Flumadine (Rimantadine) Drug Information: Overdosage and Contraindications

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May 27, 2012

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Bird Flu »

Bird flu facts

Bird flu refers to strains of influenza that primarily affect wild and domesticated birds.
Bird flu is also known as avian flu or avian influenza.
Although bird flu is contagious and spreads easily among birds, it is uncommon for it to be transmitted to humans.
In the late 1990s, a new strain of bird flu arose which was unusually severe ("highly pathogenic"), resulting in the deaths of hundreds of millions of birds, including poultry.
Control efforts, including culling infected flocks and vaccinating healthy birds, have limited the spread of highly pathogenic bird flu.
In 2011, a mutated strain of highly pathogenic bird flu appeared, which is concerning because the existing poultry vaccines are not very effective against the new strain.
Human infection with the highly pathogenic strain of bird flu is uncommon, with fewer than 600 cases reported since 1997.
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OVERDOSE

As with any overdose, supportive therapy should be administered as indicated. Overdoses of a related drug, amantadine, have been reported with adverse reactions consisting of agitation, hallucinations, cardiac arrhythmia and death. The administration of intravenous physostigmine (a cholinergic agent) at doses of 1 to 2 mg in adults (Ref. 7) and 0.5 mg in children (Ref. 8) repeated as needed as long as the dose did not exceed 2 mg/hour has been reported anecdotally to be beneficial in patients with central nervous system effects from overdoses of amantadine.

CONTRAINDICATIONS

Flumadine (rimantadine) is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity to drugs of the adamantane class, including rimantadine and amantadine.

REFERENCES

7. Casey DE. N Engl J Med. 1978;298(9):516.

Last reviewed on RxList: 4/26/2010
This monograph has been modified to include the generic and brand name in many instances.