# 1558
Helen Branswell - just about everybody's favorite flu reporter - has quickly put together an excellent overview of the Tamiflu resistance story carried earlier today by the newswires.
Her version, as usual, has details that few other reporters could glean. This is just a snippet. Follow the link for the whole article.
Rise in flu drug resistance worries experts
Jan 28, 2008 05:51 PM
Helen Branswell
The Canadian Press
Influenza experts admitted today that they have been startled by the discovery this season of an unexpectedly high number of human flu viruses that appear to be naturally resistant to Tamiflu, the drug that countries around the world are stockpiling for use in the next flu pandemic.
The viruses have been isolated from people infected with influenza A viruses of the H1N1 subtype in a number of European countries.
And Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg has reported finding one such virus, in a child who is believed to have been infected with influenza in Sudan before travelling to Canada.
The World Health Organization is convening a virtual meeting of experts tomorrow to try to get a handle on how far afield the resistant virus has been found, how common it is and what the findings signify.
"I think this is a very concerning change in influenza virus resistance patterns," Dr. Frederick Hayden, a leading antiviral expert and a member of the WHO's Global Influenza Program, said from Geneva.
"This is not only interesting, it's unusual and would not have necessarily been predicted by the necessary information. So it's certainly something we're taking seriously and trying to gather additional information (on)."
