Detecting variants of Tamiflu-resistant influenza A / H1N1 virus

A Japanese health official on October 8 said they have discovered a gene variant of the A / H1N1 flu virus that is resistant to Tamiflu in a young woman who has never used the drug.

The young woman had a fever on Aug. 22, was found to have a drug-resistant virus when she was treated at a hospital in Sapporo, northern Japan. The doctors later gave her the drug GlaxoSmithkline Relenza and now recovered.

Japan has 8 patients with influenza A / H1N1 resistant to Tamiflu
- Photo: Telegraph

This may be the first case of infection with the influenza A / H1N1 virus that is resistant to Tamiflu among people, but Japanese Ministry of Health official Takeshi Enami said there is no clear evidence to confirm this. this.

'We do not deny this may be a case of human-to-human transmission, but we cannot make conclusions', Enami said. He also said Japan now has eight patients with influenza A / H1N1 resistant to Tamiflu.

At the end of last September, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the phenomenon of drug-resistant influenza virus rarely occurs and there is no evidence that the drug-resistant influenza virus spreads, but this can still happen. .