Tamiflu-Resistant Flu Found in Canada and United States

Recent news flowing from the WHO is major cause for concern as new samples of H1N1 (your garden-variety flu virus) from Canada and the United States is showing an elevated resistance to Tamiflu - the drug widely used to combat flu and human cases of H5N1 bird flu.

As we have mentioned previously, the flu virus is not a static entity. It is constantly mutating and this latest news does not bode well for our ability to protect ourselves against a potential flu pandemic. Tamiflu is the drug most countries are stockpiling and counting on to be a last line of defense should a flu pandemic break out. While the new Tamiflu-resistant flu virus is not the same strain as the more serious H5N1 strain, it could signal yet another dangerous mutation is on the horizon for the H5N1 strain.

In Canada, 8 out of 81 samples showed resistance -- more than a 10 percent resistance rate, WHO spokeswoman Sari Setiogi said...

Past studies had found Tamiflu resistance rates ranging from zero to 0.5 percent, according to the U.N. agency...

"The frequency of oseltamivir (Tamiflu) resistance in H1N1 viruses in the current influenza season is unexpected and the reason why a higher percentage of these viruses are resistant is currently unknown," the WHO said.

via [Scientific American]

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Tamiflu-Resistant Flu Found in Canada and United States

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