An early warning network may not cure influenza. But Flu Watch can give doctors, travelers, and others a head start against the virus and its erratic spread.
"This is an Internet network of physicians who, through a surveillance network, are sharing information about flu 'epicenters' with each other," said Peter Livingston, president of ZymeTx.
Livingston's company manufactures a new flu-detection test for doctors. On Friday, ZymeTx announced it had tapped 336 doctors nationwide to take part in its National Flu Surveillance Network, with sites in all 50 states logging their flu findings into the system.
"The peak of the flu season is when physicians are more likely to use antivirals to treat you. It allows physicians to watch what's going on in their community and make appropriate treatment decisions," Livingston said.
The Centers for Disease Control, the federal public-health agency, provides a flu-tracking system of its own. But there is a two-week lag between detection and notification -- too much time for the data to help doctors make treatment decisions.
The CDC said its flu-fighting mission is disease prevention.
"What we're most interested in doing is avoiding a large disease outbreak and, in case of influenza, the best way to do that is to be vaccinated," said CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds.
But not everyone gets a shot ahead of time.
"When the flu is breaking out in a community, it's too late to get a vaccine," Livingston said.
ZymeTx sells a flu-detection product to doctors that offers immediate results on which strain of influenza -- categorized as Type A and Type B -- a patient has.
Until the test was developed, cultures were sent to a lab for testing and took two weeks to process. New antiviral drugs that have appeared during the last two years -- in particular amantadine hydrochloride -- give doctors the ability to treat Type A flu, if it is detected within 48 hours.
"There are two antiviral drugs approved that can stop influenza A in its tracks," Reynolds said. They are typically used in long-term care facilities. "If you know you've got an outbreak occurring, there are a class of drugs that work to suppress replication of viruses in the body."
Flu viruses infect the respiratory tract. Ninety-five percent of people who die of the flu each year are over 65. Total deaths average 20,000 a year. Most people recover within two weeks.
The flu vaccine for the 1998 and 1999 season had three influenza virus strains: A/Beijing/262/95-like, A/Sydney/05/97-like, and B/Beijing/184/93-like.
Using the immediate feedback from the ZymeTx test product, doctors report each new influenza case they detect to the company's Oklahoma City headquarters. Immediately posting the information to their Web site lets doctors -- and any visitor to the Web site -- monitor and track flu outbreaks across the United States in "virtual real-time," Livingston said.
Faster diagnosis means better treatment, he said.
Reynolds, on the other hand, said everyone should think vaccination first. "Survey or not, the fact is that getting your flu shot is the best thing you can do."
