The following is an edited excerpt.
The H7N9 strain of bird flu circulating in China appears to have easily developed resistance to antiviral drug treatment, according to the authors of a new study published May 29th in The Lancet. Three out of 14 patients treated with antiviral drugs such as Tamiflu, which had helped control infection in other flu patients, became resistant to the treatment and failed to respond. A genetic analysis of isolates from these patients showed that the virus had developed mutations that allowed it to escape the drug’s mechanism of action.
Read the full story here: Drug Resistant Avian Flu
