35-million people every year are diagnosed with the seasonal flu. Combine that with Swine Flu or H1N1 and that’s a lot of Tamiflu being distributed. Doctors are worried that the H1N1 virus may become resistant to Tamiflu and if that happens, doctors say we are in a lot of trouble.

“You will normally kill off the bacteria or viruses that are sensitive to our drugs over a period of time those bacteria or viruses will adapt and the ones that are left are totally resistant to the antibiotic,” says Rick Kilgore with Clinical Research Consultants.

The problem is doctors are prescribing Tamiflu for H1N1 and no studies have been conducted to determine what effect Tamiflu has on H1N1. Researchers are not sure if doctors are prescribing the correct dose to completely kill the virus. The current dose may be killing the majority of the virus but what is left over becomes resistant.

“We could end up with a pretty serious situation where we don’t have any anti-virals that the H1N1 will respond to that is why it is critical to determine what the appropriate dosing and the length of dosing is,” says Kilgore.

Starting next week, 100 researchers nationwide will begin a study. A Hoover company Clinical Research Consultants is one of them. It will take 400 people with H1N1 and give them different doses of Tamiflu for either five or ten days.

“They will have a home visit almost daily from us to get throat swabs and nasal swabs to document if the virus is shedding or if they still have virus in the body,” says Kilgore.

Results could be released as soon as December.