Swine Flu Woman Saved By Relenza Drip

Doctors saved the life of a 22-year-old woman critically ill with swine flu by experimentally giving her a high dose of an antiviral drug directly into her bloodstream, they report today.

Relenza is licensed for use only through an inhaler, but attempts to treat the woman with the oral drug Tamiflu and Relenza in the usual way had little effect. In the case study, published online by the Lancet medical journal, Dr Michael Kidd and Dr Mervyn Singer from University College London Hospitals call for studies to find out whether Relenza given intravenously could save more lives.

The patient, whose immune system had been compromised by chemotherapy to treat Hodgkin's disease, was taken into intensive care on 8 July. Tamiflu and antimicrobials failed to help her, and she was put on a ventilator. Eight days of Relenza through a nebuliser did not work so doctors were given permission by her relatives and the hospital to put the drug in an intravenous drip. They also gave her a corticosteroid to reduce lung inflammation.

Within 48 hours she had improved, with no drug-related side-effects. Just over three weeks after her arrival in intensive care, she was discharged.

NHS guidance has lowered the estimate of the number of swine flu deaths in the UK, putting the range from 3,000 deaths to a "worst-case scenario" of 19,000, down from 65,000 in July. There have been 70 deaths so far.