New flu drug resistant

The new bird flu virus in China has already shown it can mutate rapidly to be resistant to drugs, it was revealed yesterday.

So far 36 deaths and another 95 illnesses have been linked to the new H7N9 virus.

Chinese researchers studied the impact of flu drugs, such as Tamiflu, on 14 patients admitted to hospital. Two of them later died.

Writing in The Lancet, the researchers report that three of the patients failed to benefit from drug treatment.

Genetic testing then confirmed they were infected with viruses with a genetic mutation that indicated drug resistance. In one case the mutation is thought to have developed after the patient was first treated with Tamiflu.

Researchers Dr Zhenghong Yuang of the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre and School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, China, and Dr Malik Peiris, of the University of Hong Kong, China, warn: "The apparent ease with which antiviral resistance emerges in A/H7N9 viruses is concerning; it needs to be closely monitored and considered in future pandemic response plans."

Lancet 28 May 2013