ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2008) —
The research council FORMAS, Sweden, has granted 5.9 million SEK to a
new research project that will study the environmental fate and effects
of the anti-viral drug Tamiflu on the development on influenza
resistance.
Tamiflu is being stockpiled all over the world for use in fighting
the next influenza pandemic. However, there are growing signs that
influenza viruses may develop resistance to this vital pharmaceutical,
because it is routinely prescribed for seasonal influenza.
This research project is interdisciplinary and will combine studies
on the environmental fate of the drug with in vivo studies of the
development of Tamiflu resistant viruses say the project leader Björn
Olsen at the Department of Medical Sciences Uppsala University.
This research project presents an innovative approach to studying
the development of Tamiflu resistance in influenza viruses caused by
environmental contamination which is a potential threat to one of our
few defences against a future influenza pandemic.
Scientists from Uppsala University, Umeå University and Karolinska
Institute will investigate the potential problem from an environmental
chemical, virological and infectious diseases aspect.
A wide range of topics will be addressed; studies of the degradation
of Tamiflu in sewage treatment plants will be combined with screening
of the environmental levels in surface water in Japan. Japan is one of
the world's top-per-capita consumers of Tamiflu and it has been
estimated that approximately 40% of those that are infected by
influenza viruses are treated with Tamiflu. This makes Japan one of the
"Hot Spots" in the world and the research project has established
collaboration with scientists at Kyoto University and several field
sampling campaigns in Japan has been scheduled. Detected environmental
levels will then be used in an in vivo Mallard infection model for
detailed studies on the development of Tamiflu resistance in low
pathogenic avian viruses. This will be combined with a screening study
of the occurrence of resistant viruses in faecal samples from wild
ducks in the vicinity of Japanese sewage treatment plants.
The full title of the project is "Occurrence and fate of the
antiviral drug Oseltamivir in aquatic environments and the effect on
resistance development in influenza A viruses." and the applicants are
Björn Olsen, Dept. of Medicinal Sciences, Uppsala University, Åke
Lundkvist, Dept. of Microbiology Tumour and Cellbiology, Karolinska
Institute, Johan Lennerstrand, Dept. of Medicinal Sciences, Uppsala
University and Hanna Söderström and Jerker Fick, Dept of Chemistry,
Umeå University
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