Antiviral drugs like Tamiflu are one way to fight swine flu: though there is a risk that the virus will evolve resistance (Image: Jason Bye / Rex)
THERE are three approaches to an infectious disease: you can survive it (or not), kill off the bug responsible, or best of all prevent it. If swine flu goes pandemic, what should we do?
First, there’s treating it. The Mexican swine flu resists older antiviral drugs like rimantadine. It is still susceptible to the Tamiflu and Relenza in national stockpiles – such as they are – but virologists were shocked this past flu season when ordinary human H1N1 spontaneously…
