Strain of Swine Flu (H1N1) Resistant to Tamiflu

Wednesday July 8, 2009

A 16 year old girl traveling from San Francisco to Hong Kong set off a high temperature alarm at the airport in Hong Kong. She was found to be infected with a strain of H1N1 flu that turned out to be resistant to the flu medication Tamiflu. Unlike two other cases of Tamiflu resistant swine flu, this girl had never been exposed to Tamiflu, suggesting that the resistant form of H1N1 can be spread from person to person as well. The standard strain of swine flu is already resistant to older flu medications. The good news is that this new Tamiflu resistant strain is still sensitive to the other flu medication Relenza. "We do need to really monitor for the potential of a Tamiflu-resistant novel H1N1 strain to spread," CDC flu expert Tim Uyeki, MD says. "If it does, this would be quite a concern because we have limited choices of antiviral medications. For now, the CDC's recommendations on handling swine flu cases remains unchanged.

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