USA – A rare flu variant that has shown some resistance to the most commonly used antiviral treatment has been detected in at least two people in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Influenza viruses are constantly changing, but this variant has two concerning mutations in places that could lower the effectiveness of treatment with oseltamivir phosphate, known by the brand name Tamiflu. “There’s active global surveillance going on looking for these mutations,” said Dr. Andy Pekosz, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “We want to know when they come up, because that could really have major implications for how we treat influenza.”

For now, though, experts say the threat is low.  Cases of the “dual mutant” influenza variant were identified in 15 countries across five continents, including two cases in the US, according to a report published Wednesday in the CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. But they’re very infrequent, representing only about 1% of the samples collected between May 2023 and February 2024.

“They appear in a lot of places, but they’re never really the dominant virus in any place they appear,” Pekosz said. “It’s not like the mutation occurred someplace, and suddenly that particular virus began spreading and out-competing everything in one big wave,” he said. Instead, the same mutations seem to be developing in multiple places independently. The doubly mutated variant has shown a reduction in Tamiflu effectiveness of up to 16-fold, according to the CDC report – but that’s based on laboratory studies.

Other influenza variants have shown much greater resistance in the lab, and there’s no gauge for what this could mean in real-life clinical practice, said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University. “We don’t know really what the clinical significance of this slight resistance is,” he said. “It may well be that the amount of Tamiflu that we give patients is sufficient to overcome this.” (CNN)…[+]

USA – Hamas has pushed back after being criticised by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for not yet accepting a ceasefire proposal, saying it had shown “positivity” towards the negotiations. It said, in contrast, “while Blinken continues to talk about ‘Israel’s’ approval of the latest proposal, we have not heard any Israeli official voicing approval”. Mr Blinken has repeatedly said that Israel has accepted a ceasefire proposal outlined by President Biden on 31 May. Israel’s government has not officially said so, though an Israeli plan formed the basis for Mr Biden’s declaration.

“At some point in a negotiation and this has gone back and forth for a long time  you get to a point where if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes for things that it already accepted, you have to question whether they’re proceeding in good faith or not.”

But in a series of statements on Wednesday night, Hamas questioned whether Israel had actually accepted either the plan or a UN Security Council resolution endorsing it. The world did not hear any welcome or approval from [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu” and his government to the resolution, it said. “Rather they continued to emphasise the rejection of any permanent ceasefire, in clear contradiction with the Security Council resolution and President Biden’s initiative.”

Hamas said that on the other hand, it had “clearly expressed its positive position on what was included in US President Joe Biden’s speech” and on “what was included” in the resolution. It also said it had confirmed its “readiness to co-operate” with the mediators involved in the ceasefire negotiations.

After a meeting with Mr Netanyahu in Jerusalem last Monday, Mr Blinken said the prime minister had “reaffirmed his commitment” to the ceasefire proposal.

Mr Netanyahu has not publicly endorsed the plan, although the war cabinet which he leads authorised the proposal which was delivered to Hamas on 27 May. That proposal – reportedly lengthier than the summary presented by Mr Biden – has not been made public and it is unclear whether it varies from what the president conveyed in his televised statement at the end of last month.

One of the main sticking points between the two sides appears to be their visions for ending the war. Reports say Hamas is insisting first on written guarantees that Israel will end the war before it will sign up to the plan. Mr Netanyahu has said the war will not end until Hamas’s “governing and military capabilities” have been destroyed and the hostages returned. The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others back to Gaza as hostages. The Hamas-run health ministry says more than 37,000 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive since then.               (BBC)…[+]

MECCA – Six people have died from heatstroke during the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, amid warnings from Saudi officials that temperatures during the annual gathering could reach 48 degrees Celsius 118 degrees Fahrenheit this year. All six of the dead are Jordanian citizens, the Jordanian foreign ministry said Saturday, adding that it was coordinating with Saudi authorities in Jeddah regarding burial procedures and possible transfer of their bodies back to Jordan.

News of the deaths comes as pilgrims gathered atop Mount Arafat on Saturday, marking the main event of the pilgrimage, with the niece of one of the deceased telling CNN Arabic that her aunt had died on Mount Arafat and was buried in Saudi Arabia. More than 1.8 million people are taking part in Hajj this year, according to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics.

The Hajj is one of the biggest religious gatherings in the world and the largest annual event in Saudi Arabia. It occurs two months and 10 days after Ramadan ends, during the Islamic month of Dhul-Hijjah. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar and shorter than the Gregorian calendar, the timing of Hajj on the Gregorian calendar shifts slightly each year.

This year, Saudi Arabia is expected to experience extreme heat over the five-day pilgrimage, with temperatures reaching 48 degrees Celsius 118 degrees Fahrenheit in Mecca. Hajj officials are asking pilgrims to carry umbrellas and stay hydrated amid the harsh conditions, the spokesman for the ministry of health Muhammad Al-Abdulaali said, according to the state news agency SPA.

The Saudi army has also deployed more than 1,600 personnel with medical units specifically for heatstroke and 30 rapid response teams. Another 5,000 health and first aid volunteers are taking part. Jordan has previously said there were more than 4,000 pilgrims in its official delegation this year.

However, the foreign ministry clarified that the six who died were not part of the “official delegation,” meaning they did not have valid Hajj licenses to perform the pilgrimage Islam requires every Muslim who is physically and financially able to make the journey to the holy city of Mecca at least once in his or her life.

The pilgrimage includes numerous detailed rituals including wearing a special garment that symbolizes human equality and unity before God, a circular, counter-clockwise procession around the Kaaba, and the symbolic stoning of evil. People who have completed the pilgrimage may add the phrase al-Hajj or hajji pilgrim to their names. Over the past decade, Saudi Arabia has invested billions of dollars to upgrade transport, technology and accommodation for pilgrims performing Hajj – a key source of income for the world’s largest oil producer.      (CNN)…[+]