Dutch authorities said that a patient infected by a mutant strain of the swine flu virus had died, but added that primarily, the virus was not the cause of death, simply a contributing factor.
Tamiflu Resistant
Harald Wychgel, spokesman for the Dutch Institute for Health and the Environment, told AFP that there had been a "mutation or minor change in the virus to make it resistant to Tamiflu," used in the treatment for influenza. He neglected to say that this also makes it resistant to the current vaccine being provided to members of the Dutch and European public.
FUD
The use of Tamiflu as a 'treatment' is, in itself controversial and many consultants believe it has little real effect. The real benefit comes to the pharmaceutical companies that are distributing it widely using FUD selling techniques. (FUD: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) It is helping them ride the storm of economic crisis also sweeping across Europe.
The male patient died on Sunday in the northern city of Groningen. The news of this was witheld until now. "He died not because the virus was resistant but because he was seriously ill and caught the Mexican (swine) flu," Wychgel said.
"We have carried out tests on the patient's associates to see if the mutation had spread but we found no such indications", he said.
Mutated virus spreading
The spread of Tamiflu resistant H1N1 (Influenza A) Swine Flu (Mexican flu) continues and reports said that two more patients in the Netherlands had shown resistance to Tamiflu and therefore the new vaccine.
The death in Groningen is the fifth fatal case of mutated A(H1N1) flu officially reported in Europe, after two in France and two in Norway but many more cases exist worldwide.
The World Health Organisation said last month that mutations had been observed in Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, where the swine flu pandemic began, Ukraine, and the United States, as early as April. Italy also reported a non-fatal case on Monday.
"The mutations appear to occur sporadically and spontaneously. To date, no links between the small number of patients infected with the mutated virus have been found and the mutation does not appear to spread," a WHO statement said on November 20.
The WHO also underlined that there was no evidence of more infections or more deaths as a result, while the mutated virus detected up to that point remained sensitive to antiviral drugs used to treat severe flu, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza). Unfortunately this is not the case.
Scientists are less complacent and more knowledgable. They know and fear that mutations in flu viruses will continue because that is the nature of viruses, to change and survive. The appearance of a new and potentially virulent strain could cause a more deadly pandemic flu.
The virus scientists reiterated a call for close monitoring of all new variants of H1N1, no matter how 'safe' they appear to be at first. This is no time for rhetoric!
The WHO's role?
The WHO have been trying to downplay the existance of a vaccine resistant variant but has finally come out and admitted it. They also cannot deny that they have lost control of the situation, if they ever had it to begin with.
People are dying from a strain of influenza that they have no vaccine for. Their only role at present is to sit on their comfortable chairs enjoying their comfortable executive life, whilst keeping an accurate count of the mounting deaths, telling everyone that things are not that bad and waiting for the storm to pass.
The Money Trail
Meanwhile, the campaign to vaccinate the entire population of the world with a hastily prepared, poorly tested and potentially damaging vaccine, continues unabated.
After all, there is much at stake; stockpiles of vaccine to be paid for by public funds, process plants churning out millions of doses, sales targets to be met, expenses to be paid, celebratory lobbying events to be organised and incentives to be paid to co-operative government officials; all funded from the meagre profit margins of the pharmaceutical companies, allegedly.
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