Health officials in Canada have identified a case of swine flu that has proved resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu, media reports said Wednesday.
The case was detected in a Quebec man in his 60s, who had been taking a smaller-than-recommended dose of the drug before coming in contact with his son, who was ill with the virus, The Journal de Quebec and other local newspapers reported.
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The elderly patient, who also suffers from chronic bronchitis, presumably already had become infected with the A(H1N1) virus while taking the Tamiflu medication -- which any rate was administered in doses too small to ward off the virus.
Doctors called the revelation "disquieting" proof of the virus's ability to evolve quickly, and noted a handful of similar drug-resistant swine flu cases that have cropped up elsewhere.
"This would be the first case to our knowledge of Tamiflu resistance in swine fly in North America," said Guy Boivin, a physician at the Laval University Medical Center in Quebec, noting cases of drug resistance in Denmark, Japan and Hong Kong.
Source: AFP
LIN
"This would be the first case to our knowledge of Tamiflu resistance in swine fly in North America," said Guy Boivin, a physician at the Laval University Medical Center in Quebec, noting cases of drug resistance in Denmark, Japan and Hong Kong.
Source: AFP
LIN
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