever and “suspected swine” — hard for people to shake that name — turned out to have … Lyme […]

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December 23rd, 2008

Flu Resistance to Oseltamivir: The Bugs Win Again

I must admit, the recent report that 49 of the 50 H1N1 flu viruses tested by the CDC are resistant to oseltamivir caught me by surprise.  For the non-math majors among the readership, that’s a 98% resistance rate.  Yikes. Actually, the rate of resistance is so high that at first I didn’t believe it when my wife […]

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