Question about Tamiflu-resistant strains/vaccine

[Anonymous]

Hi- two questions actually.

Does anyone know if the vaccine will protect against the tamiflu-resistant strains that have shown up here and there?

Secondly, if h1n1 mutates, does the vaccine still protect?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Immunity is a spectrum, not a yes/no deal, as you probably know.

You'll have the best immunity to exactly what you were vaccinated to, but the MORE it mutates the less one is protected. Same is true with catching the wild virus. The mist seems to protect against a wider spectrum than the injection.

Influenza is constantly mutating. Yes and no. Part of the big deal right now is that this virus is so unlike seasonal strains of late that we don't have any immunities to it at all. The closer it stays to what we're vaccinated against the better, but partial is nothing to sniff at.

Next year it should be a part of next year's seasonal flu vaccine.

[Anonymous]

I was told by the doc who prescribed my son tamiflu that seasonal flu is largely resistant to tamiflu. However, H1N1 has not yet developed that resistance and does respond to tamiflu.

I can't vouch for his accuracy, but this was his reasoning behind prescribing it for H1N1 and not for seasonal flu.