Drug Resistant Swine Flu Found in Both US and UK at Same Timeby Heidi Stevenson22 November 2009
On the same day, the BBC and the Associated Press (AP) reported Tamiflu-resistant cases of swine flu in their countries. In the US, it's four North Carolina patients at Duke University Medical Center. In the UK, it's five patients at University Hospital in Wales. The BBC reports that the UK cases appear to be the first confirmed cases of person-to-person transmission of the drug-resistant flu. AP reports that over 50 of these mutated swine flus have been noted before and that most were isolated from each other. Most disconcerting is that, according to AP, the first patient to become ill with the drug-resistant swine flu was given Tamiflu as a preventive before developing flu symptoms.
In an aside, note that Gaia Health reported on the development of drug-resistant swine flu (H1N1 virus) months ago in New Killer Flu Is Here—and It's Drug Resistant. Fortunately, most mutations are not very transmissable. Unfortunately, as can be seen in the new virulent African polio outbreak, that's not something we can count on.
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